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Post by genesis273 on Oct 14, 2022 6:37:35 GMT -5
This has been a great thread!
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Post by genesis273 on Oct 14, 2022 7:02:01 GMT -5
I definitely miss the check stations, 4am "strategy sessions" over breakfast at the truck stops and the "debriefings" at the skinning sheds after each hunt. Those days ended after my dad past. Honestly, it's my fault. It was just hard being around all of them after that. They were all his friends and I was the youngster in the group. I did still communicate regularly with one of them and hang deer in his walk-in freezer.
I do miss those metal tags. I received one in my archers survey this year and, if I'm fortunate enough, will put it on my bucket this year just for ol' times sake. May use it to secure my transport tag. I'm actually taking a young man out hunting this afternoon. I showed him the tag and he said "What is that?". Lol
I don't really care what others buy or don't buy each year or how much or little people spend in their pursuit of hunting. It's just that, THEIR pursuit. Just don't tell me what I must use or spend. I've always wanted to try and entire deer season wearing just jeans and a flannel. Not really sure why I hadn't. Maybe I'll try that next year.
I'm in a local "Big Buck Contest" this year. A friend of mine started it. It's really just a group of us friends. We all know and trust one another. We put in $50 each with hopes that it'll pay for the winners mount. I paid my entry fee and wrote it off as a donation. Lol! We're all going to get together for a chili dinner at one of the houses at the end of season to swap stories and pay the winner.
Life seems so busy anymore. But, to me anyhow, there's no better way to get re-centered then spending time in a tree talking with Our Lord. All that background noise seems to fade away and true peace sets right in.
Thanks for starting this thread and thanks to all for sharing your thoughts and opinions in a respectful manner.
Hunt safe and God Bless!
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Post by boonechaser on Oct 14, 2022 8:22:58 GMT -5
Technology definitely has improved but for me I pretty much do things same today as I did 30 years ago. Been fortunate and blessed to own my own ground and manage and work it to my liking, have some great neighbors that do the same and we all get along which is a blessing. Do miss the family and friends that have passed on over the years forsure. Just starting to get grandkids involved , which will be alot of fun. Just gotta make the best of life, can't think of anything else I would like to do then spend my time on our farm , whether working it, hunting , fishing or just setting on porch taking it all in. Living the best life. God is good.
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Post by jimbob on Oct 14, 2022 9:08:23 GMT -5
Technology has definitely impacted my outdoor experiences in both fishing and hunting. I started without Vexlars, Livescopes, cell cams, range finders, fast bows, etc. All the advancements equated to opportunities I didn’t have before regarding a buck or fish of a lifetime… shooting the biggest deer on the property (because I know which one it is) or catching the biggest fish (because I know what they look like on screen). Then you see what it takes to accomplish that goal, you don’t want to invite a buddy to deer camp that smells like zest fully clean, or have a buddy that makes a ton of noise in the boat. That being said, when I need to step back in time… I fly fish, rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, and duck hunt, and almost always cook harvest that night with friends and review the days events… regardless, I enjoy it all, and try to encourage as opposed to discourage. I feel very fortunate to have experienced both sides of the coin in my lifetime, and the good ole days are very real.
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Post by Ahawkeye on Oct 14, 2022 15:42:25 GMT -5
I don't use aftershave but I use dial soap and head and shoulders shampoo. I used to shower with non scent soap and shampoo I could smell myself not too much later. I said I might as well "not stink to me" so I quit using the "deer hunting soap" I have no issues with someone who takes this route it's just not for me. Technology has helped me via GPS I've learned a lot about the areas I hunt using this and satellite imagery are my biggest "advancements" I still like the Christmas morning feeling of seeing a buck that I decide to shoot... Or a doe for that matter. So no trail cams here.
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Post by mgderf on Oct 15, 2022 5:11:45 GMT -5
These are the good old days for me. I had to teach myself to deer hunt. No-one in the family or circle of friends were participating at the time. I learned everything I know through hunting magazines and word of mouth advice from people I met in the check stations when checking in my harvest. I started hunting Indiana whitetail more than 35 years ago, when it was shotgun only, and the bag limit was one buck, for the entire season. NO DOES. It was a challenge for me each and every year to find a suitable place to hunt.
One year I actually paid to lease property, along with my brother. This was one of the worst years I've had hunting deer. Multiple trespassers ruined the entire season.
Fast forward to today. I have permission from customers and friends to hunt more acreage than I've ever had access to in the past. Five years ago, my uncle purchased 50 acres of prime bottom land for the sole purpose of hunting, and then promptly added my name and my brother's names to the deed!
I have never had as much property to hunt as I do today, and now have property that can't be taken away! I am able to spend much, MUCH more time hunting. Now, including archery and muzzle loader seasons, I am able to stretch my time in the woods into months rather than weeks. When I started it was one deer per season. This season I was drawn for the state park reduction hunt at Prophet's Town, which adds 3 deer to my total bag limit. My hunting property access is split between 2 different counties, so I get to add to my bag limit. This year, If I take advantage of all of the seasons, and somehow manage to "tag-out" in each season, I can legally harvest 11 deer.
I'm sure I won't take that many, but I do truly enjoy the opportunities. I enjoy nostalgia as much as the next person, but I've never been in a better position for hunting deer.
Good luck everyone.
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Post by treetop on Oct 15, 2022 12:52:58 GMT -5
For sure! You just gotta surround yourself with like minded friends. Our gang is just as happy for you when taking a doe as a nice buck. Any harvest is a great accomplishment. Probably the best way to keep the excitement alive is to take a kid fishing and/or hunting. I have helped mentor 3 God children and now our son. There is nothing better than seeing a smiling face and know you have opened the door to the outdoor experience to an eager youth. This is we’re I’m at now I’d rather see someone else take a deer I’ve taken my fair share other than I enjoy deer meat honestly I could care less if I got another one just love the chase I also grew up in a non hunting family still to this day I’m one of the few but I do remember just seeing a deer track was a big event taking one was like a once in a lifetime event I have a ten year or older bow maybe the last one I buy and I’m hoping to hunt for sometime yet
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Post by hornzilla on Oct 15, 2022 15:48:13 GMT -5
Agree 100%! You folks probably won't believe this, but I have actually killed deer from a wooden, nailed together "tree stand", wearing brown Carhartt bibs using a smooth barrel with a bead for a sight! Safety belts? hardly anyone even wore them in a vehicle, much less a tree stand (safety belts/tree harnesses are a great thing, I won't drive or hunt without either). AND, some of my best,most enjoyable hunts ever were 3-6 of the guys getting together the days after Thanksgiving and doing deer drives. Several of the guys have quit hunting or passed away. I miss the old days for sure. I have even killed deer out of the old Baker Death Machine tree stands. Lol
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Post by Woody Williams on Oct 15, 2022 17:38:37 GMT -5
Agree 100%! You folks probably won't believe this, but I have actually killed deer from a wooden, nailed together "tree stand", wearing brown Carhartt bibs using a smooth barrel with a bead for a sight! Safety belts? hardly anyone even wore them in a vehicle, much less a tree stand (safety belts/tree harnesses are a great thing, I won't drive or hunt without either). AND, some of my best,most enjoyable hunts ever were 3-6 of the guys getting together the days after Thanksgiving and doing deer drives. Several of the guys have quit hunting or passed away. I miss the old days for sure. I have even killed deer out of the old Baker Death Machine tree stands. Lol AND lived to tell about it!! .
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Post by treetop on Oct 16, 2022 7:54:41 GMT -5
Agree 100%! You folks probably won't believe this, but I have actually killed deer from a wooden, nailed together "tree stand", wearing brown Carhartt bibs using a smooth barrel with a bead for a sight! Safety belts? hardly anyone even wore them in a vehicle, much less a tree stand (safety belts/tree harnesses are a great thing, I won't drive or hunt without either). AND, some of my best,most enjoyable hunts ever were 3-6 of the guys getting together the days after Thanksgiving and doing deer drives. Several of the guys have quit hunting or passed away. I miss the old days for sure. I’ve been in my fair share of them wooden tree stands boy were they fun with frost on them
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mgf
Junior Member
Posts: 33
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Post by mgf on Oct 17, 2022 5:31:27 GMT -5
Except for the extreme lack of ground to hunt, I hunt much like I always have.
I shoot a recurve bow and use very basic and inexpensive hunting clothes.
I do have a new harness on the way though because I don't climb as well as I used to.
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Post by coaldust on Oct 17, 2022 7:25:15 GMT -5
Funny..I think back all the time & day dream. Stands were a few nails, 2×4's & plywood. 3 or 4 would hunt together & going to the check station was the real excitement. Lived in Illinois back then. Looking in the back of everyones old pickup at the check-in station was a treat, but the real prize was them handing you your deer harvest pin for that year after you checked in a deer. Also remember the deer drives & always went rabbit & quail hunting after the noon Thanksgiving feast.
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Post by coaldust on Oct 17, 2022 7:30:01 GMT -5
Also getting pumped up to hunt we would watch Primos hunts on vhs & later DVD the night before.I remember how mad I would be hunting with my hunting buddy Bubba. I swear we would be late for every hunt. His hunting clothes would always be in the washer or dryer! But was the best times!
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Post by M4Madness on Oct 17, 2022 10:49:25 GMT -5
I got so burned out on it that I haven't bowhunted in 5 years. I haven't shot a buck since 2017. I still go out a few times in firearms season. Last year was the first year since I began hunting almost 30 years ago that I didn't shoot a deer -- I had opportunities, I just didn't pull the trigger. I haven't put out a camera this year, I haven't even checked to see if my ladder stands are okay. I've been waiting for the Ford dealership to squeeze my new Bronco into their service department for a speedometer calibration (bigger tires), and they asked today if Saturday November 12 at 9:30 AM would work. I almost said yes. LOL!
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Post by tynimiller on Oct 17, 2022 11:56:02 GMT -5
To spin off of somewhat of what I said earlier in the thread and some others...I actually am getting a small group together for a public ground hunting trip...circle the tents and camp approach and scatter amongst what public land is around. Much more akin to the old days but for some of us it will be an escape from the terrors dealt us from misguided landowners and private property trespassing dealings...I'm about over this year and we aren't even out of October yet.
Public land to me is an escape from expectations of no trespassing, no landowners going back on words, no other hunters being just utterly disrespectful of agreements.....the ground is all of ours, there are no leases, no agreements, no promises....just you and the challenge of public hunting in front of you and a campfire with hunting brothers in the evenings.
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Post by Mack Apiary Bees on Oct 17, 2022 12:07:34 GMT -5
One of my best remembrance is when TV had those little blue smurfs kids shows. One year one of the guys wife showed up with their kids. Can't remember what hunter. During dinner the night before one of the kids changed the channel. My friend Pete got up and turned the TV on to watch one of the hunting shows. The blue smurfs where on so he grabbed his shotgun and said #@!^&& darn blue #@!^&@#@q#$!@# s and shot the tv with his shot gun. That was the end of that every happening again.
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Post by treetop on Oct 17, 2022 13:27:10 GMT -5
Also getting pumped up to hunt we would watch Primos hunts on vhs & later DVD the night before.I remember how mad I would be hunting with my hunting buddy Bubba. I swear we would be late for every hunt. His hunting clothes would always be in the washer or dryer! But was the best times! One of the guys I use to hunt with was just like that I’d drive to his house about 45 minutes early to ring his doorbell till he woke up his wife loved me. He moved to NY so I don’t hunt with him anymore but I picked up a nephew who isn’t much better he has his own time zone
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Post by gumbootbill on Oct 19, 2022 18:33:40 GMT -5
Looking back I can't believe how clueless I really was. Scouting consisted of finding a comfortable stump to sit on if there was deer sign around that was a plus. We shot the guns the evening before opening morning a bunch. After shooting I would slather the gun with singer sewing machine oil. Had no clue that they could smell you.. but I still hunt in jeans and flannel shirt. First show on deer I saw was Mutual of Omahas wild Kingdom. " The Whitetail Deer"
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mgf
Junior Member
Posts: 33
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Post by mgf on Oct 19, 2022 20:09:47 GMT -5
When I started hunting we didn't have any deer around. I spent my childhood running farm fields, woods and a pretty cool swamp we had within walking distance. We had rabbits and pheasants by the thousands but I never saw a deer or even a deer track. I knew people who hunted Wisconsin or Michigan but there weren't any where we hunted small game. I was in my mid 20's and had a son of my own before I started seeing enough deer to make me think about hunting them. This was Illinois and the gun tag was only good for a specific county and there was no guaranty you'd draw the county you wanted. An archery tag was good state wide. I mainly hunted one place so a tag for another county wasn't any good to me. I bought a bow and an archery license.
I kind of cut my adult hunting teeth (without dad) squirrel hunting in the national forest of southern Illinois circa 1977. To say that I got to know some interesting characters would be an understatement. I never deer hunted down there until many years later. I really want to go back there for a hunt but those Illinois nonresident tags are pricy.
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Post by duff on Oct 20, 2022 3:04:56 GMT -5
Great stories. I was scouting a new place last week and reminded me of my early yrs hunting. Found some great sign like a huge trail and prints in the mud. I remember getting so excited over deer tracks. I grew up in Madison Co. There were not many deer around then.
I got away from deer hunting for a while. Maybe go couple hunts a year just to scratch the itch. I go if invited for the partnership. All traditions change. Miles and life get in the way for most of my old buddies.
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