The way it used to be.

[Axis II]

I read something tonight about an old, green metal chair that’s been in the woods since the 90s some old man used to hunt from and it got me reminiscing. I grew up with moms side from WV and we visited at least 3-4x a year when I was a kid (90s). I watched my grandfathers brothers hunt and always dreamed of doing it. When I was 13 mom dropped me off to hunt with them and even though I missed several deer I had a heck of a time and was hooked! It was also a great honor to meet and hunt with guys who worked with my grandfather. I never got to meet him cause he passed before I was born.

My mom moved us to the country when I was 12/13yo and all I wanted to do was be in the woods. I’d walk about a mile and hit some train tracks then woods and practice my skills of finding tracks and seeing deer. I’ll never forget one day it was snowing and I went for my weekend walk. I started by climbing up in an old 2x4 wood stand and looking around. I then saw some tracks so started following them and they led to a thicket of pricker vines and there he laid and had no clue I was there. I made the grunt noise I had always saw on hunting shows and probably a 130” buck stood up and was staring at me completely covered in snow. I was really hooked then. I’d go each weekend and sit in the old wood stand and just watch until I got busted by the landowner who said it was his stand and he didn’t hunt anymore due to age. I was 13 I didn’t know what trespassing was but he was cool about it. I always pictured him sitting in that old wood stand and shooting that buck.

I grew up and began hunting a state and national forest and always loved seeing these old wood stands, wood box blinds, fold up chairs and ladder stands grown into the tree. The stories those old stands could tell I bet are amazing. I found several old rusty ladder stands deep in the national forest and never saw anyone. One year I was setting my climber up and heard a voice. There stood an old man in old school mossy
Oak tree bark camo, compound with steel cables and an old hat on. We talked for a moment and I got some good advice from him. Those old rusted ladder stands were his and he offered me to use them cause he was done hunting after that day and he asked why I park where I do and walk almost a mile up the mountain when there is a parking lot and flat trail leading in 800yards away. Gotta love those old timers and their wisdom. After that I could picture this guy sitting in that stand every year for 40yrs and what stories it could tell.

There is a farm I hunt that has several rotten wood stands and old metal fold up chairs sitting against a tree. I’d sit there in my fancy new climber and play a video in my head of a guy my age (30s) sitting in that stand and shooting a deer 30-40yrs ago and then see him at 70yo sitting in that same stand. I will say I started hunting around those old wood stands and my sightings and kills went way up. No technology, no scent killer, saddles, just a hammer, nails and 2x4. I sat on the ground last year instead of a stand and had deer within 40yards of me and even took one. Now days we get too caught up in technology, leasing, stands, etc. and forget the way we used to hunt, the way we were shown as kids. 22yrs ago I was shown how to stand next to a tree and watch a travel area from atop a hill or sit next to a tree or blow down and wait. It sure felt good last year doing it old school. I’ll be on the ground again next Monday doing it the way it used to be.

 

[Captcurt]

Oh yes. The good old days when you put on a red plaid jacket, grabbed a rifle and a handful of ammo and went hunting. I remember the cold walks in the dark that might put me a mile from my car. The sounds of the woods coming alive as I sat with my back to a tree. There weren't many deer around our part of Arkansas back in the 60's and 70's, so if you bagged one you were a hero in our little community. I actually managed to take a few, a very few, bucks back then.

This week called for some of the old woodsmanship that I learned 50+ years ago. Scouting showed a trail leading from a thick cedar break to an oak ridge that was windrowed from deer feeding on acorns. The woods narrowed between a road and a pasture forming a perfect bottleneck. I went back that afternoon and set an old folding chair where I could watch the trail from about 50 yards. At 4:00 four does eased through the woods. Two didn't make it.

 

[Ranger99]

I liked those days years ago when everybody was happy with the deer they were able to
kill. I think my license back then was $7.00

 

[courtgreene]

I’m conflicted on this subject. On one hand I very much respect those who hunted before me/us. On the other, I very much appreciate the technological advancement we have at our disposal. I especially like that in seasons like this one where I will not have but a few days to hunt. Having said that I’m glad we can both respect our predecessors and avail ourselves to that which now exists.

 

[Bfh_auto]

I’m conflicted on this subject. On one hand I very much respect those who hunted before me/us. On the other, I very much appreciate the technological advancement we have at our disposal. I especially like that in seasons like this one where I will not have but a few days to hunt. Having said that I’m glad we can both respect our predecessors and avail ourselves to that which now exists.

I do a little of both. I mostly hunt from make shift ground blinds made from fallen branches and leaves. It's not cool. But it works. Even cover scent isn't foolproof. So I set up downwind.
I do like treestands.

 

[buck460XVR]

I liked those days years ago when everybody was happy with the deer they were able to
kill.

That's the biggest difference I see from when I started to hunt. Growing up in a small rural Wisconsin town back in the 50s and sixties, if someone got a buck, you went over to see it hangin' in the tree, even if it was a spike. Were just a lot fewer deer and they just never had a chance to get big. This was before they moved into the Ag areas. I remember as a kid standing for hours next to a tree freezing my butt off and lucky to see a tail. Those were the days when if you saw a buck during the hunting season, it was considered a successful hunt. Saturday I sat in a heated blind with my 14 yr old grand-daughter and watched her pass on two bucks that I would have peed right down my leg to have the chance to shoot at her age....or even 30 years ago. While she has shot several deer, she has yet to kill a buck.....yet she wanted to wait for the "big" one that had been seen in the area several times. Another reason she passe was because she wanted her little sister(12) who hadn't killed a deer yet, to have a chance at them. Later that day we heard her shoot one of them. While the times and the technology have changed, the tradition still continues.....at least in our family.

 

[Kingcreek]

Ah yes, the good old days…
When we wedged a 2x10 into the crotch of a tree and called it a “stand” or nailed up a few scrap boards and managed not to die in a fall from a dangerous platform.
When I was a teenager, we would walk the railroad right of way and shoot a couple pheasants or quail or rabbits and maybe jump a deer 1 out of every 3 days hunting. Now it’s easier to find deer in Illinois than small game.
Hunters were mostly local regular working guys. Now we see out of state plates on $80k trucks and hunters from the city 3 hours away sporting $3k worth of gear and clothes.
Used to be easy to get permission to hunt almost anywhere. Now? Not a chance.

 

[Axis II]

Oh yes. The good old days when you put on a red plaid jacket, grabbed a rifle and a handful of ammo and went hunting. I remember the cold walks in the dark that might put me a mile from my car. The sounds of the woods coming alive as I sat with my back to a tree. There weren't many deer around our part of Arkansas back in the 60's and 70's, so if you bagged one you were a hero in our little community. I actually managed to take a few, a very few, bucks back then.

This week called for some of the old woodsmanship that I learned 50+ years ago. Scouting showed a trail leading from a thick cedar break to an oak ridge that was windrowed from deer feeding on acorns. The woods narrowed between a road and a pasture forming a perfect bottleneck. I went back that afternoon and set an old folding chair where I could watch the trail from about 50 yards. At 4:00 four does eased through the woods. Two didn't make it.

My favorite part is watching the woods come alive and go to sleep. Mainly them waking up. It just does something for your soul and inner peace.

 

[.45Coltguy]

Axis II, you're OP was very good. And right on the money. I miss the hunting in the Eastern Sierra's the way you describe. I gave up hunting about a decade ago when the woods became too "motorized" for my liking. I still go back and walk the forest. I do miss what it once was.

 

[jmorris]

“The good old days” for me were generally more difficult, under harsh conditions and less successful.

If the opposite were true, I wouldn’t have grown smarter, just older.

 

[earlthegoat2]

No one ever uttered the snide comment,

“Would have been a good one next year”

 

[jmr40]

That style of hunting is more efficient, but not my preference. My mom and dad moved to GA before I was born. Both sets of grandparents owned farms in TN and KY that I could have hunted on if I'd grown up there. My maternal grandfather and Uncle were big hunters and I regret not having a chance to grow up around them. My grandfather was gassed during WW-1 and had health issues his whole life dying at age 63 when I was only 5. But I'm certain his only son and I would have gotten along great had I grown up around him.

As a result, I started hunting public land and actually prefer it. I've passed up opportunities to join hunting clubs because I find that type of hunting too restrictive. You HAVE to hunt from an assigned stand, overlooking a food plot or bait stand. They have some pretty restrictive rules. One club would let you kill any buck you wanted, but you had to get it mounted. That was to force guys to pass on younger deer. And after years of hunting some public land with 100,000+ acres even a 2000 acre hunt club felt like I was hunting on a postage stamp parcel of land.

I'm fortunate to live within a 2 hour drive of multiple Wildlife Management areas ranging in size from 20,000-100,000 acres. Since the 1990's I almost never see another hunter in the woods. Back in the 70's and 80's some of these areas were crowded, but today everyone wants to drive their ATV to their stand and hunt over bait on the hunt club. No one wants to walk 2-5 miles into the woods anymore.

Which is fine with me. I don't kill a lot of game. But I get a lot more enjoyment out of doing it the way I want to do it.

 

[d2wing]

I now hunt on a friend's land with an assigned stand. That's fine with me but I miss the days of sneaking through the woods tracking deer and finding ambush spots.
When I was a young man, I built stands from cut up saplings and baler twine in any handy tree crotch.

 

[Speedo66]

I hunted the Catskill Mts. in NYS for 35 years or so, never was in a stand. It was either my back against a tree wider than me to breakup my silhouette or up on a small hill overlooking some forest. Out in the frost before sunup, and stayed till dusk if I hadn't scored.

When I moved to my current state, a friend had a farm with an elevated fully enclosed stand with fold down plexiglass windows on all sides and a nicely padded office swivel chair. Each direction had the max range across the field to the tree line written on it. And a feeder pretty close to it.

Last time I was there a couple of years ago, a nice deer came out of the trees into an open field not 20 yards from me and just stood there looking around. I put my scope on him, finger on the trigger, and just said "pow" to myself. Never pulled the trigger. I got the deer as far as I was concerned, but no effort or dues paid. Last time I went deer hunting and don't think I will again.

 

[JumboJVT]

My crew still does it the old way here in VT. Mix of sneak-n-peek, tracking, stands (i.e. a Hot-Seat on a stump) and drives...all while clad in real old-fashioned wool. No one hunts from a stand that they didn't scout and prepare, and seldom does anyone pass on a legal buck. The traditions of how and where 6 or 8 generations of our ancestors have done this is, to a large extent, just as important as getting venison. We don't have the deer densities or as many monsters as in other places. But that makes each one, including the little 6 (160#) I got last week, that much more special: tracked him, jumped him from his bed, shot him on the run with the same old rifle I've been carrying for 42 deer seasons. And a mile drag out, just me and him. Perfect.

 

[Bazoo]

My crew still does it the old way here in VT. Mix of sneak-n-peek, tracking, stands (i.e. a Hot-Seat on a stump) and drives...all while clad in real old-fashioned wool. No one hunts from a stand that they didn't scout and prepare, and seldom does anyone pass on a legal buck. The traditions of how and where 6 or 8 generations of our ancestors have done this is, to a large extent, just as important as getting venison. We don't have the deer densities or as many monsters as in other places. But that makes each one, including the little 6 (160#) I got last week, that much more special: tracked him, jumped him from his bed, shot him on the run with the same old rifle I've been carrying for 42 deer seasons. And a mile drag out, just me and him. Perfect.

Thanks for sharing, now that’s hunting! Do you have a post on it?

 

[Bazoo]

I hunt my own way. I ground hunt. Sit there in the brush and cedars and ambush the deer on my 18 acres. Something akin to the old ways. I didn’t grow up hunting. And my family wasn’t into it. But I’m figuring it out slowly but surely now.

 

[Barbaroja]

That style of hunting is more efficient, but not my preference. My mom and dad moved to GA before I was born. Both sets of grandparents owned farms in TN and KY that I could have hunted on if I'd grown up there. My maternal grandfather and Uncle were big hunters and I regret not having a chance to grow up around them. My grandfather was gassed during WW-1 and had health issues his whole life dying at age 63 when I was only 5. But I'm certain his only son and I would have gotten along great had I grown up around him.

As a result, I started hunting public land and actually prefer it. I've passed up opportunities to join hunting clubs because I find that type of hunting too restrictive. You HAVE to hunt from an assigned stand, overlooking a food plot or bait stand. They have some pretty restrictive rules. One club would let you kill any buck you wanted, but you had to get it mounted. That was to force guys to pass on younger deer. And after years of hunting some public land with 100,000+ acres even a 2000 acre hunt club felt like I was hunting on a postage stamp parcel of land.

I'm fortunate to live within a 2 hour drive of multiple Wildlife Management areas ranging in size from 20,000-100,000 acres. Since the 1990's I almost never see another hunter in the woods. Back in the 70's and 80's some of these areas were crowded, but today everyone wants to drive their ATV to their stand and hunt over bait on the hunt club. No one wants to walk 2-5 miles into the woods anymore.

Which is fine with me. I don't kill a lot of game. But I get a lot more enjoyment out of doing it the way I want to do it.

I feel like your spot on with this. I just moved to Alabama and live more or less IN talladega National forest. I’m shocked by the lack of hunters around. I’ve been driving around a lot scouting and trapping and I’ve seen exactly 2 trucks pulled over on the forest roads doing what I would assume is hunting. It’s currently rifle season and I thought it would sound like a war zone here. Hard to say why…

 

[JDeere]

I can remember the days of 2x4s or spike steps to climb up on a board perched up in a tree to sit for hours. There were times I would just find a tree I could climb and set on a limb. I Carried some rope in my pocket so I could pull my rifle up after I got up in that tree. I was young then and all I wanted to do was hunt. The deer were not huge and if you saw a buck you shot it because if you didn't the next guy over would. You got doe permits depending on how many acres you had. Some lease owners would not give up those doe permits and would keep them for themselves. Ah the stories I could tell for hours. Times have changed and I am still hunting. Many years ago a guy I grew up with decided he would lease half of his ranch to myself and a couple of other buddies in deer country for a fair price. We have box blinds and feeders but are very selective in what we shoot. No young bucks allowed unless they are culls or true mature spikes. I have taken some nice bucks so I'm happy. I can remember when on opening morning you could hear shots all around. Those days are dwindling. Young people are not getting into hunting because they were never introduced to it. They would rather sit around with their damn phones or video games. If they have taken interest in it, land owners have priced leases out of reach for many. There is not a whole lot of public land available to hunt either around this state. Times are a changing and not for the better. Got one in the freezer so far this season with several weeks to go. Life is good...

 

[JumboJVT]

Thanks for sharing, now that’s hunting! Do you have a post on it?

A post? I've got pics on my phone, but there is nothing special visually about the deer. Never considered a post about it, its just what we do. And posting details isn't my thing, I guess maybe because of all the high-minded opinions I've read on here about shooting running game. I generally choose not to partake in that discussion. And I have a poor opinion about a lot of what is called hunting today: "shooting game" I'd call it...but no one cares (or should) about my opinion. But this thread is about the old ways, and that is something I am familiar with.

We're lucky here. Low deer densities mean low hunter densities, which translates into little posted private land away from the villages (eastern model: if its not posted, its open). Immediate to my home (and deer camp only two miles away) I stopped counting at 6000 un-posted, contiguous acres, which are also contiguous with 26,000 ac. of State land, so we have room to do our thing. To some extent, this is the "new" old way. Back in the 60's and 70's, there were exponentially more deer around here. Consequently, there were a lot of hunters from"away" and much posted land. A tracked buck almost certainly ran into someone else before your could get on him. But the old dairy farms have one-by-one gone away and the crop land returned to forest. Deer numbers are way down, hunters stopped coming and the posters went away. Many of my acquaintances, natives born and raised here, don't hunt here anymore opting for more productive places. But most don't have the centuries long connection to the area they hunt that our little group does. I do love to see pictures of those huge mid-western bucks...dream about them at night. But at the end of the day, that little 6pt is worth way more to me than any monster shot from a box blind set out by someone else on "managed" land. Not that I wouldn't do it, just that it wouldn't mean much. If I need to explain why...

 

[wombat13]

I own land with my BIL. Fully forested and no ag land around. There is 700’ of elevation change and a creek running through the property. So we can’t really hunt based on food source (all the same) and we can’t hunt based on water source because between the creek and springs there is water everywhere except the ridge tops.

I’ve found two things that are pretty reliable indicators of a good spot: the transition between relatively flat and relatively steep ground and places where there are broken down wood treestands. My theory is those old timers didn’t carry wood and tools into the woods if they weren’t sure it was a good spot. That theory has worked pretty well so far.

My theory on the land transition is that although deer can easily run up a slope that I would want ropes, that costs a lot of calories and calories are hard to come by. This is especially true in hunting season when they are staring down potentially 6 months of cold and hunger.

 

[Axis II]

I’ll be doing it old school tomorrow. Marlin 1895, sitting on the ground next to a tree.

 

[MacAR]

I guess I'm old school then. Grey plaid coat, SK, and a side by side loaded with 0 buck. Ease through the woods till I see something and then blast it. Or sit and wait by a creek or in an oak grove until something shows up. I like to use a 30-30 for that job, though. 60 yards is just a hair too far for the old scattergun. But it's put a lot of meat on the table for me just the same. When I was very young, hunting like this was the only way I had to fill the freezer. Then I bought the farm we live on now, and daddy gave me his '06, and I shoot 'em at 220 yards from the kitchen window, still in my pj's. Time marches on, I guess.

I still take the old scattergun out some, though. There's a spot below the house where the deer cross the creek in the early morning. The longest shot is about 50 feet, so a load of #4 or 0 buck is plenty good enough. But I might try my new Rossi trapper 357 on Saturday morning, be sorta hard to miss at that distance. There's not much better than carrying a good lever gun through the woods on a frosty morning.

Mac

 

[22250Rem]

Was out yesterday in a rifle zone from about 1 pm till dark. Old school style. Sitting on a hot seat, back against a tree with a .30-30. Got a picture of that scenario from last year here on the computer. .. No snow yesterday but took a picture of the 30-30 before I sat down. ... Wanted to get a pic of the Marlin on a freshly harvested whitetail but none were seen. Still enjoyed my retro style time in the woods, though.

 

[savagelover]

I hunted the Catskill Mts. in NYS for 35 years or so, never was in a stand. It was either my back against a tree wider than me to breakup my silhouette or up on a small hill overlooking some forest. Out in the frost before sunup, and stayed till dusk if I hadn't scored.

When I moved to my current state, a friend had a farm with an elevated fully enclosed stand with fold down plexiglass windows on all sides and a nicely padded office swivel chair. Each direction had the max range across the field to the tree line written on it. And a feeder pretty close to it.

Last time I was there a couple of years ago, a nice deer came out of the trees into an open field not 20 yards from me and just stood there looking around. I put my scope on him, finger on the trigger, and just said "pow" to myself. Never pulled the trigger. I got the deer as far as I was concerned, but no effort or dues paid. Last time I went deer hunting and don't think I will again.

Love your story. Sounds like myself..