Time Spent Afield...Today vs. "The Old Days"

[Natty Bumppo]

The side debate about hunters spending time afield today vs. in the past in the FEEDING DEER thread got me thinking a bit about hunting today vs. hunting in the old days. I'm 49, so my memories of hunting in the "old days" only go back to the mid-80's. But I spent and enjoyed many hours listening to the stories my gramp told about hunting deer and "grey-bobs" back in the old days.

Do hunters spend more time today afield? There are many variables to that one I think. Back in the 40's and 50's and 60's in New England (or at least in Western Mass.) bow hunting wasn't a thing, and there wasn't a muzzleloader season. Deer hunting was a 6 day season...that's it. My gramp took his Ithaca Deerslayer out for a few days and called it a deer season. No cams, no habitat work, no hanging stands and cutting shooting lanes. Today in Mass., I can hunt deer from mid-October to December 31st....two and a half months of deer hunting. I certainly spend many orders of magnitude more time in the field hunting deer than my gramp did.

On the other hand, most men back then had beagles and belonged to Hound and Hunt clubs. My gramp devoted all of his leisure time to running rabbits. He was constantly running his beagles and hunting "grey-bobs" and snowshoes with his buddies, spending 5, 6, 7 hours on the mountain, putting on many miles each day. His was a life spent in the woods, not necessarily as deer hunter, but as a hard weathered woodsman and outdoorsman.

I'd enjoy hearing your opinions and experiences of hunting in the old days from some of the older guys and from hunters from other parts of our country. I am a typical dyed in the wool New England deer hunter. Yet, I know very little about the traditions and history of hunting down south and in the mid-west for example.

My opinion....I think today hunters do probably spend more time "afield" because of bow seasons and muzzleloader seasons, extended deer seasons, checking cams, hanging stands, habitat work, more vacation time to chase deer, etc. However...right or wrong, fair or not, IMHO, I do think that more "time afield" today looks a lot more like this.....



...and less and less like this.



A lot more like this guy....




...and less and less like this one...



...or this one (my gramp).




What say you?

 

[bigbendmarine]

Trampledbyturtles, not sure I understand the photos... just from various times spent outdoors? Especially curious about the Chichen Itza photo. You there now? I visited the site once, but about 30 years ago.

 

[H20fwler]

I know when I was younger I hunted a lot harder because of the passion and drive of youth, I would belly crawl across a muddy plowed field to get a chance at a Canada goose back in the late 70's and I was only allowed to shoot one. Everyone always shot the first legal deer that came by, passing on a buck would have made you look crazy. We ran beagles too and hunted in pretty big groups of family and friends a few times a year killing a lot of bunnies and a few pheasants...not so many bunnies now and the pheasants are gone so are most of the fence rows and old grown over homesteads we hunted. The army surplus clothes were cold and hardly anyone had much camo...it seemed like there were way more ducks especially divers but the limits were low with season shorter and I wore rubber waders that always leaked, everyone trapped and a road killed raccoon wouldn't last an hour laying on the berm.

Now we have way more deer and almost everyone has the chance to take a big buck every year and Canada geese are everywhere... we have turkeys and coyotes to hunt too. The waterfowl season stretches from September to February and so does the deer season. I hunt as many days if not more than I used too but I hunt different and way more comfortably but it is a lot more individual time now, hardly anyone rabbit hunts and the bulk of my deer hunting is with a bow...a bow that is light years better than the one I first used. My sons are just as passionate about hunting as I was back in the day but they are way better heeled all the way around than I was.
It's rare to just knock on a door and get permission to hunt, a lot of ground is leased up and there are way more houses in the country now.

Some things are better, especially hunting gear...some things I miss like the first day of rabbit season and deer season almost being a state holiday.

 

[trampledbyturtles]

Yeah marine, my bad, didnt have any neat history stuff to compare with. So I thought id throw up some photos from afield. Show there is still some adventure to be had.

Got back a couple weeks ago, mind blowing what they were able to create.

Will take it down since it not really relivent to the topic at hand.

But yeah agree, fear we loosing some of our traditions. Wish I could back an hear all the tales.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Trampled, dont take them down on my account! Cool pics, and I too was awed seeing Chichen Itza!

 

[Baker]

Growing up I hunted all day and all night everything that moved. When hunting season was over I fished all day and all night till hunting season came around. As stated above I would belly crawl across a muddy field anytime anywhere for anything. When hormones kicked in and I discovered girls something had to give. So I cut back on fishing...a little. Hunting season gave me the opportunity to drop the old girlfriend and start anew when season was over. Ah the teenage years.

All that was great. Today I spend all year outdoors with activities shifting around seasonal opportunity . Hunting has shifted from shooting something to more of a year round lifestyle far more multifaceted. At 64 I get to spend far more time afield today than when younger and school, career, females, shorter term demands, etc all took precedent. The hunting is incomparably better now, and I'm far more relaxed about it. But the fire and passion of youthful drive had much to do with the circumstance I find myself in today. And the fire and passion of today has expanded to a much larger palette . Reflecting back, one beget the other and its all wonderful. I am so happy I was born and raised in the Sportsmans Paradise..Louisiana!

 

[Mortenson]

Good topic. My dad is a 1st generation hunter, so not a lot of deep tradition in our family, but still good tradition. Like many, we now spend most our time afield deer hunting, and much less small game than we used to. But as a kid there were no turkeys around, and now they're abundant, so we have quality turkey hunts, too. My kids got their 1st bb gun this week. In coming years, they'll definitely get the thrill of small game hunting. Here's a pic of our beagle, Ike, after his last rabbit hunt. He had a lot of white for a beagle, but he was a good rabbit dog. I think I was a senior, so probably winter of '95.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I started hunting at age 12 - 1st legal age in Pa. back then. 1970. No mentored hunts. But I spent many hours in the woods & fields before I could hunt with my Dad and uncles. I learned to identify animal tracks, edible berries, and various trees. Those men took the time to spend with us kids to teach us such things. Just about every boy in school hunted in some way.

Dad & my uncles spent every weekend hunting rabbits, grouse, pheasants & the occasional woodcock. In those days, farm fields in the fall had orange-clad hunters walking in rows small game hunting. Hunters were everywhere. Not so today. I rarely see the orange hunters in fields anymore. Habitat is much reduced - no tree/brush rows, no expanses of weedy, briar-filled ag land, & corn fields are cut to 2" stubble these days. In the old days, farmers harvested their corn and the fields were all bent-over corn stalks about 2' to 3' tall with loose grain scattered throughout. No those corn fields are bare - vacuum cleaner bare. We hunted numbers of weedy fields full of goldenrod, briars, and hawthorn. Many of those lands are now housing developments. I haven't seen a pheasant in years.

Deer season used to be 2 weeks and 2 days - the 2 days being doe season the Monday and Tuesday following the close of "buck" season. The first day of buck season - the Monday following Thanksgiving - was a holiday of sorts. Schools closed, many factories did too, or were at much reduced capacity. Miles of vehicles would jam the highways of Pa. all headed north into the mountains and the "big woods". Now, the weekend after Thanksgiving, the highways are largely the same as any other day of the year. No traffic back-ups for miles anymore. Less & less hunters today, and the ones who comprise the hunting crowd are an older vintage. Younger folks aren't taking up the outdoor sports like they once did.

Back then, any buck with a spike of 3" got shot. Today, more nice racks & heavier bodies are found because of some antler restrictions here, and more camps planting food plots, apple, crab, & pear trees. Hunters are less apt to pull the trigger on a basket 5 or 6 pt. - even though legal. There are definitely more big bucks today than years ago. Deer numbers overall are less, especially in the northern "big woods" counties. But deer sizes are definitely up.

Turkeys are everywhere today. Back in 1965, Dad and my one uncle saw a couple turkeys while I was with them on a woods walk in October. It was like they found El Dorado gold !! Not many turkeys back then compared to today.

Another thing I miss is - in the days of yore, smaller sporting goods shops catered to hunters & fishermen. An evening or Saturday visit to one found 6 or 8 guys sitting in chairs talking rabbit hounds, cartridges, trapping, buck sightings, bear sightings, etc. The smell of Hoppes #9 was always in the air in those shops, and the owners would be leaning on the counters shootin' the sh*t with the guys sitting in the chairs !! They still made sales, but they weren't pushy. They knew once the locals were done spinning tales, they'd be buying something. If you were a young kid, this environment was nirvana !! Hunting stories flowed like water and we hung on every word. My first fishing and hunting equipment & clothes were from such a place. After Dad bought me my first fishing pole, the owner - Baron Sortman - handed me several lures to use for free, with the instructions - "Don't tell your Dad I gave you these." Men like him fed our fire. Those days are gone - replaced by sterile, corporate, shopping mall sporting goods stores where the people working in them don't hunt and don't know a 12 ga. from a .270. I MISS those old timers !!!

 

[ksgobbler]

They say hunter numbers are decreasing yet in the waterfowl world pressure ratchets up every year. The amount of pressure is insane compared to a couple decades ago.

 

[IkemanTx]

I think you have always had the two camps, even “back in the day”.

You had the guys that deer season was just another game in a year FULL of hunting and being afield, and then you had the crowd of guys that “religiously” hunted that 6 day season and never thought about going out otherwise. I think both considered themselves serious hunters.

Fast forward to modern day, and I feel you have the same dichotomy. You have guys that show up a couple days before season, spray the cobwebs and wasps out of their box blinds, and make sure the farmer left the beans/corn standing that was agreed upon and with the whole season looking at the same view... only to do it all again next year. You also have guys that put hundreds of miles on their boots foraging mushrooms, shed hunting, chasing turkeys, picking berries and soft mast, scouting pre-season, food plotting, and hunting every imaginable season.

I do think there has been a shift recently with younger hunters and outdoorsmen being afield as a lifestyle, rather than just being a “hunter”. Social media, especially photography focused sites like Instagram, have brought back the nostalgia of hunting to a group of the general public that may have had no other positive hunting influence or example.

I have also seen a recent shift in how the industry, and hunters themselves, present and talk about hunting that has helped drastically with how it is excepted by the non-hunting public. Less grip and grin clips, and less impact/kill shot focused filming has really helped.


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[IkemanTx]

I think you have always had the two camps, even “back in the day”.

You had the guys that deer season was just another game in a year FULL of hunting and being afield, and then you had the crowd of guys that “religiously” hunted that 6 day season and never thought about going out otherwise. I think both considered themselves serious hunters.

Fast forward to modern day, and I feel you have the same dichotomy. You have guys that show up a couple days before season, spray the cobwebs and wasps out of their box blinds, and make sure the farmer left the beans/corn standing that was agreed upon and with the whole season looking at the same view... only to do it all again next year. You also have guys that put hundreds of miles on their boots foraging mushrooms, shed hunting, chasing turkeys, picking berries and soft mast, scouting pre-season, food plotting, and hunting every imaginable season.

I do think there has been a shift recently with younger hunters and outdoorsmen being afield as a lifestyle, rather than just being a “hunter”. Social media, especially photography focused sites like Instagram, have brought back the nostalgia of hunting to a group of the general public that may have had no other positive hunting influence or example.

I have also seen a recent shift in how the industry, and hunters themselves, present and talk about hunting that has helped drastically with how it is excepted by the non-hunting public. Less grip and grin clips, and less impact/kill shot focused filming has really helped.


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[SwampCat]

I started hunting in 1960. I spend more time hunting now, but only because I am retired. If it wasnt for that, I would be spending about the same amount of time. But, I now spend a lot more time deer hunting and hog hunting. Used to deer hunt a little and quail hunt, rabbit hunt, turkey hunt, duck hunt, and squirrel hunt a lot. We still have squirrels, but quail, rabbits, and turkeys are for the most gone. Ducks are going down. Deer, hogs, and predators provide the hunting opportunity now.

 

[Bill]

I started just after Bowsnbucks in the PA woods. Prior to that a group of friends pretty much spent every day we could stomping for bunnies, quail, squirrels the occasional tweety bird. But Monday after thanksgiving in PA was a religion.

If you were on stand the morning the school bus started running your chances of killing a buck was about 85% less than they were on Monday. Bus started running again on Wednesday. Back then I thought it was because most of the bucks were killed by then. Today I realize it was because 85% of the guys that were out stalking deer went back to work or school and there was no Deer drivers bumbling around pushing them ;)

Those days were fun! Guys wanted a deer period. A big one was nice, but a buck would do. I miss the old timers too. Those guys were hard. I kinda cringe at the thought of them looking down on me in a stand with a pair of gloves that was made specifically so I could work my touch screen. And if they ever saw some of the bucks I’ve let walk since those years they’d backhand me.

Where it’s headed? Don’t know but there are some pretty serious young hunter that I’ve encountered over the past few years. Maybe not as many but more passionate.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I for certain hunt more hours today then I did years ago. With bow, and rifle seasons, plus the fact I sit in a heated enclosed shack during rifle season I spend 10 hours a day for 9 days. I also hunt much smarter.

Years ago I would hunt 6 days of gun season, and only prime times. I am 48, and haven’t missed a season since I was 12.

 

[TreeDaddy]

in Texas, "opening morning" is tantamount to "Christmas morning" in terms of year round anticipation

bill

 

[Native Hunter]

The farm I now hunt deer on and post many pictures of is the one I grew up on. You guys will find this hard to believe this, but when I was growing up there was not a single deer on that farm - and not a single deer within 30 miles. I went on my first deer hunt at around 13 years old, and we drove nearly 3 hours to hunt on public land.

By the time I was 18, there were rumors of a few deer here and there in our area, but I never saw one on the home place until I was in my 20s, and it was just passing through.

However, i grew up small game hunting. Squirrels were plentiful in some years, but rabbits and quail were not usually very abundant. I also had many treeing hounds and hunted coons and squirrels with these. My dad started taking me hunting when I was very small, and I loved it. I hunted a lot with family and friends back in those days, and the memories are just precious.

I cherish the memories of those days but also cherish the ones currently being made with me and my son hunting together. This year was incredible for us and the last few years have been good.

BTW: I never saw a turkey on our land until I was in my 30s. Yesterday, I counted 102 turkeys in the soybean field that borders my farm. Yes, the old memories are great, but the new memories are great too.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The biggest difference I see today here in Pa. is the lack of small game hunting. In the 60's and 70's, just like you ate breakfast in the morning - on Saturdays you went small game hunting. Guys were passionate about their rabbit hounds, grouse dogs, and their favorite smoothbore. I never hear anyone talking about rabbit or pheasant hunting these days. Rabbits are still around, though good habitat is much less than in days past. I haven't seen a pheasant in 20+ years ANYWHERE.

My sons go out small game hunting with friends for rabbits and grouse, but they never seem to run into other hunters afield.

 

[Native Hunter]

The biggest difference I see today here in Pa. is the lack of small game hunting. In the 60's and 70's, just like you ate breakfast in the morning - on Saturdays you went small game hunting. Guys were passionate about their rabbit hounds, grouse dogs, and their favorite smoothbore. I never hear anyone talking about rabbit or pheasant hunting these days. Rabbits are still around, though good habitat is much less than in days past. I haven't seen a pheasant in 20+ years ANYWHERE.

My sons go out small game hunting with friends for rabbits and grouse, but they never seem to run into other hunters afield.

Bows, we still have several rabbit hunters around here but not as many as in the past. For some reason, pheasants can't live here, and we have never had any. Do you have any idea why your pheasants have disappeared?

 

[Orlando]

Natty, This is a Great Thread!

56 year old Kansan here. As a youngster, bird season (pheasant and quail) was the biggest. Every year on opening day, each small town had breakfast and/or lunch for the hunters as a money maker. The motels were booked a year in advance for the that weekend and pickups with dog boxes were everywhere. I used to hunt dawn to dark every weekend and take some vacation to do the same. This happened until mid-2000's when we lost our bird population. I really miss the days hunting with close friends behind our dogs. There are relatively very few bird hunters anymore.
I shot my first pheasant and quail on my grandfathers farm. There were very few trees at that time and no deer. Today, there are a lot of trees in areas. And I have been successful on deer the last three years. I see some quail and pheasants but rarely hunt them - maybe one day a year. Most of our land has come out of the CRP program. This has had an effect on the bird population. But, I believe the biggest factor decimating our bird population the West Nile virus.

I started bow hunting in 1984 and had way more land to hunt than time to hunt it. Bow hunters were very rare. I had not stands but would climb a tree and perch on a limb along a trail (can't climb them these days). Fast forward to today and most land is leased. There seems to be more bow than rifle hunters. I bought the family farm in 2001 as it was clear that the best way to insure my children would have a place to hunt is if I owned it. I still bow or crossbow hunt for deer (out of ladder stands) but spend much more time working on habitat improvement.

Some of my fondest days afield were as a teenager with my buddies hunting rabbits with our 22's. Rabbits are hard to find now. We don't have all the plum thickets and weed patches we used to.

Turkeys were re-introduced to the area in the early 80's. I do see a lot of turkeys but only hunt every several years as it seems I have other obligations at that time of year.

I started trapping in the 7th grade and lived for that as well as calling coyotes. The late 70's and early 80's were good times for the fur market. At $40.00 a coon hit on the highway wouldn't stop sliding before someone picked it up. Coyotes were bringing $50. That was great money for a kid at that time. But, there was a lot of competition for places to trap. Stopped trapping for a number of years but ramped back up while my son was in high school. I have great memories of running the trap line with my son. Now he takes me duck hunting ...when his buddies can't go:)

Hunting is still good. It's just different...sure would go for some fried rabbit about now...but will have to eat deer instead.

 

[FarmerDan]

I started hunting at age 12 - 1st legal age in Pa. back then.
Dad & my uncles spent every weekend hunting rabbits, grouse, pheasants & the occasional woodcock. In those days, farm fields in the fall had orange-clad hunters walking in rows small game hunting. Hunters were everywhere.

Deer season used to be 2 weeks and 2 days - the 2 days being doe season the Monday and Tuesday following the close of "buck" season. The first day of buck season - the Monday following Thanksgiving - was a holiday of sorts. Schools closed, many factories did too, or were at much reduced capacity. Miles of vehicles would jam the highways of Pa. all headed north into the mountains and the "big woods". Now, the weekend after Thanksgiving, the highways are largely the same as any other day of the year. No traffic back-ups for miles anymore.

Back then, any buck with a spike of 3" got shot.

Turkeys are everywhere today. Back in 1965, Dad and my one uncle saw a couple turkeys while I was with them on a woods walk in October. It was like they found El Dorado gold !! Not many turkeys back then compared to today.

I MISS those old timers !!!

No, No, No! You can't have my story! LOL! My story, except I was 12 in 1965.

Fast forward to Virginia and it's hard to find a day when there isn't something to hunt. I was just doing some hunt club work and checking the number of days we can hunt deer in what we call the regular gun season mid November to to the first Saturday in January. It's 47 days. But wait, there's a 14-day muzzle loader season previous to that and a four week archery season prior to that. It's a marathon!