About my Dad's old hunting stories. He had a million of them. These pics are from 1960 on the Geistweidt Ranch near Mason, I believe. According to 'legend' there were 9 hunters, and they were allowed 3 deer apiece. All but one tagged out and they brought home 26 deer. Probably a two day hunt. My uncle, young man on the far right, told me they drove to the Ice House in Mason, covered the deer with ice, tied the burlap down over the top and drove home.
Hope you all have a great season.

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. They couldn't have shot all those deer without camo, could they? /s

Yes indeed! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing. Love those old pictures.

X2
and X2 on the camo.

I love those old pictures too. Problem is, I'm in those old pictures.

Or range finders, Ozone emitters, scent killers, moon phase charts...etc.

The only plausible answer is: Deer were stupid back then. They are much more sophisticated now.

I wonder if that's the same Geistweidt ranch I've been on. I'm friends with the grandson of the lady that lives out there. If it's the same place, it's a beautiful piece of property.

Betcha there wasn't a single deer feeder on the place either. Probably more than one set of iron sights were used, too...and none of the scopes evident were side-focus, BDC optic wonders! No 4WD trucks, no UTVs...how in thunder did we ever manage to kill a single deer (much less a whole truckload of 'em). Yep, gotta be that the deer were dumber then...and decades of shelled corn, protein and food plots have made 'em smarter, harder and further!

Thanks for the photo, Alloutdoors! I hadn't decided what I was carrying in the morning, but I might just tote a saddlegun in honor of all our forebears who brought us to the sport we follow today!

Mark

Thanks for sharing. Brings back a lot of memories.

I grew up hunting in south Texas outside of Batesville, between pearsall and uvalde.

Some of the best hunting I’ve ever seen, I always tell people the 90’s and early 2000’s were great times to be hunting the brush country.

Some of my favorite times were hunting out of a old Jeep we had, feed the roads, put the windshield down and wait. Perfect mobile blind, can’t tell you how Many deer we shot outta that thing. We hunted down there every week for years.

On my uncles 64th birthday we were in the Jeep sitting in our spot, I shot a cull 8 point and I told him happy birthday. He only replied “ you know, I’ll never get to see you turn 64...”.

He is turning 76 this year, we still hunt together on rare occasion but our heyday has passed. But boy, in its day our camp would rival any other in the county for good times, flowing drinks and b.s stories.

We had a great camp, 6 or 7 close friends all getting together for a hunt. I was glad I got to experience it for the few years I did. But it really ruined me on any other deer camp going forward.

That is probably a big reason I’m not into deer hunting like I used to be. Keep wanting to go back, but I know I can’t

My dad once hunted with his friend Alvin Reid from Munday around Mason back in the 60's for many years...probably knew these guys

v

My Dad had a truck like that in a different color. It hauled out a few deer. I learned how to drive in it and when we came to a stretch of mud or a mud hole I can still here him saying "son, hit it going". No 4wd in those days. Trophy, you are right....we can not go back but can cherish the memories.

My Grandfather had more outdoors experience in his pinky than I might have in my whole body.

Was a real life cowboy turned oilman, grew up in the great depression. I miss him every time I pick up a deer rifle.

My dad just got a small place that I hunt and I have realized those years wont last forever.

Glad ya'll liked the pics. It is amazing how times have changed.

Great pic and look at all that deer meat with no CAMO ?? Whaaaat ! lol

In 1960 I was a 13 year old and turned loose on 1,700 acres in Bandera county and scenes like in those photos were a common sight in those days.
I remember hunting in the morning and then driving with my dad into Bandera to take the deer to the locker, and look at all the deer being brought in to the ice house as it was called back then.
People would back up with a bed full of deer and load up with block ice and some would get bags of crushed ice for the trip home or back to the lease. Several cases of Lone Star and Pearl beer made it into those pickup beds as well.
Big horns was a bonus in those days and not a priority.
Iron sights and lever action 30-30's is what we used as well as a couple old army surplus rifles.
Camo was a pair of worn jeans, and a flannel shirt with a red cap, but anything worked and we did a lot of hunting from boards nailed into a tree or pallet board ground blinds.

Great old pickup too! I remember taking deer with Dad to Broadway Lockers in San Antonio in the 60's. They'd let me walk through the cooler and look at the south Texas bucks that had been brought in. Holy Cow!

Good ole days, no double cabs, and every P cup in town had a gun rack!

Wonder what cover scent they used ? Old Spice or Brut and cigarettes most likely.

Good times for sure.

Not 'Brut' since it didn't come out until 1964. But yeah...no cover scents...they just were mindful of the wind and hunting pressure was likely less than what it is today.

I started deer hunting in 1968....many things have changed since then.