When most of us think of hunting season, we probably have a different idea of what that actually means compared to the next guy. Do most of you hunt day to day and travel between your house and hunting property each day or do you have a cabin/camp that you go to and actually make camp and hunt for extended periods? Or do you do both depending on the time of season? Does anyone film and document their deer camp experience beyond just the hunting itself? Maybe I'm weird (well I know I am), but I enjoy seeing what other people do at their camp, their traditions, seeing their camp, deer hang pole, how/what they cook, if they have electricity, solar, gas, or a generator, etc.,. I spent about 2 hours on YouTube the other day watching a few videos about a group of guys at deer camp who rifle hunt in PA and majority of the videos wasn't even hunting. It was just nice watching their day to day activities leading up to and including the first few days of hunting season. I enjoyed it because it brought me back to some really good memories of deer camp growing up and it was like I was back at that place or with the people in the video. I was curious if anyone else films their deer camp experience or if they enjoy watching stuff like that. This is the first year that my cabin will be livable during the winter months and I'll be there for an extended period of time during the rut to hunt so I've been excited.
I do both, kinda. I hunt at home, alone. I am also not a video kind of guy. I also go to deer camp in Wisconsin, there are around a dozen people in camp each year. I don't hunt it is during gun season I am in logistics and camp cook it is always a good time. I am sure that if I had a go pro on it would be R rated based on language and content.
I am blessed enough to have some of the best deer hunting around right in my backyard. We only own 52 acres there but it holds some awesome bucks and we have plenty of action there all season. However, I also "commute" to several other places to hunt to never pressure one spot too much. A little over three years ago, I started dating a girl whose family loves to deer hunt. They have some amazing land with a beautiful old cabin on not far at all behind their house surrounded by hardwoods and agriculture. When i hunt with them, then it's the hunt camp lifestyle and I love it. No electricity, just propane lanterns. My girlfriends dad is always the first person to invite anyone to spend a weekend back there and just enjoy it. Many big bucks have been killed, and hung at that cabin. I'll attach a picture of a turkey my younger brother killed during youth season a couple years back there. We woke up later than we wanted, rolled out of beds in the cold cabin, and went out and he killed a bird before 6. It's definitely a memory he and I won't forget. As far as videoing, I have started with a buddy trying it out. I love hunting by myself but when you have another person in the tree to share it with and document the hunt, I feel like it's all the better.
I've done both. The deer camp experience in the Adirondacks back in NY is one of the most fun and favorite memories I have of hunting. We are 3-4 miles off the road, on a generator and outhouse, and we haul in all of our own water and food. For a couple days at a time each weekend we get to forget about all of the stresses of regular life, we drink and eat like kings, and the ball busting that occurs in that place is legendary. And once in a while (not often) we actually kill a deer. I miss that a LOT. These days, most all of my hunting is done either alone, or in a very small group of guys where I either commute from home, or stay in cheap hotels. We hit the bar at night usually for food and a couple beers, then head back so we can hunt the next day. We have fun, just not the kind of fun I was used to in the Adirondacks. With that said, we kill deer and big ones at that on a pretty consistent basis. It's by far the best hunting I've ever experienced where everyone usually gets an opportunity to kill a P&Y deer every year and someone is seeing 160"+ deer every year on the properties. I really hope that someday in the near future (5 or so years) I can buy my own piece of ground to hunt. Something in the 50-100 acre range. Something I can build a small camp on yet also have the top end hunting with big deer that I've grown accustomed to over the past few years so that I can introduce my son to the camp life and also have a top end place to hunt.
This is what I dream about when I think of the ideal deer camp. I only have 9 acres but I have a small 12x20 off grid cabin powered and heated by solar and a wood burning stove that is just now becoming deer camp ready. The structure itself has been built for the past 2 years but I had to finish the interior and make it livable. I've finally reached that point and I am just pumped for my 10 day stretch from November 3-13 where I'll be on vacation and there living the camp life and hunting for a buck right smack in the middle of the rut. I can't wait!
I travel two hours but stay at my dad's house. Our hunting property is 70 acres he owns and lives on and then another 1500 acres or so of private land we are allowed to hunt only 10 minutes away from his house. I've also seen a lot of videos on YouTube and would love to set up camp somewhere to hunt multiple days in a row by either driving in or backpacking into an area away from civilization. I really like the Hushin channel on YouTube and watched this video they put together. It includes archery and gun hunting and has a lot of footage of their camp life tool. #HUSHLIFE THE MOVIE [OFFICIAL] - YouTube
I generally make the trek every day I hunt. On occasion I will stay with some family members but I feel like I an infringing so I keep it at a minimum.
When I started hunting the current land I get access to hunting camp was trailer with an outside room added for a woodstove, no running water, and a outhouse. Had electricity so it wasn't all bad. Today that has been upgraded to a 4bdrm prefab house on a full basement, garage that holds 3 cars on one end with atvs, projection TV for those important football games. It is about a hour from where I live so during archery season I head up for a few weekends. sister-in-law and family who live in it now along with father-in-law and myself. On the weekends I don't head up I have an area about close by that I can get in and out either on foot or boat depending on where on the land I am setting up. Once Rifle season comes around, the population in the "shack" increases. We eat well, one night of steaks, another with Crab legs and lobster. Try to have every meal prepared by somebody else until Thanksgiving. After that it is leftovers. Many years ago we would hit the booze pretty good, even to the point where I probably shouldn't have been in the woods with a gun, wasn't a danger though because I pretty much slept 1/2 the day in the stand. As the main hunters and now the kids are just getting into it, we do not party as hard as we did when we were younger. Once the next generation becomes of legal age that might change again.
Always a camp from probably middle school through college. After that I started doing hunts and hunting family farm and no camp. There were some good times at camps though. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
It's probably going to bore you to death and I'm not saying they're the kings of hunting knowledge, it's mostly just puttering around the cabin, cooking food, sipping on beer/bourbon, and a few funny camp happenings, nothing major. But for me it was a trigger that lead my thoughts to memories of the past. It's a father and son duo who both film their own version of deer season. Whiterook85 (dad) and Syntax77 (son) and they each have their own video for each of the the past 3 PA rifle seasons: Whiterook85: PA Deer Camp 2013 - YouTube PA Deer Camp 2014 - YouTube PA Deer Camp 2015 - YouTube Sintax77: 'Go Time Camp' 2013 - Pennsylvania Buck Season - YouTube 'Go Time Camp' 2014 - PA Deer Hunting Trip - YouTube 'Go Time Camp' 2014 - PA Deer Hunting Trip - YouTube
I'm definitely going to take more pics and possibly video this year. My gpa and uncle own our deer camp. Its around 100 +/- acres that butts up th the Shawnee National Forest in Southern IL. This is where we Shotgun hunt and ill sneak a couple bow hunts in. It went from an old farm house that you could see daylight through the roof, had buckets everywhere to collect the leaks, and hope you like sharing your sleeping bag with mice.... to a couple trailers that werent much better, to a nice home that will sleep 20 people fully stocked with 3 full bathrooms and a loaded bar! I would still never give one day back of the way it was when we roughed it. I still get sad when I look at the remains of our old Hanging Tree. A huge oak that finally bit the dust. Now it's just a rotted stump. There were times when there would be more than a dozen deer hanging from that tree. Now we have a hanging station made out of 2" Black iron pipe and pulleys. I could go on and on. I will cry when my 3 cousins inherit that place and sell it.
Keep the stories coming! I would love to see some videos after this deer season too, even if you just sit the camera down and film a few people sitting around the wood stove drinking beer and BSing, it's just fun to see how others do deer camp and all the camaraderie, ball busting, and hunting stories.
I'm very blessed I have a 100 block behind my house then a 200 block that joins mine with no others hunters hunting the property.Then I have a50 less than 5 miles away with no others bow hunters hunting the property.On the 100 and 200 block of land, no guns are allowed Bow hunting only.All private land.
I would enjoy those kinds of videos as well! Some of my best memories are from deer camp up in Bradford county back in the mid 70s. We rented this camp for the first week of "buck season" each year, and I remember the anticipation, yep that's it, the anticipation of getting up there and hunting with my Dad, BIL, and a couple buds. We killed deer up there every year, buck or doe, it was just being up there with those people that really mattered.
This guy films everything he does... I love his videos. I have not watched this one yet, it looks a little long, but check it out. DEER HUNTING 2015 "The Movie" MN Opening Week. - YouTube You will find out he likes to cook.... LOL!
