The following is an excerpt from Duncan Dobie’s book Dawn of American Deer Hunting Volume III. Featuring over 375 images, you’ll enjoy seeing classic rifles, snowy campsites, straining meat poles, trophy antlers and more. Click here to order your copy today!
Every deer hunter in America would love to be able to tramp the woods, swing an axe, and shoot and fish at the age of 80. Many are blessed with the health, spirit and vitality to do so. Others have sweet memories that sustain them even if they no longer are able to “tramp the woods.”
As the years sweep by, the misty youthful remembrances of those early days of hunting whitetails have a way of becoming some of life’s richest moments. Those splendid bygone days spent in the woods are magical, just as they were for those who came before us.
Hunters are favored with being able to take themselves back in time in many ways. Sometimes a simple whiff of wood smoke or gunpowder can magically transform a man back to a specific time and place. A hunter never forgets the sharp sting of cold snow biting his face, or the sudden bitterly-pungent whiff of scent from the tarsal glands of a rutting buck that recently has walked along the same trail he is now traversing. Foul as it may be, that sharp odor is fodder for all of his senses. It causes his heart to beat faster and the adrenaline to flow as he follows that dreamy trail of enchantment and pursues the buck of his dreams.
Bygone days are the pillars that fill a hunter’s soul with anticipation and hope eternal until the next opening day arrives. Like wildflowers in the spring, sunlit trails beckon and announce a new beginning for a new adventure. The past is precious because it fuels the desire to equal or surpass deeds already accomplished or adventures already experienced. But every hunter knows he cannot live in the past. He can cherish and pay homage to the past, but he must live for today and for the promise of new memories made tomorrow. That’s what his forefathers would have wanted. That’s what makes them look down and smile now.
After all, that old Winchester or Remington just handed down from Grandpa or Uncle Bill has proven its worth many times in the woods of yesterday, but it hasn’t done so in your hands—atleast not yet.
What are you waiting for?
Memories of the Phoenix Hotel
We have a feeling the Phoenix Hotel pictured here was located in upstate New York, possibly in Oswego County where the village of Phoenix is located today. Although research did not turn up any information about this particular establishment, the hotel in the photo was obviously located in an area where deer hunters were welcome and where the local bucks were known to wear some impressive headgear. While the city constable looks on from the right (all of the deer are properly tagged and awaiting the butcher’s knife), four rifle-brandishing gentlemen stand in front of a several outstanding bucks. Are these city ‘dandies” the real hunters, or are they simply posing for a photograph? The man on the far right, holding what appears to be a Marlin lever-action, is the only member of the group dressed in hunting garb. We may never know where this Phoenix Hotel was located, but the area certainly produced some bragging-size whitetails. Photo circa late 1890s.
In a Real Pickle!
This picture postcard, with the caption, “Just a Bit of Hard Luck—Bigfork, Minn.- 21,” depicts two frustrated hunters trying to decide what to do with their disabled wagon. They have been given the task of transporting two large-bodied deer (including one well-endowed buck) back to camp, and the wagon wheel axle is obviously broken. Looks like they’ll have to use a little woods sense and imagination to find another way to get those 200-pound carcasses safely back to the meatpole in camp! Picture postcard circa 1921.
Buckskin Fever
This innovative group of Michigan hunters is not the first to use a retired railroad car as a base of operation. Judging by their somewhat makeshift meatpole containing several well-earned bucks and one lone snowshoe hare, they have found some very good hunting in their neck of the woods. The three men on the right are holding (right to left) a Winchester lever-action rifle, a double-barreled shotgun and a Remington Model 8 semi-automatic. The two men on the left are holding (left to right) a Savage Model 1899 and yet another Model 8. Most of the smaller deer appear to be young bucks. Instead of a golden horseshoe, perhaps this esteemed group has located a golden railroad spike in northern Michigan! Photo circa 1913.
Tried and True Model 8
The old hunting jacket may be a bit tattered from wear, but the Model 8 is as clean as a whistle and she can drive nails if you hold her steady. The hunting gods have been generous and now it’s time to sharpen up the old skinning knife and get this young buck properly carved into some scrumptious table fare. Photo circa 1914.
Onions, Potatoes and Venison Stew
The cook seems to know he has his work cut out for him and that he had better be good at what he does because this hunting camp has some man-size appetites. These woods-hardened old war horses have brought down plenty of spoils, and now it’s time to sit back and savor a delicious repast while sharing tales of high adventure and intrigue in the deer coverts. Several outstanding bucks and does and one medium-size bear should be enough to ensure plenty of tasty vittles that are up to the standards of these not-so-easy-to-please deerslayers. Starting on the left, the array of rifles is impressive: a Marlin 1893 lever-action, likely in .30-30, .32-40 or .38-55 calibers; a variety of Winchester lever-action carbines and rifles; and a Remington Model 25 pump action held by the fourth man from the right. Better get to work, Cookie. These men are hungry! Photo circa 1916.
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