The Good 'Ol Days

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I've shared this one before. Most incredible to me is the size of the guy on the right. Charlie Hall, known as the Bloomfield Giant, sold the home ranch to my great grandfather. My dad and uncle are 2nd and 3rd from the left in the back row. The dog's name is Jill, and her job was herding Turkeys for Steiny in the Jean jacket in the middle.
 
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I've shared this one before. Most incredible to me is the size of the guy on the right. Charlie Hall, known as the Bloomfield Giant, sold the home ranch to my great grandfather. My dad and uncle are 2nd and 3rd from the left in the back row. The dog's name is Jill, and her job was herding Turkeys for Steiny in the Jean jacket in the middle.
This is missing the Utah plates and a bunch of flat brims.
 
This is missing the Utah plates and a bunch of flat brims.
The way the story goes there was too much drinking from the brown jug after they got all 4 bucks out of one patch of brush for it to be a UT hunt.

My dad and uncle are 2nd, 3rd from the left in the back row. 1962 Sonoma County CA. Story is after a group deer drive hunt as they were heading back to the ranch, the dog "Jill" jumped out of the truck and ran to a tiny patch of brush on the outer edge of the canyon they had just hunted. She jumped 4 bucks out of the bruch patch and they got all 4.

Dad said that truck was coming down the hill, fishtailing on the dry grass. He got the gate open at the bottom of the hill just in time for them to come sliding through. Then at the bottom, the story got told... A bottle of Early Times came out and Charlie Hall (the tall stocky fellow on the right) took three or four good swallows and hands the bottle to "Steiny" (Center 2nd row, ballcap and jean jacket) . Steiny follows suit for one and a half swallows, sputters and grimices and says " It looks a helluva lot better when you drink it Cha' than it tastes when I do!"
 
Bucks like that were like eight 10 year trends ago. Those records have been disposed of in accordance with fwp record disposal policy. Therefore they actually didn’t exist. What you posted @DougStickney is anecdotal at best.
 
Bucks like that were like eight 10 year trends ago. Those records have been disposed of in accordance with fwp record disposal policy. Therefore they actually didn’t exist. What you posted @DougStickney is anecdotal at best.
10 year trends are the best way to get a record counts.
 
Here are a few from the 40's and50's. My dad Merle is in most of them. These guys killed lots of deer and elk in Central Washington, mostly in the same drainage. The first picture is dad's '46 Willys loaded to the gills with 3 or 4 bulls with all the quarters in the back and stacked around him inside headed to town. Said he never saw another soul on the way out of the hills. Next picture is my dad on the left, family friend/hunting partner in the middle and my uncle on the right. Uncle Don, Aunt Ruth and Don's dad Speed in 1947 in camp. That camp was in the same place for over 70 years. Packing out camp crossing the frozen creek in '51 or '52. That camp was nick-named "Freeze-out". Packing out elk in the down lodgepole, those were good horses.
3 ELK.jpg3_HUNTERS.jpg56_elk.jpgin_camp.jpgJ. O. Hatfielld w horses.jpgMerle with buck 1949.jpgMerle with Elk 1949.jpgMerle, Speed, JO 1947.jpgpacking_elk.jpgpacking_out.jpg

packing_out_lodgepole.jpg
 
I know most have seen these pics of my grandpa and his 37.5" buck from way back when but I figured I would post them again because I never get tired of looking at it! This is an Idaho buck shot with an old Remington model 760 .270 pump action rifle with iron sights. I don't know what year but I think it was back in the 50's.
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That's a spectacular pair of pictures.
 
Here are a few from the 40's and50's. My dad Merle is in most of them. These guys killed lots of deer and elk in Central Washington, mostly in the same drainage. The first picture is dad's '46 Willys loaded to the gills with 3 or 4 bulls with all the quarters in the back and stacked around him inside headed to town. Said he never saw another soul on the way out of the hills. Next picture is my dad on the left, family friend/hunting partner in the middle and my uncle on the right. Uncle Don, Aunt Ruth and Don's dad Speed in 1947 in camp. That camp was in the same place for over 70 years. Packing out camp crossing the frozen creek in '51 or '52. That camp was nick-named "Freeze-out". Packing out elk in the down lodgepole, those were good horses.

Thanks for posting these pictures. Super cool!

Truth be told, your Aunt Ruth was probably 2X tougher than most men on this website...lol
 
Thanks for posting these pictures. Super cool!

Truth be told, your Aunt Ruth was probably 2X tougher than most men on this website...lol
Don't think she hunted elk, but was in deer camp pretty much every year after her 4 kids were old enough to leave with my mom. My Uncle Don was the photographer, had his own darkroom. Wish I had access to all his hunting photos from that era.
 
Great pics !
How did they do it without Sitka gear?
Mostly wool and LL Bean boots. That is what I started with, the heavy wool pants were great for moving quietly through the thickest brush, but they sure tested the suspenders when full drenched and didn't stop the cold wind at all. Kind of funny in that they didn't show the elk blood after kneeling in it, but the waffle knit long johns sure did:) Bean boots were the absolute best for sneaking up on bedded animals, but the traction provided was pretty dismal, spent more time on my ass then my feet some days. PS, know you are being sarcastic.
 
SITKA Gear

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