It wasn't all dark and dismal for sure. As others have said, you could walk in to any store and walk out with a gun, no questions asked. There was a heckuva lot more Crown land - well, actually, in our neck of the woods, they were veteran land grants, but no one cared about skeeter infested swamp land. Now, those lots sell for a fortune and get posted PDQ. Cops and CO's used to turn a blind eye to kids out with a 22 or 410 as long as we stayed out of trouble. But the gear nowadays is light years ahead of what it was a couple of generations ago.
Ahhh, the conveniences of the modern age
- Thread starter Papaclaude
- Start date
It wasn't all dark and dismal for sure. As others have said, you could walk in to any store and walk out with a gun, no questions asked. There was a heckuva lot more Crown land - well, actually, in our neck of the woods, they were veteran land grants, but no one cared about skeeter infested swamp land. Now, those lots sell for a fortune and get posted PDQ. Cops and CO's used to turn a blind eye to kids out with a 22 or 410 as long as we stayed out of trouble. But the gear nowadays is light years ahead of what it was a couple of generations ago.
smokin'stoegie
CGN Regular
- Location
- S/West Ontario
Most of you "old timers" missed the whole intent of the OP's post.
Nothing is perfect these days but anyone with half a brain and an arsehole can not honestly say that technology hasn't given us some very positive equipment to make things easier. If you didn't have a compass with you when you carry a GPS then you deserve what you get.
As far as being soft, BS ! Whether I'm ensconced in Gore Tex and Scent Lok and wearing my high end waterproof, warm boots does not preclude me from being fit enough to pursue my sport.
I started hunting in the late 70's and I'll take modern conveniences any day secure in the knowledge I can make out if certain things fail. Anything else, it's your prerogative to take them or leave them.
Nothing is perfect these days but anyone with half a brain and an arsehole can not honestly say that technology hasn't given us some very positive equipment to make things easier. If you didn't have a compass with you when you carry a GPS then you deserve what you get.
As far as being soft, BS ! Whether I'm ensconced in Gore Tex and Scent Lok and wearing my high end waterproof, warm boots does not preclude me from being fit enough to pursue my sport.
I started hunting in the late 70's and I'll take modern conveniences any day secure in the knowledge I can make out if certain things fail. Anything else, it's your prerogative to take them or leave them.
Fix the link and read this. There are many out there saying the same and we have to be honest
There is no way I could work like my grandfather did daily today at the same age
Cheers
https://ww w.thedailybeast.com/welcome-to-the-devolution-the-high-tech-world-is-making-us-weak-and-weird
Last edited:
But it is not made to last everything is 99% disposable and made in china
Then again I am not the norm as you can tell by my lawn mower and gas can LOL
Most of my gear is 40 years old plus and still going strong. Flash light with big battery I still use the old coleman LOL
Last edited:
[/B]
But it is not made to last everything is 99% disposable and made in china
Then again I am not the norm as you can tell by my lawn mower and gas can LOL
Most of my gear is 40 years old plus and still going strong. Flash light with big battery I still use the old coleman LOL
Some things yes, some no. You can buy a 42" LCD TV, in today's dollars, for the same price I paid for a 20" B&W in 77 in 77 dollars, and you can get a brand new fridge and stove for almost the same price I paid back then, but you're right that they are made to be disposable. Back then, a car that had 100,000 miles was pretty well ready for the scrap heat. Now, 160,000 Km and it's barely broken in and never need a tune-up. Same for tires and batteries. The first hard drive I bought was an external drive back around 82. It was a box around 8 X 10 X 3, cost me $700 and was absolutely massive - it held 10 Megabytes. I can get 4 Terabytes for under $100. On the flip side, back in the 60's, you could buy a house for about a year's wages, and you only paid about 10% of your income in taxes.
And getting back to hunting - entry level hunting firearms have never been more affordable. Now, they are admittedly not stocked in walnut with a deep blue finish, but they are serviceable and extremely accurate, and not having a wood stock also means they are pretty well impervious to the old curse of humidity. Same with scopes - you can get an entry-level Bushnell Tasco or Redfield for comparatively peanuts, and they will give you a lifetime of hunting.
Last edited:
smokin'stoegie
CGN Regular
- Location
- S/West Ontario
I read the article and obviously I would agree. Baby Boomers were always accused of that and every single generation since. However I still stand by what I said earlier and that is simply that I enjoy a number of advancements that have been made in the sport of hunting, as pointed out by the OP.
As far as being fit I'm pretty sure my hunting days would be long over if I was incapable of carrying anything, walking more than 200 yards before I hack a lung up or worrying about entering the bush because I think I am a heart attack waiting to happen. Still enjoy the modern creature comforts.
I don’t use any of today’s electronic gadgets or any other wizz-bang inventions. For big game, only my rifle, binoculars and knife. My hunting method hasen’t changed since 1972. I enjoy my entire day soaking-in the wilderness, not playing with gadgets.
It's not just about gadgets, though - it's about your rifle, your ammo (light years ahead of anything we had 50 years ago), your binoculars, your footwear, your clothing. I also don't own an ATV, still hunt from a wooden tree stand I built almost 10 years ago and don't need a GPS because I am never more than a klick from the river or a road. I do use it, however, to mark spots of interest when I'm out hunting, snowshoeing or fishing. Even out of the field, Google and Youtube are fantastic aids in finding information on loads, learning how to butcher a critter, finding recipes. You can use Gunnutz to buy toys, find pet loads, share memories, get into arguments. A lot of times, we don't realize how much all these things affect us in our daily lives.
LOL like my wife would say. I like deer but at 100 bucks a pound I can do without 
Cabin, truck, trailer, atv and all the gadgets she is right
Rife and ammo light years ahead OK
I will stick to my pre64 model 70's and bdl 700's with nosler partitions thank you. I have not found or needed better nor do the deer see a difference
I retired as an ops manager for one of the large computer manufacturer's which is why the next day all of my gadgets went in the trash starting with the cell phone. No regrets
I go hunting to get away from all that stuff not bring it with me. With the baiting some guys do and the trail cams is that hunting not to me more like shooting in a barrel
Cheers
Cabin, truck, trailer, atv and all the gadgets she is right
Rife and ammo light years ahead OK
I will stick to my pre64 model 70's and bdl 700's with nosler partitions thank you. I have not found or needed better nor do the deer see a difference
I retired as an ops manager for one of the large computer manufacturer's which is why the next day all of my gadgets went in the trash starting with the cell phone. No regrets
I go hunting to get away from all that stuff not bring it with me. With the baiting some guys do and the trail cams is that hunting not to me more like shooting in a barrel
Cheers
Last edited:
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
I won’t deny there’s some garbage gear out there, you just have to do your homework and avoid it the best you can. My lawn mower for example, in 2010 I bought a $250-300 Kohler from Home Depot. I have never changed the oil and it gets used a lot and I mean a lot, the only thing I’ve replaced on it is the v belt that powers the front drive wheels. It won’t die, I run it dry in the fall and it starts on the first or second pull in the spring. I didn’t even put it away this winter, it’s sitting under the slide in camper in the landing lol.
I do love some older gear but I can appreciate the new tech we have available to us, modern conveniences allow me to get out in the bush further and quicker. If it allows me to spend more time in the woods it’s good in my book, especially if I’m dry and comfy as I’m an all weather guy with work and hunting.
Where I grew up we were in an air and freight boat access only area. Didn't get road access to southern Vancouver Island until 1964 and that involved about 150 kms of very rough gravel logging roads. I remember coming up that road at night in 1970 in my girlfriend's VW bug. The actual Island Highway did not get completed until 1975.
So the idea of an extended trip for anything but blacktail deer was out of the question. Even after the logging roads from the mid-island to the north island connected it was the rare hunter who ventured south, then took the ferry to the mainland to go moose hunting.
I was an avid reader from a very young age and devoured the tales by Jack O'Connor of sheep and rocky mountain elk hunting, but that kind of hunting was the farthest from anyone's mind. The odd person who had a boat might have shot a mountain goat up in Knight Inlet on the mainland if they saw one. There was a yellowed tobacco-stained mounted goat head in the beer parlour I used to stand on a railing and peek at through the ventilator fan outlet.
For my dad and his associates deer hunting was not much different than going out on the boat for a feed of salmon or rockfish, or up the back roads for a load of wood or shake blocks. You did it when you had to. It wasn't considered recreation any more than splitting firewood was.
Am I on topic still? Anyway, when I started hunting there as a teen in 1968 (and I had been along for for or five years prior to that) we wore caulk boots if we went into the bush, carried a compass, a rifle, a knife and a sandwich in our pocket. We lived in a rain forest so everyone had some kind of logger's type rain gear. I had an iron-sighted 303 Ross and my dad his iron-sighted Winchester Model 43 .22 hornet.
I'm not dissing modern conveniences or claiming that we were tough in the old days unlike today's wimps, that's just what it was like.
So the idea of an extended trip for anything but blacktail deer was out of the question. Even after the logging roads from the mid-island to the north island connected it was the rare hunter who ventured south, then took the ferry to the mainland to go moose hunting.
I was an avid reader from a very young age and devoured the tales by Jack O'Connor of sheep and rocky mountain elk hunting, but that kind of hunting was the farthest from anyone's mind. The odd person who had a boat might have shot a mountain goat up in Knight Inlet on the mainland if they saw one. There was a yellowed tobacco-stained mounted goat head in the beer parlour I used to stand on a railing and peek at through the ventilator fan outlet.
For my dad and his associates deer hunting was not much different than going out on the boat for a feed of salmon or rockfish, or up the back roads for a load of wood or shake blocks. You did it when you had to. It wasn't considered recreation any more than splitting firewood was.
Am I on topic still? Anyway, when I started hunting there as a teen in 1968 (and I had been along for for or five years prior to that) we wore caulk boots if we went into the bush, carried a compass, a rifle, a knife and a sandwich in our pocket. We lived in a rain forest so everyone had some kind of logger's type rain gear. I had an iron-sighted 303 Ross and my dad his iron-sighted Winchester Model 43 .22 hornet.
I'm not dissing modern conveniences or claiming that we were tough in the old days unlike today's wimps, that's just what it was like.
