Every fall, I like to remember all the deer camps and hunting groups that lost one or more of their members since last season. There's nothing worse than heading for camp knowing that one of your dear and trusted friends will never be coming back. Somewhere, up on the mountain, a tree stand will go empty for the first time in many, many years. A favorite spot down in the hollow will be unguarded. The contributions he used to make to the group, be it his generosity at the card table, or the time he lent a helping helping hand dragging that big buck out will long be remembered. So to all our friends whose groups lost a member this year, we raise a toast in their memory. They may be gone but not forgotten, and the best remembrance is to go have fun, and create some new memories. In this vein, I'd like to remember all the guys we've bid farewell to over the years. Rest in peace guys, and we'll see you all again some day for sure.

Here Here!

My toast has been...

"To Absent friends...and Hunters, home from the hill..."


Ingwe

Great post. My toast is to my dad!

Lost my father 2 yrs. ago this month. Sure do miss his wisdom, antics and adventures that was at every hunt we went on.

A tip of my hat pa .. BP...

A toast to those that came befor us and to those that will come after us.

Good post GG.

I raise my glass to a few....My uncle Rick who forgot more about hunting that I'll ever know. Rick lost his life to leukemia a year before I got to carry a gun in the woods with him.

And my best friend Luke, who lost his life to cancer as well, at the much too young age of 26.

I miss you both, and know you'll be with me, but send me a booner will ya...

Glasses high!

Our entire Pennsylvania hunting group is gone now. Dad and his buddies built our camp right after WWII. We're lucky enough to have a log book with entries made every time someone visited the camp. It's a great read, and I hope some day to publish it so others can share in the past of our camp. Having gone through this process of losing a camp member over 10 times now, I know what it's like to feel such a personal loss. It's not like losing a family member-it's a very different kind of hurt, and I think about it every year. To the members that read this, and are going through this this fall for the first time, all I can say is hang in there, go have a great season, and remember your fallen comrades. They would want it no other way.

A very timely post , thank you .
Just heard about the passing of the last of the old buck club ( folks in our little end of the road section , hunting the area since before 1950 ) Was fortunate enough to see him one last time at camp a few weeks ago . Even at 97 just being up there again brought such a smile to his face , that inner glow that only comes from being in the place you love the most .
Many to toast to this coming opening weekend , my Dad included .

They are probably sharing a campfire in the sky laughing at all us crazies down here.

Ocotber 28th will be the 2nd year without Luke...he is probably looking for turkeys as I write this.

"Tommy....GET MY GUN!" are words I'll never forget, and will always make me smile.

I miss him.

gophergunner;

That's something I dread. The camp I hunt out of is small, often just my two uncles and myself, with occasional friends dropping in. Still, the regulars are just the three of us.

I know that one day, one of us won't be there.

That day can't be far enough off.

Amen!

Here's to Mike the best deer/turkey hunter I ever meet. The turkey's of Henry County are breathing a sigh of relief this year.

right on


Here's to my cousin & best friend Waylon.

We figured we'd have many years to go elk hunting together so there was no hurry, "one of these years."

He's been gone for 2 years now, we never went elk hunting together.

But tomorrow I will meet up with my cousin's 18 year old son and also his father. The 3 of us along with my 12 year old boy are going elk hunting.

A couple of years ago we would have been an unlikely hunting group. But today we are a very strong hunting group.

My cousin's untimely death has drawn us together, which could not have happened if he wasn't the kind of man he was. The fun we have together as a group is a tribute to a great man and a comfort to us all.

We will make a toast in his name around a campfire in the mountains very soon.

Cherish it...but I don't think I need to tell you that..
Ingwe

To my b-in-law, Rotten Tom, and his neighbor, Jack. Jack taught me how to make "Eggs [bleep]" (scrambled eggs w/ last night's leftovers) and to Tom who used to bring me pistachios outside in the cold while he, Jack and others had "one more" at the last bar before we hit the hill. What characters....and good men.

To my younger brother who left this earth too soon. I miss our hunts together. It's been nearly 17 years now. I have his 870 Rem. that he killed a LOT of rabbits, squirrels, deer with it here in Indiana. He was a one gun man, well two actually. The other was a 788 Rem. in 222 that I also have.

To my Uncle Jack, he was my mentor when I moved to the river bottoms. Tough as nails, it did not get too hot, cold, wet or dry for him to complain. No mater how bad it was according to him, in 5 minutes it would be just fine. If it burnt gun powder he could shoot it very well. He made more long shots on ducks and geese than anyone I ever knew. When I asked him how he did that we would just " give the lead that you think they need and then give them more, then trip the trigger". When asked how he learned that he said I learned that when I was hungry and needed to eat. He grew up in the river bottoms when times were tough in the 40's. If there was a better trapper in Indiana than he was they would have to prove it to me. He was a three gun man, a Winchester M75 sporter, Winchester M70 chambered in 6 X 284 when most people had no idea what that was (at least here in Indiana back in the late 60's), and an A5 Browning. All were paid for by trapping mink.

Mercy, I MISS them.

PaPa260

Toast to the three best friends I ever had...
All Hunters Home from the Hill..

Ingwe

Dad's favorite spot was about a mile up on the mountain at the head of an unnamed hollow. Lord only knows how many deer fell to Dad's 99 up there. I've been up there exactly once in the the 26 years since Dad passed away, and that was only because I was dragging out a deer from higher up on the hill and had no choice but to pass through this area. It was a very eerie feeling to be passing by Dad's spot. I knew it well, as both me and my brother started our hunting careers on that same rock Dad sat on for all those years. I felt like I was trespassing on an Indian burial ground. This was hallowed ground to me and my brother, and we've just never been able to bring ourselves to hunt that spot in all these years. We hear shots up there all the time, so I know it gets hunted, but we just can't go up there for some reason-out of respect, or because it just hurts too much- I don't really know, but we just don't go up there. I'm sure there's a bunch of guys up above right now looking down on us and laughing their butts off around the card table. Rest in peace, good friends. We'll hunt together again some day.

Here's to Sonnie Sneed who some around here will remember as NO on the board.

He always loved to sit a certain stand of mine because he always saw plenty of deer. He couldn't shoot for chit but did manage to scratch one down every year.

Hard to believe he has been gone two years now.

I miss him.

BCR

I'm sure most camps have lots of pictures from the days of yore. My favorite is of the original members from our camp standing in front of the meat pole. It hangs heavily with several dear. You can date the picture by looking at what the guys are wearing- every one of them is in Wollrich red plaid. The guns tell a story too. Dad with his 99, Bud with his Model 70-they were the only two with scopes. There's a Craig, a Mauser, and an old Model 97 Winchester too. Great to have these images to pass down to the next generation.

I'd love to see that pic GG.

Love too.

It's all curled up and waterstained, but next time I'm at camp I'll try to see if I can get it duplicated.

Our camp was built in the early 50's in the post WWII era. There were 5 original members, and the crew for opener usually numbered from 8-10 hunters. If any of the Pa. boys here are familiar with Boone Mountain in Clearfield County, we're near the intersection of Mountain Run Road and Beers Road west of the Boy Scout Camp. The guys hunted pretty much exclusively on Boone Mountain. They did a lot of hunting in the area that is now owned by Treasure Lake also. Guys did things different back then. Leaving camp on foot and covering several miles before sunrise was not uncommon. Dad used to hunt back in an area called the Big Timber, which had been logged off partially several decades prior. I can't for the life of me imagine making that trek-I did it once in the summer. 'Couldn't fathom hauling a deer all the way out of there on a rope. He also used to go up high on the mountain above camp to a spot where there was an operating oil well. He said they had these big single cylinder engines that burned crude oil to drive the pumps. There was a "grease monkey" up there manning the pump, and Dad could always count on a hot cup of coffee if he made it up there. Too bad all the "Old Guard" is long gone now. I'm sure every camp has a rich history forged by these tougher-than-nails guys who came before us. I hope we are living up to their expectations as we take the next generation under our wing and head afield this fall. Good luck guys.

Life is short; I still reminisce about high school and college and I'm 60-still can't believe it when I write it. Life is brief and goes fast boys. We're but given three score and ten and more "if because of strength" while many, many never get that far. Without being overly maudlin, Ben Stein, in a recent column wrote about the true values of life that he discovered among the distractions of Hollywood-giving and helping of others, a good thing to keep in mind in camp this year in regard to your pards and then ever after too.

gophergunner great openning how can we forget the faces of our hunting comrades long gone. I raise a toast to my share of more then a few. Great outdoorsman that taught this young buck more than I can ever remember. The camp that I hunt out of started in 1903 when the only way in to the deep Upper Michigan woods was by horseback. There were no roads then and they depended on each other to survive. The original camp burned down in 1909 and a new one was built in its shadow and was completed in 1911. That camp is still the one we hunt out of today. Yeah there have been updates running water, shower, indoor toilet, screen porch, propane generator all added in the last 8 years. The interior of the camp still remains pretty much the same. It has a large wood fired cast iron U.S. Cavalry cook stove with hot water jacket and 2 coal oil side burners (switched over to propane), and a large stone open hearth fire place in the parlor/sitting room. The wild game mounts, pictures, and antique shells and boxes are still the same and have been there since well before I started hunting there in 1981. The ashes of 3 of the original guys are spread out back by the rock. When its the evening at camp you can still feel them like they are watching over you. I never sleep as sound as I do out there. We should start another post of peoples camp pics. I will have to take me some pics next time I get out to camp just for that purpose.

What a great testimony. That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Our camp started out as a 20'x20' square building. Somewhere along the line (I'd have to check the log book) they added a small kitchen off the uphill side. That has since been lengthened out to run the whole distance of the side of the cabin. We used to have an antique propane stove to cook on, but decided it was time to upgrade, so we put in an electric stove top. As for heat, we used to use an oil stove, but with several hundred thousand acres of woods right out the door, switched over to wood burners. The first wood stove cost us dearly-$15.00. It sucked wood like nobody's business. We got ahold of another used wood stove for the ungodly price of $50.00 that locks up good and tight and will go all night on a load of wood. My how times have changed!

Woke up too a fresh blanket of snow, clear skys, and bitter temps in Alborn, MN in 1985. Camp was a hexagon shaped, plywood shack, but it was a mansion to a 8 yo kid filled with excitement of just being at camp.... It was the 3rd and last weekend of deer season in MN. That is when "the kids" got to come to camp.

My cousin and I went out to the stands with our dad's, my dad, and Uncle Rick. It was bitter cold, so none of lasted very long. We met in the woods, and they showed us how to start a fire. We got a nice little campfire going and they showed us how to make beds, and cover up with pine boughs and straw.

Then my uncle Rick "found" a package of hot dogs next to a log that someone must have left in the woods. So he told me to maybe somebody left some buns there too, and maybe I should go look in the brush pile....Well my cousin started looking for some ketchup that was left behind too.

What a find...for a 7 an 8 year old kid, we couldn't believe somebody would forget all that food in the woods. Boy were we surprised when my dad found a can of baked beans in the snow. Wierd....

I can't remember a ever eating better feast than we did on that day in November..ever.

That is one of many reasons that Uncle Rick is missed every day that I live. I still remember his voice, the look he got in his eyes while we were hunting...the [bleep] eating grin he'd always get when he had something up his sleeve, or that scruffy beard that I always try to grow the same way but can never get quite right.

Excellent.

Ingwe

Lost my dad to cancer 1 1/2 years ago, and this year will be my first trip to the North Dakota Badlands to hunt Mule Deer bucks without him. Physically, will miss him dearly but spiritually, he will be right there with me. Thanks for the post.

Well I never had that, the closest thing I had was running into my neighbors while deer hunting in CT. The guys that owned land next to me. We hand and understanding, you could go where you needed to go to find your deer. And of course the East Haddam Fish and Game Club had a lot of land across the dirt road from me. All I had to do was just sit and the Deer would just come walking by. Well its gone now, I am surrounded by Nature Conservancy now, I'm the only one left. Last year I didn't hear a single shot while hunting, only my own. The last time I saw one of my neighbors we talked of it, his grand kids had no interest, the taxes are getting to high and well getting to old and my hunting buddies are all but gone. I said that we are maybe a generation and a half away from nobody hunting in CT at all. That was four years ago. I get a lot of peace and quite in my deer hunting in CT, its not the same, nor will it ever be. On one had there will never be any kind of housing development anywhere near my land, a lot of people say that is a great thing and in many ways it is, but if there are no body hunting on those lands, what is the point? I have fewer hunting season ahead of me than I have behind me. And nobody to pass it on to. Heck of a thing.

What a shame to here that. Of the 5 original members of our camp, we were the only kids that showed any interest in hunting. It's just not the same any more. If we're lucky we get 4 guys in for the opener. What a shame to see all that heritage and tradition falling to the wayside.

People are more and more apt to hunt alone, or don't want kids along for some reason or another.

I've been bringing my boy along with me lately. He's only 4 but this year has shown a real interest in the outdoors. We have to drag him in at night, which is great compared to the alternative.

For some reason the crew I hunt with in WI doesn't want kids to come to camp until they're 12, which is the legal hunting age.

I told them he's coming or I'm going somewhere else, doesn't bother me any. If they don't want to hunt with my kid around, they sure as hell don't want to hunt with me. That is half the reason kids are finding other hobbies, they lose interest by the time they're legal age to hunt.

So thank you all that take your kids or any kids out into the outdoors.

I don't care if I ever shoot another deer, as long as I can get my kids involved. Teaching hunters safety helps a bit too.

Sorry GG, I got a little off topic.

Hey Tom-you and your kid are always welcome in our group. Any time you want, just say the word and you're in.

Thanks GG.

It was kind of neat today. I had to buy him some blaze orange. WI has the youth hunt going on, so while we're in the woods tomorrow, I want him to be seen.

We went into Fleet Farm to go pick out a vest, and ended up with a blaze zippered sweat shirt. He wouldn't let go of it, and wanted to carry it around the store. I had to laugh at him, but I can remember doing the same stuff. I had a blaze button down shirt that fit over all my winter stuff as a kid.

He wore it today when we were cutting wood at grandpa's house. I'll try to remember the camera tomorrow so Mr.Big Shot can get his picture taken in his hunting gear.

tzone where are you at in Wisconsin? I am out of Green Bay and do most of my hunting in Aurora, Wisconsin or Waucedah, Michigan. I applaud you for standing up for your sons hunting rights! I took my wife and 6 year old daughter out with me road hunting for ruffed grouse from a Polaris Ranger today. We saw 10 birds and got 3, but most importantly my daughter just loved it. She is just wound-up about hunting and fishing. It makes me smile just thinking about it! gmsemel and gophergunner I am sorry to hear that your hunting herritage is not continuing on. I hope that you both are able to bring new blood into the sport and pass on the knowledge that you have. I take my cousins, nieces, nephews, and any one else that wants to learn or just get out and enjoy the outdoors. My friends son took his first grouse last year with me standing at his side using my shotgun (he was sixteen years old). I know sometimes the age and attention span make it hard sometimes but its well worth it. My daughter 6 and nephew 4 came out and watched me clean those birds tonight. I know they both learned a lot and I walked them thru what I was doing and why. I even identified the insides of the birds to them and showed them where and what everything was. Kids are just intrigued by the crop on those birds and openning it up is just like breaking open a piniata. I wish you all a safe and succesful 09 hunting season and look forward to reading and typing this years successes.

Stay safe and shoot straight!
Mario
dagunnut

The group I now hunt with up here in Minnesota started out as a family group composed of members of my wife's family. None of them were real serious hunters, but it didn't matter to me as this was family, and that was more important to me. Gradually they all either passed on or quit hunting. We've picked up a few guys over the years, and I'm always looking for others to join our group, as you need "numbers" to keep a group going. I invited a guy from work to join us this year, and if everyone shows, we should have 7 in camp. It's tough to pick up guys for our group up here, as most folks are all ready "partied up" with other camps. We keep plugging along, and hope to keep this group together in the coming years. It makes it a little tougher that we don't own land or a cabin up here. We rent the same place every year, and the resort owners are glad to have the extra income during deer season. They only have 3 winterized units, so I'm sure this is as much of a PITA as anything else for them, but we've gotten to know them pretty well, and enjoy each others company during our brief visit-it's all part of the tradition we have forged.

I'm in Wausau. We hunt near Park Falls. Goofy hunting camp we have. We rent a cabin, which is a great place, we're the only ones that ever use it, but the old guy won't sell it. On a lakes, so if the hunting stiks.... My FIL and his bro's are so competitive that they get mad at one another if the other shoots a nice buck. They all have over the years, and I've never heard them congratulate each other. and the don't act that way toward me, don't know why.

The only ones that hunt anywhere near eachother are my FIL and me. I hunt by him because of his heart condition.

It is different. We don't share food, camp duties, anything. Not a traditional camp, but it beats work.

Different strokes..... I had never heard of equally splitting all the meat until I moved up here from out east. I aways figured that if I put in the leg work, bench work, scouting and dragging, that deer was mine. I have always offered a pack of meat to everyone, but to evenly split-never heard that before. Heck the first year I hunted up here, I went with a group of 5 other guys. I don't think any of them had shot their guns in the last year. They weren't very good hunters. I shot a small doe on the last day, and by the time we got done "sharing it I got about 5 lbs of meat! Not my way of doing things.

Every significant death in my family has resulted in some type of blessing. Your family seems to have followed in that path. I'm glad there is something substantial and positive from his death.

Another remembrance:

http://nchuntandfish.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15838&highlight=floyd

My father taught me two things...how to work and how to hunt. I abandoned the hard work some years ago, but hunting, I can't get enough. We started going deer hunting in 1965 near Musselshell, Montana. I couldn't wait for October to get here and head east.

I think we only missed one year when he broke his leg working cattle a couple of weeks before hunting season. He was "old school", a bit reckless about what and how many, but I miss the 'ol rip, he always meant well.

I take my sons as much as I can, following the tradition my father established. It seems I lost one son to Alaska, the other to marriage, but we go as much as possible. The Alaska trips cost me plenty.

This is his last deer he shot when he was 91, I hope I can be so fortunate...



Hard to imagine how we deteriorate over the years, as at one time he was such a verile, active man, now reduced to an urn of ashes...





I know I will see him again, (not in any real hurry to do so) but it seems as if he might be in New Zealand or some distant place I can't visit now, but I don't feel that his passing is a total loss. We still revisit his stories and life's antics at every gathering. Here's to you, Dad...

Good one...

gotta go, something in my eye..

Ingwe

Not really what I meant...What I mean is if you bring hot dogs and buns to the cabin, they're your hot dogs, no body elses. You want something, you bring it, there is an area set aside for things you want to share...I know it's weird.

As for sharing meat, we don't do that in WI, well they don't, but my FIL and I do.

Sorry if I misunderstood. We usually have everyone bring something to contribute to each supper, and then all bring our own lunch stuff and breakfast stuff too. We used to make a big production out of breakfast, but now we just all do our own thing. For me it's usually a couple packets of instant oatmeal, coffee, and maybe a piece of fruit and that's it. I like it quick, simple, and not very messy.

no need to be sorry GG.Used to be like your camp, In MN someone always brought something to share, and I like it that way better.

My FIL makes breakfast for me and him, the others are on their own. Dinner is a crap shoot.

I sound like a chick now....I'm really not complaining, it is still camp, and I can't wait to get back every year, it is just not the triditional camp that we are probably used to.