1899 Photo of a hunting camp

1899 photo of a hunting camp on the western edge of the Hill Country in Kimble County. It's the Turner Ranch at what is now South Llano State Park.

busy day for those fellas - awesome pic

Very cool picture.

Nice
Couple pretty good bucks laying there

They're gonna need a bigger Yeti.

Must have been a MLD ranch

Hey, that gun isn't pointed in a safe direction... Wonder what protein they are feeding.

Love that pic.

Two solid bucks for that country.

These guys were whacking some variety. My old family pics ... it's only big bucks.

Some great herd management there...mature 8's or less and yearling forky plus a bunch of does/fawns also. Even one went into camp meat. That is a great old pic, thanks for posting.

The Hill country had bucks almost on par with their south Texas cousins up until the 60s-70s. My Dad and his friends took bucks like those two in the photo pretty regularly back in the 50s.

Love the photo!

Wonder what Scent blocker they were using?

Wonder how much their lease costs? Who was the lease boss?

What no camo clothes. They must be rookies. J/K

That is an awesome picture.

Do you think they sprayed them selves down with scent lock?

Very cool pic.

Back in those days, it was all indian corn obtained from the locals,

I sure would have liked an opportunity to sit at that campfire and listen to those boys hunting stories. Once upon a time it could be done without box blinds, scent control, UTV, feeders and variable power 50 mm scopes.

Obviously a test site for the new fangled high fence idea.

Great pic. Just helping out the local folk for winter vittles!

Kinda looks like they were just realizing that somebody needs to get started cleanin'.

"Hey, Jack, where those women folk at? They better not let these deer spoil."

Either that picture, or one very near it, is in the Menger Bar, Menger Hotel, San Antonio.... not that I've seen it, just from anecdotal information...

I think that picture may have also been in TTHA magazine also a couple of years ago now.

That time never cease to exist for me.

I was thinking the same thing. Their lies that got told around a campfire would be much better than the ones told today.

Lots of work. Looks like it might have been time for coffee break.

That picture looks familiar, neat pic regardless.

It still can be done like that. Only person keeping thst from happening is you

Very cool pic

Thanks for sharing.

If you go into coopers in junction they have a bunch of old pics from Kimble county. That area had (and still does) have some pretty decent deer. Sutton county does as well. Big country and not a lot of pressure although screw worms existed at that time

What camo is that? Wonder if it has scent control.

Traces of Texas reader Rex Bumpus kindly sent in this astonishing 1899 photo of a hunting camp on the western edge of the Hill Country in Kimble County. One of the men is Rex's great great grandfather, Robert Marcus Turner. Robert owned the Turner Ranch at what is now South Llano State Park. The details here are simply fantastic.

Thank you, Rex. This is a great glimpse into this moment in time. Wow. (from Texas Game Camera Pictures Facebook page)

One of the coolest things I've seen on this site. Thank you for sharing

Not far from the Coke Stevenson Ranch where Mr. Stevenson killed a B&C buck. Body size and antler quality were better in those days and populations were much lower. In the 60's came eradication of the screw worm and deer populations soared in the Hill Country where we had eliminated the bobcats and coyotes because of the sheep and goat industry. Overstocking of sheep and goats also played a role in removing a lot of the better browse that the deer needed to grow large antlers and bodies.
Adios,
Gary

^ yep... sheep and goats, wool and mohair were the reason that those folks could make a living there...
deerhunting was a pastime...

Not a 7mm-08 to be found

Good stuff!

Cool pic

I think you are right. That one or one very similar.

Cedar smoke

Better find someone who can teach you soon because their numbers are dwindling.

Long before deer became a cash crop for Texas landowners.

See deer, shoot deer. No hunting laws or regulations. Run them with horses, dogs what ever, year round

Dig a Trench, add corn, shot 5 turkeys with on shot.

Biggest thing would of been lessor densities but I bet if all densities where equal probably harder now since we have “sporting” regulations .


Op very cool pic.

Actually false. The public land western segment is growing but over all hunter numbers are down.

Positive thoughts

Or 8 dove at one time off the edge of a water trough. Same concept.

The old timers in my family would've called that a "skillet shot."

My uncle Bud would not waste a shell on one dove he would line them up on a high line and skillet shoot them...

Buy a ranch.

I wonder what reticle those hunter preferred?

Full Moon glimmer

Night hunting back then made things a good bit easier too. But it isn't like whitetail have ever been that hard to hunt.

Or turkeys. I read where soldiers from Fort Richardson got a two day pass and headed out on a turkey hunt. They made camp on a creek miles from the post and drank all afternoon (not the greatest of ideas in Indian country). Once it got dark they blew the turkeys off their roosts. That was definitely a different time.

First lease, slept in jungle hamic, or an old trailor that was at campsite. Then wife found the camper. Pic of cabin, bunch of us got together & threw stuff we had sitten around. Had already seen the gotta pay ta play games of leasing.
The fancier the building, price goes up & ones that did the work loose every thing ta the Big Bucks.
99% of time pitched tent at OSBWMA have woke up in single didget weather with snow on ground, archery deer-hog hunts, think twice pulled camper their.
Ones shared lease with, were low-income.
Like pic in OP.
Family-friends- for en & chillen.
Interesting thread & comments, ya mines not worth i gots cheep posts.

Awesomeness right there!

I don't keep dead animals that close to my tent. They are going to be stepping in gut piles when they get up at night to pee.

perhaps they were worried that if they kept them further from camp somebody would come along and take the antlers without asking.

That picture is obviously photo shopped.
For one they are not wearing camo, there are no ATV's, and their rifles are not scoped and have the caliber large enough that is accepted for killing whitetail humanely.
They look as though they haven't had a bath in a while, so I doubt they washed their clothes in scent killer, or put on fresh clothes for the hunt.
It doesn't appear that it is cold, so how were they going to ice down all that meat?
Looks like they are waaaay over the limit as well, and not one tag on any of the deer, so somebody needed to call the GW.
Maybe back in 1899, poachers, and hunters were painted with a very broad brush!

I will say this, hard to tell if our older relatives were hunters or poachers back in the day (50s/60s). They said didn't matter as long as they had an animal on the hood driving into town. Lol. Times have changed but still have put one on the hood every now and then.

Had to laugh, as I've got a picture somewhere of my dad's old 48 Ford with a 6 point buck strapped across a bloody fender, which was his first buck, and he drove back and forth through the small town near where he took the buck back in the 50's. I was only about 6 or 7 but I remember it, and also the wolf he killed on that same ranch.
Wasn't very many deer back then, and killing one was a big deal, not so much the horns.

I hear the photographer was Ruth Bader Ginsberg.