How hunting has changed.

[ShadeTree]

Posting in the 270 reloading thread and mentioning how my wife and I killed a bunch of deer in the 90's with 6mm's reminded me once again how much things have changed.

The mid 80's thru the mid 90's were a hay day of hunting for me. Plenty of deer and other game, and virtually unlimited options of where I was going to hunt that day in any direction, all within 10 miles of the house.

In any area you chose to hunt you could have good morning spots, good still hunting areas, good midday spots, and good evening spots. Because you could go wherever you had to go.

Not no more. If I'm not seeing game, I'm pretty much landlocked where I'm at. Options are jumping in the truck and traveling some distance to a decent public land area.

I told my wife after I came up with tag soup this yr, that as hard as I hunted, if it would've been 20 yrs ago I could've killed a dozen deer, as a person could put all their knowledge and experience to good use to make it happen. Now I go to the few spots I'm able to hunt and stare at the same area hoping something comes by. Small game I got decent options, deer hunting the game has changed dramatically.

 

[Polaris]

I've noticed this where I hunt too. Nobody walks around and moves them anymore like they used to seems to be the biggest difference. A lot of old guys that own land are retired now, and don't hunt until mid-week, usually out their window.

Just don't get the deer movement like we used to.

 

[Europe]

Shade Tree, this was a topic of conversation recently with a group of young hunters. Granted I was talking about the 40's and 50's. I am sure Dr Mike and a couple others will remember, but we use to do most of our hunting right on the farm and sometimes from the barn or back porch. Rifles and shotguns were leaning against the wall in the corner of the barn. Rifle bullets and the shotgun shells were on the 2 x 4 's running along the inside of the barn. Deer all the time in the fields and creek bottoms and ducks landing in the pond just below the barn, geese in the corn fields, Ahhhh-- Different times for sure, I think the memories are bringing tears to my eyes

 

[ShadeTree]

Polaris, same here but the reasons are what I eluded to with the fact that where I can hunt is limited. Everybody posts their land now and 5 guys are sitting in stands on 300 acres, and the land to the north, south, east, and west of them has the same scenarios.

In the ole days I seen deer two ways....a BUNCH of deer off of other hunters, and if there wasn't many people in the woods that day, I could go where I knew they were. Now I'm stuck.

Europe, growing up I done the majority of my small game hunting and a decent amount of my deer hunting somewhere within walking distance of our house. There was a single piece of land I can remember of that was posted. And that was by an out of the area owner who was just there in hunting season and occasionally over the summer. Everything else was just waiting to be explored. We were all neighbors and treated each other accordingly.

 

[noslerpartition]

From what I hear, things changed quite a lot over here, too.
But the other way round.
Due to major changes in agriculture, small game is almost gone, which was main game some decades ago.
Wild boar was and is on the rise. Deer are doing well, too.
Since the wolf came back, deer are mostly nocturnal, making hunting 'challenging'.
Being 46, I only started hunting 10 years ago. But I would have loved to see the old times...
I make the best of what I have, but would have loved to whitness what the elder guys talk about...

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[truck driver]

Biggest problem here is the loss of farms to hunt due to housing construction and the farmers selling off the farms since their children don't want to work 24-7 and I can't blame them.
Real-estate speculators have bought up the farms and don't allow hunting so everyone is bunched into public hunting areas.
Small game is none existent due to farming practices and disease has killed off small game.
So yeah hunting has changed quite a bit over the years.

 

[rodell]

I get up in the East, where you could stay on stand all day if need be. Now, both there and here in the West, people are back in their trucks by 9:00 AM and expecting deer to walk by.

There are a lot of places where there are no hunters and the deer stay right where they are, too. Patience used to be rewarded.

 

[Elkman]

This is such an eye opener to me and show's how I am blessed. I have never hunted on a farm, i have never belonged to a club, wilderness has expanded in my lifetime, except for wolf reintroduction (which is slowly being taken care of) game numbers have remained stable and in many places increased. Last year while hunting elk in three states, I saw a total of 0 hunters in the field, the tracks of three and talked to a dozen or so on roads. I am not dependent upon the whims of development or other such issues. I guess I am pretty much blessed, as I have always thought.

 

[salmonchaser]

On this forum I have commented how lucky I am. A few years Bills Jr. I grew up in Alaska and Oregon, more public than private property.
Hunting pressure is less, access is a little tougher now, but I'm mostly ok with that.
I do believe USFS and BLM will continue their efforts at locking people out, but at least they are moving slowly at that. Lack of road maintenance being the primary method.
You can be cited on forest service roads for cutting brush the grows over the road threatening to take out your mirrors. !


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[gbflyer]

My two cents about Alaska:

Yes, much has changed, the cost of finance and occasion to beat the crowds being the particulars.

It’s a huge State, but there are limited areas that are game - rich in terms of what we read and dream about. By and large, it’s a barren wasteland. I really mean this. In the game rich areas, if there is easy access, except for rare occasion, it is peopled from horizon to horizon during hunting time. If there is limited access, there will be more heartily equipped folk yet still you’ll see rafts, jet boats and $120K Super Cubs instead of pickups and ATV’s. If there is very difficult access, you’ll find solitude but the tariff to get there, whether it be air or marine, will be well beyond those who live only to pay the bills and go to a movie once in a while.

When one can go to Africa for the same money and effort and hunt 5-7 plains animals for the cost of one wilderness black bear in Alaska, that should really bring us to thinking about how hunting in N. America has really changed.

 

[salmonchaser]

My two cents about Alaska:

Yes, much has changed, the cost of finance and occasion to beat the crowds being the particulars.

It’s a huge State, but there are limited areas that are game - rich in terms of what we read and dream about. By and large, it’s a barren wasteland. I really mean this. In the game rich areas, if there is easy access, except for rare occasion, it is peopled from horizon to horizon during hunting time. If there is limited access, there will be more heartily equipped folk yet still you’ll see rafts, jet boats and $120K Super Cubs instead of pickups and ATV’s. If there is very difficult access, you’ll find solitude but the tariff to get there, whether it be air or marine, will be well beyond those who live only to pay the bills and go to a movie once in a while.

When one can go to Africa for the same money and effort and hunt 5-7 plains animals for the cost of one wilderness black bear in Alaska, that should really bring us to thinking about how hunting in N. America has really changed.

It sure can seem crowded. I think a lot of us remember the train being the only way to travel from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Find a good looking Valley, stop the train and go hunt. Then came ATVS.....


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[Europe]

Gbflyer, salmon chaser

sad, sorry to hear this. As recent as 20 years ago it was not like what you fellows are experiencing today.

Also I dont remember how many here will remember Brooke and her family, they were members of the forum a few years back and they said that they flew to units 24 and 25 and that he game is still plentiful and they never see anyone. I have no idea where that is, but you guys must and was wondering if those areas have also become crowded ?

Europe, as has been mentioned can be quite crowded. However, there are still some isolated spots in Spain and Austria, if one climbs high enough that are people free

Going back to Shade trees post. It is sad and I am glad I was able to hunt, at will, as a kid.

 

[ShadeTree]

I don't want to seem too much like woe is me. There is a lot of public ground in my area, just got to travel a little bit to learn the land and hunt it. I'm still stuck in the old days where I could hunt where I wanted on easy to access private ground, and it just isn't that way anymore.

Some states have limited public ground and a lot of hunting is on leased ground. I'm not in that boat......I got options, just got to change my game.

 

[Guy Miner]

Let's see, 20 years ago vs now for me:

If I wanted to hunt chukar or quail, a 20 min drive from town was all it took, and I'd walk those hills and the draws. Same now, except now I have a dog. Bird numbers go up and down, some years are better than others. Pheasants have always been planted here, and don't last long.

If I want to hunt mule deer, I had a choice of going into the mountains of Chelan County, or crossing the river and hunting the broken wheatfield and coulee country of Douglas County. Sometimes I can get access to private land, but more and more over the years I've been hunting public land. That is about the only change. Really, about the same.

If I want to hunt elk, well, it's a circus! So many people trying to hunt the same herd of a few thousand elk, with "over the counter" tags. Hmm. That hasn't changed much either, except now it's "true spike" instead of "spike" elk. Big change I made this past season was switching to a bow instead of a rifle for my elk hunting, and sadly didn't have the time available to make that work.

If I want to hunt bear, I head for public land where berry bushes are abundant, or where there might be an abandoned homestead with old fruit trees. I tried that without success 20 years ago, then about ten years ago got pointed in the right direction, and we've had good success on bear for the past nine or ten years, taking several. Hasn't really changed.

I dunno guys - for me, upland game as well as deer, elk and bear, just hasn't changed much for 10 - 20 years or more.

This area of central Washington has had times when the hunting was better, and times when the hunting was no different from now. Seems to depend mostly on the weather we have, how much moisture, how much food is available for the game animals. And that stuff changes pretty randomly. Sometimes I'm hunting in a t-shirt, other times I'm bundled up. It's all been pretty doggone wonderful, spending the time afield, alone, or with family and friends.

Regards, and best of luck to you hunters this year!

Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

Something I have noticed is that time passes, quickly.

It seems like just a couple of years ago that my youngest son started hunting with me. No... That was quite a while ago. I was in my 40's. Turn around, buy another tag, and dang, I'm in my 60's, and he's a veteran hunter. Wow...

Make the memories guys 'n gals, time passes all too swiftly.

Guy

 

[Bruce Mc]

Where I grew up there was no public hunting land to speak of. I did have access to several ranches either owned my dad and his partners or leases their companies maintained, all in south Texas. In the 60s there wasn't a lot of deer in south Texas, mostly hunted dove and quail. Farming and government programs to establish surface water made the deer population explode in the 70s. In the 60s you could lease pasture land for a quarter an acre and it was yours exclusively. Today it goes for 1000-10000 per gun (person) and you have to deal with others on the property. Simply put, I can't afford to hunt in Texas so I'm forced to go west.

 

[Guy Miner]

Bruce - that's why I'm such a fan of vast tracts of public land, where we're pretty much free to roam, camp, fish, hunt... Enjoy.

Honestly wish I'd had a good bird dog long ago, but that didn't happen until recently. I used to hunt birds of course, either without a dog, or by going with someone else who had a dog. But dang, having ol' Clarkie around has sure made bird hunting more enjoyable.

Regards, Guy

 

[Bruce Mc]

Y'all that have good public land closeby to hunt or just get out are truly lucky.

 

[Guy Miner]

Y'all that have good public land closeby to hunt or just get out are truly lucky.

Yes. With some planning involved to end up there. Wasn't really luck in our case. It was one of the goals, 25 years ago.

Guy

 

[Elkman]

I have lived close to public land my entire life. I grew up in Oregon, moved to Idaho and retired in Washington State. I have never lived farther than 20 miles from public land but there are also 100,000 of thousands of private forest lands that are available for use. Some of that has a fee but much of it does not. I have never thought of living anywhere else.