Deer Camp

Deer Camp
Setup and First Day

    Of all a mans pursuits in life there’s hardly another that compares to the yearly trek to deer camp.  While there are almost twelve full months since the end of the last deer camp until the start of another the preparation usually begins days if not hours before the trip begins.  Yearly the question is asked, ‘why is it that while we knew this was coming we wait until the last minute to get things together”?  That being said this is how the preparation goes.  Keep in mind that while the word ‘preparation’ is used it is really not as prepared as the word might suggest.  Preparation starts with the customary question ‘what do you want to eat’?  The answer from all parties is standard from year to year and goes something like this ‘I don’t care, whatever you want’.  Thus it is implied that everyone will bring what he wants to eat.  The result is 73 coolers full of every imaginable food on the face of the planet.  Of which approximately 1-½ coolers will be emptied in the course of the hunting season.  That is with the exception of beer coolers, which are kept separate from the food coolers for obvious reasons.  Beer storage consist of another 73 coolers which are intended to get all four campers through the first weekend at which time a beer/ice run will need to be made.  For you non-hunters the beer is kept separate from the food so a person doesn’t accidentally mistake a biscuit tube for a fresh cold beer.  Understand?  Can you imagine the surprise on the face of an unsuspecting hunter after opening a biscuit instead of a beer?  Not to mention the difference in carbs.  We still like to keep an eye on our middle.  Maybe because that’s what we see when we look down, but that’s a different story entirely.  How did we get so far off track?  Back to deer camp preparation.  After shuttling several pickup loads of food and beer to camp living arrangements begin to arrive.  Tents, camp trailers, awnings and all manor of modern comforts are shuttled hurriedly in anticipation of the opening morning of deer season. 

As midnight arrives half erected tents and un-level camp trailers become sleeping quarters for the weary hunters.  As the hunter-gatherers of our family we are expected to bring home a winter’s worth of meat.  We take this responsibility seriously.  No hunter wants to be known as a vegetarian, as hunters know that is in Indian word meaning ‘bad hunter’.  A good night rest is imperative for a successful daybreak hunt.  The setup crew staggers off to bed after emptying the first batch of beer coolers in full support of the first beer run.  Camp looks good.

Dawn arrives much too early, catching the campers unaware.  About five hours later the first bleary eyes begin to open.  ‘Oh my, it must be almost six o’clock by now’.  It’s actually 10:45.  The hunters decide it’s too late for an early morning hunt, besides the deer were up feeding all night and had bedded down at dawn.  A late hunt would be much better.  ‘Great’ some say, this will give us time to finish setting up tents and leveling camp trailers.  Others are thrilled to sleep a little longer and spend some time in a good book.  As the work progresses it becomes vividly plain the campers were not as prepared as they would have liked.  Where are the tent pegs?  Who brought blocks to level the camp trailer?  Have you seen the propane cooker?  Are the propane bottles in the trailer?  Well at least we have plenty of food.