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A week away... What drives you?


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leech ,

ur rite how could i forget about the foods. sorry had deer on the brain lol

everyone, brings sumsum to the table. which is usually consumed the 1st nite lol

i can see, smell and darn near taste it now

pastrys from Jacks Bakery near my work, venison stiks for last yrs hunt, pickled northerns, probably sum smoked pheasants if the boys were lucky this season, smoked carp/catfish, varisous smoked cheeses....

OK now i really cant concentrate on work this wk

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The biggest thing that drives me is the just the tradition of camp. The same old stories, with some of the same old guys. Our camp has change a bit over the years, but it is still a good time. Great time spent with Dad, great time out in the woods, great times around the fire. Nothing beats laughing so hard your stomach hurts or hearing stories about the spike from 1982 that is now somehow a 150" 10 pointer!!

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leech ,

ur rite how could i forget about the foods. sorry had deer on the brain lol

everyone, brings sumsum to the table. which is usually consumed the 1st nite lol

i can see, smell and darn near taste it now

pastrys from Jacks Bakery near my work, venison stiks for last yrs hunt, pickled northerns, probably sum smoked pheasants if the boys were lucky this season, smoked carp/catfish, varisous smoked cheeses....

OK now i really cant concentrate on work this wk

I hope your not thinking of the Great Jack's Bakery that use to be in Brooklyn Park down past Fleet Farm? It closed a few months ago! cry

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Awesome thread! I just love the camaderie of deer camp, the conversations and stories that get told. I'm pretty sure we solve all of the worlds problems in one weekend! But just being around nature with the deer and squirrels having no idea you're there (for the most part); that part will never get old. There's just something about being alone in the woods that I'll never get tired of!

But this year we lost a long time member of our deer camp, a guy my dad has been hunting with since college, and a guy that was pretty much my 2nd dad, so it'll be a little weird, but hopefully Jesse can guide a buck right to me! I'll never forget how excited he was when I shot my first buck, he'll be missed!

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Awesome thread! I just love the camaderie of deer camp, the conversations and stories that get told. I'm pretty sure we solve all of the worlds problems in one weekend! But just being around nature with the deer and squirrels having no idea you're there (for the most part); that part will never get old. There's just something about being alone in the woods that I'll never get tired of!

But this year we lost a long time member of our deer camp, a guy my dad has been hunting with since college, and a guy that was pretty much my 2nd dad, so it'll be a little weird, but hopefully Jesse can guide a buck right to me! I'll never forget how excited he was when I shot my first buck, he'll be missed!

That is the sad reality of these camps too..... we never know when it will be the last camp for us or someone we know... Enjoy the camp in his honor.

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I used to go for the camaraderie but that has changed in the past 20 years due to cousins and uncles who have stopped hunting or pulled out of the hunting party for one reason or another. Now its just my dad, brother and me which is still fun, just different. I go for the meat which has allowed my family of 5 to not have to buy red meat for the past two years. And selfishly I like to go because it gives me 2 nights of good sleep that I wouldn't get at home with an 8 month old, 3 year old and 6 year old. Give me a few more years and I will enjoy hunting with all of my kids. They already enjoy walking the woods for grouse, fishing and eating everything we harvest.

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Awesome thread! But this year we lost a long time member of our deer camp, a guy my dad has been hunting with since college, and a guy that was pretty much my 2nd dad, so it'll be a little weird, but hopefully Jesse can guide a buck right to me! I'll never forget how excited he was when I shot my first buck, he'll be missed!

Sorry to hear. We have lost 5 guys altogether over the years which changes the make up of the group a little for sure. 3 of them were pretty young still. But, it is kind of nice seening the very young guys now come up and how they fit in and the stuff they try to pull on others for all the creeap they had to take when they just started out! Paybacks a Beeotch! grin

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The greatest thing about MN deer hunting is you have a half million people all sharing a resource, our great outdoors. 90% will hunt some sort of public land we all share without any issues. yes there is a bad story here and there each year about somebody sitting in another guys stand or a tresspass but the vast majority will have a great time and all get along and all share what is there for us. half million people all carrying guns with no incidents. No school shootings, no gas station hold ups, no drive by's why? because for 99% of us who hunt it was passed on to us by our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, mom's. somebody special in our lives who cared about us enough to teach us values, morals and respect of others that comes with the responsibilty of carrying a weapon and killing a animal. There is a hell of a lot more to hunting than shooting a deer and maybe if more people had the chance our country would be a better place.

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...... There is a hell of a lot more to hunting than shooting a deer and maybe if more people had the chance our country would be a better place.

AMEN to that! My goal is the same every season. Don't get shot, hopefully see a deer and ENJOY every single minute.

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How can you beat that first chickadee on opening morning that flits thru the trees that send chills thru your body, because you think it's an approaching deer...or a morning of complete blackness turning into a hint of light, and then....is that dark spot a deer?? Or how about those dang dry old oak leaves that hang on the tree only to rustle and send more chills up your spine?? Can't wait!!!!!

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leech, yes i am. OH no

sorry to hear about your lost as well.

ur right, we will nvr know if it'll be the last deer camp which makes each one very special

Jack's Bakery was the best around and even though I had to cut down on the stuff. If you get up hwy 94 this truck stop has crazy hugh and great barkey stuff as well. wink

Nelson Bros. Restaurant, Pub & Bakery of Clearwater, MN.

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Great post! And great responses.

I am fortunate to hunt SE MN on the farm my mother grew up on. My father hunted deer with buddies before I could remember but quit for reasons unknown before I was old enough to remember him hunting. However, he did take me duck hunting, pheasant hunting, and fox/coyote hunting as a kid. It was me who "took" him deer hunting when I got the bug when I was 14 or so. He had been there, done that, but I had read about deer hunting so I showed him how to do it. (insert laugh track) It quickly became our new passion. For a number of years it was one of our highlights of the year. He ended up passing away from brain cancer when I was in my sophomore year of college. Hunting was then one of my special ways of remembering him.

Coincidentally or not, his passing started a string of wall hangers for me. I went year after year with nice bucks. I had great success, yet yearned for the experience of "deer camp" up north with a bunch of great friends in the true wilderness. Instead, I would drive down south and stay with my loving aunt and uncle and hunt alone. Eventually, I invited a buddy, and then another buddy to hunt with me and stay at my aunt and uncles. It's funny looking back at it. I was so competitive that I hoped that they only shot does and that I got the big buck. Then, one of them shot a big buck and I was happy and we celebrated. I was as happy as if I shot the buck myself. Before I knew it, I had my own version of an "up north deer camp."

Now, that we are all in our 30s, I cherish the limited time that we get to spend together because we are all so busy. We all still have our same goals, and we definitely hunt differently with varying success, but we are a team. I love sharing my recap of my day and hearing what they experienced. I also love hearing what is going on in their lives.

I also love shooting deer so big that they secretly hate me. :-)

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These are great stories and help us pass the time before its time to go deer hunting again.

I started out duck and pheasant hunting first out at Baker's Lake west of the cities in the late 70s, and later on a friend's farm in the Windom area.

My wife and I spent a year in the Spooner Wisconsin area at my family's cabin in the mid eighties. We had 120 acres, and while grouse hunting I saw a lot of deer sign so I got the itch and started learning on my own. I had bought a left handed Browning Nomad bow from a friend at college for $25 and got to know it well. I would find a likely spot and climb up an oak tree and sit on a branch. I shot a spike buck that walked right under my tree with my bow on one of my first sits.

During the rifle season I borrowed a WWII vintage 30.06 and I saw deer, but I also saw lot of other hunters wandering all over the woods. The friends took me out on a few deer drives. It didn't do much for me, and after my father sold the cabin, I got out of deer hunting all together until we moved up to far northern MN in 1989.

I found that I could walk out my door and hike all day in any direction, and I often did returning with sore legs, limits of grouse, a few hares, the rare duck or two, and lots of new information about all that I would find. I extrapolated that information to my deer hunting and shot a deer my first season. I walked and walked seeing the signs, all kinds of animals and their actions, and through all kinds of weather, including deep snow and very cold temps some years. I carried out many moose and deer shed horns. I can recall seeing another hunter in the woods two times in almost 10 seasons. One time I came across an Indian friend who was under a spruce tree with a small warming fire during a wet snowfall and visited with him before moving on.

One year I didn't get a deer or had even seen much. The following year, I was deep into the season without seeing much, and having a slight downturn in confidence, when I ended up shooting two mature eight pointers during still hunting on consecutive days. I was already deeply hooked.

Now we have a cabin on the some of the land we split off from our original homestead and I return to rekindle all the great memories and make even more. A few people have come and gone from my camp, including my brother, who never took to the big woods deer hunting with any enthusiasm, but loves grouse hunting up there. I now have a cousin, a high school friend who I started my hunting with, our two boys who were born up there, and another newer friend. Our 22 year old daughter has now also expressed interest in learning to get her own meat of the type she was raised on.

We also have a "neighborhood " contingent of friends, who live there and join in for dinners at different people's homes where we socialize and ponder at night over the days hunt. That is one of the best times, to hear the stories each hunter has on the their day and differing perspectives, as each hunter has a slightly different route, stand, strategy and theory.

When I hear the rare shot, I usually know who it is, although more private land has been sold or changed hands since we moved away 15 years ago. With familiarity, better maps and GPS, the scope of the woods seems a little smaller to me now than when I was going on instinct and a compass, but I will never loose my wonder and still yearn for new discoveries each year of all the little nocks and crannies that I still happen across.

As things progress through the seasons I realize that each year deer camp takes on a slightly different character, beyond all the things that never change mentioned by many here. Whether we hang a precious few or many deer, it is the nuances of each season that stand out the most to me nowadays. Some years it may be one particularly intense and unique experience like the time I had a pack of wolves upwind of one of my stands ripping apart a deer. I listened until they were quiet and walked back about 150 yards to find the scene along with the head and horns of a very large buck. Some years it is more subtle things like seeing more owls, hares, woodpecker, martin, pine grosbeaks, etc. than normal.

Another thing that makes deer hunting so great to me is the time of year itself, which corresponds with the more muted, yet often dramatic lighting of the sun's angle this time of year, as well as the palpable feeling of being on the verge of the mystery and challenge posed by the inevitable deep, dark northern winter.

I have kept a detailed journal of all my outdoor pursuits going back to sporadic entries from Spooner, WI, to very detailed notes staring in 1989. Looking back and reading each season, each year, makes the memories as vivid as that very day, especially the deer hunting entries. There is nothing at all like deer season.

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All of it, wanting to out smart a nice buck or at least be in the right place at the right time when he wanders by is very high on my list.

Hunting the same stand opening morning, listening to the guns go off wondering who is firing each shot.

Dressing light to walk to your stand & trying to walk slow & still getting sweaty anyway.

Gradually putting on all those clothes that made your arms ache carrying them to the stand & still being a little chilly.

The camaraderie as we touch base & see who saw or shot what.

Deciding how long to sit this stand, should I move? if so where to?

Eating sandwiches & candy bars, drinking coffee, all of it.

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Alright here it is:

the kids

the deer

the rituals

the friends

the outdoors

the family

the birds/animals I see

the mice in the cabin

the equipment

the stands

the memories

the tradition

the being part of something

the meat pole

the stories

the other shots

the congratulations

the excitement I feel when others get their deer

the pictures

the campfire

the food

the drink

the packing

the dragging

the joking

the quiet

the mystery

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MahtowaDave - Sums it up nicely.

BTW:

"the other shots"

One time while driving back to Grand Portage with a friend, he told me Mahtowa is probably an English version of the Ojibwa word Madwewe'an, meaning "heard as a gun shot off in the distance."

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Alright here it is:

the kids

the deer

the rituals

the friends

the outdoors

the family

the birds/animals I see

the mice in the cabin

the equipment

the stands

the memories

the tradition

the being part of something

the meat pole

the stories

the other shots

the congratulations

the excitement I feel when others get their deer

the pictures

the campfire

the food

the drink

the packing

the dragging

the joking

the quiet

the mysteryquote].

THe finger that pokes through the dry leaves because you forgot toilet paper

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Great post & question! While I still enjoy harvesting and eating venison the last few years the real enjoyment has been introducing a few different kids to hunting and fishing. My dream would be to start a fishing and hunting camp for kids like this who love the outdoors but don't have many opportunities.

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every year the closer to Friday it gets the more I miss going to a "deer camp" even if I see more deer now staying home and hunting! There is just something about the excitement and the camaraderie of deer camp that just can't be duplicated!! Good Luck to everyone leaving early to the north woods!! Be safe

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