Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Its 1967, what was everyone using in your deer camp?

My dad was getting ready to ship out to Vietnam (was there for tet in '68) and I came along six years later. I think all my uncles and grandpa on my moms side back in MN. were using shotguns.

I didnt come along for another 9 years, but my grandpa would have been carrying his remington 722 in 257 Roberts. My dad was carrying a M94 in 32 Special. My great uncle would have had his 270.

Great thread guys, I love the nostalgia of that era of deer hunting in America. Albeit it would be just under three years before I would be born, I did ask both my dad and my oldest brother in law that would have hunted that year what was in their camps. So here is a tale of two deer camps.

East of M-37 near Brohman MI, tent camp on state land.

dad- Win mod 94 .30-30
oldest brother Remingon model 48 sportsman in 16ga w/poly choke.
Uncle Joe Savage 99 .300sav or Ithaca model 37 12ga(dad was not sure)
Uncle Cal Remington semi auto .308
Uncle Dave Win model 71 in .348
Uncle John Win model 70 .270
cousin Chuck Rem model 721 .30-06

I now have both of my dads guns, and my cousin chuck still has is 721 and his dads model 70. The rest with many others were lost in a house fire several years ago.

Brother in laws cabin near Irons MI

BIL- Win 94 .30-30
his dad Rem model 8 .35rem
brother Recurve bow
uncle single shot 12ga
uncle Win model 100 .308
cousin Marlin 336 .30-30
cousin Marlin 336 .30-30
family friend Rem 141

My moms family hunted property near Luter Michigan I dont know what everyone carried but.
Uncle Win model 88 .308
uncle Win model 70 .30-06
uncle sporterized 03 spfld .30-06

My Dad would have been carrying his 1917 Enfield that had been sporterized with a fajen stock. NRA purchased. My Uncle Don would have been carrying his 1903 Springfield, again NRA purchased. I was only 7, so wasn't carrying anything other then a BB gun. In 1971, though, I got a mossburg 880B in 243 Win, which I proceeded to use to kill my first deer.

i lust after your 725. Let's see a photo, if you have one.

Remington mod 17, 20 ga, no sights other than bead on the barrel. Kept 5 slugs ona 9 inch paper plate at 25 yards. Killed my best whitetail with it in 1971.
Sanders recurve with some newfangled fiberglass arrow.
The guys with class had Browning Sweet 16's. There were lots of Ithaca 37's around as well.
All the above in upstate NY.
On the farm in Pennsylvania, pump 35 cal Remington, a 32 Remington, 303 Savage, lots of 30-06 & a few 270's. One of my uncles had a 348 Win that was considered the smasher.

In '67 we didn't have enough deer to invest in deer rifles. Most of my family used 12 gauges with either Foster slugs or buckshot. I was 16 and used a 12 gauge Ithaca 37 and 00 buck. Didn't kill a deer though. Soon after that I went off to college and while I was gone someone stole my Ithaca. I didn't start deer hunting again for 10 years.

Deep East Texas was thickets and also kind of behind the times abit. Deer hunting, in 1967, was basically dog hunting. Only a very few hunted from stands and most of those also chased the dogs in the middle of the day. Most used shotguns and slugs were almost non-existant. This was buckshot country....fast and close!

In our camp,

My father used a 12 Ga. L.C. Smith double and a Savage 99 in .308 for stand hunting morning and evening.

I used a French 16 Ga. double (Guyot I think) and occationally a Ruger 44 carbine.

An "uncle" (all older friends of my father were refered to as "uncle" in those days) was a real oddball and used a Remington 700 in .270 for everything.....I remember when being put on a stand for running the dogs being told to place a tree between me and him because "Some day he's going to kill someone with that "High Power Rifle"

A pair of brothers (uncles) used 12 Ga. doubles....one a Parker and the other a Lefever....but used Winchester 100's for stands. One was in .308 but the other used a .243. He always claimed that he prefered a .22LR, but when the "law" got too serious, he chose the closest thing he could find that was legal....the .243.

Their youngest brother also carried a Model 100 in .308, but picked up a Remingtom Model 14 in .35 rem. for dogs.

My grandfather's choice was a Winchester 97 in 12 Ga. for everything. Always said he'd just hunt the thickets when stand hunting and make sure the shots were close.

One of my "real" uncles carried a Winchester Model 12 known as "Maggie". this was the only MAGNUM shotgun I'd ever heard of and was VERY impressed by it's "power".

The rest of the group use a collection of shotguns such as the Remington 870, Ithaca Model 37 and a very few Winchester 94's in .30-30.

There was one man who lived about 2 miles from us in a house with no electricity and was kind of a "hermit". He never took part in our dog hunts and never hunted with anyone else. Not unfriendly, just independent. He always carried a Winchester 94 in .32 Win. Spl. (which he explained was far supperior to the more common .30-30's). He sort of took me under his wing (don't know why he took an intrest in a kid) and taught me a lot about woodcraft and hunting. He did one very odd thing.....he actually climbed up in trees to hunt. Everyone else I knew hunted from ground blinds when not running dogs. My father thought I had lost my mind when he found out I was climbing trees to shoot deer, but after a few years everyone was doing the same.

My brothers were younger and carried twin H&R Topper's. Each had a 20 Ga. barrel as well as a .30-30 barrel.

When my mother hunted with us it was with a J. Stevens 16 Ga. double and a Mossberg 800 in .308.

Most everyone I grew up hunting with were "poor folks" but looking back were armed with some very fine firearms. My father always said that any old truck could get you in the woods, but never scrimp on what you were shooting.

My thanks for your service sir!

Good memories with this topic. Tent camp in N.W. Wis...probably the two best deer hunters in our group used 760 in 270 and the other a 99 in 300 savage. My Dad had a 700 in .270 and I had a sporterized 94 Swede. That may have been the year Dad bought the new .270 and ended up lassoing a big 8 pt that fell through the ice after crossing a little slough. He tossed a loop over it's antlers as it swam in circles unable to pull himself up to dry land...Dad wasn't even going to shoot him but when he rescued the old boy, he was too whipped to run and Dad ahot him at about 5 feet There were a couple other 760's in 06 and one guy had a 25-06 he had built before Remington put their name on the round.Yep- good memories!

Back then the deer and elk seasons ran at the same time.
The rifles found in camp would consist mostly of 243's 250's, 30-40's,270's and 06's.
There would also be the occasional 308 and 300 H&H, but those were from out of state relatives and their friends.
The majority of our home town went to the same camp, and I remember one of the last times we had the big camp altogether, there were 17 bull elk, a couple of spikes,a couple of cows, a moose, and a 1/2 dozen 4x4 mule deer bucks hanging on the meat pole at dark on the second day.
The next morning those that hadn't filled, walked out of camp for yet another hopeful days hunt, and the rest of us stayed behind and had a big "skinning bee", and waited with baited ears to hear some shots being fired in the general direction they were hunting to.

Dad had a 7.7 Jap., I used a 7.5 Swiss and my brother a 303 British. Dad did not think we needed any hunting rifles that cost much.We had less than $50 in all 3 rifles. Dad brought the Jap home from WWII. But it worked and the deer did not know the differents.

I was only 1 year old in 1967,but my Grnadpa,dad,uncle and thier friends had,7.7 jap,6.5 jap,savage 99 300 sav,Krag-Jorgensen in 30-40, and a JC Higgins bolt action 16 ga with buckshot.

In Oregon, my Dad hunted with a 7mm ADL since elk and deer were on the ticket. My Grandpa hunted with a Mod 100 .308...I was totin' a Daisy...

BWalker;
Thanks for starting the interesting thread and thanks to all who've responded to make it so.

My late father and late uncle didn't do deer camp, but went on a week long moose hunt about 3 hours north of our Saskatchewan farm.

I know my uncle used a .303 British Lee Enfield Mk III of some variety, because I ended up with it for awhile and then traded it off to someone for something I thought I needed. Of course I regret that now, but it's long gone.

Somewhere close to 1967, my father stopped borrowing a Mk III from a friend at church and bought a Savage 99 in .250. I recall it as having a straight grip and fairly plain wood - and also recall being absolutely infatuated with it.

Though he shot a few moose and a couple deer with the little 99 after a few seasons he traded it for a Model 100 in .308 that he felt was a better moose gun.

I must confess I hated that Model 100 from day one and when Dad passed it onto me I lost no time in trading it off on a Browning BBR in '06 that served me faithfully for decades until I sold it to a young hunter who needed an "experienced rifle" to start out with.

Another cousin who went with them back then had a Browning Safari in .264Win, which was a beautifully built rifle and no doubt the reason I bought the BBR in '81 when I did.

Anyway, that's how a pair of farmers from Saskatchewan hunted moose back then.

Thanks again for the thread and to all who've posted.

Good luck to you all this fall.

Regards,
Dwayne

I wasn't even a twinkle in my Daddy's eye, but from all of the stories I've come up with an 1897 12ga, a Marlin .32-20, a Winchester Model 88 .308 and a whole mess of Savage 99s (.300s & a .308) with an odd Remington .30-06 mixed in every once in a while.

Like Dwayne and his kin, deer were shot if they showed up while we were killing moose - targets of opportunity, so to speak. Dad had a 303 Brit as long as I can remember so since about 1955 or so. He was given a JC Higgins 30-06, and we used that for moose and a deer or two. In about 1968 I think I bought a model 94 Winchester in 30-30. It was a useless piece of junk that routinely let a loaded round sneak out inder the lifter plate and jammed up the works. Had to use a power saw file to fix it.

A lot of Dad's deer were shot by a 22LR usually post dusk. Had to feed a growing family.

30-06, 30-30, and a 303.

Great thread. Was only 12 in 67 worked mowing grass all summer to buy a HR 58 Topper model 20 ga single shot killed a few pheasants and ducks that fall. Dad didn't care one way or another about hunting, but he took my older brother and I out for pheasant and duck. We'd go to the Missouri River and watch and jump shoot ducks while dad worked on the sauger bite. At 14 I traded a junk 572 Rem Fieldmaster pump 22 and $11 for a M93 7x57 Century Arms sporterized . Shot it some and took it to the Shell Shop in Sioux City Ia to get it drilled and tapped with Weaver bases ,bolt handle altered,blued ,low swing safety installed. Think that cost me $68(really) bought a Bishop Alaskan blank and did it myself. Wore a 2.5x8 Bushnell Banner for awhile. Started handloading in 70 and the 93 liked 139 gr Hornady and 140 NPT's with IMR 4350 . Wasn't able to draw a rifle tag until 72 and then Dad got one with me ,he was using a 03 that he had 1/2 interest in with an old friend. We both got WT bucks a 3x3 for me on the opener and a 3x4 the next day for dad.Never really had a camp situation allways went home at nite. There were others locally that went to the Black Hills and had a deer camp, they predominantly shot 740 and 742 Rem autos in 30-06 some 94's and dang few bolt guns, never went with them , they group hunted . Archery got big back then and it changed the way everybody hunted. Guys who were farmers took to the trees and used them during rifle season also, they quit letting people drive their timber plots with big groups.More and more folks went to scoped bolt guns, by 84 when I left East River SD I headed west. I just wanted to live in Rifle country. Only go back to visit and didn't get far enuf west. Magnum Man

I wasn't around but I guarantee you it was Remington 740 and 742's, in .30-06. Open sights.