This writer has always felt that hunting camps are very special places.
My youthful excursions with my father included staying at the 40-man army surplus tent that my father and his cronies used as cam when hunting deer in New Hampshire. During the 1960s, they would find a place near the middle of the Granite State because the state was divided into a northern and southern zone with the northern half opening earlier. The tent was a magical place for this 12-year-old boy who had passed Hunter Education, taught by legendary Game Warden Arthur Lovely, and was fired up by reading every issue of Outdoor Life and Field & Stream magazine.
Carrying the Winchester Model 94 lever action rifle, chambered for the larger .32 Winchester Special instead of the more common 30-30 Winchester caliber, my father and I had refinished the stock at home and it was something that we both took great pride in. The box of cartridges, a gift from my father’s friend Ed Donnelly, were right in front of the gun cabinet and ready for the arrival of Veteran’s Day, the traditional start of the season.
The food at the tent was outstanding because my mother, Bea Jean, Irma LaBonte and the others were fabulous cooks with baked goods and pies galore. There was a jeep that carried hunters to their favorite spots and that was the beginning of my love affair with camps.
It has been my good fortune to spend time in a few camps in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York, and they vary from quite well constructed to somewhat rickety. All share the charm that is generated by hunters living away from home and planning each move to outsmart a white-tail, or a gobbler, or grouse and woodcock.
There was a time, during the 1986 World Series, to be exact, when my focus was on a hunting camp on Indian Stream in Pittsburg, New Hampshire, that was for sale. It was unique in that it belonged to a snowmobile club and the floor was macadam. There was one large room with a 55-gallon stove and bunks along the wall. Using a borrowed video camera, a tape was made to show others to get an opinion as to whether the $10,000 price was a good value. The location, right at the top fork of Indian Stream Road, was outstanding, but converting it to what my perception of a hunting camp should be was more work and money that yours truly and my chosen “experts” thought it was worth.
Early in my years, going to New York to bird hunt, a camp up the road came up for sale. Again, a lot of thought and deliberation went on but again, I passed. Don’t have any real regrets in either case. Visiting a camp is much better, in so many ways, than owning the camp. My problem is that when hunting season comes, I want to be everywhere doing everything. Fall is just too short! Fortunately, it has been possible to relive fall by traveling to Alabama at the start of the year. January is the peak of the white-tail deer rut down south, so it’s another hunting camp experience when we stay at “Campbell’s Cabin.” Brother-in-law John has done a great job building the cabin. He and my niece’s husband, Andrew Sawyer, are now actively managing the land to enhance the wildlife value and it is paying dividends with more deer, wild turkeys and even coveys of quail!
Andrew has been coming to New England in the fall as part of our home-and-home arrangement, but he is busy right now awaiting the birth of his first child, due the second week of October. Talk about poor planning! Hopefully he will be able to get some scouting done in advance of January! January plans for this year included a possible trip to George Hi Plantation in North Carolina. The plan was to try to do some woodcock and quail hunting as the season runs through the last day of January, but the impact of the recent mega-storms has still not been determined.
My mind is focused on the camp in New York and the list of things to be brought on the long trip is constantly being reviewed. You hate to over-pack, but you also don’t like to take hunting time to travel the long jaunt to town to get things you forgot. Guns, ammo, dog food and boots top the list and things are constantly added and subtracted. It would require a trailer to haul everything you want, but instead, we focus on what we actually need.
Locally, deer hunters will be out with the stick and string Monday when bow season opens. There certainly have been a lot of reports of sightings so this should be a good season. Some have indicated that the rut seems to be a little early and that bodes well for the local Robin Hoods.