hunting deer then compared to now

[Trigger Mike]

I was thinking while hunting deer yesterday. I looked at how I was dressed in camouflage with an orange vest and hat, had doe urine, scent sprays, and how many around me have deer stands, and I have a deer blind I have yet to use, and how there are cameras to tell you where your deer travel, iphone apps to tell you the weather and wind etc at each deer stand location, Deer feeders, deer attractants, deer salt blocks and feed blocks and yet so often folks go hunting and come home empty. Then I wondered how Charles Ingalls or George Washington, or Wild Bill Hickok ever got any deer. They did not have camo clothing, they did not have high dollar rifles with 4 power scopes to see and shoot well past a deer's ability to detect. They had flint or cap lock rifles that held a range of maybe 75 yards for a Brown Bess flintlock, cap lock with rifling would have been better, but not like today. They still brought home meat to feed their family without all the hubbub we have today.

[Eamon Chute]

Welllll......there were no "deer seasons," there were a lot more deer, and they didn't fret any over taking a doe. Meat is meat.

 

Just a few thoughts while ingesting massive amount of morning coffee.

 

 

EC

[Dorado]

+1

I had the same discussion with my grandfather years ago. He didn't have any camo. He went out in blue jeans and a green shirt and an old 30-30. Got enough deer and game to feed his family and help the neighbors.

[Clay Mosby]

+2

Lots less people, lots more deer, lots more habitat

[Pit Bull Tex]

I have more fun now with my 92 than with my deer rifle.I don't ware camo.I missed more deer year before last than I have missed in my life.I missed 3 one day.I only shoot for the head so if I miss I miss.I did get one.It was not like the old day because I did text my son and tell him I missed again.It was fun.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Heck, just in my own lifetime the process has gotten to a point bordering on the absurd.

 

Back in my teens we had "coastal" and "inland" zones and seasons. Heck... as I recall, tags were good for both. And you could buy 'em over the counter just about everywhere; even the corner Long's Drugstore (which also sold rifles and ammunition!). Oh, and there was some sort of an "X" zone 'way up north - we didn't bother.

 

Now, the state has been chopped into 44 zones. Tags have to be purchased for designated zones, with many "awarded" on a lottery system, the non-drawing tags on a "first-come, first-served" basis.

 

Just the geography of selecting a zone can be quite challenging! A few years ago I couldn't figure out what zone an area I wanted to hunt was in, as the region had been divided into multiple zones. So, I took my topo map and a copy of the regs (well marked and dog-eared) to the local Fish & Game office for help. They tried; they read their own regs; they looked at their own zone maps; they looked at my detailed topo map; and they the rep said "Sorry. Can't help you. Suggest you buy a tag for one of the zones and when you get there consult some local authorities to be sure you're in the right place, otherwise you're liable for citation."

 

Aargh!!

 

What used to be a simple and fun sport now requires hiring the services of a cartographer, surveyor, and of course a lawyer or two.

 

Don't expect anyone to read it, but just for the sake of example, here's the description of just one of our 44 zones:

 

( b ) X-Zone Hunts.

( 8 ) Zone X-6a.

( A ) Area:

In those portions of Lassen and Plumas counties within a line beginning at the junction of Highway 147 and Highway36 near Westwood; east on Highway 36 to Conservation Center Road at Susanville (County Road A-27); east on ConservationCenter Road to Highway 395 at the town of Litchfield; east on Highway 395 to the Wendel-Pyramid Lake Road (County Road320); east on the Wendel-Pyramid Lake Road to the Nevada-California state line; south on the Nevada-California state line to the UP-WP railroad line near Herlong; west on the UP-WP railroad line to the Herlong Access Road (County Road A-25) at Herlong; west on the Herlong AccessRoad to Highway 395; north on Highway 395 to County Road 336 at Milford; southweston County Road 336 to U.S. Forest Service Road 26N16 near the Plumas-Lassen county line; west on Forest Service Road26N16 to Forest Service Road 28N03 at Doyle Crossing; west on Forest Services Road 28N03 to Forest Service Road 29N43near Antelope Lake; south on Forest Service Road 29N43 to County Road 111 at Flournoy Bridge; south on County Road 111to Forest Service Road 24N08; south on Forest Service Road 24N08 to County Road 112 at Lake Davis; south on CountyRoad 112 to Highway 70; west on Highway 70 to the Highway 89 junction at Blairsden; west on Highway 89/70 to theGreenville Y west of Quincy; northwest on Highway 89 to Highway 147 at Canyon Dam; north on Highway147 to the point of beginning.

( B ) Season: The season in Zone X-6a shall open on the first Saturday in October and extend for 16 consecutive days.

( C ) Bag and Possession Limit: One buck, forked horn (See subsection 351(a)) or better, per tag.

( D ) Number of Tags: 320

.

[J-BAR #18287]

Sorry I can't remember the source, but I recall the story about someone asking an Indian about deer hunting.

 

The Indian replied, "Deer hunting is easy. You sit in the woods until the deer gives himself to you."

 

I think about that while freezing in a treestand, waiting for a gift.

[Litl Red]

Most people nowadays do one simple thing that gets them a deer a lot easier than Danl Boone worked to get his, at least around here.

 

They flip the highbeams to BRIGHT.

 

I happen to cross Dutchman's Creek in a couple of places very close to where Daniel Boone's family lived back then. It definitely isn't "in town" for sure. My buddies that live there say there really isn't too good a hunting around there. I also happen to live just off a busy road that's just out of town (a town that thinks its a city). The road is one side of our neighborhood, other side of the neighborhood is a creek bottom about a half mile wide that heads out into the "country" both ways.

 

The guys out around Dutchman's Creek have trouble getting deer every year. The road near my house harvests them all year long and often takes a couple or more a week in the fall.

 

The idea that there were more deer in Danl Boone's time than now is hard to believe. In fact, I think the state wildlife said we got significantly more.

[Brother King, SASS #69031]

Me....I'd put a treestand right down in the woods wherever near to the spot that a bunch of locals told me was "no good." Deer hunting throughout North America is the best it's ever been RIGHT NOW. Areas are managed better, food plots abound, habitat is a problem but a lessening one evidenced by the auto insurance claims.

 

Great time to be in the woods; which explains the proliferation of calls, camos, lures, devices, footwear, weaponry, etc. etc. Yes, it helps to be a Philly lawyer, especially I a state like CA where the bureaucrats just can't help themselves but to make ever more game rules. I guess the fish cops need something to do.

[Noz]

I DISAGREE WITH THE NOTION THAT THERE WERE A LOT MORE DEER THEN. (MY KEY BOARD IS STUCK ON UPPERCASE)

WHEN I WAS A KID A DEER SIGHTING WAS A NEWSPAPER WORTHY ITEM. I DID NOT SEE A LIVE DEER UNTIL I WAS ABOUT 10 YEARS OLD.

 

THE BIG PROBLEM IS 10 OR 20 TIMES AS MANY HUNTERS, MUCH LONGER AND MORE LIBERAL SEASONS AND AS ALUDED TO ABOVE, MANY MORE AUTOMOBILES ON THEW ROAD.

 

I rebooted and am back to normal.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

+1

I had the same discussion with my grandfather years ago. He didn't have any camo. He went out in blue jeans and a green shirt and an old 30-30. Got enough deer and game to feed his family and help the neighbors.

Mine was a sporterized 02A3 or a Remington Model 8, I had about six rounds of ammo with me, a 4" Schrade pocket knife, some matches, and a war surplus canteen. Toward the end I staretd carrying a .22 pistol "for dangerous game". Utah required a red hat, and your license had to be worn on the back of your jacket or shirt, but nothing else.

 

If it was to be a longer hunt, say more than four hours, I'd stuff a sandwich, an apple, and a couple of candy bars in my pocket.

 

My highly very highly sophisticated hunting vehicles were a 1939 Plymouth business coupe and later a 1954 Dodge Royal Lancer 2 door hardtop.

 

I doubt I would change any more than the law required if I were to go hunting today.

 

This was "the good old days", up until 1964.

 

FWIW, I only shot three animals beyond about thirty yards in all the time I hunted, one Olympic elk at around a hundred yards and a rocky mountain sheep at right close to 75. The last was a pronghorn at 250 yards.

 

I never hunted with a scope and don't presently own one.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

Things are a lot different out here in the western states than what you described. In most westernstates loke Colo, Wy, Mt, Ut, Id and others, you cannot bait deer with grain, attractants, salt, etc. As many have pointed out, there are more deer, elk and other big game than in 1900. Because of less habitat available because of urbanization, the numbers fluctuate a lot. here in Colorado, we have more elk, moose and deer than we have ever had.

 

I am 72 and hunt every year. I usually bag and elk, deer and antelope. One thing i've learned, I just have to hunt smarter.

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

All I need to harvest is for the deer to come into the yard to eat apples off the tree, and flick on the spotlight.

 

Of course my neighbors mite get a little sketterish about an 06 barking in the middle of the night.

[Matthew Duncan]

+2

Lots less people, lots more deer, lots more habitat

And a lot less government oversight

[Michigan Slim]

According to the 'experts' there are more deer now than in Boones time. Those mature forests do not hold much food for deer. They need edge habitat and low growth. I can vouch for that. The logged areas near us hold WAY more deer than the mature hardwoods and pines.

The reason Indians were so mobile is because they would only stay in one area until the game was gone. All of it. Then they would move. They moved a lot.

BUT -there were more deer in our area of Michigan in the 80's than there is now due to mismanagement and unlimited doe tags for too long. But here in Indiana there are more deer around than ever. In the 80's we saw a few. Now the hunting is great.

[Subdeacon Joe]

Whaddyamean, "they didn't have camo?"

 

 

[Blue Steel Duke]

Very interesting thread! I've had some of the same thoughts about weapons, bait, cammo, and scent control, when looking at old tin type photos of 10 dead Dear on an old wagon or truck, but a professional hunter I follow and respect (Jim Shockey) has an interesting perspective. He states that the Deer have evolved or responded to hunting pressure and have become smarter, if that's the right word, perhaps it's fair to say that they have patterns that reflect either extreme hunting pressures or the relaxed atmosphere of a neighborhood. I personally observed this a couple of years ago when I spent dozens of hours in a tree stand seeing nothing, then later at home I saw two good size Bucks sleeping 20 feet off of our suburban bike trail.

 

BSD