All the technology that we now have available to us as hunters got me to thinking about what we had available to us back in the 70's when I first began deer hunting as a teenager. I distinctly remember my first Deer Camp being an old farm house with no electricity or running water. It was heated by a fireplace, and the "facilities" we're the typical outhouse. When you left home to go hunting for the weekend, your family knew they wouldn't hear from you until you got back.

Today, my Deer Camp includes a trailer with both AC and furnace, water, satelitte TV, and septic, and anyone in family is just a mobile phone call away.

It's sad, however, that despite all the conveniences, the hunting was actually much better because just about any deer you killed was considered a trophy.

Technology has improved many facets of life. It has also definitely made nostalgia stronger. "The good ol days" are long gone. Kind of sad.

I think that can be expanded into "hunting - then and now".

There have been some great improvements but some of it takes away from what it was IMO. I have great memories of our old hunting camps and some of the cabins we stayed in. At the time, some didn't seem like they would be great memories though...

We stayed in a cabin with no insulation, dirt floors and bunk buds mounted on 2x4 walls at one place. Only "facility" was the woods. Each night, you would fall asleep to the rats running across the roof or counters...As with most people, we have since upgraded.

As far as the hunting being much better, wasn't for us, just different memories. What I hate to see (and I blame social media alot) is people posting a picture of an animal they are proud of and commenting that it "isn't as great as some", or "isn't the biggest buck," or something similar. Or someone else commenting about the age, size, etc. A trophy is a trophy to the person that believes it is a trophy. Nothing has changed about that, just our overall perception of it. With social media outlets available now, everyone can see 150"-200" and it seems like they are everywhere. They aren't, they have just been made more visible.

I can still hear the "whoaaAAAAAAaaa" hollers from on older salesman we had, long since dead, when the daddy long legs got to crawling across his bottom out at the outhouse in the middle of the night.

Mine is still like this. 16x20 cabin in the woods heated with a wood stove (it is insulated and has a real floor!!). No amenities. No cell reception. We keep the toilet seat for the outhouse on a hook on the wall so on those cold nights you don't freeze onto it.



Moose/Bear camp on the other hand is pretty swanky.

Just throwin' it out there.....

IMHO Hunting was serious business back in the early early days, then in later years it became something to enjoy. Today it seems there are a bunch of fellers out there who are really not for the hunt & camaraderie anymore. It's about killing something, being able to say "look at me" and let's get drunk. Don't misunderstand I appreciate a nice set of horns & sitting by a campfire with a shot of Gentleman Jack, but it never was about the biggest buck with the biggest rack or waking up with a raging headache. Many days I went to the field & although there was magnificent deer, never fired a shot. I have many many memories of trips to Colorado & New Mexico and quite a few from right here in Texas. The best ones include the smell of breakfast cooking over an open fire and the sun coming up and peaking around the San Juan mountains.

Deer camp was the property we hunted. You built a big fire and backed the pickups up as close as you dared to the fire. We had a Coleman lantern, a great big canvas tarp, an air mattress, and a sleeping bag. We draped that big tarp over the bed of the truck and tied it on the sides to keep it from flapping. (it was big enough to be two layers thick), slide that air mattress and the sleeping bag into the back of the pickup and throw the tarp flap down to cover the open tailgate. If it might rain, you backed up to a tree that had a fork just the right height, cut a long pole and put one end on top of the cab and the other end in the fork of the tree, with the tarp on top in kind of a tent shape. I would shed water, but was not as warm as having the tarp down lower.

What I miss most are the men who taught me how to hunt and who instilled in me an appreciation for the transition from youth to manhood. Most of them having fought in Europe or the Pacific, they feared nothing. Not having to dodge bullets or bombs has that effect on you I'm sure. And you felt honored just to be in their presence because of it.

Hunt N Fish said it best above. My fondest memories are of the elk hunts in Colorado using tents, deer hunts in Texas sleeping in barns, outside cooking and latrines at least 50 yards from camp. Now, it seems to be let's have a drink before we go out, let's drink and watch porno on smart phones and PCs and drive into town for dinner and drinks. I am not a tee totaler or goody two shoes by any means just miss the old days! I guess that happens when you get into your 70s.

For me, one of the biggest things we have lost over the years is the surprise factor. With a trail camera at most feeders as well as some water holes and such it almost completely eliminated the OMG moment. Sitting in a blind and seeing or taking a buck that no one has seen before was always a great part of the hunt for me. Trail cameras are a great tool for managing your herd and I get that but it changed the game without a doubt. Just my .02
Good Topic

I'll send one of my lease buddies your way, that's all you need for a surprise factor. A very likeable, good-hearted ADD spaz. 'Never know what feeder he missed filling, what camera card he pulled and didn't replace, or if he used your gas can and you won't have enough to make it back to town. Keeps everybody else on their toes!

My 1980's deer camp in Louisiana.

Now there's a Ford I'd like to have. 'Hope you still have it.

Here's mine. Still an upgrade from the camper and outhouse days.



I share txshntrs post about the perception of big deer falling everywhere. Instant and comprehensive social media, TV, and other (unnamed) factors have contributed to that. A good deer one is happy with is still a trophy. And it's not a crime to shoot a deer you like - no matter the size.
I also share the conundrum of game cameras. I like having the info on what bucks are around, I get excited checking them, but no doubt the loss of much of the "surprise" factor is a real one. I usually pull mine during the hunting season for that very reason - many new bucks coming in anyway so I still have the "surprise" factor to a large extent.

Notice the fancy bathroom the kid in the photo appears to be using too. Might want to move it back a little though.

Yep, that's a kid's interpretation of "off in the woods".

I hunted with a guy like that several years ago. The guy woke up in a new world everyday. It was funny at first............. then after a while not so much.

Have to agree with H&F, best memories in Colorado camp with good friends. Also agree that the perception of a "trophy" has surely changed in large part. I'd also say there has been improvements though, mostly in the range management scheme, of course that has gone to extremes as well I suppose.

BTW, I remember when "food plots" where most common, but they where either crops already made for people food, or livestock, either way, it was a known "deer magnet". I don't recall a barrel feeder much in the 70's into the 80's..

OBTW here's my idea of deer/elk camp!

Elkhunter, that is the taj mahal compared to some places I put my bedroll up there But stayed in a few wall tents like that as well over the years, supper comfortable when set up right. Beats the hell out of a bed of a pick-up by 1000!

Yes sir a wall tent is truly a life saver after a long cold day. I hunted many years in the mountains in a simple two man tent. I was young and broke most of the time but I was hunting every year. I remember being too cold to sleep many times. I believe a hunt like that would probably kill me now days!

We killed some nice Elk over the years!

Beautiful Bull, like the dark antler! I have memories like that as well, food I don't care for in everyday life generally, is like a 5 star meal up there for some reason, heck, I even had a few cans of them Vienna sausage things with crackers and it was OK

Remember several times in various tents, warm temps in the 70's-80's, the kind of weather you sleep on top of the bedroll, just to wake to 10" of snow 15* and freezing your butt off, laughing the whole time with the camp mates the next morning.

My motto: Old hunters never die, they learn to fish.

I knew I was done when I figured out I wasn't mad at the deer & elk anymore and didn't have the get up-n-go to walk 10 miles. The last couple of years hunting in Colorado I spent more time trout fishing in Silver Jack Reservoir or Beaver Lake.

One of my favorite memories was the camp up on Dave Wood Rd aboout 10 mi SW of Montrose Co. Guys from Tennessee used the spot during the 1st season and we used it during the 2nd. They had a wooden box with a hole cut for a latrine and would hide it in the woods. We found it and I put a toilet seat on it and when we were through we'd put it back. The next year they left several rolls of TP in a weatherproof bag with a note. We started putting a tarp around it for a wind block and put the tarp and toilet paper in a bag for them. Never met them boys, but it sure made for something to talk about!

Dave wood rd! That is some nice country, drove over it through Divide to the Basin many times When season really lite up good, the pressure would drive the animals towards Ridgeway, The loghill village golf course would be overrun with deer and elk

Great topic and one that many others have pondered and reminisced about. Yes a lot of great memories made back in the days of camping in a tent, hunting out of a fork of a tree that made so many things an adventure and surprise.
I remember sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag, in a car or truck, graduated to a tent then a trailer. Still miss actually camping out but love the comfort of the trailer

Up to about 3 years ago this was mainly where I slept


Now an old softy enjoying the comforts of