This may be a round-about way of getting to this topic but here it is. I am a military reenactor, I started out in Civil War and have moved on to WWII. I have to say that sleeping on a musty army cot in a tent listening to Glenn Miller and drinking a Coke-a-Cola sure beats sleeping on straw under the stars(down-pour). Also cleaning an M-1 Garand is easier than a Springfield musket(8 rnds vs 1 is alot more fun too).

Anyway, our guys attent a few events every year that have expanded to Boy Scout reenactors, and other civilian impressions. One event is mid October and I think it would be a blast(ha-ha) to put togeather a vintage deer hunting camp. A few guys sitting around in red plaid, knee high LL Bean boots and cooking coffee over an old coleman stove is the basis of what we want to do. Oh yeah and the old plastic licence holders pinned to our backs. Ive also got a stack of old Field and Stream and Outdoor life mags to thumb through as well.

Ill be carrying my dads 1949 dated model 94 Winchester and have an thica 16ga made in 1952 with the old corn cob style fore-end to boot. A friend has an old Remington model 141 but I would like to get a cross section of what were the most popular deer rifles of the era. We go as far as hair styles, canned goods and What Im looking for is some of the little things that really set off the display. What Im looking for are scans of old deer camp pictures C. 1940s-1960's. That we could study to gleen those little cool bits of history that the old timers might see and want to come over and tell thier stories.

thanks in advance.

You could just hang out with some of us & take pictures & notes...



or wait till grogel comes along, he'll hook you up, or sell you a book. (i think he put a book together?)

Ask the savage forum. They'll obviously suggest Savage 1899s, but lots of old deer and camp pics come up there.

But Dave wears slippers and pajamas.

you have to clarify,do you want old pictures of deer camps,or pictures of old campers deer hunting.

This was my first buck, an 8 pt. shot in 1951 when I was 15 years old. I used my Dads Mod 94, 30-30. I put the buck on the fender of my Dads 1948 Nash and drove around town to show it off. In those days everyone wore black and red wool plaid pants and coat. Most everyone used Winchester or Marlin 30-30's or .32 Special. A few Mod. 99's and an occasional military rifle. I remember my Uncle had a Jap rifle that he brought back from the war, I don't remember the caliber but the shells were real long and pointed.

There was a guy in town that used a 30-06 and everyone thought that was way too big for deer hunting.

red and black wool went out of fashion!

I still have Dad's red and black Woolrich outfit down in the basement. Nice to know Dad's still with me in stitches and spirit when deer season rolls around. I don't hunt with a rifle that was even designed in the 20th century. My choices? A 99 Savage. (Hands down the absolute best lever action rifle ever made.) My other gun? A model 98 Mauser. They might be old, they might be a little ugly from being drug in and out of tree stands for the the past several decades, but all they do is kill deer.

Get you hands on a copy of Classic Deer Camps by Robert Wegner, published by Krause Publications in 2008; it covers deer camps with lots of photos and advertisements from the late 1880's up through the 1950's. About a third of the book touches the era you are interested in.

You mean like these????

Awesome thread. Super photos! Gotta love it!

If anyone in my ancestery hunted deer, I dont have any info on it.
All hunted birds and other small game but I dont even recall a STORY about my forebearers hunting deer.

I do recall Dad telling me that when he was young he recalled a FRONT PAGE article about deer TRACKS being found here in N. IN and how several people got on those tracks and followed it for miles in the snow so they could get a chance to SEE a deer! Pretty amazing when I consider the fact that my COUNTY takes 3000 deer through hunting each year now. Lord would I love to be able to find that newpaper he spoke of.

I'm jealous. lol Deer hunting is my real passion, recurve, black powder and handgun.

Using a specialy pistol and my 1971 Pearson Mercury hunter/ 67 Super Kodiak this year.

I think this thread is speaking loud and clear to all of us.

"TAKE PHOTOS for your family in years to come to enjoy!"

Ive got tons of photos scattered about. I think I'll get them sorted and put together. Someday, somewhere, someone will enjoy seeing them.

God Bless
Steve

+1 on the 99,as soon as I can hunt in rifle territory again,grandpas 99 is coming out of retirement.

To all,

Thanks for the information and I hope we can keep adding to the pics. I have several old 3x5 negatives from the 30s-40s that I need to get processed and scanned and will post as well. Spicificly; thanks to

RWL99-nice buck did you catch hell from your dad for getting blood all over the fender of that Nash? I dont know what I would want more that buck on a wall or that car in a garage.

Odessa_ Thanks for the book referance Im on my way to Amazon.com right now.

hclark- great phots, 2# looks to me from L-R a Savage 99, Remington model 8 and a Winchester modle 1895, but I cant make out the last 2.

Thanks again to all.

More vintage hunting pics, seems the Remington Mdl 08 was very popular back east in the early days, as they show up quite often in these pics.
The first picture is labeled "Near Deadwood 1887-88"






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great pix!

Very neat pics. Awesome stuff. Hunting camp was a lil ruffer back then. So were the men. No fancy backpacks, no fancy boots, no TSX boolits.

I like the dude camping in the hollow log.

Chadwick Ram....World Record Stone Sheep. BC, 1936.

His name is "Sleeps with bugs"...

My Dad had a good many pics of him and his uncles hunting. Unfortunately his house burned in '93 and he lost all of them, including all my pics and stuff from babyhood thru college and the military.

He had some neat pics from what I remember. Alot of duck hunting pics with his uncle T-Joe and I distinctly remember one picture where they were on a small barge crossing the Ms. river after hunting on Davis Island for a week. They had 8 or 9 rack bucks laid out in a row.

Wish I still had that stuff.

JM

I was born 100 years too late.....wish I had their experience when it was still that available. WAY TOO MANY REGULATIONS/LAWS now.

Just my opinion.

Dan

Not deer camps, but autos with trophies. I wonder if they hunted in those suits, or changed into them for their pictures???







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Sounds like a really fun idea. Good luck to you. Some of those pictures are fantastic. I hope some guys post some more of them.

We are building a new deer camp in Webster County, WV. It seems like over the last 15 or so years we have gotten away from hunting with family and friends. We still do it alot, but not nearly as much as we did years ago. We are bringing that tradition back. Alot of my friends and family members are joining a very large deer camp, and we are working on our cabins right now. It is going to be alot of fun. And with all the bear sightings while riding 4-wheelers---well it looks like it is going to be a good year for bear. Especially since WV is bringing in an early season this year. Should be fun. I am hoping to have alot of pictures to share. I just have to get my leg to heal and cooperate. Tom.

Mert Cowley has written a few books on old time hunting & hunting camps. I have his book "Dawn of the Deer Camp" & it has a bunch of old pictures that he based his stories on. Here's a link to his website. The stories are from Northern Wisconsin which is where I grew up. Very interesting & entertaining book. He has others that I'll be reading eventually. He calls himself "The Jackpine Poet".

http://www.mertcowley.com/

Hey Inland I PM'ed you. I'm a WWII reenactor as well with an interest in the old hunting camps just as you mention. Mausers, Krags, Springfield 03's, and Winchesters, canvas, khaki, wool, and leather accoutrements. A few older Smith & Wessons, and a Webley or two!!!! Oh, if the wifey tags along she will drag along her 95 Winchester and her 99 Savage!!!!

Current project is outfitting an 1890's era restored log cabin on my aunt's ranch in Colorado as you might have seen it about 1918!

You should see several of us on a private ranch in South Texas when out for Nilgai! Pith helmets, khakis and the works..... Wish I could find a good "khansamah" that could mix a decent gin and tonic!!!!

I'll try to post pics later!!!!

Kaywoodie

Ill have to encourage all of you to take a look at my book. It is in the link in my sig line.

Here are some of the photos from my collection.

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and a few from the book.

I sure do think his work is wonderful. I didnt see his books until I had finished mine. When I saw His I wished I had had the idea of "Historical fiction" using old photos. Just a great Idea.

oulufinn,

Thanks for the link, I grew up in the UP with much the same type of deer hunting and deer camps Im sure you have experienced.

All of these pics are geat, Im looking for more color pics from the late 40s and into the 50s and 60s. from the era of the old "American Sportsman" TV show and at least in my neck of the woods, Michigan Outdoors with host Mort Neff. My dad and I met him in a small sports shop in northern Michigan well after his retierment, he and my dad swapped stories while I petted his dog.

Great pics fellas. Gary's book is excellent. Every hunter should have one.

Wow I do like to see those old photos. A couple observations for no particular reason.
1. Most all the men pictured in the old photos have a head cover of some type.
2. Seems like the golden age for taking pictures of hunting was about 1900 to 1930. If this is an accurate observation does anyone hazard a guess as to why? Seems like the WWII group was not as much for showing what they did or bragging as it were. I know the early group was supported in hunting but maybe not so much later and even less today. Around here (the left coast) the deer hunting was the best ever after the war but I just don't see as many picture from then.

My Grandma & Grandfather in the 1940's.

This is our family hunting camp that has been in the family for 150 years. Picture is from 1950's. Carbide was always under the floor boards.

Im thinking the 1900s era photos are a much larger format and nicely mounted they show up in antique stores ect and hence have become an area of interest for collectors, similar to RR and military subjects.

I think the 1940s-1960s deer camp photos are out there but not for sale. photos of "granpa" and "Uncle Bill" are in a photo album or tacked up on the wall of camp. We still hold personal memories from this era and very few photos have gone the way of yard sales and estate auctions yet.

Collectors get excited to see Winchester model 1895's and long barrled side by sides carried by old men with big mustaches. We are the ones that get excited by the Winchester 88s and Marlin 336s, the Red Plad and jones caps.

The photos and stories are out there.

Cool Pics all! Thanks for the postings!!!!!!!! I can smell the woodsmoke,,,, AND the Hoppe's #9!!!! I love 'em!

Here's my cabin project in Colorado. On my aunt's ranch. Has four other cabins around it. It was once a spot where one could rent the cabins for a fishing/hunting/tourist getaway. Now only family use 'em. This one is the oldest and the first of the cabins. Was a residence in the old days. One of the inhabitants is even buried out back (1918)! Place dates to the 1890's. I am working to turn this into a "living history" cabin for family and guests.


Kaywoodie

Does it have a dirt floor?

I'm sure originally it did. But sometime in the 30's (I believe) a plank wooden floor was installed.

Here's a pic of yours truly preparing breakfast last Wednesday a week ago, at the woodstove in the cabin. Can still smell that bacon!!!!! Wished I was still there!!!!!!



Kaywoodie