How Did Grandpa Ever Get A Deer.

[cshold]

http://www.triggertalkradio.com/2014/12 ... et-a-deer/

[jeepnik]

Well, I never met either grandfather. But dad did it by patients and great field craft. He never did use a scope. Toward the end of his hunting career some folks thought he was not with the times. Yet he often got deer when others with all the bells and whistles got skunked.

[Booger Bill]

I was raised in Wisconsin. I think my first legal deer season was 1953? Guys back then might sew a red handkerchief on the back of their Levi jacket to be legal. Tree stands or even climbing a tree was I think illegal. They were legalized later. God was looking after me my first season. It was the last hour of the last day of the season. Back then when you put your shotgun or rifle in a vehicle it had to be cased. You had to be a 100 yards off the road to shoot. My first season I used a single shot 20 gauge with a slug.
Dad had placed me on the edge of a open marsh in some willows and he walked on. I was a little over the 100 yards off the road. It was almost time to walk out. I seen a hunter walking towards his car parked on the side of the road. He stopped and shaded his eyes looking at me. Then he raised his rifle, fired and I heard a bullet whiz past me. Being a kid at first I looked behind me to see if a deer was was behind me. I think I had been crouching and sitting on a bog or fell tree screened by willows. Being a kid I guess we think ourselves dumb and that grown up`s are smarter. I was wearing those deep red and black plaid pants and coat. I froze. The man kept levering and shooting and six or seven rounds hit on each side of me. Then I could literally hear him levering again once or twice and knew he was empty. No doubt either a Winchester 94 or marlin 336. I stood up and he ran for his car. A big no,no, he threw his rifle in the car, got in and scratched out fish tailing! Every day since then has been a bonus for me.
When I went to school if we missed to deer hunt they made us make up the time double in hours in the study hall. Seemed I was there all the time putting in extra hours reading novels.
We lived for deer season. In those days it was the biggest event of the year for us. Now I dont hunt. Both my ex wife and my wife now wont eat Bambi so I dont go. A year ago while we were trail riding I hit a fawn with our Polaris RZR. The mother doe had ran in front of us and as I stood on the break and here came the fawn following. It was bleating in pain and dieing. My wife that loves deer was hysterical and going berserk. I shot it with a handgun I always pack to put it out of its misery.
I even blew a tire stopping so quick! I didn't know that tire had a tube in it from the previous owner and the wheel had twisted in the tire ripping off the valve stem. It was close to dark and we were 35 miles from our truck and trailer. We were rescued by a family going to there cabin in a 4wd truck.
I have shot deer with shotguns, rifles and revolvers. I enjoyed hunting when I did, but now I dont hunt. I probably would if I was single. My dad shot his last buck when he was about 88 years old. Here he is when I was a kid with a buck. My best times was hunting with my dad many years ago.

[RIHMFIRE]

Next hunting trip I might have to pull out the old jeans, red and black plaid shirt,
the old dirty-thirty and sit at the base of an old oak tree, sipping coffee and chewing on some jerky,
and leave all that modern junk at home!

[Ji in Hawaii]

How Did Grandpa Ever Get A Deer.

I'm guessing with a 1956 Chevy Belair going about 40 mph.

[Washita]

How Did Grandpa Ever Get A Deer.

I'm guessing with a 1956 Chevy Belair going about 40 mph.

If so, he musta' been backing up.

[vancelw]

How Did Grandpa Ever Get A Deer.

I'm guessing with a 1956 Chevy Belair going about 40 mph.

If so, he musta' been backing up.

Sometimes, you do what you have to do

[Trailboss]

I've been carrying a Winchester model 64 in 32 Win Special for a bit over 40 years. It's still taking venison.

[Booger Bill]

I have a story on that! Years ago dad and I were hunting in northern Wisconsin. About 1956. We met a local farmer who was cussing out his rifle for missing a big buck. It was a model 64 Winchester in .32 special with a peep sight. Think it had a sling too. Dad bought the rifle from him on the spot for $50`s! We also gave him about a 4 mile ride back to his farm so he could pick up a shotgun with slugs to finish the day. About 20 years ago I went home and the gun was gone! Dad traded it for a Remington 30-06 pump! Dad was in his 80`s and not up on collector prices. He did shoot a nice buck with it when he was about 86 years old. I have it now plus years ago I bought another model 64 like new in 30-30. Here they both are. I inherited the Remington and didn't think much about it as I have a number of more expensive rifles and it just sat in my safe for many years. About two years ago I took it to the range and got a pleasant surprise. That thing can shoot! It`s light and handy too. I am making it my new RZR trail riding companion!

[horsesoldier03]

The pic went a different direction than my mind did when I first read your title. After logging in and viewing the pic, I assume you are referring to the lack of camouflage. However, I my first thoughts were of my grandfather telling me that until the 1950s, "deer were scares as hen's teeth". This had much to do with the depression and the toll it took on wild game. These were comments that came from a man who was born and raised in the Trinity River Bottoms of East Texas and has trapped, hunted, and fished as his sole means to support his family. Of course he did all that without ever owning a single item of clothing that had a camouflage pattern!

[jnyork]

Well, I have no clue how YOUR grandpa did it, but THIS grandpa hunted the pronghorn with a muzzlestuffer (traditional, not the modern inline krapp) for 25 years in a row, only got skunked once. Here's the last one I got with the flinter. Notice no camo clothing, no fancy blind to shoot from, no scope sight, no rangefinder, etc.

[Booger Bill]

Animals change their range a lot over time and not always like we would think. Dad and others told me when they were kids in central Wisconsin they seldom if ever seen deer. Dad was born in 1913. Most hunter`s traditionally went to northern Wisconsin. I was born in 1941. The deer were starting to come back to central and southern Wisconsin when I started hunting. When I was a kid I never heard of turkeys in the area and now for quite awhile they have them. I suppose there has been planting behind some of these story's. I worked seasonally for 3 years for both the NPS and the Wisconsin Conservation dept, Yosemite and the Grand Tetons in the early 1960`s. In central Wisconsin back then I only recall seeing one black bear. Seen a number of them in northern UP though. I spent my career in California and only seen one or two bears in the wild there NOT counting Yosemite. I read plenty on these sites of people seeing many bears now back east. I now am retired at Cedar City Utah. When not on the computer, I am out A LOT trail riding in the wilds around here on the high desert and high heavy treed mountains around us. I have NEVER seen a bear or mountain lion here! Bryce Canyon and Zion NP`s are near by. When we first moved here in 2005 we did see some elk. I haven't seen any elk in two or three years now. The first couple years here, north of us a few miles in winter when the deer came down you could easily go see herds of 500 to a 1,000 or so on a drive. For about the last two years I haven't seen a tenth of that in those area`s but south of town now we see some where we hadn't seen them before. The same with antelope out here. Things are always changing. They control the wild horse`s around here too.

[AJMD429]

Deer were nonexistent in Indiana in the '20's from what I've been told. The DNR released 36 of them in three places in the 1930's (again, handed down family lore - one relative was present when 36 were released in the southern part of the state).

Now they are almost a 'pest' animal. Beautiful yes, but dangerous (to drivers), harmful (to environment when overpopulated), and . . . edible.

Family members who "hate the taste of venison" were converted when we fed them PROPERLY CURED venison (i.e. not commercially [rapidly] butchered during deer season). They were told AFTER eating it what the meat was, and AFTER they had commented that it was some of the best steak/roast/burger they had ever had. Ones who hated the idea of killing Pretty Bambi were asked to compare the idea of confinement-raised farm animals that were essentially prisoners on death-row, versus "free range" venison, living a normal life followed by a fair and humane ending (also educating them that the alternative for Bambi is either slow bleeding and death after blunt-trauma from a car injury, being pulled down and EATEN WHILE STILL ALIVE by packs of feral dogs or now, coyotes, or slow wasting and starvation due to parasites and overpopulation). Pretty much all of the (usually female) relatives who refused to eat deer-meat now have become people who ONLY want to eat deer-meat, unless it is free-range poultry or sometimes other animals.

"Camo" is not always needed if one is concealed or motionless; I've hunted in brown Carharts sitting at a picnic table.

Of course today's guns are way better than those old rattle-traps; no way a 30-30 that shoots three inch groups could ever kill a deer. Thankfully we can push out a 168 grain bullet 3500 fps or so and shoot a one inch group. Kills 'em deader somehow, I guess...

[cas]

Grandpa went up to camp for weeks at a time with a dozen other guys. They, plus the guys from a couple of the neighboring camps would put on huge drives. The hanging deer looked like fish on a stringer.

[octagon]

Booger Bill my Dad said there were no deer to speak of in the 30-40's in Texas till years after they got the screw worm under control. It was a nasty business treating animals as any exposed area would be infested eyes, newborns, any wounds. Dad said he never evn shot a centerfire till he went in the Army. I think they are still having screw worm problems in S. America. You can still find old bottles of medicine in most any ols shed on a ranch. Heck now you can go outside in West Texas and find a deer right quick

[MrMurphy]

My grandpa started deer hunting with a Trapdoor. Wilson was President. ....

[Nath]

Booga bill, be a Marlin shooter.

Jnyork. Great photo

[BAGTIC]

Deer scarce? Depends on where you lived. In the late '1940 post war California had what was recognized a the largest deer herd in the world at 1 to 1.5 million animals. Not now. Changes in land use made a lot of difference. Since then a lot of marginal farm land is the east has been allowed to revert to woodlands. More trees now than in 1900. Greatly increased human populations in the West and suburban sprawl has reduced habitat there.

Another reason was that for generations the concept of games laws was widely scoffed at in many rural areas of the East where many locals treated game as a subsistence food supply regardless of what the law said. I recall as a teen visiting relatives in northern Arkansas who has already killed over a dozen deer that year and the season had not yet opened. Their attitudes toward turkeys small game, a fish were similar. Catch it when you can, where you can. Hunting and fishing are now primarily recreational as very few actually depend on it the fill the larder. People now will support game laws as it has become a matter of 'fair play' where individuals are involved in protecting their fair share.

[Booger Bill]

Living here in Utah my and my wife`s main hobby is trail riding on our Polaris RZR. We get out quite a bit and often ride maybe 35 miles from the nearest house or ranch. The strange thing is you are apt to see more deer in a populated than far in the wilderness! Around here many are killed by vehicles. Every few days I see dead deer on the road within a mile or two of our house and we live near the edge of a large town. In the last couple years they have put up those signs of deer crossings with flashing lights on the signs. Awhile ago there were TWO dead deer laying underneath the sign near our house!
Last year the wife and I were trail riding 35 miles back in and I hit a fawn with our rzr! I had to put it out of it`s misery. I always carry a revolver and was glad I didn't have to use a rock. Incidentally, there was more to that story worth telling. We had already put on 75 miles riding to and back to a small restaurant way off and had gassed up. There still was a couple hours of daylight left when we got back to our truck and trailer so I decided to take another stretch of trail I hadn't been on a different direction.
Our model RZR has a peculiar design flaw that I wasn't used to yet. When you are going down a steep grade the clutch's or whatever seem to "Load up". It sounded like a belt is shredding it`self and I even felt thumping on the floor board. Later I found the fix is to simply stop, back up a few feet to release pressure or whatever and then party on. But this time it scared me. It was starting to get dark, we were over 30 miles off the pavement and up almost 9,500 feet elevation and getting cold. I was sure we were going to have to spend the night out in the open. I figured my best option was to keep coasting down the trail to a lower elevation where it would be a little warmer. On top of that my wife was/is still recovering from several foot operations. Fifty yards would be difficult much less 35 miles! I am almost three spins on the scale and 74 years old so it wouldn't be a picnic. I am however, experienced from a lot of hunting, outdoor jobs with the National Park service, a job with the state of Wisconsin conservation dept etc many years ago. A doe ran out in front of us that I narrowly missed, however it`s fawn was following that I hit. I stood on the brake and that in turn gave me a blowout! I bought our rzr used and didnt know that the prior owner had put a tube in the tubeless tire trying to save from buying a new one. I had hit the brake so hard it sort of turned the wheel from the tire! That ripped the valve stem off! My wife was totally hysterical as the poor fawn was bleating in pain and she absolutely loves deer. You would have thought it was a kid! I explained to her I had to shoot it. She understood but still was hysterical for a long time. We were in a fix but not for long. Luckily a 4 WD new ford truck came up the "Jeep trail". It was a family going to their week end cabin near by. The guy (who work`s for the ford dealer in St. George) drove us out the 35 miles to our truck. (Wouldn't take a dime, 70 miles of 4wd road!) We drove our rig back down it to retrieve the rzr. It now was midnight and another strange truck was closely following us down the one track road in the middle of no where. I stopped to talk with him. He was lost and running out of gas looking to stay at another cabin someone had invited him to. That`s why he was hanging behind us. We helped each other, he helped me load our rzr and I got him to a gas station. We got to our house after 2 a.m. A revolver is a comfort to have along.

[Booger Bill]

BAGTIC; your post is right on. From what my dad and other old timers told me we agree. When I was a kid brought up in Wisconsin in the 40`s and 50`s I never seen a turkey in those days. They came back later. Right here around Cedar City Utah, we moved here in 2,005, the first year you could go out in winter a few miles north of where I live and see a 1,000 or so deer ranged up. The last couple years, same time of the year in the same area, just see a few groups. I did see some where I hadn't before south of town. They move around. When we first moved here we would see elk. For the last year or two I haven't seen any. Wild horse`s are a controversy here. I love to see them but the ranchers that lease BLM land hate them. They have roundups and adoption programs. Everyone has a different viewpoint and all are valid from their standpoint. The first number of years here we would see mountain goats right on the freeway (I-15) in the Virgin Rive Gorge between Mesquite Nevada and St. George Utah. Now I never do. Between Cedar City and Beaver off I-15 we used to always see between 20 to 40 antelope. Now once in awhile we might see 1 to 3. Between Cedar City and St. George there is one lonely antelope always grazing near a herd of cows but never right with them. We have seen it for about the last 4 or 5 years. Just before that I seen two that had been hit by a vehicle. The three must have been traveling together and the one stayed when its family got killed.

[2ndovc]

My mom's dad used a cut down Parker side by side for his deer gun on the west side of ohio. I have several trophy mounts of his.

My dad's father was partial to bolt guns in .25-.30 cal. We have several of his rifles.
My favorite is his custom Springfield '03 lightweight.
He had it made up for a Canadian moose hunt that he never made. He had one of his first heart attacks just before and never really recovered.
Someday I'll make that trip with his rifle.

jb

[smokenrust]

"In central Wisconsin back then I only recall seeing one black bear. Seen a number of them in northern UP though. I spent my career in California and only seen one or two bears in the wild there NOT counting Yosemite. I read plenty on these sites of people seeing many bears now back east."
Dad was born in the NW corner of Wi. in 1917 and said he didn't see any deer tracks till he was 13 years old. Andhe roamed the country hunting squirrels and rabbits and such when he was a lot younger than that.
Said the lumber camps had hired hunters to go and bring in the game to feed the crews and then you had the 'hunting partys' with long rows of bucks hanging on the racks... and the trappers and that took the wildlife numbers down. Then the DNR started invoking their controls and deer became thick and then they were passing out a doe tag to a party of four and then they were passing doe tags out to anyone that had twenty bucks in their pockets and now the deer are scarces again and the coyotes yip and the wolves howl...
Here is what I had in my wooded pasture couple seasons ago...

Nov.2013 bearssss.JPG

[KirkD]

Well, I like how grandpa got a deer and that is the way I hunt. Here is an example of a nice doe I collected with my original Winchester Model 1873 shipped in 1889, loaded with cast bullets that came out the barrel at a paltry 1,300 fps. One shot, went right through broadside. The hole you see in the photo is the exit. "Short magnums? Short magnums? I don't need to stinking short magnums!"