Old school hunting, or Why did I waste my money? Thread

i used to wear a lot of camo but now mostly blue jeans and sometimes a camo jacket cause i still own them. i don't think it makes much difference what you wear.
 
Donny Fenn1 said:
I like the dudes in the airport with all the camo on as they wait for their luggage or change planes.
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I used to think the same, until I was the dude on the plane and the shoe (or hunting boot as it were) was on the other foot. Then you realize that you need to get everything you need in one 50 pound bag because your gun case is a piece of luggage by itself. Coats and boots are heavy and bulky and you can either wear them or weigh them. Your ammo is heavy by itself and that has to go in your checked baggage. If you are wearing clothes that you can hunt in it doesn't matter as much if your baggage gets lost or delayed, so there's a bit of insurance there too.

If you bite the bullet and pay for the extra luggage there will be someone who thinks you're a prima-dona who needs to take everything but the kitchen sink with him.
 
Way to many gimicks out there, hunting has become so commercialized now, I hope that it hasn't gone main stream, it almost looks like it has here in Alberta... It's all about marketing people buy into it, just more crap to bring with you that you don't need...
 
From the time I started hunting until today I still remain an "old school" hunter. I don't hunt with any gimmicks......only gun, ammo, knife, bino's and something to eat, which is stuffed in my coat pocket. Being an old fart, success is not harvesting an animal, just being in the wilderness and enjoying the sights, sounds and smell is success on it's own.
Sure I shot another big white tail buck this year, however it only took a micro second to do, which was a very small part of the hunt, in time that is. I will remember more of my hunt prior to the kill, sitting on a cut line and watching the small creatures preparing for winter was most entertaining...............I keep it simple.
 
Fall is a busy time: wrapping up outdoor projects, prepping the house for winter, tuning up the snowblower (that I've been putting off doing all summer). I hunt ducks in my back yard, upland and deer at another properety 2 km's away. I find that at the beginning of the season I tend to "gear-up" much more, but as the season progesses, I am just grabbing my firearm and ammo whenever I get the chance - already having warm clothes on from doing my outdoor chores.
 
I don't use many gimmicks today. I DID get rattling antlers the second year they came out. I have had bleat cans over the years. I can't say that the antlers have ever worked. I can't say that the bleat cans have ever worked. I do have one of Mark Drury's grunts calls that have called in 4 does and 2 very nice bucks, right to the blind. Being a meat hunter, these all got to go home with me or my wife. Most of my clothes are regular street clothes. However, over the past 5years, I have noticed that these articles have somehow begun to shrink during the time spent not wearing them through spring and summer. They have needed replacement. Good quality, serviceable clothing is expensive. Camo clothing goes on sale ever year after Christmas, but cold/wet weather clothing remains unchanged through out the year, it seems. Or when it does go on sale, I am never able to get there.
Thats the only reason I have such clothing. I usually hunt in what my wife calls my "Cold Lake dinner jacket" blue insulated and hooded checked shirt, Cotton "Drill" work pants, Tilly hat in early season, trapper hat as it gets cold, and insulated, steel-toed rubber boots.
My wife shot her best buck (in late Sept) from our tree stand while wearing a hot pink warm up jacket and brown yoga pants.
I usually carry Binos, rangefinder, and rifle/ammo, some food. I have a couple of ground blinds, including a "run 'n' gun" one that weighs less than 2 lbs and sets up in seconds if I find a likely spot while cruising. Most of the antlers, rattle bags, scents, etc have gone by the wayside and are left in a drawer, or have been given away. I STILL carry the Elk and Deer talkers since they have proven to halt spooked animals, and the fawn/calf distress ends seem to bring even bucks and bills back out of a tree line. I carry a hootchie mama elk call or the MAD grunted. Only things that have proven their effectiveness. Otherwise, just quiet, wind, stalk, sit and wait. In the past 15 years, I have never had a year when I haven't taken an animal, until this year, and it was by choice. Once my wife shows me how to get pics off of her camera I used this season, I can post what I saw and could have legally taken, but chose not to.
 
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I use some good camo to break up my own body pattern (also stay dry, warm and remove any sweat) and I will use a rangefinder and scent blocker in the pre-season tracking & spotting. The rangefinder lets me see and know the ranges of areas I will be in during hunting season: I can range a hillside in early fall and know that range when it is covered in snow and hard to tell in late hunting season. I don't know if the scent blocker helps prevent the deer from being spooked by my presence or prevents them from changing their patterns, but I plan to use it anyways. :redface:

Otherwise it is practice shooting in the summer, preparation in the pre-season, and plain old school hunting during the season.

As a story I wore complete camo and scent blocker on the first day of bow season here about 6 years ago and that resulted in a doe walking less than 15 feet from me, never once knowing I was there. I did not shoot her because her fawn following was too young to survive without her. It was an amazing moment I will never forget as she looked through me at one point and I could see her nostrils moving and eyelashes twitching. Who knows if her or that fawn fed the family in later years? I don't know. :yingyang:
 
I remember a few years ago was sitting in a blind with a friend one day. We were talking and had just lit up some smokes as about 6 does came into our shooting area. A few fawns followed. Finished our smokes and a curious fawn walks up to the blind and sticks its head to the shoulders in the front window of the blind looks at us for a minute then walks away.
 
I took a step back this year, and kicked it old school. I did wear fleece snow camo (dirty white stuff that I modified with a can of black spray paint), and had my bino's and grunt call with me. The grunt call was to add what I hoped would sound like was a wt buck on the move whenever I made a little noise. I had my Model 94 in .32 Winchester Special in my hands; I've owned this rifle since I was 16....it was time to get it back in the woods. I kept the wind in my favor, and moved two - three steps at a time. I left the truck at about 9:00 AM, and killed my buck at 2:00 PM, or so. He went twenty yards after the shot.
 
Things haven't improved much over time - save for maybe a bit of lightweight gear if you hunt the high country.

But the outdoor hunting marketing machine has sure grown - a commercialized smorg or crap designed to keep us spending on the latest uber-junk, flogged by the "outdoor celebs" that are happy to have you spend your money to send them on their next hunt.

I never did watch wild TV - and I cancelled the couple magazine subscriptions I have. I miss some of the things like reading Bill Heavy (although now I just buy his books), but sure don"t miss the shallow articles about the next latest greatest.

And I find by doing so the the real important things of the entire hunting experience come back to the front.
 
I don't pay much attention to what I wear, mostly Carhartts coveralls however as a Mackinaw or Carhartts chore coat
ammo or not, I pay extreme attention to the wind and when I move.
I find that this is far more important.
Cat
 
I'd say serious backpack hunters have been the biggest beneficiary of technology...especially in regards to clothing but the proliferation of quality, lightweight gear and food has really changed the mountain game. I love technology.

I suspect more of us use "gimmicks" than are willing to admit, from optics, bullets, powders, rifles, calls, decoys, blinds and clothing.......things have changed a lot since Grandpa's day. It's fun to pretend we are still old school though as we drive our $50,000 pick ups with power windows and air conditioning out to the hunting area....lol Carrying a $3,000 rifle loaded with high BC bullets with Euro optics on it while wearing your Mackinaw doesn't make you old school. We are all victims of advertizing and technology.
 
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sheephunter said:
I'd say serious backpack hunters have been the biggest beneficiary of technology...especially in regards to clothing but the proliferation of quality, lightweight gear and food has really changed the mountain game. I love technology.

I suspect more of us use "gimmicks" than are willing to admit, from optics, bullets, powders, rifles, calls, decoys, blinds and clothing.......things have changed a lot since Grandpa's day. It's fun to pretend we are still old school though as we drive our $50,000 pick ups with power windows and air conditioning out to the hunting area....lol Carrying a $3,000 rifle loaded with high BC bullets with Euro optics on it while wearing your Mackinaw doesn't make you old school. We are all victims of advertizing and technology.
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I drive a $1000 station wagon with a $300 rifle/scope combo loaded with winchester powerpoints. Am I oldschool? lol

I also dont wear camo... But Im probably going to buy some when it goes on sale at CT or Walmart. Not that I feel I need it, but the pants I use right now are way too loud, and I'd just like some dediacted hunting clothes so I can have it in a bag ready to go.
 
Suther said:
I drive a $1000 station wagon with a $300 rifle/scope combo loaded with winchester powerpoints. Am I oldschool? lol
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LOL...no doubt some walk the walk but most just talk the talk....you sound like the real deal although the scope may cost you a few point ;) That station wagon have any chrome trim?
 
IMO you are just throwing the baby out with the bath water... no gimmick or gadget will ever take the place of good sound hunting practices... you still need to play the wind, know your quarry, understand sleeping and bedding patterns, understand the terrain, travel routes, bottlenecks etc... etc... I do all of that... I also wear complete camo, use scent control, use calls for deer, bear and moose... heck, I have been calling in moose for 40 years, rattling and voice grunting deer for 30 years... native Americans have been doing the same for centuries... including scent control AND camoflage... use common sense... of course every little bit ups your odds... but not if you think that the gadgets and gizmo's allow you to ignore the fundamentals... there is nothing wrong with incorporating the new with the old... I will continue to do so.
 
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