How did people hunt back in the day?

They also used methods which would be considered "unsporting" today (and even illegal). For instance, even as late as the early 1900s it was relatively common to use chase dogs to kill turkeys.
 
Market hunting for deer by the truckload. The white buffalo hunters would pick out an shoot the lead bison of the herd, afterwhile, the rest of the herd would stand around dumfounded while waiting to be shot. The white buffalo hunters would only cut out the tongues of the dead buffalo and leave the rest of the corpse to rot.

The Chesapeake Bay was famous for punt guns {4 gauge shotguns}, that were attached to a boat, for shooting at rafts of sitting ducks by market hunters.

One Outdoor Life magazine article, claimed that 2 squirrel hunters --- during the 1800's --- sat under one large tree, one day...an bagged 180 squirrels.


The passenger pigeon was shot to extinction --- The last one died in the 1930's.
 
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My grandfather said he never saw a game warden, and hunted for food year-round. During the Depression, he put two Whooping Cranes on the table. We're not that far from the 1800s yet.
 
They also used methods which would be considered "unsporting" today (and even illegal). For instance, even as late as the early 1900s it was relatively common to use chase dogs to kill turkeys.
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That's considered "sporting" and still is legal for turkeys in the fall here in Wisconsin. The "chase" dogs were never meant to kill the turkeys, kinda hard when the birds can fly and roost in trees where the dogs cannot get them. They were used then just as they are used now, to scatter large flocks of fall/winter birds so they can be called back easily. My dog will also point turkeys that are hiding and waiting for hunters to pass. It's amazing how easily a bird the size of a turkey can hide in a clump of grass. What early hunters did tho, unlike today, was not to stop at one or two birds like the law requires nowadays. They would shoot all the birds they could, even shooting birds off the roost after dark. Birds that got spooked by the shooting and flew off the roost at night, were very vulnerable. Chase dogs could catch turkeys on the ground in the dark as they do not have night vision and will not fly. Early settlers took advantage of food sources indiscriminately when they were available. They not only shot turkeys year round, they would steal the eggs from nesting birds. Same for ducks and geese. This would decimate populations just as fast as hunting them. Deer were slaughtered when yarded in northern climates during periods of deep snow. The meat would keep till spring without smoking or drying because of the cold. Fish and game were kept or pursued to eat, regardless of size or gender. Spawning fish on beds were easy prey and unspawned females had precious roe inside them, high in fat and protein. Hunting was surviving, not sport. There was no letting them grow.
 
18th century hunting

"Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose is an excellent history of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Outfitting the group, shelters, interaction with native Americans, and, of course, hunting are among the many expedition aspects described.

The most modern firearms available, including air-powered rifles, are described as well as hunting techniques. Do not recall mention of camouflage scent blocker clothing availability but the expedition was a few years before the first Cabelas catalogue.
 
Dang, Buck. The hard-core turkey hunters here in MS get their panties all in a wad when someone shoots a turkey by ambush rather than calling. They would have a cow if they saw someone using dogs to hunt them. :D
 
Fall turkey hunting is lot different than spring hunting. Spring hunting is for the purists, and I love that too. Fall hunting is all about reducing the flock going into winter. Shooting a Tom flushing in front of a point is like shooting a flushing grouse......only much bigger!:D
 
Tuzo,Agreed "Undaunted Courage" is a great book!!.I marathon read it,did not put it down till I was done.

I think the greatest difference is most of us have become foreign to the hunting environment.We travel from our jobs,homes,towns,etc to the woods for a visit.

Long ago folks were closer to the land.So,maybe the shopkeeper and innkeeper fed themselves in other ways.As did the farmer,mostly,unless he had opportunity and nuisance.That farmer still lived on the land,among the deer,raccoons,rabbits bears,and whatever else occupied his land.He was outside among them every day.He could name them .

Those who subsisted by way of hunting,fishing,foraging were just far more aware and in touch with the little things.

Deer as an example,a deer herd,undisturbed by opening day chaos,and not overly pressured,has habits.Live with them a while...

Perhaps the common subsistence hunter of the day had more woods sense than professional guides today.
 
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Hey Doyle, What do the "Real turkey hunters" think of guys like us that use a rifle to hunt turkeys in the fall? That is probably a lot closer to early hunting than a shotgun.
I have seen the game change since I have been hunting. I lived in a farm/woodlot area for years. It was common to see big racked deer out feeding in fields along the woods late in August into October. When the compound bow became popular in PA, that came to a stop. Suddenly more people hunted the farm areas for deer. It really made a difference when the bow season was extended into the rut. Things are always changing. I have noticed two deer that had gotten a wiff of scent from me start looking up in the trees when they could not spot me on the ground (Where I was sitting). When I was a kid the teachers in school always said animals can not think. I did not believe that then, and still do not.
 
We used to shoot turkeys when deer hunting if we saw them near Del Rio Texas. But with a deer rifle more than .222 you can't body shoot them or nothing will be left to eat. So we would aim at the base of the neck as the head was bobbing around too much. Once I took a running shot as a turkey was going over a rise. I went to look and there the gobbler was with a broken neck from my .30-06 bullet.

One time we saw them go into a grove of oaks for acorns. My dad went one way and I went the other. They flew over me and I killed 2 toms with my double barrel 16 gauge. My dad was jealous. Good times.
 
Hey Doyle, What do the "Real turkey hunters" think of guys like us that use a rifle to hunt turkeys in the fall? That
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They don't like it one bit - at least those who are on the MS hunting forums don't. When I lived in FL, my turkey gun was a Savage 24F 12ga under .22 Hornet. Perfect turkey gun. The rifle part was useful if the turkey hung up out at 60 yds like some do. Also very useful if you called in a coyote or hog. I sold it when I moved to MS. Only shotguns here unless you are a quadriplegic.
 
My grandfather, used to tell me about catching the train downtown Richmond, putting his dogs into the baggage car, and riding the train out into the country, where he'd get the conductor to stop the train, unload his dogs and gear and go hunting. Later in the day, he'd wait by the tracks and flag down the train (which would be looking for him) load the dogs back up and get back on and ride back to town. He said he'd usually sell whatever game he'd killed on the way back to town.

Might not be as far back as you were thinking, but not that long ago. Probably late 19 teens, early 20's.
 
WW II was sort of a dividing line between two different Americas. Far more rural, pre-war. I was born in 1934, so I've seen bunches of changes. My grandparents had 150 acres outside of Austin, Texas, where I spent a lot of time during the war. I began "sneaky-snaking" hunting with my Daisy Red Ryder or my grandfather's .22 rifle when I was eight years old. Self-taught. :)

If you can spend a bunch of time out in the boonies, you learn critter behavior. That makes meat-gathering fairly easy, really. I imagine that there was much less importance given to trophies, as well.

A relatively low population density of people meant that the boonies weren't over-loaded with hunters at any one time. That made the finding easier.
 
Pretty much on the ground those old fellows hunted. Spot & stalk/still hunting was their way. Those old hunters knew allot about their quarry. Travel routes. Bedding areas. Where their quarry ate & drank. What times of day those habits took place. Some old fellers preferred snares having a bleeder as was wired from fully closing their bear trap. Which were set near salt licks and in small hand cleared and hand planted turnip plots. In those older times game taken year round ensured survival. Today’s hunters know the quarry they pursue has a nose and a appetite and sadly that's about all they want to know.
 
I was sitting in a box blind once in sw Texas bored to death, since nothing was moving. Close to noon a bunch of turkeys walked in to the feeder about 0+ yards away. I watched a big tom for a while through my scope and finally figured what the heck, nothing else going on...and I put a .270 bullet through his head just under his eyeball. Left a pencil sized hole and worked just fine. Later in the day, I shot another one while out wandering with a 32/20 model 73 Winchester.
I think opportunity was a big factor back in the day and the ability to adapt to the game available. I always wondered what the guys back in the early days used for powder loads in their muzzleloaders. I would think very reduced loads for smaller game to save powder.
 
Olden days camo?

Re-post from 2009

One of my friends owns a beautiful piece of property in prime Mississippi deer country, he is a very good hunter, and owns a great deal of camo-scentlock-you-name-it-stuff from Cabela's. He placed his girlfriend in a stand a couple of hundred yards away from his stand and waited. Not too long after settling in the deer stand, she shot one of the largest bucks in that part of Mississippi.

The irony is this: she, an experienced hunter, did not wear a stitch of camo, used no special soap or deodorant, in fact she wore casual clothes with a hint of perfume. Apparently the perfume is a great buck attractant.

Deer are not too aware of color contrast (why wear camo with a required dayglo orange vest or hat?) but are atune to sounds and smells. In the eastern slope of the Sierras I walked up to and sat on a stump 25 to 30 feet from two does and a one fawn and watched them graze. Not until the wind shifted from me to them did they notice me, snort a bit, and run off. A similar scene was experienced a few years earlier in Colorado with a pair of elk. My non-camo clothing and orange vest made no difference to those three deer and two elk. Maybe deer and elk need a few Cabela's catalogs to raise their awareness of camo needs.
 
I shot a very nice 8 point whitetail yesterday. I had on my work pants, work shirt which was a light blue color(except for the spots of grease), and I smelled like underarm sweat and hydraulic fluid. Proper stand placement and understanding the wind is much more important than all the gizmos they sell for 10x what they are worth. I camouflage my stands with limbs and branches. Deer see movement. They do not see colors or patterns very well; they see movement. Building a blind around your stand is 1000x more effective than dressing up like a tree.
 
I hear you. You could not pay me enough to "Dress up like a tree" and make noises like a turkey during turkey season in this state.
 
Dang, Buck. The hard-core turkey hunters here in MS get their panties all in a wad when someone shoots a turkey by ambush rather than calling. They would have a cow if they saw someone using dogs to hunt them.
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I feel the same way about folks using dogs to run deer; besides that adrenaline coursing through their body makes the meat taste awful.
 
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