30 yrs, then and now

[Marker]

In the past thirty years I have been bow hunting I have seen the following happen.

Permission to hunt;

30 yrs ago I could ask a farmer to bow hunt his land, he would laugh and say 'bow hunt?? hahaha, sure, do what you want' and walk away laughing.

Now, I ask permission to hunt the new land owner has moved from the city and is either an anti hunter, or already has a number of hunters on the property.

Public land;

30 yrs ago finding a spot for yourself was not difficult, just walk into some huntable land off any path for a few hundred metres and you would most likely not see any other hunters, blinds that were found were typically set up in more open areas for gun hunting with little evidence of anyone setting up in tight spots for bow hunting

Now I can go as deep as I want in the same forest and I will find human foot prints, cut limbs, game cams, and stands chained to trees.

Tree stands;

30 yrs ago we just started to use commercial climbers, they were made of steel and weighed 50lbs. You had to assemble the arms with wing nuts in the field and disassemble at the end of the day. Setting up or taking down was quite often in the dark and loosing wing nuts was a common occurrence. Safety harnesses were difficult to tell the top from the bottom and quite often took a few tries to get them on right.

Now, aluminum climbers weigh half of the steel versions, have cables instead of steel arms, and set up can be done in a few minutes. The safety harness/vest goes on like a jacket in seconds.

Clothing;

30 years ago we used surplus cotton military green with wool layering, we got wet and cold when it rained, and Bill Jordan's trend setting tree bark camo was a few years away from being readily available.

Now, we have any camo you want for any season, we have Gore-Tex, and synthetic down, we still get cold but that's our fault now.

Hunting height;

30 yrs ago we laughed at the home made tree stands set at 6 feet high as we would hunt from an impressive 12 feet.

Now, ladder stands come in 20 feet heights and hunters using climbers go higher than that.

QDMA;

30 yrs ago we hunted for meat, passing on a deer that could be legally taken was not even discussed. No consideration was given to land or herd management and a food plot was something your granny had for tomatoes in the back yard. Information on deer behaviour was limited to a few books based on biased personal observations in a specific location.

Now hunters routinely plant for deer habitat improvement and pass on certain animals to promote herd health with all the info found on the internet in a few seconds.

[seabast]

All those changes but at the end of the day, we still eat plenty of venison and is still taste the same.....

[MikePal]

On the equipment side; I would have to credit Bass Pro and Cabela's who did a great job since the 70's flooding the retail market with stores and of course the proliferation of 'Hunting' shows on Sat morn that convinced us we need a lot of crap to hunt.

I think we peeked...the way the numbers are declining, we'll see less and less hunters in the woods in the future, back to the good old days

[werner.reiche]

On the equipment side; I would have to credit Bass Pro and Cabela's who did a great job since the 70's flooding the retail market with stores and of course the proliferation of 'Hunting' shows on Sat morn that convinced us we need a lot of crap to hunt.

I think we peeked...the way the numbers are declining, we'll see less and less hunters in the woods in the future, back to the good old days

Deer hunters in particular - as deer numbers drop back to "normal" levels, hunters are quitting because "there are no deer".

[poltrojan]

Deer hunters in particular - as deer numbers drop back to "normal" levels, hunters are quitting because "there are no deer".

more opportunities for me then

[MikePal]

We should also recognize...that in 30 yrs....the deer as prey, haven't change one iota...

[rf2]

I didn't hunt 30 years ago, but I can say that some of the public land that I hunt now and hunted 25 years ago has much fewer hunters now. 25 years ago the hunting was pretty dangerous due to the number of hunters there - lately, it's a lot safer. I was out at one of these spots on Sunday afternoon to take down one of my treestands, and I ran into two young guys that were hunting separately. One of them was a young guy who just started bow hunting (and hunting all together). He had some pretty old-school equipment - reminded me of myself 15 years ago. All of this is to say that things change, sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better.

[rf2]

We should also recognize...that in 30 yrs....the deer as prey, haven't change one iota...

I disagree - Deer are much smarter now. All this advanced equipment we use and the success rate is pretty much the same - that can only be due to their adaptations

[MikePal]

Deer are much smarter now.

Well you'll have to explain that..'smarter' how? ...they still come to a pile of apples in the middle of the bush..they don't seem to be passing it on that's it a trap

All this advanced equipment we use and the success rate is pretty much the same - that can only be due to their adaptations

Or all this 'advanced' equipment does little to increase our odds....

In the days of old, a man sitting against the tree in his Sudbury Dinner jacket with the wind in his face was shooting as many deer then as they do now sitting up 20' in expensive trees stands wearing top of the line Mossy Oak clothing.

[Mdiddi]

I disagree - Deer are much smarter now. All this advanced equipment we use and the success rate is pretty much the same - that can only be due to their adaptations [/QUOTE]

Before everyone could be a hunter. Now they know we dress in camo and orange.