This Deer Picture Holds 10 Clues | Deer & Deer Hunting

Do you see all 10? Any guess on the year? And are you old enough to remember what they meant to deer hunters from those days?

Yes, it’s technically a painting, but the image (unknown artist) shows how simple deer hunting used to be. Let’s look past the obvious message: The hunter had to answer a call and left his post at the most inopportune time.

Despite that missed opportunity, the hunter left behind at least 10 clues as to when this hunt occurred:

First, we are told the painting was created in the 1960s, so that helps narrow it down by a lot. Now for those other details:

This “hunter orange” jacket was one of the first of its kind. This one was from J.C. Penney’s.

1. Hunter Orange Jacket

It’s commonplace now, but it wasn’t 50 years ago. In fact, Massachusetts was first state to require “hunter orange” clothing by law, in 1961. My home state of Wisconsin didn’t require “blaze orange” until 1980.

This style of compass was commonplace for deer hunters in the 1960s.

2. Bubble Compass

If you grew up hunting between 1950 and 1980, you absolutely had one of these on your hunting jacket. Old-school hunters had the pocket compasses (which were much nicer).

Rope in the pocket meant one thing … you were going to need it!

3. A Length of Rope

A true sign you had the audacity of hope – because you just assumed you’d be dragging a buck home at the end of the day.

Coffee tasted so much better when it was poured out of one of these.

4. Red Plaid Thermos®

The 10-ounce Thermos container. Wow, that takes us back a few decades. These were the super-sized drink holders (for long days in the field). The standard Thermos only held 8 ounces. Think about that for a minute. Also, the red-checkered plaid lineup wasn’t unveiled until after Thermos merged with King-Seeley in 1961.

That metal lunchbox! Could you even wait until noon to dig in?

5. Vintage Metal Lunchbox

To make a push toward the hunting and camping markets, Thermos packaged them with the drink containers in 1964.

The Comet coffee maker was a stable among deer camps everywhere.

6. Hot Coffee

Can you smell it? I can! It was probably made in a Comet, 7-cup percolator coffee pot. I vividly recall the sound of coffee “perking” in the peaceful silence of my parents’ North Woods cabin.The sound and smell were intoxicating.

If you brought a sandwich, chances are it was wrapped in one of these wax bags.

7. Mmh … Sandwich

My bet it’s bologna and mustard on Mrs. Karl’s white bread, or possibly straight-up ham salad. A treat every hunter looked forward to, especially on opening day.

Many thousands of deer were downed by this classic rifle.

8. Classic Deer Rifle

Oh, this is an old-school rifle, and from the looks of it, it’s a Savage Model 99, probably in .300 Savage.Rifle choice was regional. Here at home, it would’ve certainly been a Remington pump in .30-06, or a Browning Model 70 in.308.

No nonsense scope for guys who knew how to use them.

9. Best Hunting Scope

The rifle is likely topped with a Lyman Alaskan 2.5X scope. It was the cream of the crop for the day. My dad had the exact same scope on his rifle when he shot his first branch-antlered buck in 1963.

The rallying cry for proud hunters was, “I got my buck!” Didn’t matter how big it was, but a 10-pointer was the stuff of dreams.

10. A Big Buck

And, ah yes, the buck. It’s not only a buck (likely the only deer that hunter had a tag for), but a 10-pointer. Any legal buck was fair game – and would have been happily shot – in those days, but a mature 10-pointer. Those were the dreams of every warm-blooded American male.

Here’s My Guess …

If this is all make-believe, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this painting hunt took place in Massachusetts on a cold, snowy day in November 1964.

What do you think?