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

He really wouldnt get on it. He walked home. I walked home too. Then back to his house with a 20!!

A silver bullet with a blown engine was the death of the nordic in my garage. I was going to put the nordic engine on the bullet. things didnt line up, sold the bullet.

Now the nordic sits out there, seat tore up, new windshield, engine just sitting under the hood. sad, sad story.

Dam the bullet.

is it still repairable?

That SnoJet picture sure brought back some memories. SnoJet sent their Thunder Jet racing team sleds down to my dads place for a sales promotion. I took the smallest one out for a spin. I think it was a 340. I cracked the throtle and was up to 80 in a blink. Had to shut it down quick or I'd have gone through a fence line.

Anyone recall a sled made in Marshfield WI, called the JacTrac?

The nordic ran when I took it apart. Dam the bullet. Havent turned the motor over in 8 years. Just wasnt important after the kids came.

My dad used to race a lot of the sleds you guys are talking about. He was even pictured in a book racing around an oval and in the lead if I remember correctly. He rode SkiDoo TNTs I think, then graduated to Merc TrailTwisters and SnoTwisters. I remember one day him and his cousin went in to town to buy a gallon of milk and they BOTH came back with new pickups and new Merc's in the back. We still joke about that when we need milk. Those SnoTwisters really ran, but they blew up. Then came the Yamaha SRXs aka the Crankbenders. My first sled was an old Arctic Cat I worked off clearing brush for a guy. Wrench on it for an hour, ride it for 10 minutes. Wrench for 2 hours, ride for 20 minutes. Then came a Yamaha 300 Enticer. Great little 2 banger that was. Then a Yammy SS440. Blew that one up. Then a run of Phazers....man I had fun on those. Still have the 91. Piped and studded; it left dots on the ice.

ride for ten, wrench for two. Aint it the truth. If three leave, one returns in tow.

I remember those Phasers. When I was a kid, early 90's...we had a hockey tourney up in Ely. We stayed at a hotel right in town there, can't recall the name, but it was a busy spot for sledders.

The next am, the whole parking lot at the rink was FULL of Yammi Phasers. I remember thinking that was the coolest thing ever because at the time they were the hottest thing on skis.

yep, pogo stick suspension up front, they look goofy now but back then they were cool, like something out of a star wars movie, very zoomie.

Yep, those are the ones. My uncle still has one I think. A Phazer II. It doesn't ride too bad for an older sled.

1985




2009??

Pretty much a seat on top of a motor. She looks "racy".

Thanks for the pics of the JacTrac. Haven't been on a sled in years. Trying to convince the wife to let me get a ATV. Would get a lot more use out of it.

Way off track here but growing up had a friend with a fourwheeler that wouldnt go anywhere in the snow if you got off the sled tracks. We found that some car in dads junkyard, maybe a chevette, had the same bolt pattern as his wheeler so we put 13" car tires on the back then cut down a set of tire chains for it. he could drive that thing anywhere he wanted.

One of my deer hunting buddies just picked up a new Honda ATV with a set of tracks. Says the thing goes through snow like crazy.

This is way off topic but...while moving some boxes in storage I found the "Big swish" that has been lost for 2 or 3 years. I truly thought it was gone forever.

Big Swish got his Big Swish back for sleeping in deer camp!!! Dude that ROCKS!!! Funny I've been diggin through all my storage today too, I found my Long Lost and ever Loved set of Outfitter grey camo BDU's and Heavy Jacket today.. I've been missing that outfit for years I purchase them in 93, they now hang back in the hunting closet.. Gawd its funny what sticks with the memory of hunts with certain clothing on.. Good deal Buddy...

The Swish is back.... That was an Elton John song wasn't it?

I'm a Swish, I'm a Swish, I'm Swish, I'm a Swich is back. Yeah, it was something like that.

now how is that off topic?

that's great! The swish suit!!

Now does anybody know where my orange winchester hat is at??

You guys have seen this before right?


It's a sign that me & my oldest boy made one night while we were at camp. Inspired by my youngest boy's immagination.

The name just kind of stuck, camp chicken buck.

Now this whole story started out about a desire to create a setting of comfort & belonging for camp members. Well we've got a camp member that's taking it to a new level. The belonging part that is.

Obviously devoted to the camp & just having a pile of fun with things like the goofy name for our camp, my uncle pulled a stunt that's going to make your head spin.

the last time my uncle was up at camp he snapped a picture of the camp sign that's nailed to a tree as you enter the property.

He brought the picture to a place... well here, I'll just show you.

Nobody is going to see this one coming.

here, have a look.






Thats not ink pen folks, that's a real tattoo. That's on there for good.

he told me a little over a week ago that he was going to do it & I laughed my ass off!!

now is that a dedicated camp member or what?

He wanted to make sure we had settled on the name, and he wanted a tattoo of the very first version of the camp logo & name.

"it's gotta be the original" he said.


I'm still laughing about it, and I'm affraid he may have started something.

We were going to fish on saturday but nasty lake ice conditions made us change our minds. We went out to camp instead. We lit the wood stove & sparked some life to camp chicken buck with some good laughs & a few beers. We also gathered some firewood from a nearby logging opperation, the short ends, (salvage) left over after the crews move out are perfect for our little wood stove.

We loaded a small trailer with logs that we hauled back to camp, made 2 trips. I will cut to firewod length later & stack.

We also rode snowmobile a little bit & checked on some of our stands, there are deer everywhere!! Deer are stacked just thick in the woods around the shack, I know I saw at least 20 deer on a short loop through the woods north of the shack this morning on snowmobile.

here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

Bonfire Saturday night.



some log tossing.







[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/northerndave/davecam068.jpg[/img]

All done for the day.
[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/northerndave/davecam069.jpg[/img]

my oldest boy & my uncle coming out of the woods on snowmobiles, another deer scouting trip.
[img]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/northerndave/davecam072.jpg[/img]

It was a really great weekend once again. Big thanks to my uncle for the help with the wood pile & just for coming up to spend time with us.

Dave, After Dusty showed you his tattoo, you should have got a serious look on your face and said " Dusty we're selling the place, camp chicken buck is no more" just to see his reaction. I have to say though, that is serious dedication to the camp! It's kind of cool because you know he's going to be a loyal member of Camp Chicken Buck ....he's not just talking, I think he really means it.