Deer Camp

[Weekend_Sawyer]

Well, I didn't find a buck this weekend but It is great to just be there.
I let a couple of doe's walk. Our deer population is rebounding. 2 years ago we had one of the worst harvest's ever. Last year it was thin. This year we took 7 deer, 3 does and 4 bucks. All of them had plenty of fat in them. We had a very good acorn crop and lots of stump sprouts from the logging that has been going on for the last 5 years or so.

I'll go back up for the final antlerless season Dec 28 - 31. It's a great way to spend new years.

Jon

[gspren]

  I spent a full week at our cabin in the PA mountains with my brother. Several others were there for a few days, some beginning of week and some at the end. For adults the bucks need 3 points on one side or better, junior hunters need a spike 3 inches or better. The only buck killed was a spike shot by a 12 year old girl on her first deer hunt and everyone was happy for her. I came home and walked out from the house and got a nice doe in our woods, had to drag her almost 25 feet to the atv cart. Good year, I don't want anymore trophies, I want meat.

[reprod]

I have never hunted from a "deer camp" but have hunted from a few ranch bunkhouses over the years.

In the West, we generally make our own camps and it is a different location most of the time.  it used to be easy to get tags from out of state so I used to meet up with my Dad and 2 brothers and we hunted in CO, WY, AZ, WA, NV, and ID.  Elk and deer mostly, but sometimes antelope.  There is something very memorable and hard to describe about being in the middle of nowhere in a wall tent with a wood stove and your close friends and family.  Being in camp has a special meaning and now I still set up the wall tent and the tipi in the backyard next to one million acres of BLM land. I have had winter tent parties for 35 years and roasted a lot of game meat in Dutch Ovens during that time.

I can relate to what you are saying.  Nothing beats a wall tent for hunting! Here is our "elk" camp this in your state of Nevada.  We were camped north of Elko.  I used the same setup for our deer camp in Oregon. 

[ppine]

Having a tent with a wood stove changes everything.  Then you can get warm at the end of the day and dry out your clothes and bedding.   People that have never been in a tent with a stove have a hard time believing how warm it is. We never tried to keep the stove going all night even when it is below zero.

I lived in a wall tent for up to a month at a time running tree planting crews. In northern Arizona we called my tent the Flagstaff Hilton. When it snowed everyone in camp wanted to come visit.

Pack trips take the concept to the next level. Then you can wake up in the best hunting country.  Plenty of critters get shot when someone goes out to take a leak.  "Being in elk camp" is still a sound that makes me really happy.

I got hired to wrangle horses for an elk outfitter in Colorado that I knew. We hired my brother as the cook. We rode in about 15 miles to a camp at 10,800 feet.  One of our clients downed a good 6 point. I went back to camp and got two mules to pack him out.  When we left I was the last one out, riding a big black mare and watching behind me in the downed timber. There was a black bear on the gut pile within less than a minute of leaving the kill site.  Elk camp indeed.

[Czech_Made]

^^^ Every hunter should live in tipi in winter for few days, imho.  Quite the experience.

[Magicman]

I have done my share of it all.  Camp cook for 7 hunters, hunted/guided from a lodge, base tent camp, base truck camper, pack in spike camp, horse pack out, backpack pack out.  I have many fond hunting memories in Wyoming and Colorado.

I have a possibility of making two more trips.  I have a 50% - 75% chance of drawing an Elk license next year.  If not then, surely the next.  Son will have the same possibility the following year. 

[dlucas0304]

Love seeing pictures of the deer camps and the deer. Seems like everywhere you go its always the same stories, and the same reasons for doing what we do. Camaraderie and tradition.

Here's our place, its far from rough so I won't tell you how bad I got it.  :D

I grew up hearing stories about it as a plywood shack with 15 guys piled inside.  These days it could be mistaken for a resort but we only get 5 or 6 guys to show up.  Funny how that works.

[Magicman]

Very Nice.  That's my kind of roughing it.   8)

[coxy]

vary nice     had to look twice  to make shur it was the same cabin/house

[newoodguy78]

Coxy you're quicker than me I looked 3-4 times.

Very nice looking camp.

[thecfarm]

Nice looking house camp.  ;D

[coxy]

Coxy you're quicker than me I looked 3-4 times.

Very nice looking camp.

looks a lot different in the summer than the fall still a great looking place   

[coxy]

Love seeing pictures of the deer camps and the deer. Seems like everywhere you go its always the same stories, and the same reasons for doing what we do. Camaraderie and tradition.

Here's our place, its far from rough so I won't tell you how bad I got it.  :D

I grew up hearing stories about it as a plywood shack with 15 guys piled inside.  These days it could be mistaken for a resort but we only get 5 or 6 guys to show up.  Funny how that works.

can I reserve it for the 4th of July  :D :D

[dlucas0304]

Thanks guys.  We are certainly proud of it.

A little work every trip pays off after 30+ years.

Coxy, my wife and I will probably be there but if you like dogs and whiskey, stop on by.  8)

[coxy]

just got a text from a member/good friend from the other camp I'm in there is 10 of them on there way to come and black powder hunt this week end cant believe it there was only 3 came up for the first week of rifle season guess the pic of the buck I got there got them excited  :D  don't think they under stand its already dead  :D :D ;D :laugh: