Lets see em. Cabins, trailers, tents, whatever ya go. It's that time of year. Fuzzy windchimes, deer in back of trucks...stories, you got em, lets hear em. I got the bug bad.

Mule deer camp, West Texas desert....

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Whitetail camp, TX Panhandle...

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its a work in progress....anyone with real carpentry skills would look at it & laugh till they puked, but we've had a lot of fun doing it. should be done with it no later than spring of 2082, if we pick up the pace a little.

SE Kentucky on our place.

View from my rack:


Kitchen:


Stove:


Cartridge heads cover the nails and shotgun shell pulls -




Sleeping arrangements and loft:


Clothes kept out on the deck to keep the scent off them.
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Whole thing was designed on a paper plate and hoped it would make it 5 years. Built by my dad and uncle when I was a runt. It's lasted over 30. Believe it or not there's less than the cost of 2 Montana's with decent glass into it. Most was scrounged or bartered for.

Awesome guys! Pugs, I love that shot over the pond. Is that a Cabela's Alaknack? How do you like it?

Teal, you know how I feel about yours....

Lets see some more guys.

Yep - my favorite view. We own to the top of the mountain.

It is an Alaknack. After searching for what tent to buy Isaac pointed them out. Went up to Hamburg and looked at the one they had up and bought it. We've been hunting out of it 5 years and still tight, zippers are good, no holes and while we don't get much snow its stood up fine in 50 mph winds.

Very pleased. Lots of room for five guys and gear.

Outside. Superior National Forest, Mn.



Inside.

I was hoping for some of those Tjay.

Have you been up north yet? How's it looking up there this year?

I went up just after Labor day to put up deer cams. Saw a few grouse and some bear scat. The underbrush was really thick this year and everything seemed to have grown 2 feet grass, weeds and little trees. Looks like it should be a good year just hope the deer cooperate.

The kitchen.



The furnace.



and water heater.

Here's ours: Der Bauernhof . Click on the link for more pics.



The full name of it is:

Der Bauernhof am Loch im Ende des Stumpfes
(The Farm in the Hole in the End of the Stump)

It is in SW Bracken County, Kentucky. It was established just after 9/11/2001. At the time we did not know if it was going to be the family deer camp or the family bunker. It sits on 200 acres in the Trans-Bluegrass about 10 miles from the Ohio River and about 2 miles from the Licking River.

This weekend, the tribe is turning out to put a new coat of paint on the place.

If I can get the pictures to come out ( I took pictures of pictures ) I'll share some memories from the start.......... 1974. Not the first year I deer hunted, but the first year I camped.



Different location, 1979



New location. 1980. The little guy in the background is nine year old Shortactionsmoker, his first trip deer hunting.



1988



A lot of good memories are coming back.....1990



A few of us started building this in 1991



And through it all, we always eat good......that's me at the pit in 1995.

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Guys, I'm sorry to take up so much room, but I just couldn't quit. These camps have continued every year right to the present day. I can't wait for November......

Best picture set in this post so far.

Thanks for posting them.

Great thread!

Pretty awesome, the red truck in that photo is a 78. It's only 2 years old in that photo!

I love the photos of this time frame because everything in the photos brings back memories of growing up (for me).

I would have only been 10 yrs old myself.

I've got an album full of these pictures. When I get it out and start looking, I don't know whether to rejoice in what a time we had or to be melancholy at the knowledge that times have changed. Know what I mean?

I do know what you mean but I'd like to think you can steer your mind towards the rejoice side of the scale.

It's way funner.

Yeah, there were a lot of funnies and fun times. This one is Smokers first deer in 1984. I think it would classify as a Dink now, but it was a trophy back then.



There always seems to be something to drink. This was 1991.



The necessary poker game. Notice the dimes and quarters......we weren't very big spenders in those days.



And the evening ending campfire.



Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures of the pictures. Ok, that's the last of my sharing. I look forward to viewing others.

Love the coleman hot water on demands. Our lake cabin has one for the sink inside and we use one in a shower house we just built. Its too bad they are pricing themselves out of the business. Pretty cool when you realize it has several safety features you couldn't get if you tried to make a cheap home version.

No camps , we hunt the family farms, and stay in nice homes . No point in "roughing it" when we don't have to do so.

The homes ARE rustic, however. My nephew built his log house after a tornado came thru North Central Missouri and knocked down a large stand of oak timber. He bought it, had it milled, and built the place himself. By himself, I mean HIMSELF. Three stories including the basement, built by a lake, and surrounded by deer heaven.
His father did the same, but had most of the work done, because of his work schedule, it's only about a mile across the lake from his son's place.
Nice new log homes, on a nice little lake, in the middle of some of Missouri's best deer ground. It simply doesn't get any better than that.

Those are fantastic.

That's how I know deer camp, it fits my definition by experience. Great stuff.

Stohs beer too, lol!

Here's one from 2011. Lastround is in the green sweatshirt. I'll find more later...

I'm going up to camp in the morning I'll take some pictures and post them when I get back. Nice photos so far guys.Question though where is all the plaid woolrich and lever action 30-30's?

It's still a trophy as far as I'm concerned. I don't get to shoot many deer. So, when I see a buck, most of the time if it makes my socks go up and down, I shoot it. I'm a meat hunter first, horns second.

I can remember being 9,10,11,12.... dreaming of a buck like that. Starting about this time of year, back then (and now) I'd start reading old hunting books and magazines my Uncle Rick gave me (I still have them). There was a book with a nice fat fork-horn standing in some pines. I used to dream of that shot, on that buck daily. From the time the leaves changed to deer season, that's all I thought about.

Camp is where you make it bud. To me, deer season is good friends, family, food, laughs, tears, God, food, beer. Hell, sometimes we hunt.

On the first week of MN deer season, I hunt about 30'ish miles north of Duluth. I(we) stay at my mom's house but stay in the woods all day. There is anywhere from 2 to 4 of us that hunt out of there.

Back in in the day before I was legal to hunt, my uncle had a 40 with a shack. He sold it for a wedding of all things! For 20 years I hunted at a family friends land that was surrounded by state land. We stayed in his house, and hunted mostly on the public land but his too sometimes.

The last few years I've been up north to Chickenbuck and north of Duluth with my BIL, and sometimes a few guys from here at the fire.

To me, deer camp is about nearly everything but shooting a deer. Sure, that's my goal, but there is so much more I love about Camp now. Getting the kids deer, and helping them become better hunters is something we at camp seem to make a priority now.

Thanks to all that have posted stories and photos so far. Keep em coming

Man I LOVE it!

That's for deer camp and high school. lol.



I have a confession to make. I've never hunted with a 30-30. Hell, I've never hunted with a lever. I think I need to change that!

Love the tent pixs as CLB and myself are considering purchasing to expand our hunting areas.

Some from Maine Deer Camp:
Front view:


View from the back window:


Sleeping area upstairs..there is some wool:

Man Chip, that reminds me of our old place! We built a 24x30 on the 90s. Big 16x30 bunk room upstairs. When my parents divorced in 2000, we sold it. You cant believe how much I miss that place. Im glad we have a new place, an older mobile home. But we built that one, me my old man and some friends/relatives. Miss it terribly

Tom

One of these days I'm going to learn how to post pictures. I've got some good ones from many years ago at our 'Popple Palace'.

Paul

Both in Washington's Cascade Mountains, hunting for mule deer.

This is a great post. Ive had many camp, some redneck mansions some just tents. As of now I have small parcells to hunt, all my good stuff ive benn screwed over on. I hunt out of state about ever other week nowadays.

The best camp we ever had was in Refugio, Tx. Me, dad, and uncle Geno had a lease on The River Trap. It holds some of my fondest memories with dad. As some of you may recall I lost dad a year ago. I think of our time spent down there everday. Ill try to dig up some pics.

I miss the days when a little spike or forky was a trophy. I have fallen into the inches game. Sometimes I wonder if it wasnt more fun back then. But I also spend a lot of time teaching my 9 yr old.

Im trying to find a way to hunt up in NY, Maine, MN, or PA. From the pics I see of the country its beautiful. Ivegot the plaid andslew of levers at the ready.

Keep this thread hot!

i agree with Tzone, camp is where and what you make it, i and my family are lucky enough to have a in laws farm to hunt in western Pa, small selfmade 1 story bunkhouse, and kitchen/sittin room. but the days leading up to the start of any season ie archery, inline, turkey, or buck are the best, jokes, pranks,bs, and old stories of our fathers, and uncles are what really makes it camp. This is a great post, it makes one think alot. this happens only in America my friends, thanks to our veterans, current and past.

I wish I knew how to post pictures, and had some digital shots of my Pa. deer camp. Built by my dad and 4 other guys, all WWII vets. It went up shortly after they returned fro kicking Adolf and Tojo's azz. All supplies were begged, borrowed (permanently) or otherwise procured. A simple one room affair with four sets of bunks, a big table, a small cooking area, a couple chairs and couches and little else. This was back in the heydays of deer hunting in Pennsylvania, and the stories spill out of the diary of 8 to 10 bucks being taken by noon on opening morning. The patriarchs have all passed now, and sadly had no kids who hunted, save for me and my brother. It's a shame to see a great old camp like this shuttered, but that will be the case again this year. Pa.'s far away from my adopted home in Minnesota, and my brother is in his 60's now and of failing health.


Thanks for starting the thread Tom, and here's to all the deer camps out there-may they stay strong in the years to come.

gophergunner, you just painted the same picture that we went through when we built our camp. haha!! we traded a tractor to obtain a generator to run our tools, then the grass grew, so then it was trade a 4wheeler for a tractor. and it goes on and on.my wife caught on when i became interested in remolding our house, only to take the old windows and leftover items to camp. thats what makes the memories.

Maine is the toughest place I ever hunted, here are some habitat photos, woods are thick with some openings.




And I showed the wool, now here is the lever action. Mostly hunt with bolt action carbines now but a Marlin levergun usually gets a walk in the woods at least one day.

Hey Paul. You can email them to me and I could get them up for you. Or register on photobucket and set up an account and I'll walk you through it.

Man I need a lever gun!

For sure!

I have been putting in for the Maine moose hunt for years with no luck. My pard drew 2years ago and came back with envious stories, a moose, and a well worn pre 64 94 Win in 30-30. Ill be up there someday .

4570 or 444?

Opening night dinner last year:




tenderloins with mushrooms and onions cooked up in real butter:



Outside "the shack"

Let me know if you want to borrow a straight-stocked, stainless, laminate Marlin 336LTD with firesights on it.

It has a 16.5" barrel and is a dream to carry in the woods.....



No scope on it now though.

I'm another non picture poster. Maybe someday, but than I'll have to get a printer/scanner combo because the best photos are in albums and never made it on-line.

Surprised that you never hunted with a lever, Tom. First year (1971) I started hunting at the deer camp I carried a Win 94 in 30-30 with a peep sight for the first 2 years.

My buddy Rick still hunts with a lever, a Marlin 95 in 45-70. The rest of us hunt mainly with bolt actions plus I have the Ruger # 1 that I use a lot.

I know you like this pic Tom
My Fathers 35 rem .



Model 1936 in 32 win spcl

Hunted up there for a few years with a 444 great gun and stopper of deer, the one in the photos is a 308mx. One of the best shootin lever guns I ever had and sold it like an idiot.

Now that you've figured out how to text Bill, you can post pictures. It's that easy!

Drooooool

I've had a few but sold them before hunting season for one reason or another. All of them of course I wish I had back.

The first one was a Marlin 1895 Guide gun in 45-70 with the pistol grip stock. Straight stocks don't fit me well. One was a Win M94 .32 special, and I had a Savage 99 .300 sav for a spell. I didn't even shoot that one before I sold it.

Tom, if you really want to scratch that itch I've got that straight stock .44 Mag Marlin you can certainly use.

Yeah, no doubt. That's possibly my favorite picture that gets posted, but he knows how I feel about it.

It makes me want one.

Thanks Jeff,

I may take you up on it, but the straight stocked rifles don't fit me that great.

I may though. The problem with talking about them is that now...I have a different itch. One I haven't had all year and now I do. I need to go a lookin'.

Here are a few pics from Busch Pilot's Deer Camp. I believe they call it the Grainery. I'm not sure if it's cuz it's an old grain barn, or from all the malted hops and barley that is consumed in it.

Either way, it's a beautiful camp.

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very nice!! they are better at trading and carpentry thean myself and my family.

High hunt for mule deer, Washington State:



And without horses, just a few of us and our backpacks, heading in. Was 55 or 56 in this photo.



No roads. No wheels. Pretty minimal camps. But the bucks are up there.

Guy

Packing one out after it was .270'd:

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[img]http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z229/Greatwaputi/deercamp2.jpg[/img]

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Great W - cool photos. Lots of memories there.

Guy

Great thread! Our camp is in Ft Drum, FL. About 20 miles north of Lake Okeechobee. What started as a basic 8x28 construction trailer with a deck out front ended up a damn chalet. Our landowner is a contractor and has enslaved us. 3 years of Saturdays and we ended up hardi planked with hurricane windows, an outhouse, attached shed, and we are close to trimming out inside.

Awesome. You guys did a lot with a job shack. I like the porch.

Great pics everyone! My hunting "camp" shut down in the mid 90's. I miss not having one. I bow hunt and muzzleload now but I sure miss the comradary of deer camp.

Rooster7 i know what you mean!! in Pa our buck/rifle season starts on the monday following Thanksgiving. my wife doesnt understand why i leave on friday to travel 35 miles to hunt on monday. it doesnt matter if your tagged out from archery, or the early inline season, my truck is heading to camp that friday. in my family it is camo friday, not black friday. its the stories that are to be made and the memories that have been made. football, hunting shows, beer, and lack of cell service are a plus too.i will be 48 soon and cant imagine not doing it, i thank God and my family for permitting me to do it.

Can't wait to get back up there next season my friend......

CLB, do you hunt in Pa??

I'm envious. My older cousin started our deer camp back in the early 80's. It was made up of a couple of his buddies, his father, his fathers nephews, a couple of other uncles and cousins. My cousin who started it died in a house fire in '86. After that his buddies dropped out. The rest tried to continue on and we did for another 8 or 9 years. Over that time we had people join and people drop out. Then my Uncles decided they were too old to do it anymore and everyone just kind of quit.

Oh how I miss the laughs we had, my uncles stories, the excitement when someone got a buck and just the great atmosphere that was always at deer camp. Even after Ron died, the atmosphere at camp that next year was the same as ever and that is exactly how he would have wanted it...

It's been many years since I've hunted PA. Had an uncle who lived out in Warren and spent my early years out that way with my father and uncle. I started hunting with a group of guys in the early 80's in the Scranton area. One of the guys had connections with a few farmers and we had several private farms to hunt on. Was a good run for a long while. My buddy ChipM was on several of those hunts.

all your stories sound similar, the traditions seem to be dwindling . the younger members of my family, my 3 sons included have no interest in the tradition. im the youngest in our group at 48yrs, so im the gutter, dragger, go for,start my truck and clean my windows, and/or pick me up in 3 hours guy, but after doing it for the last 36yrs, i wouldnt change it for the world. i wish that others had the fun that i have had doing that stuff.

Headed to deer camp Tuesday to make more memories. Kind of sad right now because I'm moving out of state and this may very well be my last deer hunt in Utah.

I've gone from this


To this


And back to this


With a few in-between

Hunting Coues Deer in Arizona


Caribou camp northern Alaska


One of many Colorado Elk/deer camps


Inside the wall tent on another Colorado hunting camp
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This is a friend's Texas deer camp
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These were not deer camps, but fun just the same

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[img]http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww288/KCKeen/Camps/Shasta.jpg[/img]

KC

Only pics I have in my photobucket

First deer

Serious Pitch Pitch game

All night pitch games really take it out of you

Three generations.... Two more are there in spirit

hey GreatWaputi!!! sorry to hear, but i believe that things happen for a reason,maybe better hunting,and new friends. where are you moving??

Here is camp up in NY , and before you flame me no it aint a canned hunt its just what they called the place in 1949

summer picture of our north missouri camp on the wife and my farm

Our camp

GM, nice. I could live there. Do I see logs in the structure?

Wayne

That's way cool.

No power or running water. We're planning to stay there from Nov 8th to the 16th.

out the back door

Inside
We've done some work this year. New beds and some shelves. It looks better.

I would like to suggest one addition to threads of this type--put the location (state) along with the picture.

no power or running water is what makes it camp, that is the way ours is. very nice GM

that is the way I grew up going to camp, probably a 300sq/ft camp could sleep eight guys, had a generator, a spring outside, kerosene lantern and a potbellied wood stove. I loved that place. 5 years ago the school district started auctioning off trailers they used as classrooms while doing renovations. I (yes me I'm the dumb""") got the idea of putting a bid in. Got it, and now we have a 1000 sq/ft camp with running water, electric heat, air conditioning, and satellite tv. Don't get me wrong its nice, but its not the same and I miss my old shack. Maybe I'll do some cleaning and go retro, nobody has slept in it for 4 years.

MM

Yep, I feel pretty strongly about the whole wood stove, no power, out house & gas lights etc.

We made some benches for the fire ring a little while back.







added a wooden porch a year ago.



an inside shot of the shanty.

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).

Awesome pictures and stories on here. Here in N. Idaho, on the St. Joe river. We usually just hunt from home. I must say I am envious of some of the awesome camps you guys got going on.

Keep the pictures and stories coming, I might have to get a deer camp set up just for the hell of it.

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.

I like that.

great example, i believe that it is more important in this day and age than ever, it a place to go and get away from everyday life (cell phones, computers,ect,ect). my kids werent always into that belief tho. they lost that battle!!

My Grandaughter has been driving my truck up the camp road most every Sunday morning this summer. She is 6yrs. old.
Northern Dave- Not sure if that Jonesered would make it in my Hollow. Got to have a Husky or Stihl or maybe a Dolmar. You would have to come up, cut a couple cord to prove it.

I've seen it firsthand. That big red cuts like a mofo.

lol

I get a lot of firewood split the same way.

"I bet you boys cant swing that axe hard enough to split that wood..."

Ah, The old challenge. Happened to me when I was younger, splitting wood. If I remember, it was Elm. Never get suckered again on that one.

Dave, that's what deer camp is about. My 10 year old son is not big on hunting but he loves going to deer camp. We lease our camp but I hope to have my own on day.

We're heading in to set up next weekend.







The old firetower.

Great pics ! And that trail looks very good !!

North of Orr in Manysodas


We even get some deer!

That's beautiful country.

Dave thanks. At our age it gets a little harder to do year by year. We have some guys that hunt "one ridge" over from us that have become "users" of our camp so to speak and we keep an eye on their stuff as they stay in Orr at a hotel. They help us ol guys if we shoot a buck and it is much appreciated. I keep the camper by an aquaintance in Orr so it makes it easier than having to tow it to Orr every season.

Really enjoyed the pics of your camp as well. I like your family philosophy. Where are you located?

We are straight south of lake of the woods now, my old camp was south of Tower so I am familiar with the Orr area. I used to see a lot of deer on 53 north of Orr.

Every year I rolled through that area in a 78 F150 with the yoopers playing on the crappy radio. Anxious as could be to get down to camp and see all the guys.

I miss that group.

Cook detail


Relaxation








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Thanks, that's the fire access part of the trail. It's closed to motor vehicle traffic to keep it from getting torn up so we walk in and out. About a mile from where the cart's sitting the trail narrows down to a foot path to the top of the mountain.

Great stuff

Mr_Saw : Nice set up !! Is that cart made out of an old sulky ? round oak: That place is AWESOME !!!!!!

Shot of the kitchen at deer camp

Dave
I used to bear hunt around Clearbrook/Gonvick. Are you close to there?

Surely someone has more pics to add to this !!

Thanks and it is. Technically I guess it's a "race bike", or at least that's what I've been told.

Just finished putting the deck on another one so we will have two now. This one's an offset bike so we'll see how it works. I think it'll work out ok.

We're north of there. I have friends that deer hunt in that area. Pretty around there, they actually have a few hills lol.

(and deer too)

NE WI (Whelen Nut's place)


Northern WI

Chip,
Do you get to hunt the rut in Maine? I understand deer densities are quite low but these picts sure look like paradise if you're into being mobile and rattling.

Nice!

I remember those pics from a few years ago when I posted a few of them for Chip, and I remember thinking the same thing.

If we didn't know better, I'd swear it's northern MN/WI in those pictures.