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Old timer deer hunters

34 now been hunting for 20 years and only bowhunted for 3 years my first bow was an old bear whitetail hunter given to me. Played around got it sighted in in the back yard opening morning shot a 8 pointer and the arrow went in like an inch and a half. Never found that deer but tracked him for over a mile until he went into standing corn the arrow came out a few rows in and was no more blood. I was hooked though I bought a Browning XJ8 Coyote from a friend $40 the next week and read up on tuning figured it out and got sighted in went out the next weekend and sat on the ground next to an evergreen and low and behold another 8 pointer walked by I drew back shot and let her fly clean pass through at 8 yards moved up to the bow madness PSE now hoping for a true "big guy"
 
The old balls thread, but amusing to reminisce!

I started when I was 8, I'm 35 now. Sights didn't have fiber optics or lights. Shooting releases were those silver hooks that if you weren't careful they popped off and broke your nose. Pucketts blood trailer expandable heads were the only mechanical broadhead. Thunderhead and muzzy were the standard in broadheads. Myles Keller was the man backthen. Scent Shield was the only spray to eliminate odor. Trail camera had a string and tripped a watch to tell you what time something walked by, no pics, just a time.

Lots of leaps and bounds, some good some bad, still fun!
 
Great stuff everyone!!

Been at it since 91, am 33 now. Some very fond memories of those early days. Still remember very vividly the day my dad and I went out the first time.

I remember check stations(MO), was such a great time to bring in a deer, talk to everyone else and see what else was harvested that day. Boy what I would give to have some really good pics from back in those days.

We had to put in for any-deer tags first, then for a bonus tag, then for two. Boy were we happy campers if we were lucky enough to draw 2 bonus tags!! Used to be harder to find a place I could not hunt than the other way around like it is today. People never bought land for hunting back then.

Aging a buck involved storing it in the walk in cooler longer and that was it :D
 
46 been bowhuntin since 15. Think one of the bigger changes has to be the price of admission to partake in the addiction; but as long as the rush is still there I suppose I'll pay to play. Bought my own place all the equip now hooked on the habitat and food plot thing along with everything else still the best high in the world. IMO

Sent from my iPhone using IW
 
150 Class said:
I can't believe how many of you "young pups" reply to this as if you are an old timer.
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I way thinking the same thing as I typed my response up. Figured the old goats would eventually get on this thread and learn us pups some manners.
 
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First deer hunt at 16 (1964). Season was 4 days long. All licenses were on a draw and any-sex. Cost $10, which toke some saving up for. Could get at least 3 gallon of gas for a $1 then. Tickled to find out my first deer was a button buck instead of the doe I thought. Deer were hard to come by then. It's still hard to wait for a big one but I'm getting a little better at it. I'm so old I remember when Central Iowa was just a wee tyke. :) If the excitement of just even seeing deer ever goes away just call the mortician, cause I'm ready for whatever is next...
 
This thread made me realize I have been deer hunting for 27 years! Damn I feel old now! :) I remember painting my sight pins with new white paint the night before the opener. Arm guards, over-draws and jumpy, noisy bows. The Hoyt Raider was my first compound until I upgraded to the PSE Thunderflight. :) Tree-bark camo and wooden pallet stands. 1971 Chevy flat bed, two wheel drive pickup could get stuck on a dog turd so I spent more time getting un-stuck than actually hunting it seemed! :D I was broke back then and anything brown was gonna go down. A man had to eat! Nobody knew what "shed hunting" was and "Outfitters" were only found out West.
 
1975, 2nd buck, don't laugh that was my favorite hunting outfit :0
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AIRASSAULT said:
Looks like you still have your same lucky hat in your avatar pic! Nice work
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Still have it but retired it and bought a new one almost like it 2 years ago. I still carry the old one in the bottom of my pack, who knows maybe that is my good luck piece :)
 
muddy said:
I way thinking the same thing as I typed my response up. Figured the old goats would eventually get on this thread and learn us pups some manners.
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Young pup = younger than me.
Old goat, or old timer = older than me.

With that, I am not qualified to post any more responses to this post. One more time though, it is a little comical how many young pups are responding to this one.
 
What is long gone now, unless it's P&Y/B&C is respect for the animal! We have 8 year old kids worrying about the score!!!!!! :thrwrck: Who taught them that???????? It just ain't as much fun as it use to be!!
 
Crockett said:
What is long gone now, unless it's P&Y/B&C is respect for the animal! We have 8 year old kids worrying about the score!!!!!! :thrwrck: Who taught them that???????? It just ain't as much fun as it use to be!!
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Quit!

:way:
 
This thread got me thinking of the days gone by.Its hard to think that we had to draw for a lic. 43 yrs ago started at 10. When i was 12 got my bow because we didnt think i would get a shotgun lic. At 14 my mom would take after school to hunt. Still remember the night she came to pick me up at drak and rolled down her window and asked what i had done. Told i had shot a doe we field dressed it and put in the back of her 1965 mustang. Wow was that fun..1981 i made a goal of holding out for a big deer, fresh out of college with new job starting dec 1. Hunted 43 days straight am and pm friday the 13 was my lucky day shot my first 170 with my bow. Big deer got into my blood 1982 killed a 160.. I dont know what it is about those mature deer but they still get to me after all these yrs..In the early yrs just climb a tree and with a branch that would hold me now i use 20 ft ladder stands and a harness.I have eaten more deer tags then i have used in my 43 yrs but still love every day in a tree.
 
Nice thread! I consider myself an old timer now too! :D It is crazy just how much things have changed though through the years. A few thoughts/memories...

I didn't have a tree stand OR steps for a couple of years. I just climbed the tree like a squirrel and stood on a branch, etc. I was able to connect a couple of times on deer that way, but it sure wasn't that comfortable or safe! I probably had been in and out of 200 trees before I ever even heard of a safety harness.

The amount of quality information available today, on this website alone, is staggering compared to what one could learn via reading, etc, back in the day. It took several years to piece together concepts and techniques that one can "download" in minutes today.

Mature bucks were really quite rare in the areas that I hunted in the 80's, as virtually every racked buck was shot on sight. It took something for a buck to escape the gauntlet and survive for 4 or more years. I have many more 3+ year old bucks on my small farm now than I am sure even existed in a square mile of the areas I used to hunt.
 
I started bowhunting when I was 15 and am now 50, where has the time gone? The trees are harder to climb and the deer are heavier to drag, but I still take every possible moment I can to do it every year.
 
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