We hang them the easy way, from the rafters useing boat winch trailer cranks, hooked to a gamble, raise or lower, with one hand! Deer Camp! one of the best places in the World, no matter where! John

These are camps that are near my camp. In the 50's and 60's these camps would have a full house of hunters. Now they are hardly used. Each camp is near the NY -VT border with thousands of public hunting acres nearby or just out their back door. There are at least 10 more like this in my area--Web

Those are great looking places. The woods around them are beautiful as well.

John All those camps including mine almost lie within this single Photo-- Standing in NY looking in Vermont.

Beautiful.

I don't understand why those camps would be empty. I would spend as much time as I possibly could in any of those. Beautiful!

gmiller--It's kind of a long story but -- When those camp were built--- Late 1930's to middle 1950's that was about the only area around with a deer population. Ten miles to the east into NY you hardly saw a deer right up until about 1970. The majority of the deer have followed the farmers corn fields and alfalfa. The smaller woods 5- 300 acre woods surrounded by farms are a much easier and more productive way to hunt. Around my camp a good day would to see 5 deer. In the farmland If you don't see 5 deer by 8:00am something is wrong. People now days want fast results. We at my camp still have a crew of 5 or 6 that will spend a week or two and then every weekend until the end of the season. I myself for the last 15 years spend a month at a time. Getting young blood into these camps for any length of time is very hard. Camps in my area are a dying breed. It's a shame . Thanks Web

These camps are beautiful. They make me want to come hunt in NY. Thanks for posting these.

wldthg, those camps are absolutely awesome!


maddog

This is a real nostalgia trip for me. I grew up in New England and those camps represent the world and time in which I grew up. It does make you want to just pack the truck and go hunting.

It sure does.

Pre-camp photo. I'll post more next week when I get back.

Where ya goin'?

High Falls

Beautiful.
Good luck.

you got yer butt out tool?

I see a canoe but no water.

Do you use it for a blind? maybe sleep in it?

That looks like a backyard? that's convenient if ya' gotta run in the house and take a dump I guess...

If one gets close to you in the yard, whack him with the paddle!

Is that a lefty front-stuffer??

"cut a six inch piece of blackberry cane....."

High Falls!
Now you are getting personal.
There is a pool about 40 yds below the falls where I took my biggest Brookie in 1957.
If you launch at the Wanakena village you will find the water high this week and you will probably see snow.
Get upstream about 1/2 mile above the falls and go East about the same distance to Grumpy's swamp. A local guy, Chris Lamphere, broke an ankle there about 1940, and was grumpy when found and had to be helped out. Some local guys named the spot Grumpy's swamp. Deer bed there. Have for at least 60 yrs. There just may be an illegal salt lick North of that huge Hemlock. Local legend, you know. I really know nothing about it.

There used to be a Ranger School maintained Adirondack lean to there that would afford some shelter. Little, but some.
Been over 35 years since I was there.
Wave when you go through the village of Oswegatchie. Born, raised, married, worked there.

Fletcher's motel in Oswegatchie is old but usually clean if needed.

Good Hunting,

Jim

This is where we end up for deer camp in north central Nebraska. Eastern edge of the Sandhills. Always a great time.

Nice place Jim!

Been to Cat Mt. after a stay in the lean-to on the south end of Cranberry. Cat Mountain is pretty far off the beaten path. High Falls is even further. Good Luck with the Smoke Pole. Leaves are still thick I'd Guess. Web

The microburst and then the Ice storm fell vast amounts of timber in that area. As the second growth comes up it creates better habitat and thus more deer. Better hunting than years ago.
Jim

DJ, nice looking place. Probably got all the creature comforts you need.

[quote=northern_dave]you got yer butt out tool?

Now that`s funny right there now !!

wldthg,

Great pictures man. I'm diggin that log cabin camp.

CLB

CLB Even thou my Father owned my hunting camp, this is the camp he hunted out of in the late 50's right up until he died in 1986. This camp was thought to be the place to be during the Vermont deer season. The three owners were my fathers best friends. The camp is located about 1/2 mile into Vermont from the New York Border . Thousands of acres of woods surround it. One of the owners was a Baker by trade and did not hunt that much, spent most all day baking pies and fresh bread. At an early age my brother and myself were guest here for dinner. One cannot explain really what it was like to spend time in one of these camps. At a very young age I learned the saying " What is said and done in a hunting camp never leaves the camp"--- As the men got older they still went in for 7-10 days but the hunting became more and more at the poker table in the Bar. Now the sons of the owners and friends go in on a Friday, hunt Saturday- Monday and leave on Tuesday. Thanks Web

That's the classic cabin....one of these days I'll build one like that for myself. Your story reminds me of one I just read in Field & Stream online about a deer camp in Vermont. It's called "Good Deer Camps Never Die." It was submitted to F&S by a hunter in 2006 and subsequently published. I think the story is very good, and takes only about five minutes to read.

Here's the link:

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2010/10/fs-classic-good-deer-camps-never-die?page=0%2C0

That's top shelf when it comes to an old time hunting camp. Worth keeping and keeping up.

Pretty much everything we "need" except a maid, but she would just get in the way.

Marshall-- Glastenbury MT is about 10 miles as the crow flies from this camp. That my friend is a great story. Told in a typical Vermont fashion. Thanks Web

+1. I'm enjoying this thread as much this year as I did last year. Maybe more...

A couple of pics from the Eastern Texas Panhandle camp.




View from camp to the West.

looks like claredon tx.

Not too far off! Closer to Shamrock.

Cow Camp(you can hunt while you 'work'), we'll be out there for awhile right around Halloween. I got the scoop on a big-ass mule deer however, a bowhunter's been after him lately but... you never know!


View to the east in the afternoon, a guy can walk/ride that direction for over 12 miles and never leave the place.



Does in the backyard are a common occurance.
The outhouse, no indoor plumbing, got fancy with electricity about 5 years ago.

Great place. You are fortunate.

Some of you guys would be in a bind if you needed to find a tree in a hurry.....

Nice looks like a Great camp , when was it built? got any pics of the inside?
John

We are getting close to gun season...

Been hunting with my boys since 1984...and we built this little cabin in 1992 and this pic was taken that year also of the back of the cabin...number 1 and number 3 boys looking on. It's small but solid, and has a loft. The little buck hanging was easy...at first light I heard him casually walking through the leaves a hundred yards away in a dead-still woods. He stopped broadside at twenty yards to take a look at me. I was in a new tree stand we had just built and needed to christen it properly.

This is number 1 and number 2 boy in the "kitchen."

Number 2 boy in the loft...

Number 2 boy's condo in the sky...

These two nice bucks were nearly identical...and were taken an hour apart and about 200 yards apart in the woods. The buck in front was a 200 pounder and was taken by my number two boy from his condo.

And...campfires...this campfire was behind the cabin, as always, and this pic was snapped last year. Every word ever spoken at this spot over the years has been the truth, and every word came from a sober man.

Great camps, keep 'em coming.

JM

Wow great pictures posted over the weekend!! awesome stuff?

Sam,

I'm expecting Clint Eastwood to come out of that crapper!

Nice pics man...

Before and after up in Northern Minnesota last year.

There is nothing like freshly removed backstraps on the grill while enjoying a good beer and sauteing up mushrooms and onions in butter.....

Nice!

And, from 2007:





I may be out of "buck luck" this year, but we have not been skunked since the days of public land the hunting muzzle-loader season back in the 90's.

Are those Iron Range bucks? Look like it in the rack and body.

What is the piece you're carrying on the second set of pics?

They are both from the north shore of Whitefish Lake, right next to Camp Foley. The bodies grow bigger than the antlers around those parts.

The 2007 deer was about 7 years old from the teeth and really big-bodied. He had a pretty little rack in terms of mass/width relative to his size. The one last year actually has a decent rack, but it would have been a monster in southern MN, as he was >210 pounds dressed. (For perspective, I am 6-1, 185 pounds)

The handgun is a 44Mag SuperBlackhawk that I had drilled and tapped to mount a 2x Leupold scope on.

Man, this thread has me stoked to go up for the season, and I have to work the opener, so I have to wait even longer.

Those body/racks reminded me of the deer we get on the iron range. Huge bodies and "normal" racks, usually smaller than the body would suggest. I did get one big sucker up there. A big 8 that scores in the high 130's and weighed 227# dressed. The rest are smallish racks with body's from 160-190. In WI or in southern MN, they'd typically have better head gear.

I like that .44.

I am pretty happy with the 44 myself.

In fact, I am so pleased with it that I am almost ready to buy one of the Ruger 77/44 rifles that they have out in stainless/synthetic for when my son gets old enough to hunt. I imagine that a sub-6 pound bolt-action 44 magnum rifle would have great terminal performance at the ranges we usually hunt, while providing a very mild-recoil.

Nice. I wish our deer had bigger bodies like yours.

Less on the wall and more in the freezer isn't a bad thing IMO....

I too like the 77/44. I had one, but it patterned instead of grouped. I bought it used. I haven't seen one for a price I'm willing to pay since. They are a great MN woods rifle.

Not mine, but couldn't pass up taking this picture:



Thats some sturdy [bleep] there.....

Did you have one of the old ones or the new ones? The ones now have a 1-in-20 twist for the heavy bullets. I don't know if that would have mattered, but it may have if you were shooting 240+ grain bullets.

And, what, specifically, do you mean by "patterned?" Three inches at 100, or 5+??? I am not expecting one to outshoot (or even compete with) my .270 or .308, but I would like it to be reasonably accurate with hand-loads.

Here's a youth deer camp put on by the WM Jerrod and my friend Terry. I was able to help this year, as I didn't have a broke leg like last year. I love youth hunts and have another to attend in November... great times had by all... fantastic smiles...













[img]http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z51/bullelk123456/2010%20youth%20deer%20camp/20101008037.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z51/bullelk123456/2010%20youth%20deer%20camp/20101009004.jpg[/img]

Awesome!

It was about 5" at 50yds. I don't recall what bullet it was, but it was factory stuff. I don't know if it was older or not, but I owned it about 8 years ago, and it was used then.

I would buy another without question. I think I just got a stinker. As a handloader, you'll have a much better shot at accrurate loads.

Kids are smilin' like heck. I love it.

KRP, the smiles on those faces must make any expenditure of time and effort seem WELL worthwhile.

It's the best thing I do hunting anymore. The Game and fish have a kitchen trailer with all the utensils, grill, pans... we get donated burgers and dogs, have a dinner every night. Some just stop in for the lunch/dinner, Jerrod the Gamewarden, tries to get each kid/family in an area he knows there are deer. We all go out and glass or help however.

There's another deer camp in November with another WM/unit and then Jr javalina in January.

Truly a blast.

Kent

5" at 50 yards, eh? Well, if it was 8 years ago, it was not one of the new run of stainless/synthetic one's out with the 1-in-20 twist, so I am cautiously optimistic. I figure that from a safety standpoint, the magazine fed, bolt-action carbine would be PERFECT for the little-guy when he grows up and can join me hunting. Plus, I can play with it for 10-years or so until that happens.....

Thanks for the info. I am much less worried if you didn't try and work up a bunch of loads with different bullets/weights/powders etc...

One other thing, did you float the barrel and bed it if it was a wood stock?

I didn't do anything to it. I just bought it and shot it. It wouldn't be a great gun for new shooters though, it as a littly snappy recoil wise.

I'd let them shoot something else for a few years first, so they know what recoil is all about. It wasn't bad, but it might be for a be for a new shooter.

These better John?



Notice where my buddy hung the bear bag?



One more.



No animals were harmed in the making of this adventure, but we sure had fun. Well, except for one lucky mouse that was the beneficiary of a catch and release Darwin moment, but that's another story.

bbassi, beautiful pics. Especially the LAST one.


maddog

those are very cool photos, what a great place!!

bbassi,

Is that a public campground where you can rent the lean too's? Looks like some around here in New England..Great photos

Looks like the lean-to's the state has scattered all over the 'Dacks. FREE!! Ya just haveta hump a ruck in to stay!

bbassi'
I'm assuming that these are pictures of the lean-to at High Falls.
The first time I saw the lean-to at High Falls was July 1951. Great Black Fly country. I went there with my Boy Scout troop for an overnight hike/camping outing.
Returned many times to fish and hunt from that spot. Warms my heart to see that the area is still being visited.
If my information is correct the lean-to has been rebuilt three times since then. Do you remember any dates carved into the wood?
It's been a long time since being there. It is one of those places that's burned into my history with great memories.
So glad you had a great time there.
Jim

Wow!!! your righ...looks like bbassi is in the ADK's. I'v spent some nights in the lean to's out there and really enjoyed my time there. thanks for the pic.

Rug3 http://blog.syracuse.com/outdoors/2009/04/leanto_rescue_crew_and_nine_ot.html I found this article Web

wldthg,

Thanks for that thread. Enjoyed!
Jim

That lean-to is actually at a place called Griffin Rapids, about 1/2 way to High falls. The water was about 3-4 ft higher than it should have been at this time of year and that little river was MOVING! we literally were rowing right over the submerged beaver dams. My buddy put the bread crumb trail thingy on his GPS coming out to see just how far we rowed. It was 3 miles as the crow flies, but 4.75 miles by water due to all the oxbows. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get to this spot and we decided not to push on to High Falls. We were basically the only people for 5+ miles while we were there. My only regret was not bringing a fly rod. Here's a couple more for ya.



view from the lean-to



Heading in



Typical of the woods we were in.



A little bear sign.



At the pull out

bbassi, yer making me mighty envious!


maddog

Rug, the earliest date we could see on this one was 1970, but the put a raised floor in it about 5 years ago according to the ranger and there are older dates down below that are covered up for ever now. We actually slept in tents and used the lean-to for a kitchen mostly. There was a journal on there that went back to '98. It was fun to read about the "bears" (porkies) eating the outhouse at night and how the city slickers planned to deal with the "bears" if they came to the lean-to.

Mine in northern WI. Just need some deer in northern WI again and maybe I'll visit it a little more often.

Scott...that is a REALLY NICE tent youve got in your camp..


Mine doesnt look anything like that.....




Ingwe

You're welcome to sleep on the floor in mine anytime you like.

Oh my goodness. I'd sleep on a bed of nails for a chance at a couple of those bruisers.

I am new to pictures, second try..

Two More. Cook tent and two sleeping tents. The inside pictures of cook tent

Hey Tjay
Now that's what I'm talkin about..... That's a deer camp!!!!

Is that an empty pizza box outside the tent? Tell me Domino's delivered!

Nice camp. looks like you guys plan to stay a while.

TJAY, that's an awesome camp!


maddog

Nice set-up....

I have the same Coleman coffe maker and the same Coleman cooler.

But....I never put anything on top of the cooler....how are you going to get to the good stuff? ..... :-)

Surly there must be an outhouse tent and maid quarters!!!!

Very well done.

Hell if you can't find any Deer during the day, just walk down to Red's and dream.

TJAY,

Is that camp in MN? and...tell me about that heater in the pics.

It is up in the Isabella area. Camp is up the entire deer season. The heater is diesel made by pioneer space heaters.
www.pioneerspaceheaters.com
Last year was the first year we used it and it worked great. We used 37 gallons during the season. It was going 24 hrs. a day.

There is an outhouse tent/shower tent, but the picturers are on another computer that crashed. I have to get them off the hard drive. No maid quarters you have to clean up after yourself.

Uptown digs for sure!!!!

That cooler is an old one from the 60's. We use it for storage only now. That is a propane stove/oven on it. The propane tank is out the front door.

That's a great camp TJAY.

I hunted up there for deer one year...05 I think. Hunted off 7. Actually, it was more like Finland. Stayed at 9 mile lake. I'd like to go back there, but she burnt to the ground.

Shot many, many birds in Isabella.

What BTU unit did you have?

Only way I go to Red's is if someone is staying at my place that hasn't been there before. Otherwise, I prefer to steer clear.

It does have the potential to get a little rowdy when the place is running on all eight.

I have the smallest one. 4,000 to 12,000. We turn it down to the lowest setting at night. Keeps the cook tent above freezing and warms up quick.

Here is what we are after..

During bear and deer season, it sports an intimate and uncanny resemblance to the movie Deliverance.

I like that heavy 8

That's not the place on "E" is it?

I've only been there on Friday night in October. There was a chill in the air, the place was packed, beer was flowing and the testosterone was high. Have to admit there was more electricity in the air than that generated by the power company.

Combine it all with competition for a couple of the local gals and it does get interesting.

Wow. I hunt up there too. The only way I'd compete for the local gals is if I was....well, local.

Every once in a while there is a looker.

Really not any different than a 1000 other back woods joints, when one walks in a stranger. Pay attention and read sign as many say here and things are usually good.

Tom, Red's is on highway W between Phillips and Winter.
I agree with Scott on the movie "Deliverance".

Good to know. I'll have to NOT check it out.

Here is another one will be looking for this season.

That one's a dandy TJAY!

What type of camera are you using? I really like the dark horns those bucks have on em.

The cameras a inexpensive Moultrie D-40s. They were purchased on sale for 75$ each. All the older deer in the area have dark horns like that. It is hard to tell but these deer are all 200+ pounds.

Here was our opening weekend camp. It was a hell of a lot nice than sleeping in the usual horse trailer!

It's not hard to tell. I know the area you hunt. I've seen em.

I think they're like that along the whole "shore" area. Even near Duluth. You get a 3.5 yo, and your getting into the 200# range.

I shot one on the range a number of years ago that was #227 dressed at 4.5. That's pretty big for the area I was in, and oddly, he had a big rack too which isn't often the case there.

The heaviest deer I have shot came from up there. A huge body 8 pointer. It dressed out over 220 lbs. I will try to post a picture of it. I will PM you our location up there so you can stop by if you get a chance, since you will be up that way opening weekend.

I'll give it a shot.

My place in Northern Michigan



Inside

I see that charcoal lighter fluid.... cheater.

There's one thing I learned playing competitive hockey: "If you're not cheating, you're not trying...."

That's nice...like that knotty-pine...and everything else....

all hockey is competetive. Every damn game I've been in we're throwin' hands about something.

I guess I meant more the level of play than the intensity, but I know what you mean.

Do you still play?

I'm results oriented....lol

Goalie, a few years ago after my first heart surgery I had a cousin who had sort of an old man's team....no slapshots...limited checking...etc. and I thought it would be fun and exercise to skate with them. I don't know what we were playing but ya certainly couldn't call it hockey...at least when I learned to play. The first time someone grabbed onto me (later I found out to keep from falling..lol) and I dropped my gloves and fell out the bottom of my jersey and came up ready for action they all looked at me like I was possessed. I knew I was in the wrong place......the knees are gone now so no chance of repeating that....lol

Being a goalie, I've managed to stay out of the extracurricular activity the vast majority of the time.

Only an true idiot starts something with a goalie that is 6-1, has a 1k dollar mask on his head, and is padded like the Sta-Puff Marshmallow Man.

No doubt about that.....lol

Camp kitchen cabinet make over.

I knew what you meant. When I play it, I'm ultra competetive and it pisses people off, so we tussle. I only play on the pond now.

I haven't played real competeive since HS, and haven't played on a team since 1998.

When I moved to WI in '99, I was going to play on a competetive team, but they played about 65 games a year. Way too much for me in that point of my life. Really, I burned myself out. Now that i'm back in MN it's still everywhere. I must have been really burned out, because I don't want to play on a real team.

I'm having more fun teaching my son to play.....the right way, not the way I knew how to play.

I been known to knock a guy around for lookin at the goalie wrong.

Thought I would save ND the time of finding this one again, one of my favorite threads !!

Hey I was thinking about these threads the other day!! I will have to go back to the start of these 2 similar threads so I can take a look at all the great camps again. Hopefully we will get some new or updated submissions this season. Or even just different shots of the same camps.

I love deer camps!!

Love the pics. Really gets the blood boilin'.

I posted some of these last year but here are some different views of our camp.