mauser06

i didnt wanna hijack such a great post...heck i wasnt born when some of them pics were taken!! great post....

one thing i noticed...alot of the guys that posted pics are NOW the guys decked out in the very best camo, scentlock suits, scent killer sprays, the very best hunting bows made, 150$ arrows, 100$ stabilizers, 150+$ sights ect ect...back then the gear was minimal and probably barely functional by todays standards(i dont know i never got to use any of it)

so heres some questions...you guys were killin them back then with the gear you had. do you guys think all the fancy bells and whistle made you guys better hunters/more successful etc?? surely the bows updated..shot better and extended range and bettered accuracy. but im curious to your guys thoughts about the way things changed and evolved. back then a 300fps bow was unheard of. scent killer? wind was in your face and maybe rubbed leaves on your clothes or something if you even cared. just curious what you guys think and have to say...not asking if you NEED all that fancy gear...to each his own..todays gear is definently better and more effective and helps us in the field...but you guys all proved its not needed...lets hear it..anything you wanna fill in about gear from the "old days" compared to now..

shed33

Lets do a throwback hunt next year... OLD gear 20+ years or older only

camo, bows, calls you name it.. take pics ... everyone get a mullet grown out by then too...

Mundt

I still use a Forge flight bow that is at least 15 years old.

Pops423

Yeah, I'm looking to dig up some pictures too but I still have my first bow, a Bear Whitetail II. It still shoots great. Taught a neighbor how to shoot with it a few years ago.

HAZCON7

Not trying to nit pick here but I think that only experience and practice makes one a better hunter.

Everything else is just a way to help one enjoy their time in the field.

bloodcrick

A little more primitive but effective, but that gear back then was also the best you could get ahold of for the times. back then you just had to be a little more creative but it was kinda fun crafting certain things. my first two climbers were homemade(death traps) ,boots were not warm either. I can remember when the only lures on the market at that time were buckstop lure, grape, cherry, or apple scent. I guess we buy newer equipment just cause its available and more reliable and its kinda a craze but enjoyable, and in my opinion it helps the sport grow witch is good, we need all the amo against the antis as we can possable get and that comes in numbers.
Dan

GMMAT

I agree, hazcon. That being said....I've been mildly successful in my professional endeavors.....and it's afforded me the ability to buy SOME of the things I want (within reason). That threshold (to buy or not to buy) is likely different with us all. I have nice things. I won't apologize for them. I also won't begrudge a man his $2K bow if "I" can't afford it, either. That's just sour grapes.

Does ASAT camo cost more than K-mart camo? Yep. Is the ASAT owner a dumbaxx for paying the price for his suit? I don't think so. Nor do (or SHOULD)I care what he spends his money on.

Deer can still be killed with a spear, too.....by half-naked guys wearing face paint. They do it all the time.

Jeff

GR8atta2d

Who didn't go to the woods with a smelly old Johnny (sp) hand warmer.

Or lectric socks ..where the battery lasted until you got out of Dad's truck and then died.. leaving you with sweaty feet that cold even quicker!

Arthur P

Ooooo! I could get in SO much trouble with this topic! [:-][8D]

Just sticking to bows, because that's where most of the change has been...

Today's stuff isn't 'better' by any stretch, just faster. Compared to the older stuff, today's compounds are:

Harder to tune. The older, slower bows had a much wider tuning window and would shoot well even if they weren't perfectly tuned. Today, if it's not perfectly tuned, it's not going to shoot worth a hoot. Don't bump that rest while out hunting or your hunt is over until you can retune the bow!

Much less forgiving of shooting form errors. Risers with reflexed handles magnify any torque in your grip and there goes accuracy. Most bows back in the day were made with deflexed grips, which robbed speed but made them darn hard to torque and much easier to shoot accurately under field conditions, in the heat of the moment.

Harder and/or more expensive to maintain. You have to have a full function bow press to disassemble a bow today, where all we needed to do back then was back out the limb bolts. So, most folks can't properly maintain their bows without taking them to a bow shop and paying to get them serviced.

I could go on and on about this, but I'm sure I've thrown enough fuel out there for the flamers to work with.

I began bowhunting before compounds were invented and, honestly, never did get to the point where I trusted compounds enough to seriously hunt with them. I liked shooting competition with them, but what I learned about their reliability on the tournament trail was enough to insure I almost always hunted with longbows or recurves. Even worse, I am even less enthused about the reliability of today's compounds than I was with what we had 20 years ago.

GMMAT

First person that claims they grew up when boinking was STRICTLY forpro-creation.....I'm callin deleted.

I'm just sayin......