Old School Skills--A thing of the past?

[Mule Packer]

While I was reading the thread about the world changing, I started thinking about how various hunting, fishing, camping and other outdoor skills have been "modernized" excessively in the last few decades.

For example, I remember deer hunting years ago and with my 1951 Winchester Model 94, wearing heavy wool pants and a red wool Mackinaw. Nothing camo. Most of the guys back then used similar gear and, surprisingly, we usually got our bucks.

I remember when everybody carried a good pocket knife...and knew how to sharpen it on a stone, not some modern sharpening system.

I remember, before the days of GPS, when the old-school outdoorsman knew how to use a compass and usually had one or two tucked away in some pocket of a hunting coat.

Also, believe it or not, there are some people who don't know how to make a fire the old way. I mean, nobody whittles out shavings anymore, or looks for pine knots. Not too many folks know the right way to sharpen an axe either. And who today carries a brass waterproof match safe in his pocket?

Who nowadays makes turkey calls out of a turkey hen wing bone?...or takes pride in casting a #16 Adams into a pristine trout pool without whipping the water into a creamy froth?

And, not losing sight of the fact that this is a gun forum, it used to be that most outdoorsmen had at least one Colt or Smith and Wesson revolver that accompanied him on most jaunts in the back country...not some gun made out of recycled milk jugs and is microwaveable safe.

I know, I know. I'm reminiscing. I miss talking to the old men at the hardware store about what size shot to use. I miss listening to my granddad tell about how good his old L.C. Smith side-by-side was.

My kids call me old-fashioned. They're right. I guess I'm getting old. But, I'll bet an old hobnail from one of my cast-off wading boots that there are still quite a few guys on this forum that are still "old school" and darned proud of it, too.

 

[mc5aw]

Mr. Packer ... If you really want to see what is lost to history, come into a middle/high school classroom with me. Learning the King's English is a bygone requirement, as is cursive writing, math without a calculator, and basic communication without a cell phone or similar electronic device. Some call it progress ... I call it sad.

 

[Peak53]

>>...some gun made out of recycled milk jugs and is microwaveable safe.<<


yep, I carry the waterproofed matches, a compass, and a pocket knife and each have gotten me out of a jam or two.

 

[manyguns]

What ever happened to what we used to call "still hunting"? Moving quietly and slowly to find game on it's home turf. Now they wait for the feeder to go off while sitting in a box with a built in rifle rest. I would rather shoot a doe that I actually hunted than a nice buck habituated to the corn. Oh, I guess you don't need the skills to drive up to the heated box with the "guide" who tells you which deer you are allowed to shoot according to the amount you paid!

 

[redlevel]

While I was reading the thread about the world changing, I started thinking about how various hunting, fishing, camping and other outdoor skills have been "modernized" excessively in the last few decades.

For example, I remember deer hunting years ago and with my 1951 Winchester Model 94, wearing heavy wool pants and a red wool Mackinaw. Nothing camo. Most of the guys back then used similar gear and, surprisingly, we usually got our bucks.

I remember when everybody carried a good pocket knife...and knew how to sharpen it on a stone, not some modern sharpening system.

I remember, before the days of GPS, when the old-school outdoorsman knew how to use a compass and usually had one or two tucked away in some pocket of a hunting coat.

Also, believe it or not, there are some people who don't know how to make a fire the old way. I mean, nobody whittles out shavings anymore, or looks for pine knots. Not too many folks know the right way to sharpen an axe either. And who today carries a brass waterproof match safe in his pocket?

Who nowadays makes turkey calls out of a turkey hen wing bone?...or takes pride in casting a #16 Adams into a pristine trout pool without whipping the water into a creamy froth?

And, not losing sight of the fact that this is a gun forum, it used to be that most outdoorsmen had at least one Colt or Smith and Wesson revolver that accompanied him on most jaunts in the back country...not some gun made out of recycled milk jugs and is microwaveable safe.

I know, I know. I'm reminiscing. I miss talking to the old men at the hardware store about what size shot to use. I miss listening to my granddad tell about how good his old L.C. Smith side-by-side was.

My kids call me old-fashioned. They're right. I guess I'm getting old. But, I'll bet an old hobnail from one of my cast-off wading boots that there are still quite a few guys on this forum that are still "old school" and darned proud of it, too.

I bet you read a bunch of Ted Trueblood back in the day.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

They completely stopped teaching spelling in my kids' school (until we parents made a stink) because "everyone has spell check. The kids do have to learn how to do math in their heads.

My match safe is from LL Bean and it is bright red plastic and is also a piercing whistle and decent compass. I like my S&W 9mm M&P as much as my all metal guns and do not plan on parting with it.

Times change.

 

[Harrydale]

speaking of hunting, isn't it amazing that to hunt deer any more it seems the minimum required equipment includes some sort of knobby tired, jacked up, 4 wheel drive if you can afford it 4 wheeler. Oh and don't forget the truck and trailer needed to haul it to the woods.

I can remember, this would be back in the middle 60's, we lived out in the country and when my Dad and uncles went deer hunting they put on an orange hat, grabbed their gun, walked out the door and then proceded to walk where ever they decided to hunt that day. If they got a deer, they got help and cut a sapling and packed the deer out of the woods. That was then, this is now.

 

[Ματθιας]

Some people can't tell time on an analog clock!

 

[6518John]

“There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.”
― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

 

[don5]

What ever happened to what we used to call "still hunting"? Moving quietly and slowly to find game on it's home turf. Now they wait for the feeder to go off while sitting in a box with a built in rifle rest. I would rather shoot a doe that I actually hunted than a nice buck habituated to the corn. Oh, I guess you don't need the skills to drive up to the heated box with the "guide" who tells you which deer you are allowed to shoot according to the amount you paid!

You hit the nail on the head. I have taught my son how to read terrain, and use the wind and the sun while hunting. We do not hunt out of a box. I always tell him "If the deer get wet, so do we. If the deer are getting snowed on than so are we." I told him that this way he will be able to hunt wherever because of these skills. I do not understand how you can "teach someone to hunt" from a box.

We also have the gear to stay out in the cold and rain. We have never sprayed our clothing down with scent killer either. We rely on the sun and wind to help us. We also stay out all day if we need to as well. We carry enough food to get us through the day.

I had to laugh at my son when he was 13. His cousin was talking to him about the bad, rainy weather one day during deer season that year. He remarked that the weather was so miserable that he went back to the house. My son told him " I have no sympathy for you. We stayed out the entire day". His cousin didn't complain after that. My son takes great pride in hunting the way we do.

BTW- He killed an old 8 point buck this year. He came home after the first day of school and told me that his buck was one of the biggest taken this year. He is now 15 and this is the second year he has taken a deer using my old wood Remington 700 ADL in a 7mm magnum. He has 4 deer rifles of his own to use and he really likes the wood 700 because it is balanced so good. You can't tell that I am proud of him right?

Yes I do happen consider myself "Oldschool".

 

[jbull380]

Try to find someone under the age of 35 that can read a tape measure.

 

[MOONDAWG]

The older we get, the better we were.

 

[chud333]

I'm with ya' Mulepacker.

I'm a dinosaur as well.

I was cool before "Tacticool"......................


Chuck

 

[GatorFarmer]

I am not sure where to get a brass match safe. A shame, as I would not mind having one. The USA made plastic GI match safes are also hard to find. Chinese made plastic ones are abundant. Fortunately in recent years the Chinese have finally made them water proof.

The recently made metal ones I have had, going back 20-25 years were all poor quality Asian made copies of an old Marbles design.

Bushcraft is making a bit of a comeback, thus more people know how to shave tinder sticks.

The oldest of old timers from my youth had foot powered grindstones where water dripped on them from a hole punched in a rusty tomato can held above.

Land navigation with a compass is still taught in the USMC, I do not know about other services. I used to walk some of the trails near the area used for such on Parris Island. I still have a canteen cup that I found there.

The company that makes Army compasses makes a nice wrist model. It has tritium inserts, but is at least American made and seems to work well.Though the nylon strap with it doesn't seem that great.

 

[arjay]

I keep a space blanket,bic lighter,paper towels and some high energy snacks in each of my packs.A few years ago,I went for a quick,late in the afternoon ,spring hike above 10,000 ft.The snowpack was 5' deep,it was sunny and 50 out.I was wearing shorts and a light shirt and had wind gear in my pack.After a series of small mistakes and bad luck,I was lost.The temps were in the 20s that night.That space blanket and bic may have saved my keister that bitter night.

 

[armenius]

I have often stated my concern that so few kids are able to get out and ramble through the woods just "huntin'".I used to go alone or with a friend and at dark come back with a few squirrels,a rabbit or two,perhaps a Bobwhite or "snipe"(woodcock).We were on our own without GPS or cell phone.We always had "kitchen matches" and often made a fire to warm or cook a sweet potato if we found where some had been banked.
Now so many kids sit in a stand at daybreak or late afternoon watching a corn pile or in a managed duck pond.They are always busy texting or keeping in touch by cell phone,never just quietly observing nature.
I would never trade places and thank God for my life daily and spend much time thinking of the old days and olf friends who have passed on.

 

[Marshwheeling]

I don't know how to dress a deer or even clean a fish, but I can fix a flat at the trailside without a center stand, patch a crankcase with JB Weld, use a Vise Grip for a shift lever, rig a clutch cable with a missing nipple, use a beer can to start a fire in wet wood, fabricate a hinge for busted sunglasses, and bend up a race car body using a couple of 4x4s and a plastic mallet.

I don't think my kid can do any of that, but he can turn a buck now and again replacing busted screens in iPhones.

 

[Mule Packer]

I bet you read a bunch of Ted Trueblood back in the day.

Not a bunch, but I remember reading some of Ted Trueblood, John Jobson, Jack O'Connor and others. I'm afraid if those ol' boys were still alive today, they'd be plenty surprised how things have changed.

Granted, some things have changed for the better, but other valuable skills, I'm afraid, have gone the way of the dodo bird and button shoes.

For example, I learned to throw the diamond hitch, and several other hitches and slings, on a pack saddle loaded with gear many years ago. I've used that skill for decades.

Now, with the advent of Velcro, Cordura nylon, and plastic buckles, a guy can slap a sleeping bag, tent, a few pots and pans, and some grub on old Thunderbolt without knowing how to tie knots or splice rope.

Oh well, like I said, maybe some things are changing for the better.

 

[gordon21]

A lot of the changes are due to kids no longer learning enough about basic physics and science any more in high school. they need a "device" to do it for them or think for them.

I once weighed about 125# and needed to move a 1500# safe (flat base-no wheels) at the restaurant I was running. They all laughed at me when I told them I was moving it about 15' down the hall.

Well, two small pry bars and three pieces of galvanized water pipe later, it had rolled 15' down the hall. The whole concept of a fulcrum and lever stunned them.

 

[dswancutt]

Not a bunch, but I remember reading some of Ted Trueblood, John Jobson, Jack O'Connor and others. I'm afraid if those ol' boys were still alive today, they'd be plenty surprised how things have changed.

Granted, some things have changed for the better, but other valuable skills, I'm afraid, have gone the way of the dodo bird and button shoes.

For example, I learned to throw the diamond hitch, and several other hitches and slings, on a pack saddle loaded with gear many years ago. I've used that skill for decades.

Now, with the advent of Velcro, Cordura nylon, and plastic buckles, a guy can slap a sleeping bag, tent, a few pots and pans, and some grub on old Thunderbolt without knowing how to tie knots or splice rope.

Oh well, like I said, maybe some things are changing for the better.

Other than tying my shoes, I can't tie a knot to save my soul. The ratcheting nylon straps are a godsend for me. There are at least 4 in each of the fleet of pickups I own and every load is strapped down within an inch of it's life.