Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Birth of a deer camp

The '..saints to imitate...' is from a commonly used form of the Roman Catholic liturgy (standard format for church worship).

The rest is context I whipped up to make it slide down smoothly.

Many people are uncomfortable with the word "saint". I am going to go a little off-topic to justify the word "saint".

Let's talk about Peter:
Jesus said to Simon Peter "...you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades (hell) will not overcome it." Matt 16:17 Jesus said this knowing full well that Peter would deny him, fail him, three times in the very near future.

The key word is overcome. Peter fell down. Peter was a man's man....he kept getting back up. So if Jesus can found his church on material as flawed as Peter, then we should not be shy about calling men (and women) saints, even when we know they are flawed. The key, I think, is that they keep peeling themselves off the canvas and trying to do what is good, and noble and Godly.
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Regarding outhouses, you might research "mouldering privy" using Google. They like cool weather.

Just make sure the door opens away from the house.
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Deer camp movies:
Escanaba in da Moonlight is a very good movie. I would have liked it much better if they had cut the game warden singing sequence.

Sorry to read about your cousin and good on ya for bringing in his son.

FWIW:
The family centric deer camps are the best thing a guy can do, and bringing in kids is the best thing to do to keep the camp going strong. Our Michigan camp got pretty stale when my compadre's sons stopped coming. When my son grew up a bit, I broke off and started fresh and try to get at least one of my kid's friends to come along--and encouraged my old camp compadres to do some recruiting.

Rustic is good, when camps get too civilized, they lose the feel of camp....a tent camp used to make me feel like I had been in another world for a week...or two

I've a good friend who hunted in his Dad's dilapidated camp all his life until his Dad died. He and his camp crew were all able builders, so they put up a beauty. He said things haven't been the same since...too close to being a home.

After I got out of the Navy,back in 93,I really started getting interested in hunting and fiddling with bolt guns...
We had our old family farm in Central Texas and I started my adult hunting journey....We were gonna build a shack of some sort but my Pop decided to buy an old caboose....It was a center coopla,yellow Santa Fe car with "I Follow the Leader" painted on both sides....
It was cool...It was also a ton of work to get that thing turned into a workable deer camp....I miss that place...

Very nice out house. I like the over all "look". It would need more ventlation for our hot weather. Could easily add a urnial to keep the seat dry too.

A urinal??? Don't you just step out side a few feet like the rest of us?

I was at an elk camp and they used a section of laminate counter top with a hole and seat mounted for the bench top, it sure cut out the splinters problem. Another thing they had, which was extremely nice in the mountains, was a oversized light bulb that was left on all night so that the outhouse was nice and warm.

Not when the women folks are visiting camp. That's who the out house is for anyways.

I've got running water and a flush toilet at my camp, but I still built an outhouse and put it a half mile back in the woods near our campground. It's great for when I get the call out hunting.

The shaman's outhouse

The one problem I've got with it is the mice. They moved in right away and started using the toilet paper for bedding. I made the mistake of throwing the nests down the hole and I put a box made out of 2X4 on the wall to hold the TP. I couldn't figure out where the TP kept coming from. Then I realized the mice were recycling the TP from out of the pit.

Wayfarin in that handy granola bar form has taken care of the problem for the most part. I'm using the granola bars more and more now. When I use the D-Con bait traps, the green pellets keep showing up in my boots.

Well, it's Monday morning.... arg, it sure the heck is... yuck.

We got our floor put together, our pink styrofoam sandwich trick worked very well. We now have a nice insulated floor.

I enjoyed the company of my cousin's family, we made good progress & my cousin's boy had a real good time. No lack of enthusiasm there.

I'll see about posting pictures of the floor project soon if I can get them off my daughter's camera.

Dave

Dave, I couldn't be more excited for you or that lad. It's folks like you that make this such a nice place. I'm sorry for the extreme loss you have suffered, but I'm glad you have found a way to heal other's and yourself in the process.

Don't forget a hammock. Some mosquito netting might come in handy too.

Thanks, nice of you to say I help make this a nice place. There are so many here, I just can't get over it. Campfire's full of really good people.

I just did some calling on trusses for the roof, looks like I'll be headed to Lowes this week after work one day.

We framed the north wall, but my cordless nailer ran out of juice before we could get it sheeted. I have a paslode framer/sheeter nailer that takes fuel cells to opperate. I ran empty & didn't have a spare with. We also had no loose sheeting nails along so we were kind of stuck. I think we can get the other 3 walls framed, sheeted & stood up before the weekend & Maybe we can be setting trusses Saturday & Sunday. I'll breathe easy once I get a roof over that floor system. I don't want it getting wet with the 3 layers & all, I don't know if it would ever dry out if I got water inbetween the layers of plywood & styrofoam.

It sounds like you've the makings of a fine camp. You're friends boy should be able to make a lot of good memories there. As far as building tips, the two things we did on the camp remodel that made the biggest difference were electricity and some carpeting. The carpeting was pretty basic, just right around the bunks. It helps to keep things a bit quieter when people have some business during the night. As far as electricity, that kind of became a neccessity. The original camp owners, my Dad included, all have C-Pap breathing machines. While these can be battery operated, plugging them in is much handier. Electricity also means electric guitars for Friday after Thanksgivings Filthy Song and Excessive Alcohol Consumption Jamboree. "Charlot the Harlot" sounds so much filthier when played on a Telecaster.

I've been quiet about this up until now. However, I have to agree with Trplem. Having done it both ways, electricity at deer camp is preferable. At least for me.

I camped for years in a tent with nothing but a Coleman lantern. Furthermore, it was well past opening day in 2001 before we got the electricity turned on at our current place. Sure, it ain't roughing it, but . . .

1) Light on demand
2) microwave
3) electric oil immersion heaters
4) A shallow well pump to pump water from the cistern for the flush toilet.

. . . yeah, it ain't roughing it. However, when we want to do that, we just keep rolling down the road to our campground and pitch a tent. Overall, it lets us spend more time hunting and less time on the basic necessities.

We never succumbed to the lure of the satellite TV, but I did bring down an old computer for the kids to play with when it rains.

As far as power, well I've got that generator, it's a 6500 watt unit & I can wire it to remote starter inside the cabin. I have a 6 circuit breaker panel to go with it, one 20 amp & 5-15 amp circuits. I'll put that little panel in a wall inside the cabin & pull romex in the walls for outlets & lights. I'll run my lights on a 12v circuit because I also have a power converter that one of the 15 amp circuits will be dedicated to. This will step the power down to 12 volt & provide charge for deep cycle battery pack & for the gen starting battery while the gen unit is running. This way we will have lights at any time at the flip of a switch, we will probably still light lanterns or run gas lights for any long amounts of time that light may be needed but the 12 volt lights will give that quick light for getting up in the night, waking up early before sunrise to get dressed for hunting, initial lighting for when you arrive at camp in the dark & need to get things hauled inside etc.

I will also get a small solar unit to put a trickle charge into the battery packs to keep them tended & fresh during the winter months. If we need 120 volts we will just hit the generator starter button from inside the cabin. Getting a little further into detail I also have a battery isolator to put on my generator starting battery, this will allow the starting battery to accept a charge from the power converter but it acts like a check valve in the way that it will not allow the cabin to draw power from the starting battery & drain it down. It will take a while to get all of that in place but that is the long term plan for power.

Here are a couple of pictures of the weekend progress with the floor.
first layer of sheeting down

insulation & top layer going on

top layer over half way done

4 mil plastic to keep the rain off until roof goes on

Dave,
As always your stories are great. We have a camp in Eveleth, well Makinen actually. It is 40acres surrouded by state land, a lot of state land. The owner lives there but does not hunt. He was gracious enough to let a 12 year old kid come up and hunt 18 years ago and I have been going back ever since. He has no idea the impact he has had on me, so I applaud you on taking in the kid and mentoring him at probably his greatest time of need in his young life. Excellent job. You did not get too deep or too long in your post. You are talking about hunting....we could get much deeper and longer, that is why we are here.

My bro in law will be joining me for the first time this year. He too is my best friend and the closest I have and will ever have to a brother. We to are one in the way we think and it drives our wives crazy.(the best part) Good luck with your camp and the many memories it will bring.

Tom

Tom!! Long time no speaky!!

I think the last time we click talked it was to do with comical pre deer opening ranting...

Yeah this is quite a project, I just hope to get it all fairly weather tight before deer opener so we can use it, even if we just end up on cots & cooking with coleman stoves.

The project had special purpose & meaning even prior to my cousin's death, being a life long dream of mine to be able to provide something like this for my kids and grandkids (someday), all that sort of thing. But with our recent loss & my new resposibilities with aiding in the parenting of my best friend's children... well I just have to get it ready for this season because there is one young hunter that is really counting on it.

My original camp which I am still a part of is not far from yours, we are south of Tower MN. So many good memories there. I do plan on still visiting that camp when ever I can but the needs of my own family & now our new camp members are too much for our camp on the iron range. Travel reasons (long drive), space for everyone, we just really needed a camp closer to home for my family. I'm somewhat torn between the traditions I've come to know with the old camp & the excitement of starting new with this camp.

I'll pick a weekend to still dedicate to my old camp because I just need to see those guys, it wouldn't be deer season without them.

In my last picture above you can see me doing what I do best, holding that plastic sheeting down with my butt & a bottle of beer. But I knew I couldn't hold it for ever so I had to tack those scrap strips around the outside of the floor system to hold things in place while I was not there.

North wall is up as of last night. one down, 3 to go.

I've been told that I am now "partially erect"

I'm not so sure that's a good thing so I'm going to do the best I can to get the rest of the walls standing ASAP.......

Dave,
Long time no speaky is right,I've been away for awhile working on my other outdoor passion. Walleye fishing and walleye fishing tournaments. It's been a good year on all accounts. Keep the pic's of the camp coming. We too are going to build a camp with in a few years. I was torn about the tradition thing too, but that is what the third weekend of camp is for, was the conclution I came to.

My buddy's camp floor is similar to yours, but the base is concrete. If you put some conc. block around the openings of our sub-floor, you will probably cut down on the unwanted critters inside and underneith too.

Better get those walls up the rest of the way so you can be "fully erect," half-cocked is no way to live life:')

I hear ya, walls must go up.

the whole... "foundation" debate was really something. so many theories to try to consider... all based on experience of other camps too. as you can see, I've spared no expense with my double stacked railroad tie footings

Well, we did core the ground really well with a buddy's old D4 dozer & we filled in with sand that was dug on the property, which packed very solid. it was tough to decide on a footing plan. no way I was getting a concrete truck back in there, slab was kind of out of the question because cement work is one thing I don't care to try & master.

I heard from a lot of guys that if you leave it very open under the shack it won't make a good home for critters because preditors can come at them from too many entrance points. I heard from too many guys that they attempted to make the underside of a cabin pest proof & they found that they had only created really nice dens for skunks, coons or what ever.

We're going to give this a try. if we don't like it I can pick the whole thing up with a few beams if we have to... oh lordy I hope we don't have to.

We are heading back out tonight after work to start another wall, not sure if we'll have a second one standing tonight but I know we'll be moving in the right direction.

I forgot my camera otherwise I'd have a wall pic posted, maybe tomorrow.

Good to hear from you tzone. and good fishing.

oh, I have one really good specific construction question for anyone who can help.

My roof, I have tin for the roof. My trusses will be 2' on center. what should I put under the tin, OSB (sheeting) or 1x4 perlins? (spelling?)

tick-tock, roof time is almost here & I can't decide, pro's-con's? Anyone? Carpenters?

Dave

Dave,

I put tin on the roof of our storage garage. The tin manufacturer recommended OSB and roofing felt under the tin. Haven't had a problem in a bit over three years.

As an aside I fully understand the pull of the old traditional camp and the needs of a young family. I am part of a traditional "men only" camp. Problem is I have a wife that likes to hunt and two daughters you are showing interest. A close friend invited me and my family into his camp. His idea being, if the kids want to hunt, why exclude them based on gender. So, now I hunt my new camp first w/e and during archery season. I do go back to the old camp on 3rd w/e about every other year.

Jeff

Dave...this is the first time I found your post, read the first one and it sounds like a great experience for you and your family. You're a good man making sure your cousins son has you in his life. I'm sure he's going through a lot less pain thanks to you.

Thanks for the pics, I'll be looking forward to more.

J