Back when wool and leather boots were your choices. Everyone shot straight grained Cedar arrows. When bowhunters tipped their arrows with either Ace or Zwickey broad heads. And maybe they carried there favorite knife. A Marbles, Remington or Kabar. Not many choices compared to today. But I don’t think those bow hunters of years ago enjoyed their selves any less. I guess that’s why some still choose the simple stick and string. To occasionally get a glimpse back into our amazing past. What say you?

Absolutely totally agree with you Mr DON

Less is definitely more in archery.

Like my granny used to say……..”those ARE the good ole’ days”.

Yes. Definitely yes.

Imagine a time when bow hunters went into the woods with a compass. And depended upon it. Well that and some woodsmenship skills to find their way back. It really wasn’t that long ago. Will we be lost if technology fails us someday?

Imagine a time when bow hunters went into the woods with a compass. And depended upon it. Well that and some woodsmenship skills to find their way back. It really wasn’t that long ago. Will we be lost if technology fails us someday?

Imagine a time when bow hunters went into the woods with a compass. And depended upon it. Well that and some woodsmenship skills to find their way back. It really wasn’t that long ago. Will we be lost if technology fails us someday?

I have been trying to have the best of both, honestly… A 3-pound, 2-man tent does not leave me feeling deprived of an Authentic Hunting Experience…. ;)

I thought about this a lot this year — nothing like feeling like you’re in country so steep, rough, and remote that you can’t imagine that anyone has ever set foot there before… then you glance up-hill and notice a stump the size of a La-Z-Boy ; all that’s left of an ancient tree which was probably felled without power tools and dragged out behind a couple of mules…

I still use a lot of wool and a compass will always be welcome in my kit. Two, if I’m in unfamiliar territory. I don’t do food plots, bait piles or trail-cams, but I can’t bring myself to get too worked up about anything that doesn’t change the fundamental equation of keeping down-wind putting a sharp blade where it belongs. Staying warm and dry is just a bonus. But I know how lucky I am.

The Good Old Days, back when young I Enjoyed every time I got into the woods, didn’t have hunting clothes, just layered every day clothes according to temperature, got frozen more than not, still Enjoyed

Thanks for sharing that memory with us Wayne. Hope others will do the same.

It's all about choices and personal perception.

Those guys who were using Ace and Zwickey were making it more complicated than the guys who made their own broadheads, made arrows from hardware store dowels etc

Yep. I see this thread as more 'good old days' nostalgia through rose colored glasses than anything else. Of course I see the simplicity of earlier times with just as much fondness as anyone else 69 years of age 69.

Off topic comment. I SURE as hell wish we had used framing nailers and staplers over the first decade of my carpentry career. Plus had access to crane, which 'never-ever' happened back then on residential construction and in the 1970s. Good old days? Not hardly. My shoulders would be way the heck less beat up for bow shooting lemme tell yuh. Just sayin.

I know there was camo clothing being offered when I first started hunting in the late 70's but I couldn't afford it. Substituted a pair of green Dickies work pants, a green checked wool coat with my only piece of camo, a Nam style bucket hat.

My first bow I hunted with was a Pearson Strato Jet, clamp on Kwikee Quiver and a mixture of wood and aluminum arrows, tipped with whatever head I could find.

My treestands were homemade or just climb a tree and sit on a limb or in the crotch. I remember seeing plenty of deer and being less complicated. The enjoyment and desire wanes when we overcomplicate things.

"I think those bowhunters would have enjoyed the choices we have today and I don’t believe they enjoyed themselves any less without them. They just had what they had without knowing anything else."

Yep, that right there says it all. I was there for much of those early years but not as much as others before me. Honestly, I still don't use anything much different.

I am not old by any stretch but not young either. seen enough to know more isn’t necessarily better in any aspect of life. Yet we all at one time or another get caught up In it.

I actually started in Archery/bowhunting in 1956. I shoot Longbow & enjoy compound too. About the only thing changed for me is when I go into the woods now I have a pack to carry my gear & in those early days, about the same as what I needed in my pockets.. It has "A COMPASS", Knife, binoculars & maybe a few other little things. Rattle horns when it's time Grunt tube. Not heavy for darn sure. Usually just throw it over 1 shoulder. Sad thing-I was getting my Antelope stamp in 2019 & asked the shop owner for a paper map & he said, NO ONE sells them anymore. Everyone uses their phone. I have seen tons of changes (I will be 82 in less than 2 weeks) but my "needs" bowhunting haven't increase much. Hell, I used my Vietnam camo for at least 10 years until they were rags. This was me & my 1st Deer in Oct 1958. I have my hunting cloths on. I did have a camo hat. It's also the only photo I have of that Deer. Didn't do much picture taking back then.

I have been hunting mostly from the ground this season and last. I leave the truck with my bow back quiver and a pocket knife. I have a phone but I don’t use it for anything but an emergency. Compared to the tree stand hunts when you have the safety harness maybe a water bottle, extra clothing , backpack it adds up. I much prefer the freedom of carrying next to nothing and hunting on foot or maybe a natural ground blind. I haven’t completely given up tree stand hunting but I’ve had a pretty successful season without needing the stand this year.

Simplifying hunting was the original reason I went to a bow in the first place. Doesn’t take long to get the simple out of it with all the accoutrements that I think are mostly unnecessary.

I have found that I can use modern stuff and still kill deer. I worry more about where I hunt than what I carry. I use to stay in an old cabin with a stove and now I have a nice modern cabin with heating and AC and am very comfortable. I can even come in and watch the football game if I like. I have a 4 wheeler and a 4 wheel drive truck. I still kill deer. I don’t need those old things to kill em. I still shot a recurve. It’s all good.

I have found that I can use modern stuff and still kill deer. I worry more about where I hunt than what I carry. I use to stay in an old cabin with a stove and now I have a nice modern cabin with heating and AC and am very comfortable. I can even come in and watch the football game if I like. I have a 4 wheeler and a 4 wheel drive truck. I still kill deer. I don’t need those old things to kill em. I still shot a recurve. It’s all good.

Don -

There's nothing wrong with having more choices, it just becomes a matter of knowing which to ignore.

Viper out.

Babysaph and Viper X2. Choices are good.

I first bowhunted for deer as a 12 year old in 1957, and have done so every year since then. We did not have all the gadgets, gizmos, and what-cha-ma-call-its we do now days. And you know what, we did not miss them because we did not know about them. Bowhunting was different then,...better in many ways and not different in other ways. I don't know that anyone could adequately explain the differences completely. And I do not know that anyone who has not been there in both times could ever completely understand and feel how it was different. It is one of those "you would of had to have been there experiences." Believe me, words fall far short.

Somehow i survived in freezings temps in cotton long johns.

I really appreciate the modern clothes and boots.

An old friend a watch repairman once told me this nation couldn't even tell time anymore with out batteries. It does make you think. >>>----> Ken

Bob I don’t always have my rose colored glasses when I come on here;)

"Simpler times less choices"

Probably they will say the same about today's Hy tech wheely/xbow/airbows bowhunters in 40 or 50 years. Back in those days they were all using ALL the best choices they had at the time, and some , may have even lamented of years gone by when they used to have even less choices.

I just enjoy the moment with whatever it is that I'm hunting with.

the memories are irreplaceable, still like my wool and Beans Maine Hunting boots! Still shoot longbows and dowel arrows tipped with Ace or Zwicky's. It's all you need.

I just remember in the 60s I had a pair of Dunham leather boots I wore for bow hunting, pheasant hunting, and goose hunting. I wore those boots so much that I basically wore them smooth and then wore them out.

Hunt deep in the game lands a few times and you will decide pretty quickly what you don't need. On x has been a game changer but still can't replace a compass completely.

Been doing this since the 60's and pretty much the only equipment I changed to is using my knapped stone arrowheads. I have a bunch of recurves, longbows and self bows and will use anyone of them but that is not much of a change.

I believe in the KISS method of life.

I'm one of those guys from back in the day. To us at that time it was "State of the art" the same as young guys today, using the new stuff! Bob

Chains on tires, card board on front of the radiator for heat, surplus food... Ike, cold houses in the winter,and broke most of the time, and fiber glass bows,and no real hunting cloths. Ah yes the good old days. But I was young. That was the up side. I will take today.

I am not big on a lot of change as far as bowhunting goes.Same brand and model of bow since 1968. Same aluminum arrow with the same broadhead, same brand of glove even. Started as a instinctive aimer and still shooting that way today. About the only change archery wise has been to use a different string material than I did then. Never had a reason to change as it has all worked well for me. I do love the updated camping gear available when I camp and hunt today as well as the easier to fix foods.Use pretty much the same clothes and boots as far as material and style. I enjoyed myself then as much as I do today but I enjoy making things a little easier on me now at 70 yrs of age.

Times have really changed not archery related but. We took our.22s on the school bus because we had hunter safety after school

I still like to go in with a compass, and a general lay of the land. Haversack with a couple knives, bottle of water, snacks, headlamp and extra wool shirt.

I agree with Wayne Blue jeans lots of sweat shirts and dyed the green and painted them in spliches od brown yellow and darker colors for my camo

Ed Mikuta The best memories was bow hunting back in my time 1975. I’m 19 my first car was. VW bug. My first real bow, Herters Sitka 62” 55# my “first love.”Wood arrows Bear razor heads. Green cargo pants. A reversible camouflage pull over. Jones style camo hat. I had my hunting gear in the back.Get out of school around 2:00 head to the fields. Couple of hours of hunting before dark. Gas was cheap for High School kid. Hunting was fun. Not much money. So you learn to make bow strings. Dip arrows. Fletch arrows. To me those were the days. Hunting was simple back then.

Got me to thinking. Remember those old trail timers with the string that would tell you when something passed by? We thought those were neat. We use to mess with one of our buddies and set his off. Of course this is after we marked up every tree with our knives to make him think he was in rub line heaven. He sat there for a week without seeing a deer. Lol. Now we have cameras that show us immediately what passed by. Awww yea the good ole days

Got me to thinking. Remember those old trail timers with the string that would tell you when something passed by? We thought those were neat. We use to mess with one of our buddies and set his off. Of course this is after we marked up every tree with our knives to make him think he was in rub line heaven. He sat there for a week without seeing a deer. Lol. Now we have cameras that show us immediately what passed by. Awww yea the good ole days

The old folks I grew up with loved new gadgets, especially the television when it came out to the general masses. They would have loved battery powered drills with nut drivers too; portable chainsaws that didn't way twenty pounds, and hydraulic log splitters.

As Viper said, you just have to know what to ignore if it bothers you in some way. Technology in and of itself is neither bad nor good.

By the way, when you're deep in the woods, you can be in any time warp you like; it's all mindset at that point.

"Got me to thinking. Remember those old trail timers with the string that would tell you when something passed by?"

Yes, I do remember them. And before them I would put thread or a stick across a trail and check it periodically to narrow down the time when the elk or deer passed through.

There are some modern things I like and enjoy since I was a kid. Clothing, packs, boots, and trucks are a few. Much much better than when I was a kid, at least for me and the type of hunting I do.

The improvement in optics in nice too. I enjoy optics for other things in addition to hunting.

I enjoy 3 blade heads, and sharpening systems that are "me" proof. Optics have come a long way as well.

I don't wear rose colored glasses. The golden age is right now. From primitive to modern archery, take your pick, and enjoy the ride you chose.

I got to thinking about this and actually we had a lot of choices in archery gear, and even more so than today, we had bows from every manufacturer in prices that suited just about any budget constraint. You could buy a Bear Cub from the money you made on a paper route, and there were plenty of companies selling bows and accessories. It was pretty much whatever you wanted or needed, talking the mid 50's through the 60's.

As for knives that someone mentioned, we had lots of those as well and every hardware store that I knew of had Buck, or Schrade or Case, or even all three. You could buy bows, guns, knives and lots of other things at Sears Roebuck. It was a pretty good time.

I agree also that we are living in a time of plenty where you can buy just about anything old or new, but not sure about the paper route income possibilities.

Good comments and great flashbacks. George's got me thinking about did I really just head out with a pocketknife, lighter, and a piece of twine like I keep imagining we did in the early 1960s? Well, kind of.

Then I remembered the one thing on every single bow hunt I have carried for over five decades was a small leather pouch about the size of mini bread loaf. It carries basically the same items all those years, and items that each one has been used and replaced.

The pouch use to hang on the leather belt with the sheath knife. In more recent times, it rides in small pack or haversack.

Good comments and great flashbacks. George's got me thinking about did I really just head out with a pocketknife, lighter, and a piece of twine like I keep imagining we did in the early 1960s? Well, kind of.

Then I remembered the one thing on every single bow hunt I have carried for over five decades was a small leather pouch about the size of mini bread loaf. It carries basically the same items all those years, and items that each one has been used and replaced.

The pouch use to hang on the leather belt with the sheath knife. In more recent times, it rides in small pack or haversack.

Good comments and great flashbacks. George's got me thinking about did I really just head out with a pocketknife, lighter, and a piece of twine like I keep imagining we did in the early 1960s? Well, kind of.

Then I remembered the one thing on every single bow hunt I have carried for over five decades was a small leather pouch about the size of mini bread loaf. It carries basically the same items all those years, and items that each one has been used and replaced.

The pouch use to hang on the leather belt with the sheath knife. In more recent times, it rides in small pack or haversack.

Sorry for the triple post. Error message and pix attachment issues. May try pix later. I've seen several responses in multiple sends. Must be the error message and repeated tries.

7 dollars in 1955 would get you a 78 dollar bow today. Wood glass lam not all glass. Fishing rods, and reels were mostly limited to a 300, or 308 Mitchell, and a Shakespere, or Garcia rod. Look at the choices you have today in fishing gear.

Every hunting bow I ever owned back then got "The Paint Job". Nothing was sacred.

Nothing wrong with Shakespeare or Garcia rods and reels, I still have a couple and they still work, and I also have a Mitchell 300 from the 1960's..made in France. Catalog sales like Herter's, Sears, and even Montgomery Ward had plenty of sporting goods to satisfy hunters and fishers.

There was no shortage of choices relative to the number of sportsmen and women of those days. Even the folks living in the deepest hollers in the mountains around here got the Sears catalog, and it supplied more than just "stuff". :)))

Nothing wrong with them for the time. I own a half dozen of 300,and 308's. The left hand version. Use them exclusively back then. They run like thrashing machines compared to what is being made today, and the glass rods were heavy,heavy. I agree that many vintage bows are still top of the line even by today's standards. like the Bear Kodiak, and Damon HH, and many others.

Way too many choices. Way too many cell phones.

I bought this outfit when I was 13 with the money I earned from a trap line. I took it to Lake Champlain a couple of years ago just to catch a couple of smallmouth for old time's sake.

Yes Don, My dad started bowhunting in the late fifties. He used an old 56# 65” recurve with woven glass. His were cedar but he had three blade Bodkin heads. All feathers were barred.

Except when he was using a fiberglass arrow and shooting suckers in the creeks around our area. Boy, did he and his hunting partner love to do that in the spring.

Good memories Gary. Thanks for sharing them with us.

I started shooting bows in 1965 and bowhunting a few years later. Just today was looking at the older bows in progression. Yes, the old days were great. But so have been all the days since. And so will be all my remaining days if i can have any decent health, which unfortunately is in jeopardy.

“Somehow i survived in freezings temps in cotton long johns.”

Yep… but not everybody did.

Some of the new Stuff does things that were unimaginable 50 or 100 years ago; others don’t do anything different, but do it a whole lot better, like my freaky-light tent & pack, or dry, comfortable boots.

The beauty of a stick & string is that the fundamental rules of the game have not changed in tens of thousands of years; a greater number of components are different; easier, in their ways, but somehow the bottom line really hasn’t changed. At least no more than each one of us wants it to.

It’s good to remember, though…. It wasn’t that long ago that a man was a Seriously Old Dude at 40. We’re mightily blessed to have gear that can help us enjoy the added years which medical science can give us.

I remember going with a bow, three arrows, knife, license and a drag rope. Never more than a mile from the house or truck. Once after school forgot the knife, probably wasn't the best day to shoot a small buck. Dressed him out with a little victorynox pocket knife. That was fun!!!

Not much changed for me except now i use treestands sometimes.

bow and arrows are pretty much the same...

what has changed?

I no longer put tire chains on a 2 wheel drive truck at the bottom of the mt...no more frozen fingers, i just shift into 4 wheel and go....

i no longer mix mortar in a mud tub, working like a crazed lunatic with a mud hoe, while 4 masons are all screaming mud....

like bob rowlands...i like my nail guns now.

cell phones and internet i have mixed feelings about, but i still use them.

but in the woods?....not much has changed for me, my choice....nice to have choices.

right now i need to close this computer, and get a fire in the cookstove....yep.... more choices.

At the heart of this is mans ability to make fire and tools. It's within the last few man used fire to make tools. Including the computer we are conversing with here.

Talking about cotton long Johns, you did what you had to do then. We didn’t have any extra money laying around, and I didn’t have any warm boots when I was a kid. So my dad traced out patterns of my feet on cardboard.stuffed them into the bottom of my rubber over-shoes, and with two or three pairs of socks, off I went. I was probably about nine or ten. But that did not work. And, I don’t think my feet were ever colder than that cold November day in MN deer hunting. Or trying to.

Made my own bow from a tree limb,arrows were 25 cents at the hardware store.

Some changes are for the better and some not so much. We do tend to complicate things in society.

Guess it's how you look at it. Back in the 70s we used Bear broadheads, Satellite, Wasp, wasn't as many choices but I guess it's human nature to add to and develope new things

I still remember when a 150 grain broadhead was considered very heavy.

Enjoying this post. Funny little story here, to me at least. When I was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval base back in the early 80's, my wife and I drove to West Branch Iowa to visit with with my Uncle, aunt, and cousins. My wife mentioned she would like to visit some antique stores in the area to which my cousin Sharon agreed. Uncle Tom, in his late 70's at the time quipped with "I don't why people want to buy that old sh!t anyway. It didn't work worth a damn then and it won't work now." Still laugh at that.

But I digress. I still love the way it used to be. Less competitive, I guess. The clothing, equipment, etc. today is better and more comfortable, but as alluded to above, that was then and this is now and here we are.

I guess the reason this thread sparked my interest is because I have been looking at the longbow hanging on my wall a very famous archery pioneer made for my dad 70 or so years ago. Been thinking about sticking a string on it and giving it a go. Shot it a few times for my dad back in the early 2000's because dad wanted me to. Shot beautifully back then. I would like to feel that feel again. Just may do it.

I don’t long for the time when clothes weren’t waterproof or warm enough, especially boots. And deer numbers nowhere near what they are today. I also doubt there are many now hunting when cedar was the only choice of arrow shafts.

Rings true with me for sure. I remember that first Jennings wooden handled compound that I traded my Bear Take Down recurve for way back then. I remember sitting on stand one frosty morning shivering and wondering if all those cables and wheels were going to work in the frigid temps. Quickly returned to my trusty recurves and now long bows and never looked back.

Back in the day I used what was available and what I could afford to purchase. Not a lot of choices.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here