RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

My biggest thing thats gonna change is hunting locations...

Ive been wasting my time w/ spots others have always hunting and hung stands... I've learned a great deal about food supplies, travel corridors, and timing... Hopefully this year I'll change enough to kill some monsters!

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

Alot of good replies. I have only been hunting for a few years... when I started overdraws were a pretty big deal. Never did talk to parents into getting me one :) I think quick spins will kinda lose the hype in those that believe in them so much.

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

I think they already have. Thats IMO though.

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

Everyone has come up with a lot of good ones from the past. I think back and can remember hunting an entire bow season on public ground, private ground, everywhere and not seeing another bowhunter. No one was doing it when I started. You couldn't find any equipment anywhere either.

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

Well Ive seen so many changes since Ive started bow hunting back in the late 70's. One thing I really wish would change is the way the younger bowhunters look at hunting today. I mean everyone is looking at the hot rod bows and how they have to have one to keep up with the next guy. It must be a material thing. I dont know for sure. It seems the younger hunters think they have to have the most expensive piece of equipment out there. They think they all have to shoot releases. Things are too easy anymore. When I began hunting a release was almost unheard of. Now everyone thinks they are such a great shooter because they shoot the all mighty release. I say all need to learn how to shoot traditional. But anymore this is just a blast from the past. I understand the times have changed, but younger hunters are losing site of how things were done years ago. We still killed deer with a bow years ago, but had to work hard for them. Now theres so much techonology that things are much simpiler than years past. Now we have feeders and trail cams. We had to learn the deer patterns years ago. We worked at it, scouted all the time. Now its let me set up a trail cam and get on line and check my pics and see what Ive got on film. Hunters have lost sight at the real goal. Feeding our familys was a top priority. Now its lets see what trophy deer walks in front of my camera. No work at all. Before long we will have a GPS tracking every deer in the woods. To be honest that is hogwash. Get out and find the deer and make it sporting again. Its getting to where hunting isnt much of a challenge anymore. That in itself is sad. There are too many lazy hunters. Dont get me wrong I love seeing the trail cam pics and all that stuff. But sooner or later all the technology will come back and bite us in the ass. So before some of you jump down my throat about what Ive said, think back to generations before you are wonder how hunting has evolved. Its getting to easy anymore... thats my opinion and Im sticking to it...

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

It's nothing at all like the old days when your treestand was a couple of boards nailed into the crotch of a tree. Ain't that right, Dave?;)

I've got an old Bear bow quiver that I've had since I was a youngster. Two pieces of rubber that clamped around your recurve's limbs with arrow grippers molded into them. Made before they came up with the broadhead hood idea. It was pretty easy to poke yourself in the leg with a few broadheads if you tripped. And no, I haven't used it in many years. I keep it for the memories.

I still prefer plaid shirts with big, open squares for hunting. Green and black for early, brown and tan for late season. No problem with 'blobbing out' like most of this newfangled designer camo does. A heckuva lot less expensive than designer camo too.;)

In many ways, I agree with Arrowmaster. I think technology has opened up bowhunting to a whole mess of people who have no business playing with sharp sticks. But then, I think back on some of the people I knew in the old days and... Well, many of them had no business playing with sharp sticks either.[&:] At least the new technology makes for enough power that, with a little luck, a bad shot might still result in a quick kill.

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

I remember the brass pins you had to paint, and 30-50% letoff bows, and the fact that I only knew of 1 other person that hunted with a bow. For your average bowhunter it was definitely a short range game, years ago when I started. I shot that crusty old bow of mine untill just a few years ago, didn't really realize how much different the new ones were. I went from that to a new Bowtech, and I just could not believe a bow could feel/shoot like that.

I think that as the technology behind equipment gets stronger, more of what I call the "true" archers will go traditional. I know that statement will probably get me in hot water, but so be it. I don't think I want a better compound than what I have now. Mine will shoot every bit as far/fast/consistent as I want it to. I bowhunt to enjoy the thrill of getting close. I hunt on the plains, and have lots of rifles that will reach WAAAAAY out there, but the whole reason for a bow was to get close. I am already looking at trad bows, and see myself going there soon. It used to be that primitive weapons were just that, but not any more. The bows/muzzle loaders have gotten just as technologically advanced as their modern counterparts, and to me are loosing the thrill of the primitive weapons they are intended to be.

But my opinion will not stop the innovations, and should not stop them. At what point will the innovations in bows hit a wall? Rifles, and their capabilities, have not significantly changed in the last 50 years. The technology is mature. Bows are rapidly reaching that point, IMO. Where I think things will really change is in the gadgetry that accompanies bowhunting, the accessories and such.

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

Arrowmaster, I've got a lot of respect for guys like you and Davidmil, and ArthurP who have been playing this game for a long time. I started bowhunting just before the big technology boom. My first bow was a Bear Whitetail hunter, and I longed for one of those fancy "two wheeled bows." I have to disagree with you a little bit on the trail cam thing taking all of the work out of hunting. First of all, you need to know where to hang the trail cam to get pictures of deer. If you just hang a camera randomly in the woods you're not likely to get many pictures. If you use food to draw deer to the camera, you still have to know that the deer will pass by there to find the food.

Now, I don't use trail cams that much for scouting. When I find a new area I put boots on the ground and find where the deer are feeding and bedding and the trails that connect the dots. Then I set up my observation stands and adjust from there. I would like to use some trail cameras, but in a lot of locations it would be just putting a couple of $100 bills on a tree for someone to take.

I see what you are saying about the trend in bowhunting, and if you read my previous post on this thread you'll see I'm thinking on the same lines as you. Right now, it is a fad and a cool thing to do to bowhunt. It strikes and elitist chord in many guys and is a way for them to prove their manhood and buy the greatest gear, and coolest camo. I honestly believe that in ten years most of these guys will get bored with this fad and pick their golf clubs back up, or move onto the next cool "man" thing to do. When this happens I know I'll still be out in the woods hunting, God willing, and guys like you and Davidmil, and ArthurP will be too.

RE: Changes since you have started and what will change?
 

i think i will look in 10 years and say, 315 fps......thats it