I was listening to a Mossy Oak podcast the other day and they got to talking about how right now is the good ol’ days for deer hunting and how everyone who thinks it used to be better just has some nostalgia effect at play in remembering it being better than it actually was. I’m not sure that’s exactly true…..I guess it depends on who you are how deep your pockets go. I think we may have already passed the peak of the good ol’ days.

2005-2010 were my good old days for hunting. I was on crappy property with no idea what I was doing. Just finding fresh sign and hunting it. Now with leasing, planting, insurance, salt, bait, etc, etc it just seems like the magic that was originally there is gone. Don’t get me wrong, I still love it but those early years were awesome. I say all that to agree that it’s nostalgic. No numbers I’ve seen show otherwise

1989-1999

Sharp decline, starting when doe days were replaced with a doe a day. That was around late 90's. Things have recovered some, but still not back to what we once had.

Imo ,,,, they full of ..........

I guess if they are younguns they might think that though

I feel like that means different things to different people and the good ol’ days were generally when you were younger. Kid/ teenager/ young adult.

NO. Not even close for the area I hunt.

What i was getting at , they only know what they've seen or had

Before corn and cameras when we actually hunted. Those were the good old days.

The Mossy Oak folks are 100% correct. Right now is the good ol’ days for deer hunting.

90's. Hunting with my buddy on public land and tent camping. He had a bad Stroke and that ended our hunting together.

I think it was in the mid 90’s though early 2000’s based on the increased number of game, bag limits, rules, advanced clothing, and other things.

It is subjective though, I could say it was the late sixties with cotton winter clothes freezing my butt off sitting next to grandpa hunting that one deer every thousand acres with dogs and buckshot sipping coffee out of a Stanley.

I don’t have the agenda of products to sell. 🤣😂🤣

Late 70s through mid 80s were the best hands down.

Less animals by far every state I hunted in

The 80‘s walking drains, pastures and ag fields. I was so proud going to Claude Strother, Lex Parker, Jim Watson along with several others that i killed a good one on their land without a written permit.

70s and 80s hands down

That be a hard negative for me.

Probably true for mossy oak and there deep pockets that afford them the luxury of being able to hunt the best land money can buy. Do they still own Lee haven in Sumter county? And don’t get me started on some of the folks that use to work at mossy oak reality. My experience they would buy up the best properties themselves just to keep others off it. Use to Hunt a property right next to one of their offices. A man killed a hoss of buck off it I was after also. Club had been there for 30 years. When mossy oak found out they bought the property the next year out from under the club. Club only had a few members mostly elderly men that had been it it for years. Most of those old men were forced to quit hunting after that because they could not afford the higher dues of other clubs. Really a chitty move on them mainly by one man that worked for them. 😬

Back on topic after my mossy oak rant. The hey days for me were the mid 80,s - early 90,s for the properties I hunted.