Interesting thread. It also points out very clearly how hunting has evolved over the years.
I have stated on here before how I grew up during the meat hunting days of rural Canadians in the great depression of the 1930s, have been very active in hunting and outdoor life, so I have seen it all and very familiar with the various phases of hunting, hunting partners and hunting groups, or parties.
As I have often stated on here, the years following WW2, until about 1960, are often referred to as the glory years of hunting. It seemed that every one was hunting and shooting in organized competitions in every town and city in the country. Everyone was buying guns.
In BC the majority of the population lived in the south coastal area, but wanted to get up into the parsley settled interior to hunt, especially into the Cariboo country. One road went from Vancouver east through the luscious lower Fraser valley, then north via the very scenic, but also very dangerous, twisting old Fraser canyon highway to the junction of the highway east, at Cache Creek, BC, about 220 miles from Vancouver. From here north ran a very narrow, twisting gravel "highway" to Prince George, about 280 miles further north. Most of the hunters ended up about 60 to 150 miles north of Cache Creek, where they took off on some back road, on either side of the N-S road, but more often to the west, often going until they ran out of road (trail) where groups of hunters would set up for a week or so of hunting.
This was the real age of group hunting in this country. Camps were sometimes only two men, but more often from four to six would set up in tents and have a whale of a good time. The groups had an appointed cook, but if anyone complained about the cooking, that person became the next appointed cook! This was the basis for many jokes, such as the fellow still half asleep in the morning stating, "These are the soggiest pancakes I ever ate," then he quickly realized what he had said and came right back with, "But that's just the way I like them!"
To my mind, hunting has never been more enjoyable than these groups of friends cooking over campfires and thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Because all the hunters had to funnel through Cache Creek, the BC Game Dept. set up a permanent check station after hunting got underway and operated it 24/7 until hunting season ended on Dec. 15, with every vehicle of hunters compelled to check in on their return south.
Without question, the great fellowship and enjoyment of the hunts started to fall off, with the advent of campers on trucks or trailers to live in while they hunted.
