Back in the day
 

Figured this could be a thread to have fun with, whether it be posting equipment used or stories of beginner mistakes from "back in the day".

So back in the day when....
Just getting 1 shot all season at a buck was amazing
the only thing to silence a bow was cat whiskers and yarn
There were only a handfull of arrow sizes and they were all aluminum
Sight pins were made of brass
Camo was woodland or treebark

RE: Back in the day
 

Leather boots weren't waterproof.
Neither were clothes.
A 200FPS bow was fast.
Baker Treestand

RE: Back in the day
 

Back in the day when...
A top of the line "speed" bow shot 270-280 fps, and still sounded like a .22 rifle.
Can anyone say "24 inch arrows" overdraws:eek:lol
bows didnt come camo,, you had to paint it,, I dont remember that one, but dad told me about it.lol
When for me justgetting a deer in range once in a season was an accomplishment!

RE: Back in the day
 

A short bow was about 40".
You had your choice of energy wheels or energy wheels.

RE: Back in the day
 

back in the day I hunted with family members that are in heaven right now.The equipment was not as advanced but just as deadly.I would`nt sell my memories for $5,000,000

RE: Back in the day
 

I had the woods mostly to myself.
Access to good hunting land was easy.

RE: Back in the day
 

Land was easy to find. A 40' was around 10,000.

RE: Back in the day
 

Ohhhhh there are so many rookie mistakes I look back on and laugh at. The one that makes me chuckle the most is we used to have a kerosene salomander heater we used at our camp. We'd fire that baby up whenever we were there (with hunting clothes on). That thing stunk to the high heavens. Always wondered why we didn't see very many deer :D:D[8D].

Nowadays I live in an earth scent bubble during deer season. I get fed via a little trap door. Every iota of anything on me is as scent free as I can possibly get it. I have a special toothbrush I scrub my nostril hairs with scent away.[:-][8D]
Interesting how it directly relates to the success I've had [:-]

RE: Back in the day
 

AMEN!!!

RE: Back in the day
 

I had a prostrate that was normal
Blood pressure was normal
Hair wasn't gray
Didn't know what high sugar meant
Arthritis was an "old persons thing"

RE: Back in the day
 

Back in the day the only camo was army surplus "tiger stripes",
there were no wheels and pulleys on bows, and you tied your deer onto the fender of your car when you brought it home!

RE: Back in the day
 

Back in the day:
when all limbs were solid glass or wood laminated.
Never heard of "carbon" or graphite.
Almost everyone used a berger button.
Only about 3 choices of treestands that I know of...........Baker, Loc On, and homemade.
Broadheads ruling the roost were: Bear, Zwickey, Savora, Wasp
One deer permit is all you were allowed.
Hardly ever seen another bowhunter
NEVER saw an ATV
Bear, PSE, Jennings and Martin ruled

RE: Back in the day
 

Wool bibs and jacket, pack boots and horse back trips into the wilderness,no 4 wheelers, treestands made from left over mill scraps and an elk bugle looked like a whistle and we never took any pictures, hunted to fill the freezer.

RE: Back in the day
 

When my hand warmer was the size of a small book and had to be filled with lighter fluid. No scent there;). My stand was a small folding stool with a cloth seat about 15" high.

RE: Back in the day
 

Scent control was unthought of...
The wheels on my Bear Blacktail Hunter were held to the glass limbs with big metal brackets and were made of plastic...
I had never hear of a treestandlet alone thought of hunting from 20' above the ground.....
Finding a deer trail was a big deal and seeing 1-2 deer a year was a good year!....
You would've of never entertained the thought of dragging $1000.00-$2000.00 worth of equipment into the woods.

RE: Back in the day
 

Back in the day

All my hair follicles function, nowI amhaving massive failures, LOL

RE: Back in the day
 

Back in the day where my dad would set my stand and pick my hunting spot and lead me to the stand in the morning and not walk away until I got the seat belt from an old buick snapped. That was my fall protection. 8ft was plenty high, so my dad told me. Can't remember seeing any deer. The frst animal I saw bow hunting was a bear.

Now it is the other way around. Except the old car seat belt to keep me in the stand, we have graduated past that. When did I become my parents keeper. I wouldn't trade it though

RE: Back in the day
 

Callouses on 3 fingers

RE: Back in the day
 

TNN was the only channel that had hunting shows, and Buckmasters ruled the roost. ;)
Alberta was "THE" place to go for monster bucks. Nobody even though about IL, IA, or KS
Stabilizers were nothing more than a dead weight on the front of your bow
Most archers still shot fingers with a glove or tab
Cables were actually cables and had teardrops at the end of them. You could replace your string without ever having to put your bow in a press
Oneida Eagle was the "hot" new bow
Bob Foulkrod, Myles Keller, DickIdol,and Noel Feather were the master bowhunters
Gander Mountain still had a mail-order catalog
Brass sight pins were painted with white or flourescent colors so you could see them in low light

RE: Back in the day
 

"Hey, did you hear about that guy up the road? He's got some kind of mechanical release." "What the heck is that all about - do you really think that would work better than your fingers?? Nah."

or

"I think next year, I'm gonna get one of those PEEP SIGHTS put on here." "There were a couple of guys at the archery shop that had 'em, and I think it might be the ticket."

or

"TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS for a BOW?! Are you CRAZY?!!!"

Remember making that yearly trek to the local barn and buying two fresh haybales for a bow target? There was no McKenzie. No Block. No bag. Just hay and miner's belt.

"You mean to tell me that they sell a treestand that climbs the tree?? Rrrrright. Is it like motorized or something?"

I remember hunting all season before/after school to maybe see one buck all year, and getting one, even if it was a unicorn fawn spike, made you feel like you were the next Chuck Adams.

Big D-Cell plastic flashlights that were so stinkin' dim you were lucky to find your treestand.

I actually think I liked it better then - no pressure, no competition with other hunters, no other cars at the parking lot. More peaceful.

RE: Back in the day
 

Back in the day when there were NO deer around where I lived.

I'd go cut a branch off an elm tree for a bow (always kept a few curing out in the barn, actually), and use willow switch arrows fletched with feathers from the chicken coop. Broadheads were made with tin snips and file from the tops of those old waxed paper oil cans. A few strands of kite string twisted up to make a bow string. I was taught to use the old... uh... gotta bePC here... AH!...Indigenous American;) pinch draw and didn't learn to shoot like white men, with anchor points and all that stuff,until I was in college. And I'd come home withmeat (rabbits and/or squirrels)after an afternoonout in the west pasture.

Then, when I was 12,I saved up enough pop bottles to cash in and buy myselfa fancy, solid fiberglass Bear recurve - a bow that'd never break? Wow![:-]:D

If I'd known how many thousands of dollars I'd wind up spending on bows and stuff after that measely $12, I'd have never done it.[&:]

By the way,when I bought that bow? It was another four years before Allen patented the compound.:)

RE: Back in the day
 

In days of old when knights were bold and women weren't particular...:D

RE: Back in the day
 

Back in the days when:

A top-o-the-line hunting bow cost about $200.
KE was not even thought of.
60# was the max most could handle.
20% letoff
Steel cables, dacron strings
Berger buttons and flipper rests were IT
Wooden risers not even cut past center shot.

Yeh, those were the days. Things are a lot better now except for the KE thing and all the number crunching. Shooting was the rage--field.

RE: Back in the day
 

...few thought the compound would catch on.
...bows and arrows were made of wood.
...fletches were made of feathers.
...everyone sharpened their own broadheads.
...a long shot was 20-25 yards.

RE: Back in the day
 

My arrows were big enough to use for water lines....Razor back 5's that weighed about a pound each....and a Whitetail II....those were the days.

RE: Back in the day
 

Back in the day when i started there were only recurves and longbows and you couldnt even hunt from a tree stand here in Mich. Ill didnt even have deer to talk about and when compounds came out there wasnt any fighting over what brand was better there was only one brand!!!! Walt

RE: Back in the day
 

This site was slower, you didn't need a username and password, we were a close group, remembering Maui Wes, Bowdacious, Mounting Man, Static, ArcticBowman and many more who no longer join us, we had 4 moderators, one got banned, Matt/PA was a card, oh he's still a card, There was what a half dozen forums, and things were simplier.

I wouldn't trade today, I do miss some of the old friendships and comradories as well as some of the posters.

RE: Back in the day
 

a top of the line 40" bow ran ya about $300.00 instead of the possible thoudands now a days, scent lock was when you farted in your budys cabin and locked the place up for him to walk in to the next morning....those were the days werent they.

RE: Back in the day
 

I cant say I ever experienced "the days", but look forward to seeing how things will change(hopefully in a goodway)when I look back in another 20yrs. But I sure as heck hope I dont look backat a $1000 dollar bow and say"man those were the days"lolSometimes I wish I could go back and almost watch my dad hunt as if it was on a home video. He used to go to Vermont with his dad and his brother when they were 12. They would get dropped off at the top of a mtn by themselves and were picked up at the same spot at dark. Everyman for himself.lolMy dad only saw 1 deer in 5 yrs of hunting. They only wore flannels, blue jeans and cotton socks(w/ leather boots of course). And I complain that I'm cold yet I wear thinsulate, polypropalene, wool base layers.lol Till this day my dad said, even though he never saw much, it was some of the best times hunting hes had.(besides the times w/ me of course)

RE: Back in the day
 

Just the other day, I strung my dads old Fred Bear Kodiak(I believe thats the name), just to see what it was like. Man do I give you traditional guys some credit. I think I have found something to keep me occupied w/ next year season;)

RE: Back in the day
 

Being 12 years old in 1988 at my first deer camp with dad, grampa, the uncles, and the rest of dad's rowdy friends from GM. It was at Rifle River StateForest near Lupton Michigan.

Sitting around the campfire under a full moon with those guys listening to coyotes howl and hearing Ted Nugent sing FRED BEAR for the first time ever on the radio.

I still get goosebumps on my arms thinking about that night.

RE: Back in the day
 

I was wondering who was gonna steal my post... Can't believe I read through almost three full pages before I found it. ... to you Rob! :D

RE: Back in the day
 

You got catalogs from Herter's,Gander Mountain and Cabelas. The only Cabelas store was in Sidney NE
You used flourecent paint on your site pins,if you used a sight at all.
No one had heard of
Gortex
Carbon camo
Releases
Carbon arrows
Expandable broadheads
GPS
Internet
No bow had more than 50% let off
Mossy Oak
Real Tree
Climbing tree stands
The Outdoor Channel
Cable TV
Bowtech
Mathews

How did we ever survive?