Please understand this reply is in no way to disparage what you believe about the good old days in whatever land you are from. This is my opinion about the area I grew up in.

I have to say that whatever hunting once was around here, I think we (Hunters) have improved it greatly. In VA, the “Good Old Days” frequently involved hunting for days looking for a deer and not even seeing tracks. Over hunting and poor game management as well as disregard for whatever game laws there was took the VA deer herd to numbers so low, that there was a time not that long ago, that you just did not see many deer at all…ever. The 1950’s and ‘60s were before my time, but I remember plenty of stories. Also, you stood a really good chance of getting shot even though that was BEFORE modern Camo!

I started hunting with by Dad as a boy in the 1970’s. We saw a few deer here and there thanks to the dogs running them, and had very few places to hunt at that time for various reasons.

As a Teen, I took to the woods more on my own. Learning more, and spending more time afield than my dad could because of his work schedule. Still, deer were not seen every day and to see a buck was real treat. To see a 16+ wide 8 pointer in the woods was a miracle!

Now today, with proper game management, the deer in VA are at the other end of the spectrum. We see deer almost every trip and a 8 pointer 3 year old deer is a common occurrence. Plus, there are more than enough deer to carefully fill your freezer with the ones you wish to select. You simply have more choices than ever before. There are so many deer that VDGIF has imported Coyotes into parts of the state to help control them! Something I have a big problem with since we have nothing to control yotes with! I fear (FEAR) that one day we will back to those not so good old days when the coyotes are done eating 9 out of 10 of every newborn fawn in areas where they cannot be controlled. (Not to get off point)

I’m glad we have developed hunting to the place where we are now. Yeah, I’d love to go out west for some real wild adventure where there are no roads but heck, they had horses since the white guys showed up right? (That was a joke in case you missed it)

I submit to you that RIGHT NOW, we are living in the “Good Old Days” of hunting. It is safer for sure with more and better gear. We have much greater opportunity to harvest nice animals, even on public lands. I also think it’s arguable that there are less of us in the woods!