Our camp was up in Haneyville, PA. The bunk room upstairs would sleep up to 20, downstairs was a great room with a long dining table surrounded by cast off furniture and rifle racks. Electric lights, by God! Big chunk stove that heated the whole building. The kitchen was dominated by a big black gas-fired range/oven and sink/work station. No running water- hand pump out front, and an outhouse.
We would assess all members who hunted the first week (usually 10-12) an extra fee to buy groceries and pay the guy who came up to cook a couple hundred. (He took paid vacation from work, so what we gave him was just a healthy tip.) He would come up on Friday after Thanksgiving and spend Saturday and Sunday baking bread, cakes, and pies- no meals then, we were on our own for those days. Starting Sunday nights and going through the rest of the week he provided a gut-stuffing family style supper, plus have a full course gut-stuffing breakfast waiting for us when we tumbled down the steps at 4:00AM. Box lunches were provided for those who wanted them, too. My God, you could hunt hard all week in that rough country in the Tiadoughton forest, morning 'til dark, and go home at the end of the week weighing more than when you arrived in camp! He who shot the first deer was then entitled to fill the cook's tag.
Weekends before the opener were devoted to catching up with the guys you hadn't seen since last year, last minute sighting in, poker games, guitars and beer drinking. The beer got put away Sunday afternoon and kept away by common consent for the rest of the week. Heck, After hunting all day and a ferocious meal, you usually just wanted to climb into your bunk anyway! After you shot your buck, you were allowed to resume with the beer if you so chose. Didn't want any drunk/hungover guys walking around with loaded rifles.
