Deer hunting in the " Old Days "

[peytoncreekhunter]

Who here was deer hunting in the mid 1970's? Man I remember getting excited to see a deer track, rubs and a scrape let alone a real live deer.

I was thinking, back then, a spike, 3 or 4 pointer was on the ground if I saw it. And good gravey, a 6 or 8 point was more than I could ask for. Hickman County was THE place to hunt. I was hunting a farm in Dickson County.

Now think about today's herd. I see more 8's, 9's and 10 points that are taken all the time. Times sure have changed. At least for me anyways.

 

[RobDooley]

I hunted Perry County in the seventies. Unbelievable amount of does...but you could not kill them. The either sex permit was huge. We killed some decent bucks...we also killed a lot of spikes and fork horns.

 

[Wrangler95]

I started deer hunting in1967,my first deer was a spike and I was really happy,still remember it like it was yesterday

 

[Wobblyshot1]

I started in 1972 in Maury County. About everything about deer hunting was learned the hard way with help from Outdoor Life, etc. I still remember the map in the hunting guide that showed the land that was open for deer hunting. Even in Maury only the part west of I-65 was allowed. Seems like the further east you traveled the less deer hunting was allowed. I also remember total kill that year for the entire state was somewhere north of 8000.

 

[Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors]

Ok old timers it mid 80s for me. Hunted for 2 years before I saw a deer. If you knew someone who killed a deer you were popular and the guy that killed it was famous. And much colder as I remember but I was just a kid. Gosh it was magical though wouldn't it...

 

[BSK]

I remember when Hickman County was THE place to hunt. Thousands of spikes and forkhorns killed every year.

 

[Dully]

Started deer hunting mid sixties,killed my first doe 1976

 

[peytoncreekhunter]

Back then I was taught to be in the woods an hour before daylight and deer quit moving a couple hours after daylight....

Boy have I changed..... most of the time I'm going in about 10 min before shooting time and have killed lots of bucks at 9, 10 and 11 o'clock.....have even been know to sleep in a little and be going in about 8 o'clock!

 

[beefydeer]

Hunted Weakley and Henry counties in the early 80's. Weakley county was shotgun only. Big news to see a track.

 

[chimneyman]

Killed first deer a spike at catoosa in 1971. Just seeing a flag was a big deal back then

 

[TnKen]

I started hunting in the mid 70s. Killed my first deer in 78. I grew up in southern Illinois and deer were hard to come by. The thought of passing a deer never crossed your mind, any deer was a trophy. Seeing a deer was something to tell your friends about.

 

[bigtex]

I started deer hunting in the late 60's. My county didn't even have a deer season. The closest County was only open for a week or so. Seeing a deer was very rare. I remember stopping at the checking station and was envious of a spike or 4 pointer that were being checked in.
Finally killed my first deer a doe in 1970 with a recurve, compounds weren't legal. Killed my first Buck the next year with my 30-06. It was just a 3 point but I was so excited and couldn't wait to show it off at the checking station.

 

[Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors]

Back then I was taught to be in the woods an hour before daylight and deer quit moving a couple hours after daylight....

Boy have I changed..... most of the time I'm going in about 10 min before shooting time and have killed lots of bucks at 9, 10 and 11 o'clock.....have even been know to sleep in a little and be going in about 8 o'clock!

This is true, but man they just aint much better than daybreak in the deer woods. Whether they movin or not. I think its one of those Heavenly places I was taught about in sunday school. Can I get an amen?

 

[Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors]

I started deer hunting in the late 60's. My county didn't even have a deer season. The closest County was only open for a week or so. Seeing a deer was very rare. I remember stopping at the checking station and was envious of a spike or 4 pointer that were being checked in.
Finally killed my first deer a doe in 1970 with a recurve, compounds weren't legal. Killed my first Buck the next year with my 30-06. It was just a 3 point but I was so excited and couldn't wait to show it off at the checking station.

Wouldn't that trip to the check station the best? All the guys hangin out telling lies and eating bologna sandwiches sliced off the roll in the store..boys we've been blessed. Dailey and Vincent bluegrass sings a song " take me back and leave me there".....I agree.

 

[Gravey]

It was early to mid 80's when I started deer hunting with my granddad. We hunted at some of his cousins property in Lewis county. If we didn't see 20+ deer it was a bad day. They were everywhere and then had a die off in the 90's that hammered them. They've all passed on now and it's been 20+ years since I've hunted that area but man oh man do I have some great memories.

 

[DRSJ35]

listen here don't y'all think that by all the interaction with fellow hunters telling lie's maybe even the truth but not the whole truth. Gave us the drive and motivation to head back out in the rain or snow or whatever the weather allows. To hunt with those stories still fresh on the mind. Even strategies that the guy with the 4 point hanging at the check station told us about. Man back then people would even give you the area they killed the thing on. Didn't care a bit glad to hopefully give you info so you could kill. I really miss the check stations. And honestly folks think about it. That is exactly why most of us are on TN Deer to begin with. Now we get it here instead of shaking hands and eating a sandwich and talking face to face

 

[Urban_Hunter]

Guess I'm just a spring chicken around you old farts. I started in 96 on willamette land in Hickman county. Guys we hunted with grumbled and cussed all the East tn plates coming to the west side to hunt our non-existent deer. There were 6-8 of us together at "camp" and if someone saw a deer… any deer… the rest of us would all spread out on that spot for the remainder of our time in camp. I hunted there 6 years and I killed 1 doe in ML. Maybe remember 5 or 6 deer being killed by our group during that time.

My uncle had/has a place in smith county. Whenever we'd get the invite to go there, it was like heaven. Tons of little dog sized deer everywhere. Killed my first few deer there. Remember my first one, a doe, we paraded her all around the friends and family when we got home.

 

[Sasquatch Boogie Outdoors]

listen here don't y'all think that by all the interaction with fellow hunters telling lie's maybe even the truth but not the whole truth. Gave us the drive and motivation to head back out in the rain or snow or whatever the weather allows. To hunt with those stories still fresh on the mind. Even strategies that the guy with the 4 point hanging at the check station told us about. Man back then people would even give you the area they killed the thing on. Didn't care a bit glad to hopefully give you info so you could kill. I really miss the check stations. And honestly folks think about it. That is exactly why most of us are on TN Deer to begin with. Now we get it here instead of shaking hands and eating a sandwich and talking face to face

Ha, I did more than tell where I shot my 1st buck, while gutting the deer a hunter walked up to me, I told him he was welcome to hunt in my homemade hang on which also had a 20$ walmart hang on seat in it.... he did, and stole it along with all my steps....ah the good ole days.

 

[jetwrnch]

I wonder if CWD will reverse this statement. The good Ole days in the 20s when deer were plentiful. Maybe it's a cycle guided by nature and management.

 

[DC219]

Ok old timers it mid 80s for me. Hunted for 2 years before I saw a deer. If you knew someone who killed a deer you were popular and the guy that killed it was famous. And much colder as I remember but I was just a kid. Gosh it was magical though wouldn't it...

I'm an 80's guy too and you hit it on the head. Nobody in my family hunted, but somehow me and a couple of other nimrods blundered and adventured our way to where we are now. Great memories for sure. I loved hanging out at the checking station dreaming of having my own deer to bring there.

 

[double browtine]

I didn't start deer hunting till 1986. But I do remember a story that my grandfather told me. I don't know the year, but he said several of his buddies got to hunt the Cheatham WMA the very first year it opened. He said there was one old store where you had to check in your harvest. He said a few hunters were inside chewing the fat about there hunts and only one or two even saw a deer. Then this guy comes in and said he shot an albino deer, a big spike. My grandfather said he looked more like a city slicker by the way he was dressed. But he was super excited! All the other hunters rush out to see his buck and turns out it was someone's white billy goat that had wandered away from home. My grandfather said he was so excited about it that none of the other hunters had the heart to tell him it was a goat. He didn't even know how to field dress it!

 

[Rancocas]

My first deer hunt was in 1960. I was 12 years old and had been hunting small game with the adults since I was 10. I wasn't allowed on a deer hunt until I turned 12.
It was in southern New Jersey, where I was born and raised. Pine forest, blueberry fields, and cranberry marshes covered much of the land of south Jersey back in those days. Deer were awful scarce, though.

My Dad posted me at a spot where I could watch a short section of open bog between two thickly wooded islands in the large, spreading commercial cranberry farm. The only legal firearm for deer in that place and time was a shotgun and buckshot. No slugs. I carried my Ithaca double barrel 12 gauge that I had just received for my birthday back in July. Both barrels were loaded with paper hulled OO buck shot.

Dad and my uncles went on to push through one of those wooded islands, hopefully to drive a buck into crossing that open ground that I was posted to watch.

They did! I heard a stick crack, and some thumping noises, then a doe broke out of the underbrush and dashed across the shallow cranberry bog, splashing water as she ran. She was followed by another doe, and then - there he was! I saw the antlers high above his head. A buck!

The buck galloped through the marsh, splashing water, as it ran full speed following the does. My eyes were big as saucers and my mouth hung open in awl. But, I quickly raised my shotgun and fired. And, fired again.

A clean miss. I had shot behind the running deer.

I didn't get my first deer until sometime in the late 1960's. I was hunting in Pennsylvania then with my uncle Frank.

 

[Specializedjon]

I was 1 in 1972....those were some good hunting days for sure mainly hunted mamma does back then.

 

[fairchaser]

My first buck was a fork horn from Chickasaw state park around 1979 out of a baker climber. I had a 1/2 mile drag back to my 1973 Vega and tied him to the top. I was the luckiest man alive that day! Still am!

 

[Specializedjon]

My first buck was a fork horn from Chickasaw state park around 1979 out of a baker climber. I had a 1/2 mile drag back to my 1973 Vega and tied him to the top. I was the luckiest man alive that day! Still am!

1973 Vega!! Haven't heard that name in a while. Dad had one.

 

[Winchester]

We didnt even have a season in some counties here in East TN when I started hunting in 1980, Knox county was last to open in the sate in 1989!! I traveled every wknd to mid/west TN for decades

 

[BSK]

We didnt even have a season in some counties here in East TN when I started hunting in 1980, Knox county was last to open in the sate in 1989!! I traveled every wknd to mid/west TN for decades

I remember when you had to make reservations a year in advance to get a spot in the local KOA Campground or any of the motels at my freeway exit (143 on I-40). And all of the truck plates in the motels were East TN. Every tree around the Days Inn would have deer hanging in them. Now, you can hardly tell it's deer season at the local motels. Maybe a dozen trucks at the Days Inn that are obviously hunters.

 

[rifle02]

In the early and mid 60's I was too young legally to hunt where I lived at the time. But I was always allowed to tag along with the group getting up before daylight the whole deal. I killed my first buck at the age of 17 in 1969. A 5 pointer. I shot him with my military surplus 03-A3 Springfield. I managed to kill a few deer through the 70s. I started hunting public land in Northwest Georgia around 79 or 80 I guess. Man was it tough. Several seasons I never pulled the trigger. It was really something to see a deer. I knew they were there because I saw tracks and droppings and rubs. Just seeing a deer in those days made it worth being in the woods! Times have changed. My wife and I eat two deer every year and I have no problem killing two. This may sound weird to younger Hunters but I believe the climbing tree stand revolutionized hunting for many people. It caused us to stay in one spot for a longer period of time and it also allowed us to see a whole lot more real estate. I know my success rate went up tremendously when I began using one around the end of the 90s. Looking back I think I wouldn't want to go back to tough hunting like it used to be. The good thing in my memory was getting together with the other Hunters, who saw something,? who thought they saw something,? who thought they heard something,? was that you that shot,? Etc.

 

[BSK]

In the early and mid 60's I was too young legally to hunt where I lived at the time. But I was always allowed to tag along with the group getting up before daylight the whole deal. I killed my first buck at the age of 17 in 1969. A 5 pointer. I shot him with my military surplus 03-A3 Springfield. I managed to kill a few deer through the 70s. I started hunting public land in Northwest Georgia around 79 or 80 I guess. Man was it tough. Several seasons I never pulled the trigger. It was really something to see a deer. I knew they were there because I saw tracks and droppings and rubs. Just seeing a deer in those days made it worth being in the woods! Times have changed. My wife and I eat two deer every year and I have no problem killing two. This may sound weird to younger Hunters but I believe the climbing tree stand revolutionized hunting for many people. It caused us to stay in one spot for a longer period of time and it also allowed us to see a whole lot more real estate. I know my success rate went up tremendously when I began using one around the end of the 90s. Looking back I think I wouldn't want to go back to tough hunting like it used to be. The good thing in my memory was getting together with the other Hunters, who saw something,? who thought they saw something,? who thought they heard something,? was that you that shot,? Etc.

Good post. I started hunting in KY in '79 when just a few locations in the state held huntable numbers of deer. Competition for hunting land in those areas was fierce. I remember years when seeing a single spike buck was the highlight of the entire season.

 

[Kirk]

My first deer hunt was in 1972 in East Tennessee in Bradley County. I was with my Dad and didn't see any deer. I saw a lot of hunters. I can recall seeing my first deer track on that hunt. Probably around 1974 my Dad bought 58 acres in Meigs County and I saw my first doe and fawn in the wild. It was a red letter day for me. A man could literally hunt for weeks and never see a deer back then in Bradley county. First kill came in 1984 and it was a small racked 6 point.