# Do you ever wonder...



## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

how our grandfathers ever got any deer without all the camo, scent blockers, cameras, etc.? 
Mine wore jeans and flannel, and used an old 16 gauge shotgun (that I now have) with slugs and got deer every year. What is different now that requires all of this extra equipment?


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## bobk (Apr 30, 2004)

For me I use the camera for the fun of seeing pictures. I play the wind just like they use too back in the day and don't buy into the scent blocker theme. It's just the progress of hunting the way I see it. If you are a good woodsman it's plenty easy to go out and shoot a deer in a pair of jeans and flannel shirt still today. I like to stay warm and dry so I do take advantage of the modern materials available to do just that. 
I started out kinda of like your grandfather did. Smooth bore shotgun and cheap slugs and a carhartt jacket. It's just like anything in todays world we want the best technology we can afford in many things we do. It's not really needed but makes the hunting more enjoyable. At least for me it is.


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## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

That makes a lot of sense.


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## rrtresp28 (Sep 6, 2006)

The main thing I use religiously is cover scent. Wont go out without it. Years ago we used apple scent and things like that. However I have been in the woods eating or having a smoke and deer have came right to me. It depends on the wind and what cover is around you. I still use my dads 870 that is very old and have shoot multiple deer with it (I have the newest but don't use it). And I wear cheap camo clothing that keeps me the warmest. With that said I think a lot of the things out there today are out to make companies money and you don't really need the latest and greatest to enjoy and to harvest several deer.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Have you ever talked to an old timer about how many deer they saw?


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## Fish-N-Fool (Apr 12, 2004)

Marketing and availability.....very few of the products we buy are necessary. Scent blocker, camo, cameras, etc....unnecessary to kill a deer. These products are marketed to hunters based on emotion......the product(s) make the hunter more confident and/or make them feel like it provides an advantage.

Advancements in technology in archery and firearms would be the exception - most like to have the most efficient weapon possible. But still unnecessary...you just have a smaller range, less accuracy, etc.

It has never been easier to kill a deer in OH than the previous 20 years. The golden era of deer hunting in OH so to speak. 

Many of these products simply weren't manufactured 40 years ago. You didn't have 50+ camo companies...availability was so poor most went to military outpost stores and bought hunting gear there. Some that had a few more dollars bought goods form the early manufacturers like Sears and LL Bean. I'm sure that generation would have welcomed some of the items we have, but they just weren't available.

I also tend to believe folks back then were more looking for food. Today almost nobody can make that argument....all told it is cheaper to buy beef even at these prices. Today we hunt for sport, hobby, recreation. There is always a guy hunting tenant land with a 10k annual income that hunts for meat, but most hunt for fun. All these gadgets and items just add to the fun (like cams for instance).

Interesting to think about


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## Ozdog (Jul 30, 2007)

I don't know bro but I can say one grandfather told me it was rare to even see a track & the other never hunted deer until the 70"s, & never killed one. both were avid Pheasant, Rabbit & Quail hunters.
When I started hunting deer you could only kill a doe in my county with a bow. Gun was buck only. My how the times change.


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## noodle8177 (Sep 24, 2007)

Sounds like my dad. When he was here and able to hunt with me. I had the scent lock top of the line hunting stuff. He wore jeans work boots and a Carhart hunting coat that I have now. He used a Winchester 1200 pump gun with vent rib and bead sight. Smoked in the woods ate drank coffee whatever we ain't supposed todo today. He always killed deer and more times then not more then me. It is more in are heads these days that we need all the fancy things to kill a deer. The cameras are nice and all the nice clothes and bows now days. Thinking maybe this year I might take a week and hunt like my dad did and just enjoy the woods. Good luck to all this year. 


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## ltroyer (Feb 6, 2013)

That the way I roll .....jeans n whatever else.. shot most my deer that way.can't afford that 200 plus camo n scent gear and I hunt on da ground!

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## mlayers (Aug 22, 2011)

I also hunt without scents. I don't have all that camo gear. I have made me a tree stand out of 2 X 4 it gets me up 8 ft up so I can watch the fields better. I have a marlin goose gun that I hunt deers with, bought it back in 1972 for $35 so I could reach out a little bit farther. I have killed deers almost every year that I have been out. I hunt for food not big racks. Even though I have taken some very nice buck in my time. I still perfer to shoot the does.


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## treytd32 (Jun 12, 2009)

NONE of it is necessary and SOME of it will cover up your flaws but ALL of it is marketing. Yes new technology can make the hunting process easier or more enjoyable, but we live in a consumer market so the latest and greatest gear is a MUST have. No matter how good your camo is you won't be invisible, they don't sell invisibility cloaks (yet). Despite the most expensive suits and sprays you're not going to stop producing and releasing scent, police dogs pick up scent despite the most air tight, "scent free", sterile containers and deer have how many olfactory receptors? Do you need that new 200 dollar sight or top of the line broad heads to kill game, I think a couple people a few hundred years ago did it with their eyes and some rocks and sticks.

But I won't be a hypocrite here bc I do hunt with latest and greatest gear myself like the Bear Whitetail Hunter.


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## Bonemann (Jan 28, 2008)

M.Magis said:


> Have you ever talked to an old timer about how many deer they saw?


I was adopted by an older couple. My dad was 40 years old when he got me (old enough to be my grandfather).

I live in the house he built in 1939. He hunted to supplement his diet rabbit,squirrel and birds. 

He said he never saw a deer around here until the 70's about the same time the pheasants disappeared.


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## Mr. A (Apr 23, 2012)

My grandpa, like so many others, never relied on anything other than an old smooth bored double barreled shotgun to hunt with. Cheap slugs for deer, shot for birds and small game, 00 buck for protecting the house and land. He never wore camo cause "deer weren't smart enough to see him in his regular clothes." (I do not believe he even knew it was available except for military surplus) BUT, he lived off his farm.

He hunted on his way home from school too. But he was born in 1903.... Things may have changed a little.

I believe that as civilization keeps creeping out we have cut the amount of available hunting land/wildlife habitat considerably. Deer adapt to the surroundings but they haven't gotten smarter IMO. I think breaking up your personal outline is much more important than what colors your wearing. I agree that advancements in weapons tech have allowed for greater accuracy and distance. I also believe that while the color of the clothes you choose to wear may not matter as much as we commonly think, the technology in those clothes is much more advanced and useful today; not to mention that many of the hunting clothes we wear help us stay more comfortable and allow us to stay in the hunt longer than my grandpa's work boots, feed jacket, jeans, and flannel!

Mr. A


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## squid_1 (Jun 2, 2005)

I don't buy into the cover scent stuff. I always smoke while in the stand and take a piss off the side. I have always hunted primarily during archery season. I have killed dear in jeans and flannel shirt and tennis shoes as well as full camo. The one advancement that I will buy is a good rain suit and tinks 69. That is a must and during archery and the warmer days it it nice lightweight camo. I started hunting deer with my dad in 1978 and I cant say the herd is any different. I have noticed the last couple years in muskingum county where I hunt the numbers seem down.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Bowhunting is a different game then gun hunting. Going after a specific few deer vs. shooting the first thing you see is another factor. I've shot deer while not wearing camo. Shot a turkey wearing sweatpants on two occasions (not a fluke hunt, just forgot my pants...twice...once when I was 8 and once too recent to want to admit  )

The cameras are mostly for fun. Scent is a big deal that our elders fought with too.


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## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

funny you say that i killed a turkey in shorts about 3 years ago haha How do i forget pants? For me all of the technology ads up to maybe 2 or 3 more chances per year. That number is far from scientific but if i can not get busted one time when a deer comes in downwind or when i move a little bit, the camo and scent cover becomes worth it to me.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

Ozdog said:


> I don't know bro but I can say one grandfather told me it was rare to even see a track & the other never hunted deer until the 70"s, & never killed one. both were avid Pheasant, Rabbit & Quail hunters.
> When I started hunting deer you could only kill a doe in my county with a bow. Gun was buck only. My how the times change.


True that! My Dad told me that around here, back when he was a kid, the sighting of a deer track would make the local papers! I think what's missing today is good, old fashioned woodscraft! 

Consider my case. When I first started bowhunting for deer I put up stands here and there and almost never saw deer. Deciding that something was wrong I resolved to spend more time scouting for the next season. That year I started seeing deer, but they were still way too far away for me to get a shot at with a bow. The next year I "refined" my stand locations still further and got closer to deer, but still no success. Finally, in my 4th year of bowhunting, I started paying more attention to wind direction and background, and I finally harvested my first bow killed deer! 

It was just after that when all the "technology" started hitting the fan. I rejected most of it, but I also fell for some of it. Nowadays I've sort of gone back to the old school. I wash my camos in cold water and baking soda, and I don't spray down with the latest product that's supposed to make you "invisible" to deer! 

I like the Wensel brothers advice. "On this property there is one tree past which more bucks walk than any other tree. Your job is to find that tree!


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## tehsavage (Aug 16, 2013)

Heres my spin on it... Think how many deer were around back then, how little they seen humans (urban sprawl wasn't in full swing), with that said, Now think of all the generations of deer since the 70's, and think how technology has increased through the past 40 years. 

We start wearing more camo, deer spook easier because we are becoming harder and harder to see. Eye sight adapts. Alertness is increased.

We start using scent blockers, so now those human smells stand out a lot more than before with the increase in percentage of hunters using them. Smell adapts.

You can use this train of thought for virtually any hunting item/tactic we did not use/have 40 years ago. Now think about how deer have evolved over the past 40 years as they adapt to our newer technologies. We have bred these deer through environmental conditioning into the deer we have today. 

A while ago i remember reading that deer in michigan(very few) started eating fish from the rivers, these deer were found to have sharper teeth to aid in catching/eating the fish. I've seen deer traverse ridge lines and actually crouch as they walk because they know they stick up too high if they don't. And we all know how crazy deer go when the leaves start falling, they know it's time that they are hunted.

Now fast forward 40 years. "I can't believe my dad used to hunt deer in camo, i don't know how you could kill deer without an invisibility cloak and pherimone replacement pills, sheesh,"


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