# 1976 Deer hunt



## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

I just wanted to share a little info that I came across while cleaning out some old boxes of camping supplies. I'm sure some of you will remember these "good ol' days" 

Its the UTAH DEER HUNTING PROCLOMATION for 1976. Some of the things that I noticed were for sure different then, that you wont see in this years proclamation: 
1 The State was broken down into 62 Deer herd units.

2 They had three Hunters choice control permits (regular season) 100 permits for each unit. season dates were Oct. 23-Nov. 2 They had a "Five-Day notice control permit" there are four units, and the number of tags for that hunt was a total of 450.

3 To "draw" those units you had to MAIL IN your app. OR, DELIVER IT IN PERSON. Wow! No "internet thing"???

4 The best for last!!!! Resident Big Game License was $7.00
Combo was $18.00
Non Resident Big Game was $75.00
Archery Permit - Resident or Non Resident was $5.00

Just wanted to share this with all of you. I was a little excited when I found the old Proc. I do remember hunting back in the day, when there was always snow on the ground, and it was a Wall Tent you stayed in, and not a 36' Toy Hauler. You either rode a horse, or hiked. Or if you were cool, you climbed on the Tote Goat and went for a ride. 

OHHHHH THE "GREAT OL' DAYS" !!!!!!!!


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Yep, I remember being able to buy a rifle tag and an archery tag for the same year. Of course in 1976 I was still in the army and didn't get my next tag until 1977.

In 1978 my friends talked me into going archery hunting with them, I borrowed my dads Bear 48# 52 inch recurve and borrowed 5 arrows from my friend and they were 3 different sizes and lengths, took a nice little 3 point buck and have been hooked on archery ever since.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

bowgy: That was FUN sneaking up on Mule Deer with the recurve! You must remember that there were more deer running around in the woods too. If your bow shot 150fps and you could put five arrows in a paper plate at 40yds. you were a "deadeye" 

Now, the bows shoot 300fps and faster, and its common to put five arrows in a 3" group at 60yds. 

What's the bows going to be like in another 20 years?????? :-?


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## Muley73 (Nov 20, 2010)

62 UNITS?????? This makes me laugh!!! It still should be 62 units!!!!!


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Ya! You could still hunt the entire state, but, it was broken into those units.


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

Those are like the stories that I heard from my grandma about buying a gallon of gas for a nickel. In the future they are going to develop homing arrows that just require the hunter to keep a lazer pointer on the desired point of impact out to several hundred yards.


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

and you never heard much about scores I bet?


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

utahgolf said:


> and you never heard much about scores I bet?


No but every sporting goods dealer had a big buck contest going on. Wolf's was one of the biggest and then there was Sunset Sports. The big prizes were vehicles and you got your picture in the papers and were invited to show off the antlers on the sports show on TV.

There was more corruption on those contest than was in Chicago back in the 20's and 30's. I know of one hunter that had 3 bucks in one year entered and he didn't tag a one of them.


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## El Casador (Aug 27, 2009)

I remember those days sunset sporting goods big buck contest we would ride are bikes down there during the rifle season and wait for those big old bucks to come in :shock: I lived on 30th and Jefferson, so we was always down there also that's when winter storms were storms and it would bring those big bucks out of the high country also them 4x4 would role in covered in mud and snow


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Awesome times for sure.

This is what we used as our "ATV" in 1975, taken opening day deer season.










By the next year we upgraded and were STYLE'N with true 4x4:










One of my favorite deer camp pictures, just from the gear laying around. LEATHER Binocular covers? Mil-surplus canteens? Open sight hunting rifles? Milk-Jug water coolers, D-Cell radio's... I miss those days. Anyone remember that kind of stuff in camp?










-DallanC


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## Finnegan (Sep 7, 2007)

Here's the 1976 proclamation, if you want to look at it. As you can see, it was only a tri-fold brochure in those days.

There was no such thing as motorized vehicle restrictions. If you were crazy or stupid enough to take a vehicle there (Jeep, Tote-gote, Honda 90), go for it.

Any man who owned a 4WD was very popular on muddy hunts 'cause not many did. Otherwise, we'd commandeer a local John Deere, hitch up a hay rack and everybody and anybody piled on. At 3:00 am, up the canyon we'd go.

For elk hunts, you either had horses or you didn't hunt.

Deer hunt was general grocery gathering season. Produce stands lined the highway. Relief Society ladies would sit in the middle of the road and not get up until you bought a couple pies. Smart hunters got to the mouth of the canyon early to get the best pies. Some ladies were better bakers than others.

I think that's the first year somebody showed up on the mountain with a "compound bow". He was harassed so much (compounds are for girls) that I didn't see another one for several years.

Party hunting and double-tagging was the norm. Livestock was for market, so if we wanted meat, it had to come from the mountain. Antlers were icing on the cake. The point was to fill tags.

Everybody on the mountain knew everybody else because almost everybody hunted local. Everybody knew where everybody else camped, year after year after year. "Guides" didn't exist.

Landowners and hunters had an implicit agreement such that private property just meant respect the property (not so much the privacy). I think hunters bear the blame for screwing that arrangement up. If you note in the proclamation, the only private property that couldn't be hunted had to be posted. If the landowner wanted to post his own lands, they had to be posted "No Hunting Without Permission". If you trespassed, you really couldn't get into trouble unless the landowner told you to leave and you refused to do so.

Back then, the NRA was all about marksmanship, safety and responsible gun ownership. How times have changed, eh?


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

Funny how they had 62 units in order to kill more deer and now we have 40ish units to save more deer......

Neat stuff there. Always fun to look at the way they did it in the past.


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## hossblur (Jun 15, 2011)

Dallan, where are those pics from? Funny how everyone had "that guy" that had a heater in the fingers and flipped you off in every pic, ours was my dad. We were on it, we had two Willys so we were unstoppable. Funny, we had steel milk jugs to hold water, but we used Chlorox bottles for portability. My uncle had the "big daddy magnum elephant gun", a pre 64' 30-06(complete with a weaver scope). Dad killed more deer with a open sight .303 brittish than most of us will ever see. Other uncles used 30-30 or 32 specials. The GREATEST DAY OF THE YEAR was the drive through Spanish Fork canyon in the truck parade on our way to Manti, were WE ALL met at grandmas and headed hunting. After everyone killed on Sat., we spent sunday cutting wood. For some reason it seems like it always snowed(maybe it was just a kids memory). Most of my crew is gone, some to god, the others to SFW's tag cut plan, but I still hunt with 2 cousins that we have hunted together going on 36 years together. Can't remember what I did yesterday, but I swear I remember vividly those late 70's, early 80's hunts! I love old pics like that!


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

hossblur said:


> Dallan, where are those pics from?


Above Fountain Green. You wouldnt recognize it now, they logged it and fenced the crap out of it. Ruined it.



> Funny how everyone had "that guy" that had a heater in the fingers and flipped you off in every pic, ours was my dad.


LMAO.



> We were on it, we had two Willys so we were unstoppable. Funny, we had steel milk jugs to hold water, but we used Chlorox bottles for portability. My uncle had the "big daddy magnum elephant gun", a pre 64' 30-06(complete with a weaver scope). Dad killed more deer with a open sight .303 brittish than most of us will ever see. Other uncles used 30-30 or 32 specials. The GREATEST DAY OF THE YEAR was the drive through Spanish Fork canyon in the truck parade on our way to Manti, were WE ALL met at grandmas and headed hunting. After everyone killed on Sat., we spent sunday cutting wood. For some reason it seems like it always snowed(maybe it was just a kids memory). Most of my crew is gone, some to god, the others to SFW's tag cut plan, but I still hunt with 2 cousins that we have hunted together going on 36 years together. Can't remember what I did yesterday, but I swear I remember vividly those late 70's, early 80's hunts! I love old pics like that!


Yea... its a bit weird to look at these as "old" pictures when I remember being there for alot of them. Good times. Trying to build "new" old memories with my boy. We take alot of pictures.

-DallanC


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## Muley73 (Nov 20, 2010)

Packout, 
Both management needed to address deer #s at the time.


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

Some pretty cool memories for sure. Thanks for the memory jog!;-)


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

When I get home from work, I'll Take a pic. of the Milk Can in my backyard, that I now use for a "yard ornament" and a the Tote Goat that I still use. (I have "modified" it with a bigger front tire, and gas tank) It looks wild, but I still get looks on the mountain. 

The "Young Gunners" laugh at it, as they ride passed me on there fancy 700cc four wheelers. Lets see that get a deer out in the bottom of a canyon ridding on a stock trail. -O,-


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

This thread brings back a lot of memories.

I rode dirt bikes a lot in high school, and on one hunt I think it was 1973, 2 hunters from California got lost in the area we hunt, I didn't have my bike with me but an uncle had his kids 70cc Kawasaki and I told him if I could take that I would find them before dark, they all told me I couldn't take that down in the canyon and back and I said, just watch,.... I took it down the horse trail and it was small enough that I carried it over things it couldn't go over. I found the two hunters about 3 miles in and got them on the right trail and had them follow me out.

Wow, I hadn't thought about that for years.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Good post


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

This is a pretty good thread but I wasn't even an embryo back then.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Nambaster said:


> This is a pretty good thread but I wasn't even an embryo back then.


So in 30+ years you will be looking back at the days of LE draws, micro units and 18 year waiting periods as the good old days?:shock:

WOO HOO ...... Top of page ..... when you get old you have to take the "kicks" when you can


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

bowgy said:


> :shock:
> 
> WOO HOO ...... Top of page ..... when you get old you have to take the "kicks" when you can


Aint that the truth, you never know when the next one is going to show up *OOO**OOO*


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## hossblur (Jun 15, 2011)

Dallan. My family is the Jorgensens out of Mt. Pleasant and Manti. That picture looked like an area we frequent in Willow Creek above Ephraim. Thanks for the pics, I try to take a bunch when I go with the idea that my kids can tell their kids about what we used to do. Makes you wonder how "old school" our stuff will seem to them in 30-40 years huh?


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Here was our camp'in rig from the 60's to 1976 ....

Bought a school bus , painted it blue, tore the seats out...
Replaced with bunk beds, a Table, AND A WOOD BURNING STOVE!!!!!!!
I'm the kid with the license on my head.....This pic was 1970.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Yep, I remember when you hunting license had to be visible and not in your wallet for both hunting and fishing. I still have a few of the old holders in the tag drawer.


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## Old Fudd (Nov 24, 2007)

Goofy. Times have sure changed, Ill bet your memories have increased as ya get older. I know mine have. I hated them Red Sweat Shirts. when the sun hit them just right they looked kinda grey . Remember/?


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## Iron Bear (Nov 19, 2008)

A few thoughts

You could hunt just about anyone's private land. So long as you closed the gate. Because you couldn't sell hunting opportunities. Public lands offered just as good hunting as private. I could and did take the Willey's more places then I can take an ATV today. 

Plenty of deer still being killed in Utah. Just not by humans.


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## Lonetree (Dec 4, 2010)

Iron Bear said:


> A few thoughts
> 
> You could hunt just about anyone's private land. So long as you closed the gate. Because you couldn't sell hunting opportunities. Public lands offered just as good hunting as private. I could and did take the Willey's more places then I can take an ATV today.
> 
> Plenty of deer still being killed in Utah. Just not by humans.


You could sell hunting opportunities, I grew up hunting paid access private property. As much as those that did not respect private property, those of us that drove the market are just as guilty of more no trespassing signs.

As much as some things have changed, some never will.


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## hossblur (Jun 15, 2011)

Not entirely true. You paid for access, like with United Sportsman. It is the CWMU and GUARANTEED tags for them that drives the market. If they sold access to guys who drew the tags, they would have to be somewhat reasonable on price because the odds of a school teacher drawing would be the same as Doyle Moss. By making sure that the CWMU has repeat buisness year in and year out the price has skyrocketed. If you and Karl Malone both had to have 5 year waits and play the draw, Deseret wouldn't be able to charge $15k for an elk. We sold away any access to private land the day we let CWMU's come on board. The land owner rarely runs them, and to be honest really doesn't profit much, the outfitters and tag brokers(middlemen) do and they have zero skin in the game.
We should all get together and set up a display of all of our old hunting pics loaded up with tons of family and friends and set up a booth at SFW expo next spring, perhaps the DWR will get reminded that most of us aren't trophy men, we are family men.


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## Iron Bear (Nov 19, 2008)

I stand corrected. Apparently there were some crazy folks back then willing to pay to hunt when there was probably better hunting to be had on public land.  

Back in the day we used to hunt deer during the muzzy on Deseret free of charge.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

Yep, there are several areas I hunted back in the 70's tied up in CWMU's now.....they were always private land but public access was usually easily obtained with a phone call.

I get a kick out of guys complaining now about overcrowding during their general season hunts, they have no idea what is was like back in the 70's when there was 250,000 or more tags crowded into the same areas. Back then you about had to bring your own rock to sit on no matter where you went. Now, you get more than a couple hundred yards off a ATV trail and there is a good chance you may never see another hunter the rest of the day.

On the downside, there was also a lot more hunting related fatalities. Monday's paper following opening day was full of stories of people getting shot either by accident or mistaken identity. Remember, hunter's safety courses were a new thing and weren't required if you were over 21 (or was it 18??). Then there were the usual guys dying in Jeep rollovers or other vehicle accidents, or just plain keeling over from heart attacks. Death tallies from the deer hunt used to read like a war zone report.


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## colorcountrygunner (Oct 6, 2009)

Threads like this make me realize how many old fuddy duddies there are on this forum. That's okay, though, I like hearing their stories.


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## Bow hunter mojo (Oct 12, 2013)

I was born in 1976! It is fun to read about what the deer hunting was like back then. I thought it was also fun to see the pics as well. I loved this post.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Iron Bear said:


> I stand corrected. Apparently there were some crazy folks back then willing to pay to hunt when there was probably better hunting to be had on public land.
> 
> Back in the day we used to hunt deer during the muzzy on Deseret free of charge.


Must have been special for the muzzy hunters  or way back in the day.:shock:
I hunted Deseret my first time in 1966 with a rifle and my dad paid the tresspass fee for the both of us. He had been paying a tresspass fee for a few years before that I know of. When I got out of the army in 1968 they had priced him out and he was hunting other private property.

I never could afford the fee after that and went out on my own to hunt public land and am still doing so today.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

colorcountrygunner said:


> Threads like this make me realize how many old fuddy duddies there are on this forum. That's okay, though, I like hearing their stories.


Ya there are a few of us.:V|:


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

We "paid" for our hunting permission by helping the ranchers on the mountain. We hung fence in the spring, dropped fence in the fall, and worked on fences in the summer. And anything else that needed to be done. Everybody helped each other, and you pretty much hunted where you wanted. We got to stay in cabins that grandpas had built in the 20's and 30's. Was a lot of good times.
I'm one of the old fuddies, but that's okay. 
I would not trade it for how it works now.


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## gmanhunter (Dec 27, 2007)

Love the pics and memories. My dad passed away 2 weeks before the archery hunt 12 years ago hanging tree stands in the uintas. Going through his belongings at his home, us kids found some old procs, tags, gun catalogs, and other things. He had a fishing licence that cost a dollar, and a license that had the good old trout stamp on the back of it. Things seemed cheap back then, but really wasnt. I remember when you could hunt an area, and not even see a soul around. Oh the good old days. Thanks dallanc for the pics and bringing back the great memories of the hunts.


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## Old Fudd (Nov 24, 2007)

My first and last tresspass fee was to hunt Chalk Creek above Coalville.The first one was 10.00 the last one 25.00.You talk about Deer OMG!Now if your working 3 or 4 jobs. and ur rolling in the dough.. go buy one of them CWFU permits. I miss the old days. Will never see it again. Some people call it progress? I call it HORSE SH--


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