What reminds you of “old school”
Elk
Contributors to this thread:
I just sent a PM to gray ghost talking about the old times. What reminds you of the old times?
For me, it was hunting with 3 generations and family. I remember being out with my grandpa and my dad, uncles, cousins, etc.
The other one is flannel. Every picture of my dad and grandpa from back in the day had someone wearing red and black flannel.
Hunting with my recurve with my Dad and brothers. My brothers were quite a bit older but in the mid 70's we all hunted together and in 77 when my oldest brother killed a giant 8 pt. I was hooked. I hunted everyday of deer season after school and in early Nov climbed a giant Willow and stood on a limb as big around as our kitchen table and killed my first deer with my bow. A nice lil 8pt. I ran the mile back to the house and Dad said we had to wait for the rest of the boys to go get him. Don't get any better than that!! Shawn
The bow and arrow on the wall in my office that killed my first animal, a muley doe. The bow is a 66" target recurve, and the arrow is an Easton Gamegetter dipped full-length in green paint, tipped with a Bear Razorhead. Blue and orange fletches (Go Broncos!).
Hunting elk for three weeks with dad and his friends. Got to miss school and live in a outfitters tent. I remember they would cook 25lbs of fried potatoes and T-bone steaks on a wood burning stove. Man that food was awesome.
Deer hunting in SW PA back in the late 60s. Everyone in the family would hunt on stand (but not in trees like nowadays!) in the mornings. Then after lunch start drives which really got the deer running! Would see dozens of deer and really stack them up!
Gluing the broken cutting edges of razor blades onto a 3 blade Bodkin which dropped my first little mule deer in its tracks was "old school" for me. Easton aluminum arrow or Port Orford cedar arrow (don't remember which). Those were the days of " skunk cover scent" also.......Badbull
Old school for me was holding onto the tail of the horse we called "Buck", and letting him pull me up the trail in the dark, while my Father rode on his back. My 30-06 slung over my shoulder, a handful of shells in the pocket of my jeans, and my trusty old Buck knife hanging on my belt....staring at the stars, and wondering what adventures that day had in store for us. Then Buck would fart in my face, and my Father and I would laugh until we cried.
Damn, I miss that man, and those days.
Matt
Bow and arrow hunting in the Midwest and rarely seeing a deer, even more scarce was seeing a bow and arrow hunter. I always managed to have fun, and got my share of hard earned deer.
Wearing the old scratchy whool socks.hreen rubber boots with the yellow shoe strings. The wood burner would be rocking when we got home and mom might have a pot of chilli on the stove. We are from Indiana so Notre Dame is our team. Dad would set the VCR to tape the game and we would eat chilli and hope we set the VCR up right. Mom still makes banana nut bread, dad and I eat that for breakfast, it usually doesn't last long!
The smell of coffee on a wood burning stove and the sound of the old men rattling around getting ready.
Red and black plaid hunting shirts. Grey wool pants that were baggy and itchy.
The smell of wet wool hung up to dry out in the evenings and wet leather boots set just outside.
Resharpening Bear and Zwicky broadheads around the campfire and arguing over whether a file only or hard Arkansas whetstone gave the best performance.
The smell of a broken cedar arrow...
Deer hunting with my Browning recurve sitting in a tree on a notched 2x4 wedged between two limbs. The only deer sighting was a buck being chased by an old liver-spot pointer at sunset. The fact I saw a deer made it a good day.
Spare arm juniors, skunk scent, and Easton autumn orange arrows
GG, my cousin got lost while hunting the high desert probably 35 years ago. My dad went out to find him. He found him wandering the sage brush in the dark. No clue how he found him, but he came back holding my dads horses tail. Walking behind him.
Making tree stands from an old barn hinge sharpened on both ends and two v-cut two by sixes. You could split apart some smaller trees setting them. Then we graduated to nailing two by fours across two trees. Then realized that trees grew at different rates.
Simply driving by some of the places I hunted when I was younger.
A red and black Mackinaw wool, Winchester 30-30 and a Marbles knife.
WWII USMC camouflage color & pattern. Bear Razorheads when they first came out. Opening weekend at Necedah Wildlife Refuge in WI. Jones style camo caps. Canvas tents with white gas lanterns & cook stoves. Waterproofing my leather boots with grease. Seeing only straight and recurves bows in camp cause that's all there was. Campfires with companions. A time when no one asked, "What'd he score?"
John,
If the horse will tolerate it, holding on to his tail, and letting them pull you along on foot, can be a real energy saver. Ol' Buck would let us use him as a bench rest to shoot deer and elk from. We'd just lay the gun over his saddle. He wouldn't even flinch when the shot went off. What a great horse he was. The hayburners I have now would be in the next county if we tried that with them.
Matt
This is pretty old school!
This is pretty old school!
Not all horses are created equally. Just like dogs! GG here’s the horse. He was an Appaloosa. I remember shooting jackrabbits off his back on that trip. Not sure how old I was but I wasn’t big enough to get on without help. I can’t imagine taking my kids on the trips my dad took me on when I was their age.
I remember as a Colorado native only non residents we were concerned about was the migration every fall from Texicans and your occasional Wisconsiner.
Altitude I still take one of two Marbles knives with me on every hunt.
Hunting with my 67 Bear Grizzly with K-Mart wooden arrows with broadheads put in a Quickie quiver and no hood. I never did cut myself.
John,
We'd get thrown in jail for child abuse, if we let our kids do the things our parents did when we were young. All part of the sad wussy-fication of our modern society.
I love that pic!! I bet you felt like John Wayne on that trip.
Matt
Deer camp and putting tire chains on my Dad's Fairlane or uncles snub nose Econoline van. Couldn't wait to get out of them in the AM to get warmed up. Five buckle rubber boots and wool. Jones style hunting hats. Recurves with exposed broadheads in a bow quiver.
And back on the mountain little hunting shacks with a small pot bellie stove with coffee and bread that any one was welcome to use. Different old timers stocked them for the hunters and a old tobacco can you could donate too. No people claimed that enormous mountain until years later. Man I miss them days, the freedom, and the guys!
Back when we used to get snow
Lol brad! Thats definitely old school! Was there a stove in that tent?
Running around the Missouri woods with my brother fighting over who got to carry the .22 and who got the .410. Fighting with my brother trying to get extra bb's outta his bb gun 'cause mine was empty and him pulling the trigger shooting me in the webbing between my thumb and forefinger. Owww. Following Dad down the railroad tracks to the catalpa woods to look for morels in the spring......and getting chased by wild bees my brother found in a tree and agitated by sticking a stick in the lower hole to their hive....t.hen pulling it out when I walked up to see what he was doing. No one had camo except green wool fatigues from the surplus store.....mostly red and black flannel. Damn that was a long time ago........
Back when I hunted with horses in the late season
Or way back when before I went to school
Brad you look like a fill in for John Travolta Urban Cowboy movie. :)
Any picture with guys wearing Treebark camo just automatically takes me back to the 90's.maybe 80's.
The smell of spent shotshells (learned to squirrel hunt first). Old wooden duck calls. Jones style caps. Old pump shotguns. Steel traps. Dove hunting. Bear razor heads. Ben Pearson recurves.
Old Jones style hats in woodland camo, like Bill said. Chamois shirts, remember those? Still have one by Duxbax.
Old school for me was before trail cameras, YouTube, long range guns, release aids, social media, Kuiu, Sitka, flat brimmed hats and when score didnt mean anything. Flinging arrows at anything with antlers. I miss the simplicity of hunting and those old school days!
The picture isn’t old school but that’s a Remington 722 in 257 roberts. it’s around a 1950 model. Topped with a 2x7. It was my dads first gun. The girlfriend is using it with the youth stock
The picture isn’t old school but that’s a Remington 722 in 257 roberts. it’s around a 1950 model. Topped with a 2x7. It was my dads first gun. The girlfriend is using it with the youth stock
Let’s see some more pictures!
No long range here. Definitely no MOA.
Old school was going to my mentor's house the night before deer season. We would talk about where we would be in the morning and we were good to our word. We had a signal established. After your deer was down and tagged you would fire two quick shots wait ten seconds and fire a third. It was assumed that if you heard the signal you would wander over to drag on the deer. I still hunt with the model 721 Remington I bought used in high school. I had my old rifle break in deer season. I visited my old friend, Sam . He allowed I could buy his rifle. We settled on a price but like most teenagers I didn't have money in my wallet. Sam handed me the rifle and his cartridges. I told him I would leave my old rifle there until I had the money. Sam's response stayed with me. He said" Take both guns home You might want to mount the scope. A man's word is his true measure. If I didn't trust your word I wouldn't have sold you the rifle." I came back the next night with the cash and later in the season a fresh package of venison steak. Thank you for stimulating some good memories.
Old school to me is not knowing every deer that is on a property from using cameras and still having that anticipation of what might be out there. Then shortly after that when we started using cameras it would be sitting in a Walgreens parking lot waiting for one hour photos to get done. This year I have not put any cameras out and do not plan on it. Already feels like old times.
I remember squirrel hunting by myself with the .22 on Thanksgiving Day when I was in my early teens. I was way back a couple miles from home and came up on a whitetail doe laying in her bed. She wouldn't spook like normal. I was curious. I walked up to about 10 feet and she started to struggle and then I saw it. One of her rear legs had the knee shot out. I was distraught. I remember running home through the woods crying. I got my Dad to call conservation and an agent actually came out on Thanksgiving and had me guide him to the spot where I last saw the doe. She had gotten off her bed by then and we could not find her. I will never forget him telling me that I should run up to her, put my barrel to her head and shot her dead to put her out of her misery. I had just recently completed hunter safety and his comments blew my mind from a "rules" perspective.....but made a lot of common sense and rang with common decency. It really hit me and struck home.
And Jordan hasn’t killed anything since! I kid! I kid! ;)
ow. LOLOLOL a few braincells maybe. I'm bleeding out here......medic!!!!! ;)
Sitting with my grandpa and his best buddy on their deer stand which was an old blue Buick overlooking 160 acres of corn. They would sit there 5 days in a row every year for rifle season and kill 1-2 bucks every year. I would roam the woods with an old climber and meet then at some time between 10-2 and drink ice cold Old Style and black berry brandy with them. Still can’t figure out how they shot straight, but they had fun!
That Remington 722 brings back memories!
My first deer rifle as a kid was a 722 in .222 with a 2-7 Leupold on top.
Took that rifle from Dad a few years back and worked up a load for it. Absolutely drives tacks!
He’s been using it to kill feral hogs lately. Has been bragging about killing two with one shot with that gun - like three times! He’s still pretty damn stingy about burning up too many bullets if you don’t have to...
What reminds me of old school stuff is I have a pair of my grandfathers deer antlers that I use for rattling. He shot the deer in the Yoop at a then small village called Engadine. This was before the Mack Bridge was built and you had to take a car barge across the straights.
Recurves, Bear razorheads, fiberglass arrows and Baker treestands
Old log cabins remind me of ours that we had in northern Minnesota growing up. Wearing jeans and flannel and any other rag to stay warm. Putting old bread bags over my socks to keep my feet dry in my hand me down leather boots. I sure have some great memories of those days!
When the region you could hunt in AZ for deer was the whole state. And the last day of the season was "any deer" so does were legal.
Terry
Going into the woods for a day and not having to worry about phone calls until you got home. I didn't realize it then, but that alone was one of the primary things that made hunting so darn special. You truly could "get away", even if it was for just a day.
I try to re-create that by leaving my phone in the truck when I hunt, but it's just not the same.
Another vote for the old “Jones” style cap in woodland camo. Also remember heading out to the barn after dark with my older brother, to go shoot sparrows with our bb guns and flashlights. There would be at least 7-8 barn cats following behind us. Riding my bike to check my traps before school in November. Bought a Buck Pathfinder model 105 sheath knife with my first fur check. Still have it.
I can remember my dad, uncles, and grandpa wearing 2-3 layers of Dickies coveralls, yellow fuzzy chore gloves, and the old Elmer Fudd hunting hats when they were going deer hunting during the shotgun season back in the mid-late 60s. I was 5-6 at the time.
Shooting Recurves with and learning from my Good Friend Jewel, still remember the first time and maybe the only time I beat him (by 1 point) in a shoot we attended. Do not see him much these days as he had to quit shooting several years ago when his shoulders gave out. Did get over to see him and visit for a couple of hours 3 weeks ago and it was great just like old times.
My dad only bowhunted a few years. He shot zwickeys and I remember them being so damn sharp. Always was amazed at the razor edge he could get on them. I’ve since tried to emulate it and hunt with them but I should have listened better when he taught me how to sharpen! I love seeing those Broadheads though. That and an ol pair of pac boots always brings me back.
Flannel shirts, wool pants, and everything came out whole.
Awesome picture Stoneman!
I remember my friend bringing a couple green 2 blade Broadheads to school. This must have been around 1989. Zwicky maybe? I believe they were glue on. I traded him a fancy pencil or something for one. We would have been expelled for a deadly weapon nowadays.
All sorts of stuff. Hunting was cheap and simple back then. Never lacked for permission to hunt within walking or a bike ride from town. One that always gets me is brown jersey gloves. Absolutely terrible when wet but my dad and I wore them every year elk hunting. When it was really cold we wore two pair. I didn't realize we were sorta poor, actually thought we had it made but looking back I realize what my father sacrificed to keep me supplied with guns, bows, ammo, arrows and weekend trips all over to hunt about everything in the small game brochure and a week elk hunting.
I remember my last elk hunt together with my Dad when he had cancer. He knew that this would be his last hunt and stupid me i got lost in the woods for two days before i finaly found camp. He look at me and say well what did you learn dumbass. He would died two months later at age 50. Now im 68. We had some great times. My only regret my 4 girls never got to meet my parents.
Rabbit hunting behind beagles as a kid.
Night hunting raccoons with our black and tans, blue ticks and red bones using miners lights my dad and his buddies "acquired" form the mine they worked in.
Checking my trap line every morning before school as a kid.
Barely sleeping a wink the night before the first day of deer and the smell of my dads coffee brewing.
Saving up my hay bailing and trapping money to buy my first bow, a Bear Whitetail, when I was 12.
Being gifted and wearing some Vietnam issued camo. I was small when I was a kid and no one made small sized camo back then. My dad's buddy from Vietnam was a small guy, he was a tunnel rat in the war due to his size and he gave me a pair of his fatigues. I wish I still had them.
Lots of great "Old School" memories, great thread!
My Wisconsin OTC archery tag was good for a deer, or a bear.
Woodland camo pattern and the smell of fall in the woods with a hint of cover up (vanilla) smell reminds me of my youth. Also a smack in the face by a branch reminds me of following my dad in the woods when I was in knee high lol. Man, getting hit above the top lip really hurt lol. I wish I knew the number of miles I put on my feet walking the woods behind my dad.
My bow still shooting a recurve after 60 years.
When a stand and sticks was truly sticks to hand climb up and a limb to stand on!
Long-johns & cotton socks! I still wear both!
ElkNut
The smell of Hoppes gun cleaning oil when my dad came back from rabbit hunting to clean his Browning shotgun... also the smell of glue and burnt fletchings.... ahhhh home again.
A curve in the bill of your cap. That’s old school! Lol. Good thread.
Untreated 2x4 "treestands" which were really just 18" of whatever you could wedge in between the trunk and a large branch. My first year Dad actually put a "railing" on one, about knee high, so I wouldn't fall out. That actually made it worse.
The unforgettable feeling of tree bark inserted into your forearms and that unmistakable jolting thud you experienced after riding your Baker treestand 15' down a tree trunk.
Boots and Camo overalls 2 sizes too big. Marbles knives, my mom’s .270 that I used to kill my first buck in Michigan’s youth hunt.
For me it would probably be Herters duck decoys. My dad had a dozen mallards that we hunted over. I started out my love of hunting by chasing ducks and geese.
I recall in the mid 60s-70s riding with my parents through western Okla to visit family. At different times we might see 5, 10 or maybe more Coyotes spread out and hanging on wooden fence posts. Lots of times traveling through the southern part of the state, close to the lakes or rivers, you might dozens of huge Flathead skulls nailed to the fence post. This was before I really got into hunting and fishing but besides playing "count the windmill(s) game, seeing that stuff made those road trip seem really neat.
When you bought a deer tag in MI you could shoot a bear too.
Reminds me of old times when I hear nothing! Just silence! Before I got married and now I get bagged at every time I utter I'm going hunting.
People really appreciating a fresh killed ground hog for a meal, and wanting the next one if possible. A beagle running rabbit's and you reached your limit before lunch. Wonder how many hunters even own small game pants now.
Round-wheel compound bow, the first aluminum arrows, on-the-shelf rest, non-fibre bowsight, calf-hair release tab, Baker tree stand, original Tre-Bark camo, gas pipe elk call, fanny pack, Cover Up scent spray ... Best thing was being able to draw resident Arizona elk tags maybe 2 out of every 3 years!
Tree bark camo and tiny wheels!
How about those old rangfinders that you had to calibrate to the deer? Cost my old man a great buck one morning. Carbon Flash outsert arrows. As a kid I fletched arrows for a local sporting goods shop. I spent many summer days at the Bitzenberger slapping vanes on xx75 shafts cut as short as possible for guys with extreme overdraws. Speed was king back then!
Forgot Satellite broadheads!
Places I hunt remind me of hunting earlier in life.
Quiet snow when I’m wearing wool while hunting always reminds me of my childhood hunting. I own a decent amount of modern fabric hunting clothes. But, none suit my needs more then wool outer wear.
My favorite deer rifle reminds me Of the 30 years past since I first hunted with it. I’ve killed far to many deer with it to even think of trying to count. But, it feels like an extension of my hand when carrying it. And those cold November mornings when I shoot something with it, there is such gratification in it I can’t even express it. Reloading for that same rifle is so rewarding to me.
And just plain killing a deer with either a compound or trad bow reminds me of my child hood. How much care and anticipation was put into getting ready for the season. All the close calls. All the excitement. All of it still exists today and come rushing back when I get to the end of the blood trail. It’s medicine for my soul.
I used to get scolded for being too loud while walking to our deer hunting spot on opening day of gun season. I then started literally putting my feet in the spot my father had just took his foot out of. It worked like a charm until Dad stopped to rest or figure out where he was in the dark! Oh man, what memories!
Waking up early to my mom making breakfast for dad, brother and myself. My dad's old flannel...and the greatest memory of my life. My dad seeing a doe trot across a field from our dining room, sliding away from the breakfast table and sliding open the sliding glass door. Grabbed his rifle leaning up in the corner, dropped the doe from inside the house and sat back down to finish breakfast. I still use my mom's old Marlin lever action once a year, bless her heart.
Sitting around and watching Dan Fitzgerald VHS tapes with my 2 lifelong hunting buddies, talking about where we were going to hunt and what colors we were going to fletch our arrows..we’re in our 30s now and I never thought I’d see the day when one of us didn’t care about hunting but that day seems to have come and I’m the only one still as obsessed as I ever was.
Hunting in northern Wisconsin with my quiver full of easton green game getters tipped with zwicky 2 blades. Sat hundreds of days in the old baker tree stand with no seat and no safety belts.
Sitting around and watching Dan Fitzgerald VHS tapes with my 2 lifelong hunting buddies, talking about where we were going to hunt and what colors we were going to fletch our arrows..we’re in our 30s now and I never thought I’d see the day when one of us didn’t care about hunting but that day seems to have come and I’m the only one still as obsessed as I ever was.
Back in the day in NY to acquire a doe permit you applied with four other hunters and one of you was a designated leader of "the party permit" or you had to have 50 acres for a "land owner permit" and to think Andrew Cuomo wasn't even Governor then!
Map and compass instead of a GPS or Smartphone with OnX.
This will be my hunting gear for most of the season. Old Osage self bow, bone nocked bamboo arrow with a stone point, fox quiver. Guess I'm still old school. Check out the Turkey beard on the self bow. It's striped like a coons tail.
Not bowhunting, but paper shot shells and that smell that they emit when just fired.
^^ Sure don't miss the shotgun jamming on those old paper reloads duck hunting in the rain.
My dad & Ben Pearson. That's old school.
Walking, walking and more walking but never getting anything. Didn’t know anything other than walking. Didn’t own any binoculars.
Ha! My dad strapping me 12 foot up a juniper tree on an old piece of plywood with a hose and rope holding me up! Bulging with my voice, bugling with a stove pipe. No range finders. Great great times!!
My dad who at 92 is still hunting whiteails with a crossbow and wool clothing.
I miss the feeling that any deer and especially any buck was a trophy.
Got a set of the original “Trebark” camo that my Dad bought when it first came out some 30 years ago. I keep it in my hunting closet and see it when I’m digging through there. Heck I don’t think he wore it twice, pants and shirt are like new. He was so pumped about getting that stuff but didn’t even get to use it. He was killed by a trespassing turkey hunter while working on his lease not long after. I wear the shirt from time to time and I can feel him walking the woods with me. The man was a phenomenal woodsman.
I still have my first gun, and my Father bought it me. Single shot 16 ga from Stevens. I took it out rabbit hunting a few years ago, talk about feeling like a kid again!
Treebark when it came out in 1983-84, military surplus before that. Or white coveralls with some black, tan stripes we painted on for winter hunting.
Stalking at 75-100 yds in an hour, shooting deer while on one or both knees. Paper maps (but don't get any skunk scent on them), Tinks scent, Prichards earth scent, Farbenglass arrows from Herters. Still have some Zwickey broadhead and judo points given to me by the man himself as he was Dad's classmate.
Butane hand warmers that slipped into your pocket and a good thermos. Then there was the car 66 Fury, or Ford Galaixe that would or would not start for the ride home. Broken brake line on the way home from Camp Ripley on a Sunday evening. All good stuff. right??
Fred Bear was around in the 50 and 60s showing us how it is done. We made our own bows from Willow branches ,etc. I also loved my slingshot make from a forked maple branch and used intertube rubber.
Fred Bear was around in the 50 and 60s showing us how it is done. We made our own bows from Willow branches ,etc. I also loved my slingshot make from a forked maple branch and used intertube rubber.
some of my first bow kills were carp in the Lake Erie marches. Prior to bow/arrow,we use sharp sticks, hoes, pitch forks
some of my first bow kills were carp in the Lake Erie marches. Prior to bow/arrow,we use sharp sticks, hoes, pitch forks
As kids in the 1940s-50s we actually played cowboys and Indians.
Killed my first WT deer in 1962 in the UP of Mich while stationed at K I Sawyer AFB. A Ben Pearson bow, wood arrows, green flight pants, burnt cork on hands and face, woodland green camo jacket and hat. No tree stand so I just climbed up in a tree and balanced on a limb. This doe came under at 15 ft, shot straight down. Everything was old school back in the 50-60s compared to today. Time flies by for sure. But 59 years later, I am still at it. Paul
My dads old boxy Chevy suburban. The bullet boxes he made to straddle the front hump
I remember the days you could bowhunt deer and elk and if you were unsuccessful you could rifle hunt in Colorado. No draws units.
djb, any pics? would love to see dad... even if not hunting, great response!
When I was 14 the guys from Monday night archery league invited me to go turkey hunting. A real camp out, and hunting adventure just like in Field & Stream.
I didn't have any camo, so I cut out some camo shapes, from brown, and green material, and glued them to my Tan corduroy Sunday school pants. :)
Took a little heat over that one.
What’s left of stickers I stuck on my hunting clothes closet. The Assenheimer Bows is actually the back out of an T-shirt
How about this check from ole Chuck from the 80’s. Pencil writing faded. Return balance on his arrow holster I bought which I still have.
Here is the last deer that my Dad shot while hunting with me, it was 5 years ago. Last year the day after Christmas he shot two does and the way he put it he better quit or his help might not show up next time. I can remember tagging along with him 55+ years ago scouting and tracking deer. Bow hunting with him and three of my brothers, all of us with Bear kodiak magnums except Dad who had a Herters recurve. Lots of memories and still making more.