Approximately what year did it all start?

[doright]

I think social media and tv has compounded the problem. Years ago you had to rely on word of mouth or a newspaper article to know of a big deer being killed. Now its at your fingertips. Companies are waiting in line to take your money with the latest thing that will make you the greatest hunter ever. You can video all of your hunts with product names displayed in the video hoping they will throw a little cash or free stuff your way.
You can still choose how you would like to hunt. I hunt on a timber co.lease with very low expectations. I killed a small 8 last weekend and was happy about it. It will eat good. If I wanted a true trophy I would need to spend a lot more money on a better lease but I'm happy with where I am. I didn't post a picture because I've seen enough of critical comments made on here in the past.
I too can remember when score was for a ballgame and not hunting. You kill a deer and counted points. If you could hang a ring on it it was a point. I guess I'm getting old because I miss a lot about the old days.

[Quackerbox]

I remember 2x4s in trees and bucket feeders. My first deer with a bow came from lumber in a tree and no feeder. Im fortunate enough that in 40 years of deer hunting, aside from the occasional draw hunt or invite to thin does, every deer Ive killed has come off the same property. Family has owned it since 1970. There are no rules

In that 40 years I remember being happy to even seen a deer a weekend. Now Im upset if I dont see a deer per sit. We went from shooting anything with horns to being able to pass legal bucks for years. It was basket rack 8s to deer close to 150 now and then. Waiting for that 150 is the only reason we dont all shoot bucks.

[Jon B]

This is right in line with something that I have been pondering over for the last few years.

I love to bowhunt. 100% my passion. But it's rifle season, and I haven't killed a buck yet so I am out here going through the motions. It doesn't excite me like it used to. I have a crazy amount of pressure to kill a big buck when honestly I would be more jacked up killing an old nanny doe with archery equipment.

At what point did you gentlemen grow out of that mindset? Any thing I can do to speed that process up?

[asu-indian]

Lots of great memories indeed but I’ll have to say overall, it’s better now.

[Johnny Dangerr]

To answer your question I would say 1995...

[Arrowsmith]

Killed my first deer in 1968 in Mills County west of Goldthwaite on Skeeter Tully's place with a Marlin 336C .30-.30.

I was sitting on a 2x6 nailed in in the crotch of a Live Oak with 2x4 steps leading up to it.

No corn, no feeders, and certainly cameras. Camp was an old Sears canvas tent lit by Coleman lanterns. Whatchamacallit stew was cooked on a Coleman stove. We didnt have any camo or worry about scent control. We hunted wherever we wanted to hunt. We didn't have a "spot" on a "lease".

Definitely different times, but wonderful times and experiences.

For me it started changing in the late 70s to early 80s. Feeders started showing up. Leasing became a thing, then cameras, then having to get permission from other lease members to kill a buck. I did all that, but for my old self all that is just to much. To much stuff. To much hardware. Corn feeders, protein feeders, feeder panels, cellular cameras. Some guys sets look like a used car lot instead of the deer woods.

To each his own. For me where I am sitting right now this morning is my own. My preference.

Four trails converging in a small clearing. This is the way I am going to live out my life hunting.

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[lanceodom]

I grew up very similar. If it was a buck, he was a shooter. My first buck was a yearling fork horn and I was so pumped. While we are certainly more advanced and sophisticated in all aspects of deer hunting, at our ranch, we all celebrate when someone brings a deer in. And we always will!!

[cehorn]

1992.5

fify, deer season doesn't start at the beginning of the year.

[Hills of Texas]

This has been evolving for a long time. Your right though. Back when deer camp was about more than just killing the biggest deer are some of my best memories spent with family and friends. No cameras, feeders were crude if at all, dinner around the campfire listening to stories from the older guys. It was really great. This year I haven’t even put out a camera. I just wanted to go back to being surprised by what I might see. Our deer hunting group kinda went it’s separate ways with the passing of my grandpa but I’ll never forget the time spent together or the anticipation of what might walkou from behind a bush. Good times, great memories.

[Preacher Man]

I think 1990 started the big push towards what we have today. When running deer with dogs was banned.

The Texas Trophy Hunter craze didn't help.

When people quit subsistence hunting. Or at least when subsistence hunting slowed down dramatically.

Then sometime in the late 90's or early 2000's when social media blew up. I believe that to be the straw that broke the camel's back and finished off what was left of the old days.

I find it interesting that some hunting terminology has changed. Back then, when you were on a stand, you were actually standing somewhere waiting for the dogs to run a deer by you. Now, we might say, "I'm going to the stand down by the creek", but its not actually a stand. It's a blind. And I'm not standing anymore. I'm sitting. And usually in a pretty comfortable chair instead of a 2X4 in the crook of a tree.

[OleTomTalker]

Big buck VHS tapes when it all started. Has progressed along with media.

Do I think it's the sole cause, no. If you go back and look over a timeline it sure lines up with the popularity of the Monster Bucks and other series and gotten way more since internet and especially social media.

[rut-ro]

This thread made me call my dad. My dad first started hunting in the early 80s when his friend introduced him to it. They hunted Crocket National Forrest and after his first couple years he stated taking me. The excitement of getting out of school early to go hunting with my dad was a feeling I will never forget. My dad would hunt out of a lean-to made out of 2x4s and I would sit under the tree in a little make shift tee pee with a coffee can heater. early 90s he got on a deer lease in Brackettville and that was awesome and totally different than the national forest. We now have our own land we hunt. When I called him to talk about the "old days" he whispered "what do you want I'm in the stand" I just started laughing and told him i would call him later. which made me think, there was no text messages or phone calls back then. You got the update around the campfire eating breakfast or dinner.

[dbpredator]

I've only hunted for about 6 years but I'm sure social media has alot to do with the trophy hunting mindset in hunting. Nothing wrong with that either for those who get to kill atleast one buck every year but some only get a chance to kill any buck every few years.

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[Preacher Man]

This thread jogged a memory that I wanted to share.

When I was 5 or 6, Dad started taking me with him pretty regularly.

We stayed in my great grandparents old farm house that was built by my great grand father in 1914.

In the evenings, all the men would get together and play cards or dominos at the kitchen table. A fire would be going in the old fire place. It was great.

They'd all start drinking beer and playing games. Before I knew it, I was the "go and fetch it". They'd start having me bring them beer. It got to where I memorized which cooler, and which brand of beer, everyone drank. They'd only have to say, "hey Dougie, get me a beer", and I knew which cooler to go to and what kind to grab.

Then Dad would put me in bed and bundle me up and I'd fall asleep listening to all the old guys in the kitchen finishing their game.

There'd be 10 hunters on 200 acres and if anybody got a deer it was a big deal. Good grief I miss those times and those old guys.

[Drycreek3189]

Good thread AC, but I’m in the blind waiting on a dumb buck to walk out.