traditional hunting

[onefeather]

do any of you go all the way traditional hunting? i mean without the stuff you really may need like a cell phone lighter first aid kit.it seems that we focus so much on being traditional but when it comes to hunting i havent seen many of you take it to heart.is there some guys that do? if so what do you guys take with you?i am gonna start it in a week or two i am only gonna do bow season with my home made hickory bow and home made arrows and only black pwder no in lines and trap but those are the only ways im gonna hunt in order to say i am all traditional and not be persecuted for hunting modern. when i got in this i never looked back. :front:

 

[Bearbait2]

Mr. One Feather,
We respect your choice. Enjoy it while you can. Would be interested in your opinion (for comparison) as you approach 70 but am quite certain I won't be around to hear it. No offense intended, just the otherside of the coin.
Best Wishes

 

[tg]

Most consider traditional hunting to deal with the gun and gun related gear,the step further into clothing and the rest is more like a combo of traditional hunting and re-inacting which many like to do. When I make a trip alone once I step out of the truck there is only period type gear
untill it gets cold/wet enough that I bring out the Gore-tex socks, when hunting with my group which are all 60-75 yrs old, radios and GPS and whatever they deem appropriate is the rule.

 

[Dave K]

I may use traditional hunting equipment but I don't wear the clothes. I am a modern man used to a 70

 

[RiverRat]

Just to add to what DaveK already wrote. I would think that 18th century hunters just stayed indoors when the weather was cold and wet. Remember the medical profession at that time was crude at best. A chest cold back them might be fatal. Modern hunters have very limited time to hunt and I for one will do whatever I can to stay healthy...rubber boots ect... :m2c:

 

[roundball]

I may use traditional hunting equipment but I don't wear the clothes. I am a modern man used to a 70

 

[donk]

I am like the consesus I try to hunt as traditional as I can but when it comes to being confortable and having fun I still wear my modern hunting boots and gloves and such.

A flint knapper freind of mine made quite an adventure for himself last year. He hunted 2 buffalo on a large ranch here in Nebraska. He tried to do the hunt as close to the way the Lakota natives would have done it 200 years ago. He hunted from a horse bar back (the buffalo were on the run when he shot them) with a short pony bow with knaped tips. He even went as far as to skin and dress the animals using all primative tools. It is quite and interesting story to hear him tell it. I wish I could have been there to see it.

 

[Hoyt]

I may hunt with handgun one day bow another flintlock on Weds., shotgun on Fri.'s, rim-fire tomorrow and center-fire yesterday. Whatever I feel like.

 

[tg]

"Just to add to what DaveK already wrote. I would think that 18th century hunters just stayed indoors when the weather was cold and wet'

Often this was probably the case, but Belue(sp) and others have chronicled some folks being out in what would be some rather nasty conditions, the time required to travel from A to B could find one out and in need of game when a warm hearth would have been vavorable, I would think the general attitude towards adverse conditions may have been quite different then than now as well, as mentioned before it is very difficult to put aside that which have been raised with and think/act 18th century.

 

[ashtar13]

It would be an interesting challenge to go completely primitive, and I'm still young enough to try it. But when I look at it, I do this for recreation. 200 years ago they did it for survival. They had to decide if the risk they take going out on a particular day out weighed the needed for food. They used the best equipment they could get because they needed to hunt to survive. I don't need to. I can go to the store and get food. So when it comes to risking my life, I think I risk enough already by just stepping in the woods with others that have more gun than brains. I try to cut back on modern stuff, but if you offered gore-tex clothing and boots and a modern 30.06 at a trading post 200 years ago, you would become one the the richest men known. :m2c:

 

[onefeather]

well the whole reason i thought of this is because this is going to be my first year of hunting cause i waited a while because i hate modern hunting there is no honor in it shooting an animal from 200 yards or more away and sitting in a deer stand you dont even give the animal a chance.the way i figure it,if i still hunt(in period correct clothes and equipment i will better understand what it was like for them)i am giving that animal a chance to live i physicaly and mentaly smarter than that animal and take real true pride in getting it.but i was inspired by two articles from muzzle loader ,one was a few years ago it is called on the game trail by larry fiorillo. and the other was just a couple issues back it was called traditional hunting:living history without footnotes by dennis neely. they both inspired me to hunt the way i do.but black poder season is coming up and here it last all of firearms and all year because of boar season all year round so i will tell you guys how it goes :front:

 

[Black Hand]

It would be an interesting challenge to go completely primitive, and I'm still young enough to try it. But when I look at it, I do this for recreation. 200 years ago they did it for survival. They had to decide if the risk they take going out on a particular day out weighed the needed for food. They used the best equipment they could get because they needed to hunt to survive. I don't need to. I can go to the store and get food. So when it comes to risking my life, I think I risk enough already by just stepping in the woods with others that have more gun than brains. I try to cut back on modern stuff, but if you offered gore-tex clothing and boots and a modern 30.06 at a trading post 200 years ago, you would become one the the richest men known. :m2c:

Once you try it, you will never want to go back. I hunt almost exclusively with my trade gun in "primitive " clothes, and it is great fun. It is a fantastic way to field test your gear, too. You would be surprised how well the gear works, and you aren't weighed down with all the things the advertisements tell you you CAN'T HUNT WITHOUT. My concession to modern is a blaze orange hunting vest, because even here in Montana the yahoos abound.
Black Hand

 

[Bearbait2]

Mr. One Feather,
Please, do post your experience. Would enjoy the reading. Good luck on your hunt!
Best Wishes

 

[fvigo]

I have yet to go completely primitive, but my first deer was taken by stalking it while using a Percussion Hawken I had borrowed from a friend (I now own a flint GPR ). That's an experience of a lifetime IMHO!

I have not researched this but in talking to people, natives did not primarily rely on stalking for getting deer. I think what they did closely resembles what guys do today in driving deer and having others posted to take shots.

Various accounts include drives into rivers where natives in canoes would take shots, driving deers into pens and then shooting them, etc. I don't know where stalking ranks with primitive techniques. Judging from my success or lack thereof, I would have starved if I soley relied on stalking by myself. I spent countless hours in the woods before and after taking my first deer.

I am still walking in those woods enjoying the changing landscape and impatiently waiting the start of bow season in a couple of weeks.

REgardless of what I wear, I consider myself as going primitive with my long bow and arrows or with my GPR. No bait, GPS, scents, decoys, etc. I may use a tree stand, so sue me.

The point is regardless of the clothes, it is the mindset of the hunter that matters more than what they wear. Each of us have different reasons for wearing or not wearing PC clothing.

 

whoa! you mean all these years I have been hunting primitive? I have been hunting for over 50 years (turn 61 in a couple mos)and never carried cell phones, walkie talkies, GPSs, lighters (well, matches when I used to smoke a pipe), etc....although I have been known to pack a piece of a topo map and a small compass occasionally. Where do yall hunt that you need a GPS? heck I've been to the wilds of Alaska and South America without a GPS....If I go into a new wild area I study the topo maps first and memorize the terrain--never get lost that way. I usually hunt with no more gear than gun, ammo and knife. I also have never used a three/four wheeler, I walk in and out. Hopefully, if I live that long, I'll still be doing that when I am 70....

 

[Choctaw]

Hmmm, I guess I hunt primitive as far as gun, gear, and clothes are concerned. However, coming home intact is rather important to me. I have no problem at all carrying a cell phone. Hunting alone and suffering a compound facture and splinting it yourself might sound like a fun time to some, but I think I'll just call 911 instead. ::

 

[Hoyt]

Actually the condition I'm in right now with heart problems and hunting alone in big swamps with names like 2 Mile Swamp I really should swap my cell phone for a trauma unit...

 

Hmmm, I guess I hunt primitive as far as gun, gear, and clothes are concerned. However, coming home intact is rather important to me. I have no problem at all carrying a cell phone. Hunting alone and suffering a compound facture and splinting it yourself might sound like a fun time to some, but I think I'll just call 911 instead. ::

The trouble with a cell phone is that someone can call you, too (I guess you could turn it off until needed). I don't even own one. Never felt the need to be in constant contact with the world. Spent many years in the wilds alone so I guess I don't even think about it. When I am in a real dangerous place or activity I might leave a map with my wife and show her about where I might be in case I don't show up in a reasonable time, but generally she just knows approximately where I will be hunting, hiking, camping, or doing geologic field work. I guess I've been lucky (but good planning and common sense make your own luck)but I have come back OK from numerous excursions into the true wilds--so hunting in the nearby woods does not seem like a big deal....maybe old age is catching up with me, now, and I might have to be more careful.....Nah!

 

[onefeather]

well you guys today i was scouting my propety in sc we just moved down hear 4 months ago and we have 20 acres in the pines. now if you have ever been to the middle of sc you would know that it is all pines for timber and natrual woods are hard to come by .but my woods is natrual but it is inly about 15 to 20 years old because it was timbered out some of it.now i am from north eastern md near lancaster pa and this is a complete change as far as woods goes. but i have a very tiny creek on it and the thicker woods is along it but that is only like 4 yards wide of taller woods that is still not tall. but yesterday i found laurel bushes nothing big but they are the only ones for miles really. but today i went farther but it is slow going cause the big spiders and the trees are smaller so the branches are lower so its slow pace.well i was following a deer trail and i found some natrual sasafrass trees cool. but i went only about ten of our twenty acres and to my suprise i found a white oak tree that had to be at the least 200 years old! well i was so happy that i turned around and went to tell everyone i knew that is why i hunt and this could count as trekking too but i hunt for land and hard wood trees and water sources and game so for me it was all about the hunt. i found i came to find nice timber not alot of fire ants a water source and game i sat there for a while looking up at the taller hickorys and oaks about 30 years old and watched a bob white for a while and i thought that was good but seeing that old growth tree in this part of sc made my day so early tommarrow morn i will go farther in the woods or big woods as i call it now thats my story so far hope you guys like it :front:

 

[roundball]

Hmmm, I guess I hunt primitive as far as gun, gear, and clothes are concerned. However, coming home intact is rather important to me. I have no problem at all carrying a cell phone. Hunting alone and suffering a compound facture and splinting it yourself might sound like a fun time to some, but I think I'll just call 911 instead. ::

The trouble with a cell phone is that someone can call you, too (I guess you could turn it off until needed). I don't even own one. Never felt the need to be in constant contact with the world. Spent many years in the wilds alone so I guess I don't even think about it. When I am in a real dangerous place or activity I might leave a map with my wife and show her about where I might be in case I don't show up in a reasonable time, but generally she just knows approximately where I will be hunting, hiking, camping, or doing geologic field work. I guess I've been lucky (but good planning and common sense make your own luck)but I have come back OK from numerous excursions into the true wilds--so hunting in the nearby woods does not seem like a big deal....maybe old age is catching up with me, now, and I might have to be more careful.....Nah!

I never carry my cell phone turned on...it's strictly for me to make an outbound call if I need to...I seal it in a pint size ziploc bag and slip it into a pocket...for me, I view it as a simple lifeline for someone who hunts alone all the time.

On a more practical note, with the cell packages available today, I call anywhere in the U.S. for free and talk as long as I want without any long distance charges.
Had the long distance carrier component of my house telephone service discontinued...saving about $7/month AND then saving all the LD charges cause we no longer make them on the house phone...the monthly savings on the house phone just about pays for the cellphone package by itself.