Dave, I have read the entire deer camp thread and you have one of the coolest camps around. You guys have way to much fun. I really think what you have is what most on here want (maybe a few more deer).
Thanks very much, yes we could really go for a few more deer. But we have the important stuff covered.
A deer camp is a really good thing for kids to grow up with.
It's not a bad thing for the old guys either.
It's my vehicle for mentoring efforts. Does that make sense?
When you paint a car with expensive automotive grade paint, the paint has crucial ingredients as well as sacrificial ingredients.
The resins and binders, pigements, metallic flakes etc are all crucial to the end result, that's the good stuff that you want to stick, you want the car to retain it, keep it for ever if possible. The solvent is sacrificial, it evaporates. But you need the solvents to get the crucial ingredients onto the car. The solvent makes it all liquid and sprayable, it allows the paint film to flow out and level itself. When it's work is done, it evaporates. But the good stuff remains exactly how you need it to be.
Paint solvent is my "vehicle" for automotive painting.
Deer camp is my "vehicle" for mentoring efforts with young people.
Deer camps don't last for ever, we all know that.
But some of those young people that had it as part of their childhood will carry it with them like a seed. Some will connect so deeply and feel so strongly about it's importance that they will make it a life goal to start their own deer camps.
That's what happened with me.
Actually my old camp is still going. I just decided I wanted to start a fresh one for my immediate family because I saw great potential to use it as a parenting/mentoring vehicle. I knew that the kids could get more out of it if it was more than just an annual exposure. We use our camp year round, deer season is just the highlight of the year.
When we decided to pull the trigger on our deer camp plan (the wife and I), we really couldn't afford it. But we made it a priority and adjusted accordingly with other financial elements of our life.
We have zero regrets.