A few days ago

[KFhunter]

Remembering it all, memories flooding in.  That’s what keeps us going.   At this time 16 years ago I was trying to figure out how to gut one of these things by myself.   Walking up to a moose is something to behold.

can't wait until it's my turn.  Planning an AK trip since my odds of a WA moose are so abysmal.

[boneaddict]

Thats a whole other experience to behold.   

My Washington hunt gave me a taste of a far north hunt.   Unfamiliar country (the NE corner is a bit different than the rest of eastern washington),  the first morning of my hunt I was out there early waiting for daylight, a pack of wolves started howling and the northern lights were putting off a wonderful light show.  It was very surreal. 


bare in mind, this was before washington had wolves.    though my moose might have disagreed.  His hindquarters on one leg was injured or scarred up from where a wolf no doubt tried to hamstring him or bring him down from behind.  A decade or more later, they finally called it the Diamond pack.

[bigmacc]

Boy oh boy bone its truly a wonder how any of us spotted, killed, dragged, field dressed or bagged our game animals back then with the equipment we were using let alone find our way in and out of the woods . You conjured up some of my old memories with your post, days of putting mink oil on my old leather boots that weighed a ton just to keep at least some of the moisture out, wearing no camo, navigating by maps, compass, sun, stars and moon. Using dads old 30-30 or grandpas 270 or maybe my uncles old Springfield, all with those fancy 4 power Redfield scopes on them. One of my grandpas friends was a WW2 vet( sniper) and back in the 50,s and 60,s I and others were in awe of him dropping bucks from 300 yards out and truly amazed at his shots of 400 all with his Springfield and the mighty 4 power Weaver scope . Borrowing a pair of Sears 10-40 binos to do some serious glassin, hunting with an orange crusher, a Hickory shirt, a Blackbear wool coat and a pair of Levis all over a nice set of long underwear purchased for $8.99 at Jerry,s Surplus or K Mart. We may have gotten "turned around" a few times, got wet and froze our rear ends off quite often but speaking for myself I,ve never been lost, all without cell phones, satellite phones and GPS, just studying and knowing the lay of the land you were hunting and using common sense. You know what, we still killed lots of game, had lots of fun and created memories that a lot of the youngsters are just amazed by with all the technology thats at their fingertips now days with more comming...Great post bone , it triggered some great memories and conversation.

[Jonathan_S]

  @bigmacc

and back then the old-timers were probably joking about you guys with the fancy equipment too 

[pianoman9701]

Nice bull Doug. Looks like one of your kids sitting on it, though!

[bigmacc]

@bigmacc

and back then the old-timers were probably joking about you guys with the fancy equipment too 

  , I,m sure they did ...........by the way bone, great bull , So many old memories came up after you posted I forgot to tell ya

[coachcw]

Your my hero !

[KFhunter]

Nice bull Doug. Looks like one of your kids sitting on it, though!

Oh man I remember those HW days...don't bring that back!

[jackelope]

My Goat hunt was, without a doubt, my hunt of a lifetime. It’ll be extremely tough to top that adventure. I still have my Paper maps I marked up. Still have my tag i notched.  Still have all the crazy memories. and to think that was only 1 year ago...

[grundy53]

Even with all of the new technology I will say. They are still freaking heavy

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Bob33]

Nearly 20 years ago but I still remember it vividly.

[outdooraddict]

I am trying my hardest to keep some old school ways (although being 32 years old, old school isnt very long ago for me), I made it my new years resolution last year to not desire "better",  will a swarovski bino kill me a bigger deer? will sitka gear get me the best buck?  I am trying (and it is very hard) to be grateful for what i do have, and not desire to have the best and newest.  I am not conviced that it will get me a "bigger/better" animal.  My favorite pics on this forum are when someone posts any harvest, and they have a red and black flannel and jeans or some old school army camo pants. I am so excited for idaho this year, we are having a "hunting camp" again, in a wall tent and although i will be using my "new" atv, i will be riding my 1984 three wheeler, ill probably look like a circus bear riding a trike.  ill probably have dust and bug covered teeth from the ride cause ill be smiling the whole time.  i also want to take a palouse buck this year with the ole model 94 open site 32 special, just like my first deer when i was 10.

[Magnum_Willys]

This was just a few days ago in Western Montana.  No moose (yet) but good times, great country with buddies is what its all about. They are back after it this weekend - good luck!

[Rainier10]

Three years ago or so I shot the deer in my avatar.  Just as I was finishing boning it out and getting ready to head out heavy I got a text that my buddies kid, 17 years old, had shot a deer.  We were trying to figure out how to get to him and give him a hand.  They texted back that they were good and were heading down the hill with the deer.  We waited for them and sure enough they had killed a great deer and got it field dressed on their own.  I told them how impressed I was and they said it was no big deal, "we pulled up a youtube video of how to field dress a deer and just followed along".  That wasn't an option with the first deer I got.  I had to remember back to what I had seen done by my father in law on a deer years before and just fumble through the process, what a mess that was.

The times have changed with technology for sure.  I am not going to say whether it is better or worse, it is just different.

Great bull Bone, thanks for reminding me how it all began and how far we have come.

[boneaddict]

Was that in Washington Bob?  Canlt believe I asked that question, I hate that question . Anyways just thinking man, thats got to be close to the first year going to points or the draw system if it was.