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When was your deer hunting 'hay' day?

Gordo

Senior Member
5,515
121
Athens County
I remember the tree bark camo. Bad to the bone. Someone should bring that back. A bit blocky, but Truth be told, I felt like I was 'one' with the tree's


 

Bigslam51

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,778
127
Stark County
I remember the tree bark camo. Bad to the bone. Someone should bring that back. A bit blocky, but Truth be told, I felt like I was 'one' with the tree's
My reversible vest is trebark Camo, it's in the truck. I had trebark Camo pants for sale at the summer shoot last year and nobody bought them, sold them on eBay.
 

Gordo

Senior Member
5,515
121
Athens County


A thing of beauty.....

Vintage tree bark camo TOO gear?.......

Dig it


 

oakswamper

Member
1,213
109
around Toledo
I want to post in this thread but I drank the rest of the Jameson that I didn't finish Saturday because I wanted Giles to shoot a deer Sunday. Wow I've read that 3 times and it doesn't make sense. Ok when I wake up in the morning I'll post
 

Bigslam51

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,778
127
Stark County
I want to post in this thread but I drank the rest of the Jameson that I didn't finish Saturday because I wanted Giles to shoot a deer Sunday. Wow I've read that 3 times and it doesn't make sense. Ok when I wake up in the morning I'll post
[emoji23] [emoji23]
 

GoetsTalon

Senior Member
Supporting Member
4,294
128
Walbridge oh
The DNR didn't want you to shoot does back then like they do now. I remember seasons where you could only shoot a doe on Monday and Tuesday then it was buck only for the rest of the week of gun season.
 

Redhunter1012

Senior Member
Supporting Member
It really is a fun way to hunt. Interactive and everyone is really happy for one another. Nothing like sitting in a stand and waiting.

And we have a great core group of guys. We literally let 100's of deer go by without shots during Gun Season. It's rare we have a deer get wounded and escape us, maybe once a year. Most of us are after a Buck that will go at least 130". The few small bucks that do get taken are by kids, new hunters or someone who only takes a deer for meat and it's the first one they have a chance at. We don't road hunt, we don't watch other groups push to chase their deer (we call it homesteading), we just push our sections with a purpose and move on to the next one. I really do love it.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
My reversible vest is trebark Camo, it's in the truck. I had trebark Camo pants for sale at the summer shoot last year and nobody bought them, sold them on eBay.

Likely because nobody wears 32 - 48 pants. [emoji1]
 

5Cent

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
12,291
212
North Central Ohio
1996-2000 for PA
2009-2016 for Ohio.

PA was true "deer camp" and what I consider to be the 'hay days' of my deer hunting time. Gun drawings, visiting everyone at their camps (ppl from PA, NY, WV, OH, etc.), high powered rifles, long walks back in the morning to drop off the side of a mountain (ok app. foot hill) to sit on a big ol boulder all day. Trains of deer 10+ running through at any given time, and lucky to see anything over a spike-4pt. lol. The 45min walk back the logging road turned into a 4hr drag out. Prior to the new WMU's, nonresidents always got a doe tag through the lottery if sent at the earliest time available.

For Ohio, I have seen more deer, have had greater opportunity and have harvested more deer since 09' than I ever did from 96'-08'. A lot of has to do with not being limited to hunting Erie county only, but even during my time at OU (01'-06') I did not have as much opportunity as now. I contribute this to a flat lander learning the ways of the steep terrain of SE Ohio vs. the larger rolling mountains of PA's Allegheny or the farm fields and fence rows of Erie county.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
And we have a great core group of guys. We literally let 100's of deer go by without shots during Gun Season. It's rare we have a deer get wounded and escape us, maybe once a year. Most of us are after a Buck that will go at least 130". The few small bucks that do get taken are by kids, new hunters or someone who only takes a deer for meat and it's the first one they have a chance at. We don't road hunt, we don't watch other groups push to chase their deer (we call it homesteading), we just push our sections with a purpose and move on to the next one. I really do love it.

Good times. My cousin Bud and all his buddy's still do it like that every year. I keep waiting for an invite...lol. I'd love to get in on it, I'd be worth the drive! They do it like you do. He even bought a van a few years back just for this. His family runs a scrap business and know all kinds of people so they get to run miles. Them Danner boys get some nice deer every year...
 

Mike

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,840
223
Up Nort
I hunted with red and his crew for muzzleloader a couple of years ago. Very enjoyable time.

 
It is hard for me to give a fair answer to this one. From 1970 through 1979 I hunted Ohio, PA, WV most years and I hunted in MD a couple times. This was mostly gun hunting. I did hunt in Ohio a couple times with a Barnett crossbow, but never shot at a deer with it. At that time PA was the place to be to see deer, 90% does though.

I didn't hunt deer at all from about 1980 to 2004, what can I say I was addicted to waterfowl hunting for about 25 years. From about 2006-2012 I found Ohio to be a deer hunters dream. One could be as selective as one wanted to be when it came to taking a deer. It was nothing to pass on tons of does and a good number of bucks to shoot what you wanted. 2006 was the year I bought my Carroll county property and when I became more selective than ever before.

I'd say 2008 and 2009 were when deer numbers peaked where I hunt in Ohio. But, I've never seen numbers of deer in Ohio per a day of hunting like I did in Indiana County in PA in the mid 1970's.