Someone says deer camp, it might be a wall tent hauled out of canoe after nine portages into new and very unfamiliar territory, and they do it year after year, regardless of tags filled or unfilled.
They just gotta see new country and enjoy the truly unknown. And then there’s the bunch who hunt the same shack deer after deer, year after year. Each person knows well in advance which is their stand, and they almost have every tree memorized cause they’ve set it so many deer seasons in a row.
Stands at deer camp, not a chance, they do spot and stalk, hoping for a fresh skiff of snow, sling over the shoulder and out the cabin door, grab a track and go, compass of course, but the course in the great game of pursuit. One goes sidehill along an oak ridge, and another has a favorite cedar swamp they like to skirt around and, in low water years, hike its interior.
And bless their hearts, the ones, unfortunately, that don’t have a deer camp, begging for an invite to yours. And of course we do. Sure, you give them the best stand you got.
They brought a cherry pie, cut more firewood than you could use in two deer seasons, and almost to a tee, they knock down the biggest buck that fall. Yup, that’s a Minnesota deer camp, or at least one of 10,000 of them.
- The Trout Whisperer
