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

very scary, we're so glad to hear both kids are ok.

A car accident has always been my greatest fear for the kids and now the grand kids.I'm so glad your daughter was not seriously injured,Rooster.

Stan in SC

Well I took last Friday off from work and had a really good day with the boys. It was raining most of the day so we pulled the "new" 77 f250 into the shop and tore into the front axle which we were told was "making noises and not working right" by the previous owner of the truck. I verified this by locking the hubs in and trying 4 wheel drive at home turning a circle in the driveway, yeah, bad noises. Noises occurred when turning a corner, which lead me to believe spider gear problems. Which can be bad, or horribly bad.

In our case it was just a couple of bad spider gears in the differential, the carrier itself and the cross pin where still good.

And of course I had a spare set of spider gears laying around in the shop. Still, it�s a big job since the cross pin for the spiders won�t clear the ring gear when the ring gear is assembled to the carrier. So, the differential carrier has to come out of the axle housing to fix it. Pull the wheels, brakes, lockouts, hubs, unbolt the spindles, pull the axles out a few inches, then finally you can pull the carrier out of the axle housing. It�s kind of a big job but it went well for us. The best part is that the repair didn�t cost us a penny, just some time but that wasn�t so bad because the boys got some experience out of the deal and I got a really good evaluation of the front end on the truck as far as bearings, seals, joints etc. (remind me I need brake pads soon )

The rain stopped Friday afternoon, the boys and I hitched the trailer up to the truck we had just fixed and began loading ATV�s, coolers, chainsaw, weed whacker, tools, clothes etc for the weekend. When Pam got home we all headed out to camp.





Everything was grown up with tall grass and weeds out at camp. I started mowing Friday night, Pam and the boys lit a fire in the fire ring, we got all settled in to cabin mode complete with bonfire and a star filled sky.

Saturday morning we had the typical deer camp big breakfast, pancakes, sausage, eggs etc. Then we had to make a run to the nearest gas station to get some diesel fuel for the tractor. RWS with his new drivers permit got to drive the big black gear jammer 4x4 for that little trip out of the forest and back to camp. Once we got back we started on a couple little projects like the outhouse door which got beat up in the wind last year. We got some decent torx head wood screws and beefed up the door itself and re-hung the hinges so the door opens and closes nicer.





The better part of the day was mowing and trimming with the weed whacker. Saturday afternoon, Weezy joined us when she got done with work. We all went for a trail ride and checked some of our common blueberry picking spots. None of our regular berry spots were any good, we actually chacked a lot of spots Saturday evening and just couldn�t find any blueberries. We headed back to the cabin with plans to make some chili over the campfire. We couldn�t find any blueberries but we did just fine with the campfire chili plans, it was some good stuff.





Sunday morning we did the usual breakfast thing again and set out on another trail ride. This time we were headed further north in the forest because I wanted to check for berries at a little higher elevation. Thinking frost may have been a factor this spring with the blueberry plants I wanted to check a few spots that might have been out of that frost zone. We did find some berries, I�m still not super excited about berry picking this year but it does look like we could do ok.

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ds/Resampled_2012-07-08_10-58-22_422.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e...ds/Resampled_2012-07-08_11-01-06_468.jpg[/img]

Probably the funniest thing we saw all weekend was The 2 older kids riding together on Nate�s little 250 honda. Weezy was driving, and she wasn�t shy about hitting a few water holes along the trail.












I have more pictures, but it took forever to load these from our computer. Maybe I�ll load a few more tonight.

Great pics of the kids and the water hole. Just got an email from my wifes cousin. The black raspberries are ripe and they just started picking. We need to get up to their place and get some.

Sweet action shot through the puddle!

Thanks Tom. She is still pretty stiff and sore. She got some pain meds from the doc on Saturday and basically has not moved from my recliner since. She was still sleeping in the same position this morning as she was for the last 36 hours. Must be good drugs!

Thanks you ALL for your kind words. It was a very scary moment and one that Dave and Pam can relate to all too well...

Dave - The camp pics are great! Do you have a lot of deer flies and horse flies in the woods? I took the kids on a wheeler ride through the woods by the cabin to climb the fire tower and the deer/horse flies were unbearable. The woods sounded like a million tranformers humming.

Ryan - Your kitchen looks good! I like that archway you put in.

There seems to be a fair amount of those flies in certain areas in the forest but we didn't exactly get bit up. Come to think of it I don't think there was much bug spray used at all over the weekend.

We were getting attacked by small biting flies (Not horse flies) on the 4th. Normally they're not a problem here until mid August.

Talked to a farmer about the same subject this morning. He said he's been seeing insects that normally don't show up until late summer. Wonder if it has anything to do with the early spring?

It almost seems like we're going to skip the whole mosquito thing this summer.

Sadly....

You clearly haven't been to my house.

The appraisal guy came for the refinance and gave me a card for MN Mosquito Control. He said call, the WILL come here and spray. It was bad. Now it only gets bad at night. We can actually use the back yard now without a can of bug spray each.

Dave,it appears that you and family had another great weekend at Camp Chickenbuck.Good pictures.The picture of the chili made me hungry as can be.

Stan in SC

I agree Stan. That camp chili looked dang good.

Our appraiser came on Friday for our re-fi. Of course I was smack dab in the middle of a bathroom remodel when she showed up. It was a little more work than I origianlly thought or I would have left the lake a day earlier.

I am the King of biting off more than I can chew on home remodels. Not that I can't do it, but my time estimating ability seems to be a bit off.

Dave I read the opening post on this thread you wrote and it was as well written as a reflective piece in a Wing Shooters magazine. To be honest it choked me up pretty good.

I have been reading this thread for the last two years but never bothered to see how it started, and I am real glad that I did.

Well written Dave

Capt Kirk

Thanks Kirk.

I suppose it's in early august or late July here we will hit 5 years of this silliness. I noticed that we must have hit the 6 million mark on views sometime recently. That's seriously crazy.

5 years changes the kids quite a bit.

My 3 for instance. 5 years ago:



look at the 2 boys now.



And the girl.



Huh... Looks like we are way better at taking pictures 5 years later too, lol!


They have had this cabin adventure for 5 years of their childhood now. Between construction, trail cutting, upkeep, stand building, hunting, trail riding, blueberry picking, snowmobiling and fun weekend get togethers.. There's quite a lot that has taken place out in that shack in the woods already in 5 years.

And as with every single thing I build... It went together fast right up to the point of finishing touches such as trim, soffit/fascia.... lol!!

Well maybe we can do something about some of that junk yet this summer.

As to the tone and writing in the opening post nearly 5 years ago. Yeah I was crushed, we all were.

I still miss my cousin terribly, I know we all do, the whole lot of us that knew him. The bond we all formed is part of his legacy.

We all still fight our little lessons in life as each kid grows, us adults too.

Some of us fight big fights, like Dusty with his cancer.

That's a serious battle, and it makes me very grateful and proud of these past 5 years in which we all have experienced a higher quality of life in some degree by being active members of this camp. The shack in the woods was a launching pad for the group which would eventually bond well enough to do many things together away from camp.

I don't like the battle Dusty faces now but I feel we are better equipped to cope with the fears and support him since we really are a tightly knit camp.

It looks like this deer camp stuff is kind of working like it was supposed to.

Alright, I've exceeded my limit for seriousness.

back to your regularly scheduled nonsense.

Farts, boogers, poop

(regularly scheduled nonsense)

I remember reading this thread for the first time...seriously. It was a rainy Tuesday morining in August, 2007. I was sitting in a leaky job trailer reading about a terrible family tragedy and loss of Dave's best friend. I remember being choked up about it because I knew before long, I was going to lose one of mine.

With out this thread, I wouldn't have met this family who have become dear frineds to me. People I can talk to about anything...everything and they don't criticize or judge, just be friends. A guy really can't ask for more than that but they've given me so much more. A place to stay, support when I've needed it, a camp to hunt from, a get-away to relax and solve the worlds problems, and somebody to put up with my out right goofy-ness.

The first day I met Uncle Dusty and Missy was the day before deer opener in 2009. Uncle Dusty got out of the truck and shook my hand and we BS'd like we'd know eachother for years and in truth, it was just minutes. Missy got out and gave me a hug and I helped her unload her the truck and same thing...like we'd know each other forever. And again a great friendship,a nearly family like bond.





Have you heard from Missy? It was pretty damn good news last I talked to her.



Crazy, nope. Crazy is 1/2 those views are probably mine dude.

Well that takes half the crazy out of it then.



I did hear from Missy and that was great news, I have a half an hour before a meeting this morning and it's break tome besides. I'm going to try to call dusty right now to check in.