And I agree wholeheartedly about this when it comes to whitetail hunting.


I do believe the good old days for Mule Deer have passed us however in most western states

https://www.americanhunter.org/arti...were-the-good-old-days-really-that-good/

Definitely agree. The "good ol days" were sometimes very tough, but I do think they taught much more self-reliance than today, before cell phones, GPS, etc.
I do know that plenty of men took just some cans of sardines and some crackers, maybe some bologna and a loaf of white bread. Or...Vienna sausages. To hell with that!

On the lease last year, one of the other lease members had his uncle and cousin out. The LO has some old mounts in the cabin. The grown cousin asked "Why would anyone mount that?" Because there weren't many deer, as your article states. No feeders, scents, game cameras. And, a whole lot of men worked 6 days a week. There wasn't tons of "vacation", "sick leave", etc. One deer hunt, maybe a week long, was a HUGE event, just to get out there.

times have changed, my dad hunted ducks with a 12ga single shot, 2 & 3/4 shells

Is that Ron Swanson in the bottom picture behind the guy? haha

we had a deer mount that hung in our original ranch cabin for many years that my uncle shot in Cotulla in the 1970's. It was the biggest whitetail he had killed up until the late 90's. Landowner insisted he get it mounted as it was a very good deer, so he hauled it down to Nowotny's over on 35 next to Dixie Flag and they did it up for him. Deer was a 3 year 9 point that would probably score in the mid 120's.

I'm not old and I remember as a young teen hunting in east texas that if you saw a buck that was at his ears and had more than 4 points, you shot it. If you didn't see a buck that fit that criteria, you shot whatever legal buck presented itself on the last weekend ( lots of spikes and forkhorns hit the ground ). That was just the way it was. Deer were fewer and farther between...sometimes you saw 5 or 6 deer a hunt, sometimes none. You could generally count the number of bucks you saw in a season on 1 hand, but you def. wouldn't have ran out of fingers if you had to move to the second.

Now, due in large part to AR's and those old time practices dying off, that same ground readily produces 150-170" deer every year. Deer numbers are the highest they have ever been.


And we all ate are fair share of Vienna sausages!

Here's my mom's dad, back from the hunt. (He's on the right.) Dig those high-tech hunting clothes! And that's snow on the roof of their house on Palmetto Street in San Antonio, south side of Fort Sam Houston.

Great pic Creekrunner!

God only knows how long those deer had been strapped to that car!

When I was little, my grandpa, and family would load up 2 cars and go to Colorado to is brothers place at Pueblo, then the entire crew loaded up and went and camped in the national forest, the kids would play in the snow and women did the cooking. The deer we brought home, rode on the fenders of a 1946 Ford sedan to Rowena Texas. Sometimes my maternal grandparents would also go. One year, when we caravanned up there it was 5 cars, not one pickup. All 4 of my grandparents, my parents, 2 of my aunts and uncles and their families. It was like the Beverly hillbillies.

It might have looked like the Beverly hillbillies, but it was the thing that memories are made of. Doesn't happen any more.

Oh, it still happens. In the mountains where we hunt caravans show up hauling huge 5th wheels, gooseneck trailers full of 4-wheelers and UTVs and family in another car. I’ve seen camps with 10 people in it all related from young teens to grandpas in their 70’s.

Traditions are still going strong.


I’m just happy that some have family they can do that with.....majority of my family I can’t be in a room with for more than an hour with, let alone a 7 day hunting trip

Current technology has provided those who still hunt deer with some great tools for increasing their chances for success. Unfortunately, many are only using it to keep themselves entertained while they wait for something to show up and eat.

I think that has been happening ever since a guy brought a book hunting with him.

Whitetail Deer hunting as a whole has never been difficult. It’s pretty much always been a waiting game In one form or another unless your a member of the Benoit family.

I'm not really that old, 46, and I see a huge difference just in the last 36 years. I started hunting at 10 years old, and I recall many hunts not seeing a single deer the whole weekend...or maybe seeing just one. I went years before I even got my first deer. Fast forward to last year...hunting the same property as when I was 10...taking my 10 year old hunting with me, we saw close to 20 deer on the first day of hunting. The deer population is by far better now than it was just 36 years ago. I have no doubt that it is better than 60 and 70 years ago.

63 now and when I first started hunting in the 7th grade, we would get dropped off then would walk out in the woods and find a tree to sit up against, the first deer that was not a fawn got it. Then the progression was finding a tall tree that had a nice fork up high that looked over trails. Next was putting 2X4 as steps up the tree and 2X6 in the fork to sit on

Life starting getting good when I bought a tripod, then corning open areas. Next was having a bump feeder and then finally building my own two man blind with deer feeder and hog panels.
I know I hunted harder back then and enjoyed it more for there was always the anticipation of seeing the unknown versus now using timed feeders, cameras that tell a whole lot of the lost excitement of the unknown.

Had a lot more cool stories of sitting in the fork of a tree while it was sleeting, mustache full of ice cycles and the tree swaying back and forth, or having owls or buzzards land dang near on top of you and trying not to flinch during the stare down between us.
Now it is sitting in a adjustable cloth office chair in a cozy blinds staring out a plexi glass window or surfing on the internet with my smart phone doing the things I thought I was trying to get away from

Loved the good old days, the stories and adventures seemed larger than life, the cooking outdoors, everyone hanging around the campfire enjoying cool ones and a nip or two before crashing in the tent or other crude shelter.
I loved the good old days and those memories and I thoroughly enjoy the good new days of convenience, just different kind of memories.

So what makes you more excited, seeing one deer when there were so few or twenty when they're so many?

IMO, it all boils down to what you want out of the sport. Are you (while not referring to you specifically) looking for the greater challenge or just an opportunity to shoot something within the shortest amount of time?

One of the tracts I'll be hunting this year is one that has never been hunted and one where the landowner doesn't want any feeders. While a lot of guys would have walked away for that reason, I can't wait to see what shows up on the pinch-point trails that show heavy usage.

Most of the young people these days think its a bunch of BS when you tell those stories of few deer and how finding a place to hunt wasn't all that difficult.
I'm 72 and grew up during the 50's remembering my dad driving into the driveway with a 6pt. buck tied across the fender and being so proud he told of driving up and down main street showing it off in Lavernia Texas near his lease.
There weren't that many deer due to the screw worm and I also remember him bringing home a wolf he shot, and yes there were wolves back then.

I remember back in the 60's and 70's on I 35 coming up from the hill country you would see all different kinds of vehicles with deer tied onto the roof, trunk or bumper.

What kind of looks would you get today?

what do you want out of the sport Dan?

It sounds like you are one of the ones who think they should be praised for hunting mediocre property, public lands or aschewing common practices such as hunting over a feeder or a crop field.


There are 4.5 million whitetail give or take in this state.....its not now and never was about the challenge. Its a easily accessible past time for most folks. If they want a hard challenge they go elk, sheep or mountain goat hunting. I don't know one person who complains that their property has a lot of deer or the hunting is too good.

your devils advocacy has gone pretty far reaching here....

Seeing no deer for a whole weekend can get pretty boring for an adult. Even more so for a kid. I get excited seeing deer, as does my boy. If we sat for a whole weekend without seeing any deer, then we might as well be squirrel or bird hunters. My Grandfather hunted birds on this property. Why was he a bird hunter? Because there were so few deer. Now, if it makes you feel any bettter, we don't use feeders, and we don't use blinds on the property that I have hunted since I was a kid. We have a few ladder stands, but we often will hunt from the ground using pinch points, natural browse, and rub lines that we have found to find the deer. It is still plenty of a challenge. Where we hunt in TX, we have corn feeders, protein feeders, nice box blinds, and multiple ladder stands spread all over the property. We see a ton of deer, and we shoot a few of them too. Even though it's not "real" hunting, we still get excited and enjoy ourselves immensely.

That is crazy. I can't remember a single hunt, not even a squirrel hunt, in my adult life that I didn't see at least one deer. We will usually stumble across at least group of does bedded down, when we are after some bushytails.

IMO,a point made in the OP is there was once a time when the thought that you might not see a deer, much less shoot one, did nothing to curtail guys from repeatedly heading to the woods every weekend of the season. They also had a great time doing it. Not too sure many hunters today would feel the same way given that same expectation. Those days of "hunt not to kill but kill to have hunted" have gotten lost in "it's my money and I want it now."

As the conservative radio talk show host put it so well, "Where have all the adults gone?" Someone challenges someone's behavior today and they react as if someone just stole their candy/feeder.

And that's all that matters.

So long as everyone gets to see a deer as their "participation" trophy.

Anyone here ever take pride in telling their son or daughter they can't expect to see a deer every time they sit in the deer stand, much less get one every season?

Speaking of trophies, someone's constantly signing up for the "Cerebral Competition". 'Problem is, no other kids have any interest in it.