Brad, I agree with you. In many ways, these are the 'good old days', especially in terms of elk, pronghorn, and whitetail hunting. As far as at least Oregon mule deer hunting is concerned, it's just not the same as back when I was hunting that ranch in central Oregon. The numbers of deer just aren't in our state any more, and I doubt we'll ever see the kind of mule deer again throughout the west like we did in the old days.

You ought to read Bert Kleinburger's book, "This is the Greatest Hunting Era". His premise is pretty much the same as yours.

AD

I don't want to argue with anyone about WHEN the good old days were. You would have to have lived in both eras and make up your own mind about which was better.

Suffice it to say if I had to choose between then and now.......I'd go back to then.

One thing for sure is NOW we've got a hell of a lot more gadgets.

Back then we had to guess range. Now we can laser it.

Back then a 4x scope was king and only the "rich hunters" had such things. Today every kid on the block has at least a 3x9 variable and a lot of guys have scopes on their rifles that cost more than the rifles! (I've never gotten used to that notion.)

Back then people could hunt most anywhere, anytime. Today, you may get shot for trespass if you pull off the road to change a flat tire.

Back then a varmit hunter had to do his own calling and a lot of us learned mouth calling because it was better than the two or three calls available. Today people call electronically and they don't have to really know much more than how to hit a play button.

Back then military surplus rifles and pistols could be purchased UNISSUED thru the mail and for well under $100 bucks. Today people think they have stumbled onto a treasure if they find a piece of military junk for $300.

Back then I could by a NEW...UNISSUED Thompson Submachine Gun with two extra clips for $79 bucks and the transfer stamp. Today? Hahahahahaaha

Back then people with guns were considered hunters and patriots..."modern day militia men."
Today they are considered by many to be borderline sociopaths...who needs us?

Yeah...I'll go back to THEN in a heart beat. I don't need the gadgets. I had more fun without them.

I'm only 29, but I think I started hunting somewhere towards the end of the "good ol days". I had a long walk to the bus stop every morning, and in the fall, I'd take my shotgun and walk a wheat strip to the bus stop and shoot doves on the way. My dog would come with of course, and when I got on the bus, he'd chase us down the road for a half mile, then turn around and walk home. A nice man lived at the end of the road where I got on the bus, and it was at his place where I stored my gun, ammo, and dead things till I got home from school. Then I'd hunt my way back to the house. One day, I shot a rattlesnake on the way, so of course, I had to take that to school with me. Everyone thought that was pretty cool, but the bus driver was pissed. When I got my drivers license, I started driving to school. I worked at a trap range, and did lots of shooting after work, so I'd just bring my shotgun to school with me. I'd hang it in a gunrack in the window of my old beat up truck. I once did a speach on how to clean a Glock when I was in 10th grade. They didn't care that I brought the pistol to class, as long as it was not loaded. Times have really, really changed in a hurry. Now, that walk to the bus stop is littered with trophy homes, the dirt road is paved, and bringing a Glock to class will get you on the news.

Blue,
Since you asked, I'll put in my two cents. In California the Dept of Fish and Game is over-ruled by the popular vote and the legislature. Each year the DFG suggests a doe hunt and each year the legslature vetoes it so we have a bunch of barren does eating up the little habitat that is left and not reproducing. Added to this is the rampant proliferation of lion which the DFG would like to control but again the do-gooder treehuggers got an initiative on the state ballot and were able to ban lion hunting. So a housewife in LA has more say in game management than the trained wildlife biologists. What a F***ed up state!

Addendum to the above. I remember the year we killed 28 bucks on the first weekend of deer season on our ranch and the only reason we didn't kill more is my grandfather(not known for his conservation) made us stop by noon on Sunday. This year we never saw one legal buck but I did jump a lion.

I also remember when there were no automatic feeders. You "still hunted" or glassed from a hide.

Blacktailer, I hope you turned that lion into maggot meat. (shoot, shovel and say nothing) Please don't reply, just my sentiments from So. Cal.

To add to the topic of this thread; During the '60's in Western N.Y. our bus driver Roy was our local gun and tackle shop proprietor. I recall on several occasions where grown men waited beside the road in front of their homes for the school bus, not to take them to school but to get their rifle or shotgun delivered or picked up to be worked on. I still have the 50 Cal case and bullet I bought from Roy with my milk money.
With prior arrangement students were allowed to bring their firearm to school so that they could go and stay at a friends to hunt over the weekend.
One morning my friend and I were walking out of town with our shotguns over our shoulders and a guy in a pickup stopped and asked us what we were hunting for. We replied, "Pheasants." He directed us right to our quarry. We had no idea who's property it was but then again, no one took notice unless there were "No Trespassing" or "Posted" signs. We respected the meaning of those signs. In most cases when one asked permission to hunt on those properties it was granted.
Farmers would "invite" the local deer hunters to reduce the deer herds on their farms.
Oh, and our fights were with our fists, not with weapons.

I believe one of our biggest problems today is to many paved roads. Everything seemed simpler when there were more dirt roads.
bill

I'll take the "Good ole Days" anyday to the present.Hunting was much better and Hunting pressure was almost nill.Any place in the State was Either Sex anything all in one hunt.Now we still do have that in one area but it is slowly going away.

I never saw Orange painted tree's(Private property)but now there everywhere and for good reason from the idiots shooting Cattle and Horses as Elk on private land.The 4x Weaver and Redfield were great scopes and worked just fine.The 30-30 and .300 Savage killed Elk without a verbal beating.Factory ammo worked like a charm and you could build a Horse Trailer for under 500 Dollars.Honda 90's and Yamaha 80-Step thru's were second only to the "ToteGoat" for packing out game and getting back in to your spot if you didn't have Horses.Now 4-wheelers are everywhere at 5,000 bucks or more each(New).

It's the old days for me.Much simpler and more productive.There's rules for everything it seems now as Hunters cruise the roads-Road Hunting in there $35,000 Dollar trucks..I remember my folks buying there 3 Bedroom House in the Country Club Manor(Boise Idaho) for $15,000. dollars.

Times sure have changed............

Jayco.

"Tote Goat" - Boy, Jayco, that word takes me back! A friend I hunted everything with had one of those devils and we tried to ride it up and down the Sacramento Mtns in southern New Mexico. It beat us to death for our trouble. Way too rocky.

But we did have a hell of a lot of fun on it in other places like the sand dune country and desert areas. It shined there if the sand wasn't too soft.

The thing I learned from Tote Goats was the rider had to have sense enough to know WHERE to ride them and where NOT to ride them. If you didn't, it would sure give you a liberal education in a hurry.

I agree with what you're saying. Hunting has become too much of a "gadget game." We can upgrade and upgrade and upgrade...but the poor old deer and antelope are about the same as when the pilgrams landed.

Too many hunters today don't really know how to hunt.

Pecos--more specifically than New Mexico, where are you from and what's your era? I grew up in N. New Mexico, graduated from Los Alamos in '65. Spent a lot of time on the ranch over in Villanueva.

Recollect a lot of the things mentioned. Bought gas regularly for $.27, during gas wars (a thing of the past) it was well below 20 cents. Cheapest I recall seeing was 11 cents. I recall big billboards advertising a new Ford F100 for $1999. We bought powder, even 1# cans, at the sporting goods store for $.85 (or less). "Herter's World Famous"--that was something. If they didn't sell it, you really didn't need it! Shotgun shells were paper, and I well recall the first plastic ones--kind of wierd and not much good cause you couldn't reload them. The trap range was operated by a guy working a big mechanical handle to cock the machine down in the trap house, where a guy (me) was putting birds on each through. "Pull" was to tell the operator to pull back on the lever the last bit to trigger the throw. We hadn't heard of hunter orange, but for big game hunting, my dad always thought it was a good idea to wear red or, a little later, yellow. 4 wheel drive pick-ups were a big deal, very costly compared to standard pick-ups and few people had them. Some guys had jeeps, but you had to take out the free hub and replace it with a lock hub to engage the front, and this relacement was removing a bunch of bolts, etc., and took about 30 minutes (if all went well). We not only used to take our guns in our vehicles to school, but took them to shop class to work on them. Couple of guys actually made guns in shop class. The schools were closed for at least a couple days during the first week of deer season. In '54 I remember my dad getting a new (actually, new to him only) fishing boat and a monster outboard (it was truly new) that was a 17 horse Mercury. Damn few boats could out run us, as only 2 bigger motors existed--25 horse Evinrude or Johnson (same) or a 40 horse Mercury, but both of those were too big for most boats, and too heavy for most people. Incidently, I didn't live in NM then, it was WA. We water skied behind that 17 horse Merc. I remember when the .338 Win Mag came out. My dad decided he had to have one of those for elk. I have that Model 70 to this day (and use it). Like many have mentioned, me and my buds would take our shooters out "unchaperoned" all the time, no biggie. No boy would think of not having a pocket knife in his pocket, and getting it out in class if something needed trimming or whatever--maybe just to compare, no problem. Enough.

Pecos-I've been pretty lucky for learning the Hunt and especially "Getting them Out".Horses most of the time but then my Dad sold them.So I bought some at 17....Well the cost of Horses have been debated for years for Hunting only!I have hauled out Deer and Elk on...Remember the Yamaha 80 Step-thru(Yamaha's answer to the Honda 90 then) and Honda 90.Deer aren't bad on them..But put a quarter of an Elk on one and your in for some work.Works best on the seat centered Horizontilly sitting on the meat part of the quarter.

Tote Goats are closer to the ground with a centrifical clutch aka automatic type and less stress at least to me at a young age than the cheaply built Honda's(Not for packing Elk out).

I used to race and run dirt bikes and it's a workout but put an Elk Quarter on a Honda 90 or equivelent on a normal Trail with dead weight shift and it makes racing look easy.Not really but it is better than the old shoulder meathod.

Jayco.

Arts - Jayco: Man you guys are hitting me where I live. I remember those outboards, Arts. Our first boat had a Johnson 30 on it and Merc 55s ruled the sea.

And I remember the days before hunter orange. I wore the red crap and red hunting cap. One afternoon during deer season I decided I was too hot and was going to strip off some of my under clothing. I propped my rifle against a tree and got to hopping around strippin off layers of clothing as it had been cold as hell when I left camp that morning before sun-up. Anyway about the time I got half stripped a big mule deer doe ran practically up within hand shaking distance of me. We both stood there wondering what to do and all of a sudden bullets started flying all around both of us. The deer ran for her life and I looked down to see that I was stripped off to a khaki shirt, about the same color as the deer and the bullets were still popping over my head. My pants were down around my ankles and all I could do was dive under a big fallen tree. After a couple more rounds whistled over me the shooting stopped.

I lay there a bit and finished changing cloths lying down...with my RED on the outside...then crawled over to my rifle. After 15 more minutes I worked up the nerve to see who was trying to bag me but never saw anyone.

That was the closest I ever came to going home tied across someone's hood with my tongue hanging out.

Them were the days. Nothing like someone trying to put a bullet thru your ribs to get the "juices flowing."

Me too Jayco, Our boat had a 16 horse Johnson for going to fishing spots and a two and a half horse Johnson to use when we got there. Both motors have opposed cylinders that fire at the same time. The 16 horse would do 5500 RPM. I still have both motors. I traded for a semi hydro with a 10 horse merc hurrican when I was a junior in High School. As soon as I had the money I put a "quick silver" lower unit on it. I could do close to 40 mph with it. As you say, those were the days.

You got that right Skinner. Even in the 50s those 40 HP mercs were great. I have good memories of sking behind one. My 16 HP Johnson is a 1929 model. A friend's father had a 1930 22 HP Johnson. That was in 1949 or 1950. I thought that was the ultimate when I was twelve.

Just about to turn 60 and been hunting since I was 14.
My first shotgun was borrowed from the neighbor a 12ga Winchester Model 97. Offered to sell it to me for $25 but I wanted something that looked sportier. Hunted my grandparents farm around Zeeland MI. No problem with a 14 year old walking the fields along with my 10 year old cousin.
Then I bought my first new deer rifle in 1967 at K-Mart. They were having a pre-season hunting sale, bought a new Marlin 336 in 35rem for $67 along with a box of Remington 200gr. shells that cost $3.87. I still have the rifle and almost a half box of those original shells.
Now the one thing I don't miss is the clothing and boots available back then. If I remember I wore tennis shoes inside of the old 6 buckle black rubber boots. I'd put heavy wool socks over my tennis shoes to help me stay warm. Old wool black/red check hunting jacket over layers of flannel shirts and sweat shirits, didn't know any better back then about wearing cotton to try and stay warm.
My first trip "up north" for deer was in 1967. I drove my new Mustang Convert way back into the deer woods, lucky there was only a little snow on the ground. I bought that Mustang loaded with a high-pro 289, 4 speed, and 8-track sterio for $3200, but then I was only making $3.75/hr after graduating from collage with a BS.
I think the good old days are better remembered than they actually were

I surely agree with you about the boots & clothing, with one exception--we had wool then (maybe couldn't afford much of it) and we have wool now. For my money, it's still the best for most applications. But I can afford more of it now days!

Pecos,

I recently bumped into a neighbor I grew up with and we got disgussing what we now do for work and he said "you were always a tinkerer". Boy did that ever ring true, he was so right. Tote goats and outboard motors, gotta love um! LMAO!

Do you also remember Rokons? Kind of a super Tote goat. When I was a kid my uncle had an "old yeller" and I thought it was the neatest thing I ever saw. Now I have one in my garage. They dont ride much better than Tote goats, nor do they go much faster, but thats not the reason for having one.

I'm only 30 but I remember when I first started hunting when I was 12 in Oregon My dad payed 6.50 or 7 one of the two for a deer tag and you could buy the tag over the counter to hunt in eastern Oregon now it cost 19 dollars I think and we have the draw. First time we hunted when we moved there we hunted outside of Shaniko and there were deer everywhere then had the bad winter and it seems like the deer herds never really recovered. In the 80's you couldn't give away a mini 14 a good used ruger 77 you could get for less than 300 or a brand new ruger cost a little over 300. I remember My dad bought me a new ruger at Bi-Mart on sale for about 350.00. My first rifle was savage 99 in a 243 with the brass counter my dad paid somewhere around 100 bucks for it the guy neede money then he got me a savage in a 7 mag with a Leopold scope for 150 I think it was around christmas time and the guy needed money boy those were the good ol days. The trucks in the High School parking lot had gunracks in them now days they will call the cops if you have guns on school property and haul your ass off to jail.