Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Birth of a deer camp

Great pictures,good weekend coverage story.
Yes that is a nice big Bluegill.

Stan

dave da gill getter...has a nice ring to it.

hope the conlon scopey went well.

he didn't laugh and say look no hands did he?

I love the pic of the truck with all the toys. that is a classic. deserves a spot on "da camp" wall if you ask me.

Tom

Ha! I knew I'd catch some flak for the scope.

But, (no pun intended) if I didn't care about you guys I wouldn't have said anything at all. I have an uncle that waited too long to be checked and as a result cancer nearly claimed his life. He survived but with complications that he will endure for the rest of his life. My dad also waited too long & as a result was split open from mid chest to below his belly button for emergency exploratory surgery at which time he also narrowly escaped death & lost about a foot of his colon.

Why did they wait so long? I dunno, embarrassment, maybe a little fear?

So that's why I'm ok with sharing my experience (sparing some details of course.)

My experience started with a day before "prep" which was an all liquid (clear liquids) diet followed by a large jug of evil juice I like to call "turbo lax", the stuff is gross but all you campfire members, deer camp goers... I've got a feeling you've all probably consumed worse things than the turbo lax mixture.

Then after repeated porcelain throne sessions things finally settle down and you go to bed. Next day you go in, they hook you up to some monitors for vitals, they explain things to you, then the nice doctor gives you a couple of shots that put you just past that point of drinking those "terty cans of beer" on da second week of deer camp. You�re out cold for the whole thing.

You wake up & say something like "wow that was fast, must have been like 5 minutes huh?" then the nurse informs you that it was more like a half an hour & asks you if you�d like some apple juice. Then when you get some of your balance back you get up & get dressed.

This level of consciousness/balance can be likened to a trip outside the deer shack in the dark to take a leak, you're in tough enough shape that you hang on to everything in your path such as chairs, walls etc but you're also proud of the fact that you still knew enough to make it out the front door to relieve yourself & not do like Toyvo Maki that one time who got up & went to the kitchen, opened the fridge door & let it fly.....

So, ya get dressed still feeling about � drunk then you have someone drive you home so you can �rest�. Or in my case you have Pam drive you straight to the nearest cafe & you order a huge breakfast with a cup of coffee & a glass of OJ, then you go to work.

No big deal.

And the best part is I'm happy to report that I've got nothing evil secretly attempting to claim my life in that particular part of my body, so I got that going for me, which is nice.

So, when you reach that age where it should be checked out, or say you feel like something is wrong even though you might think you are too young to be having troubles. Talk to your doctor and if he/she advises a scope, don't avoid it or be nervous about it. It's no big deal.

Guys, we're coming up on a year for this thread. I forgot to look at the counter before i clicked on the thread this morning but I think we're over 27000 views. The shack was merely a set of railroad tie footings & some floor structure this time last year & the camp members were made up of bruised hearts looking to pull together & create something that we could all belong to for the rest of our lives.

The shack has now stood & endured one deer season & one Minnesota winter. The walls have absorbed the sounds of friends & family talking, laughing, planning. It's like the little shack has thrust it's roots into the ground out there, it's becoming the sort of place that just feels like it's always been out there with the trees & the critters.

Our deer camp members have also acclimated nicely, comfort, belonging, it's what I wanted. Now all we gotta do is keep cookin up memories. These kids will grow up with this deer camp as part of there childhood, and maybe it's just now hitting me, the fact that it's all pretty cool. Kind of a big deal I guess.

OK, enough jibber jabber.

Tzone's been shopping for "buck jam" already, my oldest boy was oogling over rifle scopes in the cabelas catalog last night, I've been building deer stands in my head...

It's getting closer!!!

Dave



Edit for correction, I see now that we are approaching 29000 views.
That's crazy, what's wrong with you silly people?

Dave,you overlook the fact that all of "US" here are also members of your deer camp and we derive about as much vicarious enjoyment from the experience as you do actual enjoyment.Thanks for having us.
You were mentioning above about the time you were unconscious as being so fleeting.In my recent by pass surgery I arrived at the hospital,was shown to a room to change and take my "LA LA" pill.
It seemed like I was unconscious for about two minutes and I came to being attended by two nurses with all manner of tubes down my throat.I thought I had been out for a couple of minutes and that something had gone amiss with the anesthetic and I was about the be operated on wide awake.PANIC!!!!I finally managed to get one of the nurses attention and talk around the tubes enough to ask her if I had already been operated on.She laughed and assured me yes.What a relief!

Stan

morin' brother. Embarrassment is no reason to skip the colonoscopy. Lucas had troubles for years and when it hurt so bad he couldn't sleep, it was too late.

Dave makes a good point though boys, if you have a family history, get it checked out. I probably should too since it runs in the family.

It is suposed to cool off tomorrow in the evening, not frosty but enough to make a guy start to feel rutty. I made a rub on the kids play ground last night and scrape by the coat rack this morning. what's goin' on here..

oh boy.... it's starting awfully early!!

I been watching deer hunting shows on TV, my oldest boy too.

This past weekend the kids were running around at the deer camp playing tunes on the grunt tubes & bleat cans, I'm so glad nobody grabbed that set of rattlin horns down off the wall & gave a few ticks & clicks or I think I would have gone primitive right there on the spot! Run off into the woods with a sharpened stick lookin for one of those pretty mid summer red coated timber goats!!

Funny what a cooler morning can do to a hunter eh?

like a damn switch! Click! Oop, I'm suddenly hungry for critter......

We'll ease into it Tom, ease into it, start with the waterfowl, upland game, small game.... Then mid Sept deer archery... get a little quality time with the skeeters in the deer stand with the stick & string.... then the second time out you bring a skeeter net....

You start seeing a few deer, mostly out of range, you pass on yearlings, spikers & does at heart thumping distance.... from there on you're done for.

The deer hunting has you in it's grips & it won't let loose until close to Christmas!!

skeeter nets? with the size they are this year, I could stick one with a broadhead and problbly get a blood trail.

stepped out on the deck last night before bed and the coyotes were singin'. Time to test the .243

I gotta tell ya, if I had a spiker at heart thumpin range, I'd stick him. Or atleast try. I've never shot a buck wit my bow before. It is not for lack of trying though. I see those horns and get the fever and usually screw somthing up.

Last time it was on a nice 8pt. tzone at full draw with a perfect broadside shot at 25yds pulls the trigger on the release and CRACK. Like a .22, arrow flies 10 feet behind the deer, buck takes off, and my thigh is stingin' like heck.

Drop trough in the stand and find a welt the size of a Mathews Outback limb on my leg.OUCH.

It's alway somthing silly like that, or I just plain miss. I can smack does all day with the stick and string, but dem bucks give me the jitters. Must be that bow hunting thing. I have no problems with either on the rifle.

My left fore arm hurts just thinking about tripping the release on my bow.

shooting in the yard at a target. "twonk!" catch the string on my fore arm "son of a !! youch that hurt!!"

Draw back again... forget about the arm, stat never happens, just focus, steady.... "twonk!! Ouch!! [bleep]!! Ouch! same spot!!"

Draw back again, shake it off, don't know what's going on but it's all cool now, get back into the groove, line it up... oh that looks good... "twonk!! OOUUUCCHH!!Muther#*^#!!@}>!!"

ok, time to put it away.

I like my rifles

Glad to hear the hinder is ok man! (I NEVER thought I would say that)

Yes it is all coming closer. I'm getting rutty from shootin bow in the yard but you are right there is plenty of time yet! There is alot of fishin to do between now and september (if I could get my $#%! boat motor figured out!)

Sounds like your unpleasant wrist slaps are at least part of what keeps you from the stick and string bambi slayin. You should never slap your wrist. If you do, 9 times out of 10, it means your draw length on the bow is set too long for you.

Hey, I've been meaning to ask you. Are you in the no quota zone for bear out there at the shack-a-lacka? I would love to see my fletching disappear behind the shoulder of an old bruin.

Stan,

That anesthetic is somthing else isn't it? You get it and you don't have a clue what just happened but you can't talk, move, or think straight, you're just glad you're alive.

Jim, I'm in a quota zone at the shack, I put in but wasn't drawn this year.

I'm no quota at the house & we usually get a few bears cruising through the woods there cleaning up on hazelnuts. In fact, the way the dogs have been barking lately at night I kind of wonder if they aren't moving in already. The hazelnut skins are still green of course, June berries are also behind this year, high bush cranberries are still green, acorn caps are developed pretty well but the acorns really haven't started to even get big yet let alone start thinking about dropping. I actually think our acorns up here will drop after deer archery opener. We are usually hoping for them not all to be cleaned up by mid sept but this year I doubt they will start dropping until then.

Yes my inner fore arm slapping bow is too long in the draw for me & my old martin is too short for me... I just never took the time to fit either one of them properly.

shorten that draw length son, or you'll shoot yer eye out.

The bows don't sound nearly as cool when you touch em off. I like mine to go bang. Bow hunting is just something to pass the time till gun season.

BANG, BANG, HEY! You shot my cow.

Tom

Reminds me of the first time I drank tequila!

Ya, well, the last time I drank tequila I woke up hugging the flag, on the 18th hole, at the VA Tech golf course. Preppie guys were hollering "playing through" and whacking me with putters. They really got pissed when upon getting their balls, they found a little treat I left for them in the cup!

Craig

I know a guy that can share a very similar story about a golf course.... what he did to the cup and to the flag on the 9th hole... well, it's not exactly campfire friendly material

come on dave, don't leave us hangin'. tell us what you did to that poor cup on the 9th hole

oh it wasn't me!!

Friend of mine... it wasn't a good thing.

It was a very bad thing.

I posted this over in hunters campfire but thought I'd stick it here too.

today's mid day adventure:

Me & the oldest son went shopping today around lunch time.

I gave the boy his first deer rifle back in June for his birthday. M70 fwt 30-06.

no scope, fall's comin, he can hunt deer this year, he's been saving his pennies for a scope... So, we went shopping.

"crazy days" sale in town today.

A frind of mine handles the sporting goods at my fav store in town so we went to see him.

He's had a hard time moving these 100 year anniversary leupolds. Beautiful scope, 3-9 40mm with click adjustments, comes in a nice tin case with a nice hunting knife made by CRKT, real nice sheath too. But he couldn't move the sets for the original price of $350, so we were standing there as he slashed the price down to 250 for the kit.

My boy had a big fist full of ones & fives.... I looked at him & said "you better grab one of those century edition leupolds & hang on to it while we finish shopping."

Big eyes, big smile "really?"

"yep"

Then I spotted something I have a weakness for, Knives.

(one of many weaknesses)

He had several Buck brand knives marked down to about half price. I spotted this fixed blade Alpha with ATS-34 blade, rosewood grips & a brown leather sheath for $35 bucks & I think I almost jammed my thumb reaching for it.

All in all, awesome "guy shopping."

We will both pay dearly when Mrs ND gets home from work though, oh lordy will we pay.

But like the boy said: "that's alright, it was worth it dad."

today's haul the "booty"


L'il man with the 2 components that will soon become one.


I just had to share. Women, I'm starting to understand this "shopping" thing & how hard "sales" are to pass up


I'll be going pretty quiet pretty quick here because I'm going to be out in the woods tomorrow & tomorrow night, then busy all weekend. My dad & step mom are coming to visit tonight with my little bro & little sis. I hope I can talk the whole group into heading out to deer camp tomorrow morning & spending the day goofing off out there, picking berries & stuff, spend the night at the shack hopefully. Then we have a wedding on saturday... busy weekend.

Have a good weekend all & happy early birthday to this stupidly long 1 year old thread.


I believe it's a year on Saturday.

Later dudes.


Dave

You rock...:)