Compare and Contrast: Looking at Deer Hunting Then & Now

Despite my more than 50 years involvement in the sport of deer hunting, I initially felt this may not be an easy article to write. It’s not that I was lacking on ideas or thoughts regarding what should be included in the article. Rather, it was because of a flood of memories that all seemed to come rushing back at once. Even memories from decades ago were suddenly running through my mind almost as clearly as when they first originated.

Not that I’m complaining. To be quite honest, I find comfort in the fact that so many of my deer hunting memories remain vividly etched in my memory bank. And as for the ones that don’t? Well, thankfully, I was one of those people who has always loved taking photos and video.

And I took a lot of photos, with some of those photos dating all the way back to the early 1970s. And I still take photos to this day. Even better, a good deal of my more recent deer hunting memories also were captured on video. I can’t begin to express how thankful I am for that.

I’ve included a photo with this article that shows me standing next to a giant-bodied, Wisconsin north-woods buck I arrowed in early November, way back in the year 1980. The hog-bodied 8-point had a field dressed weight of 217 pounds. An impressive animal to be sure, but the deer will forever remain extra special for another reason.

Prior to the 1980 Wisconsin archery season I’d never actually singled out, tried to pattern, and then attempted to harvest a particular buck. But that’s exactly how it went with the 8-point, and here’s a brief recap of the story.

Along with being in the early stages of “whitetail infatuation” back then, I also was a serious bear hunter. Wisconsin bear tags were available over the counter during those days, and the season usually opened a couple weeks prior to the opening of archery season.

Anyway, it was a cool morning in late August, and I was walking down an old logging trail in route to check one of my baits when the encounter occurred. I spotted a big buck drinking from a small water puddle on the logging trail about 40 yards ahead. Quickly ducking behind a tree, I had the pleasure of watching the trophy whitetail for nearly a minute before he quenched his thirst and walked off.

As stated previously, I’d never singled out one deer to concentrate all my hunting efforts on. But after seeing that buck, I made a vow to dedicate 100 percent of my hunting time toward putting my archery tag on him. My quest came to an end on a cold and frosty November morning three months later when the buck walked to within 15 yards of my tree stand site.

Believing I’d somewhat figured out what it really took to ambush mature wilderness whitetails, I went into the very next season with high hopes. But those hopes were quickly dashed when I discovered the area where I’d taken the 8-pointer the previous season had been completely clear-cut.

Rather than being depressed about losing one of my best hunting spots, I immediately began to look for a new spot. After doing a bit of leg work and a lot of in-season scouting, I eventually located an area that showed some potential. Long story short, I ended up arrowing a 10-point buck during one of my first hunts in that area.

My Big Break

It was sometime in the mid-1980s when I had what could only be described as one of the biggest breaks of my life. I was walking past a newsstand at a local store when a particular magazine caught my eye. The cover photo showed a man (can’t remember his name) posing with a huge whitetail buck.

Of course, I just had to purchase a copy of the magazine, which just so happened to be called North American Whitetail. But while I was impressed with the cover photo, I was even more impressed with the content found inside the magazine. There were information-packed articles by people with names like Dick Idol, David Morris and Gordon Whittington.

Little did I know at the time, I would eventually end up writing some articles for the magazine. To say it was a dream come true for me would be a tremendous understatement.

My very first article centered around how me and some of my hunting partners had figured out how to use antler rubs as an aid for figuring out the travel patterns of mature bucks in the Wisconsin north woods. And to be very honest, I had no idea just how much having that first article published would change my life. Not only did it open the door for doing more writing assignments for NAW, but it also caught the attention of editors from other hunting publications. Within a matter of just a few years, I was writing deer hunting articles for close to two dozen magazines.

The Changes

So, I believe one of the inevitable questions going through some peoples’ minds as they read this must be, “How much has deer hunting changed since you first became involved in the sport?” Well, allow me to answer that question by saying I could fill a book with the number of changes I’ve seen.

While some of these changes have been for the better, others haven’t (just my opinion). But all in all, I can’t argue with factual data showing that 20 percent of the top-scoring Boone and Crockett trophy whitetails have been entered in the last seven years. That makes me wonder if we aren’t experiencing the real Golden era of deer hunting right now!

However, it’s also a cold hard fact that gaining access to top quality hunting areas is becoming more and more difficult. I should add that the quest for large-racked bucks also has resulted in a huge “step up” in technology. And in my opinion, there isn’t a piece of modern-day hunting equipment that has received more attention and/or is used more than scouting cameras.

The main reason I say this about cameras is because of the huge asset they’ve proven to be, and not just for deer hunters. Heck, I know people who use scouting cameras for security reasons at their homes and on their properties. I also know some who use cameras to capture photos of wild songbirds near their backyard feeders.

And while on the topic of cameras, I’d like to share an interesting bit of personal research I did a few years back. I was booked to do deer hunting seminars at several large deer shows around the country. For some reason it struck me to add a new wrinkle during the Q&A session I always held at the end of my seminars. I asked the audience members which piece of their equipment they considered to be most valuable. Hands down, the number one response was scouting cameras.

Another factor I believe has played a rather large role in helping hunters become more successful is cell phones. It’s a fact that just about everyone carries a cell phone these days, and that hardly anyone uses their phone strictly for making and/or receiving calls.

To be quite honest, I’ve relied big time on my phone to keep me up to date on things like current weather conditions in the areas I’m hunting. I’m especially interested in keeping tabs on things like wind direction and approaching weather fronts, as they can be deciding factors regarding where and when I might hunt a particular area.

A “Back When” Buck

As I was writing this article, I couldn’t help but recall another buck I took back in the days when the whitetail hunting scene was far different than it is now. My first bowhunt for that deer took place in one of my old stomping grounds located in northwest Wisconsin. The particular chunk of wilderness cover the buck was residing in was no less than 20 square miles in size, with no “through roads” dissecting it.

Anyway, the buck I’m talking about first showed up somewhere around 8:00 a.m. I could tell right away by his behavior that there obviously was a hot doe somewhere in the immediate vicinity.

But thinking I still might be able to entice him within bow range, I dug out a grunt call and let go with a few subtle “urps.” While the big deer did turn his head and look in my direction, I could tell almost immediately that he wasn’t overly interested. Long story short, the doe eventually led him in another direction.

That was the last I saw of the big whitetail until a late season archery hunt a month later. Once again, the buck remained just outside of bow range before finally turning and walking away. Though a bit disappointed about that outcome, I was happy to learn the buck had made it through our recent gun season.

So, the next archery season found me back in that same area in search of the buck. Though I hunted the area fairly often, I never laid eyes on the big whitetail.

But with a strong feeling that he was still around, I decided to dedicate some time to the area during gun season. Long story short, the 11-pointer walked into view at 10:30 a.m. on the fifth day of our nine-day gun season, and a single round from my .270 rifle put an end to a two-year-long quest. That north woods buck remains one of my more memorable trophies.

Back to Now

Though I truly do miss some of my deer hunting experiences that occurred in years past, I also cherish some that have happened in recent years. An Indiana muzzleloader hunt is a perfect example, for a couple reasons. First off, I was hunting on property owned by a very good friend at that time. And second, our son Jake was my videographer on the December venture.

As the story goes, Jake and I had arrived at our destination in late afternoon and immediately headed out to do some long-range observation of the area we’d be hunting. After deciphering our findings, we decided to pop up a portable ground blind along a brushy fence line. Our position would enable us to keep watch over a significant part of a large, freshly picked cornfield.

Just as we’d witnessed the prior evening, deer began pouring into the cornfield a good half-hour before dark. The initial activity involved mostly antlerless deer and several small bucks. But that situation changed dramatically a bit later when a mature, heavy-antlered 8-point strolled into the field.

While Jake immediately began capturing footage, I kept my eyes focused on the buck, waiting for him to get clear of other deer. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long. With the muzzleloader snuggled onto a tripod rest, I picked up the buck in my scope, got the sight picture I was looking for and slowly squeezed the trigger.

Due to a big cloud of smoke from the gun, Jake and I both lost sight of the buck, but only briefly. We closely watched as the 8-point ran back into a chunk of nearby timber. Thankfully, we were able to recover the buck after a somewhat difficult trailing job.

In closing I’d like to state that, while technology has resulted in a dramatic change regarding the way we approach the sport of deer hunting, it hasn’t resulted in a doom and gloom situation.

I’m sure a fair share of the people reading this will agree that, despite all the technological advances in our great sport, mature whitetails will continue to stay just one step ahead of us — at least most of the time, anyway. And I firmly believe we wouldn’t have it any other way!

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