Waxing Nostalgic

[vermonster13]

Remember when you're hunting coat was the same coat you wore all winter? Strings for your bow were available at the sports store. 180 meant a buck's weight not inches of rack. Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and Sports Afield were worth reading. Aluminum was the big deal. Fred Bear was on TV if you could get the channel. At least the bows from then still shoot    

[A.S.]

[rastaman]

Yep...my jacket was an olive drab military jacket.  It had a liner i could zip in when it got really cold.

[vermonster13]

What I miss the most is when posted signs just didn't exist. You asked to hunt a piece of property and they not only said yes, they told you where the best spots to set up could be found. They wanted to see what you killed not have it covered up when you were driving it to be checked in.

[Bud B.]

I remember the Outdoor Life of old and Field and Stream particularly. I would read of the adventures with the hand drawn renderings of the action. I miss those days and look for old magazines when antiquing.

I recall K-Mart used to be a Bear retailer and I would covet the green Bear Razorheads, and drooled when the stainless Bear Super Razorheads were new and on display. Bear arrows were in their cardboard boxes hanging on a steel rod hanger, or leaned back ever so perfectly to flip through for a teenager yearning to be Fred Bear and take game as he did.

My wife found an old Field and Stream and had it framed for me a few years ago.

 

[ron w]

 Remember all to well......went in to the woods with an apple, and a PBJ stuffed in your shirt with a knife and a chunk of rope on your belt......stayed all day! LOL, some days froze your butt off if you got a bit wet!

[vermonster13]

Used to save the best Halloween candy for hunting Ron. The turkey sandwich after Thanksgiving always tasted best in the woods.

[centaur]

How about the smell of hardwood floors and Hoppe's #9 in the local sporting goods store. Racks of recurves along side of the rifles and shotguns, and a wood stove heating the place, with 'old' guys having a cup of java and telling hunting stories.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

that's a great F&S cover plus its the year of my birth. I got a 1961 copy for Christmas from a friend!

Knock knock on a strangers door, " say can I bow hunt on your land? You  want to hunt what? No I want to hunt on your land with a bow. With a bow? BE my guest!"

Those are the conversations I miss!

[vermonster13]

The first store bought bow I ever got was a Bear Red Fox on Christmas when I was seven. Before that it was maple saplings and bailing twine with willow branches for arrows LOL. Squirrel population took a dip after that Christmas.

[Stumpkiller]

Arrows were loose in a display box (69¢ each, no spine listed).  Fiberglass hunting arrows cost something like $3.00 each, but the head (Bear Razorhead) was attached.

You learned archery in gym class and watched Ben Pearson hunting videos (16mm).

Curt Gowdy never whispered.  He hunted and over-dubbed the narrative afterwards.


I still refer to bucks by dressed weight.  Have no idea how to measure antlers (not that any I have taken require much recording).

I have my wool Fedora hat on my coat-tree at work; same hat I frequently hunt under.

[njloco]

I didin't know anything about tuning, just used Kentucky windage, come to think of It, I still don't know much about tuning    :confused:

[Stumpkiller]

You're so old you had to tune a bow on AM stations.    

[GRINCH]

I remember those days well,you could hunt if you asked permission,we used to climb trees no stand and we were always excited.I truly wish they would return.

[koger]

I have bunch of old hunting/shooting mags put togehter in hardbound. They emphasized, DIY for cheap, hunting hard. Also looking thru some the other night, and showed a gunhunter and a archer with a deer each, small basket rack 6 & 8point, and the mag called them "Dandy Bucks any hunter worth the name would be satisfied with". I though man does that sum it up. The wife and I both hunt hard, and are usually successful, to fill the freezers. It is a yearly ritual, and sickens me to see so many folks that think all old deer meat is good for is jerky. I remember if you had the old OD army surp. jacket with a liner, you had the good equipment, and your work boots were your hunting boots, you put on thick or 2 pairs of socks.l

[Steve Clandinin]

God,Those were the good old days.I remember so vividly duck hunting with dad and the smell of the shotgun powder and spent shells,along with the thick warm body of a drake Mallard.Dad passed this year and all he taught me make it all so special.Dad was the only one on the block that had an actual subscription to Outdoor Life,the whole block read it.

[vermonster13]

Still a bunch of old skeletons in trees where I hunt Grinch of stands made with 2x4 technology.    

[JamesV]

Not many deer in our area back in the late 50's and no one even expected to see a deer, much less shoot at one. Finding a deer track was a biggie. Bowhunting was a novelty and the landowners would let you hunt anytime. Arrows were 35 cents for the cheap ones and 50 cents for the nice ones with crimped on field points. I finally got a real bow, a Pearson two piece all fiberglass 50# bow. That old thing is still in the family and shootable. Never had more than one jacket, wore two pairs of jeans for cold weather and leather boots. I wear more clothes to walk to the mail box now.

The good ole days are here now.

[GRINCH]

Dave there are alot of two by four technology,floating around our woods,when I see one I start looking for a place to set up a ground blind now.

[bretto]

The Hardware store sold Hunting and fishing equipment. You could buy shells at the Feed store.If some of You young guys don't know what a feed store is ask Your Grandparents. LOL

My first bow came from Perkin's Hardware. A Bear fiberglass recurve and 3 wooden arrows with crimped on field points.

I've still got the bow but the arrows are long gone.

bretto