Headed Out

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See you there…

The Mrs. and I were shopping at a certain Mart and something caught my eye.  I didn’t get a close look at it, but I read the label good enough to catch the name:  Anti Monkey Butt Powder.

I love their description…

This sweat-absorbing, friction-fighting wonder powder will keep you gloriously dry and comfortable during everyday manly activities…like chainsaw juggling.

Hunting in a winter wonderland…

I figured it’d be good to take a break from the series on our Family’s Deer Camp to show a picture of the Mrs.’ doe she got this past Saturday.

The Mrs. and I decided to sit together.  I had gotten a deer earlier so it was her turn.  We got there right at sunrise, a little later than I like.  After sitting for sometime, Amy looked over at me and expressed her disappointment – we hadn’t even seen a squirrel yet and it was already 9:30.  Not 10 minutes later she tells me she sees a deer on the opposite ridge from where we were sitting.  I honestly thought she was kidding, but when I looked at her face, I knew she wasn’t.  After about 3 minutes, I finally saw said deer and could tell it was a doe.

She crossed over the ridge heading away from us and we lost sight for a few minutes.  She finally crossed back over and headed in our direction.  We both had our scopes on her the entire time.  There were a good 3-4 minutes when I had a clear shot, but I knew it was Amy’s deer.  As the deer finally crossed in front of us on an old roadbed, Amy bayed (made a noise that kinda sounds like a cow with a congestion problem) and the doe stopped in her tracks.  Amy squeezed the trigger and that was that.  I got to watch the entire thing happen through my own scope and it was really cool to watch.  It was just as exciting to watch as if I were the one squeezing the trigger.

We forgot our camera in the woods, so it’s not much of a scenic shot, but it was a good doe.  We actually had a fair amount of venison leftover from last season, and I harvested a doe during early muzzleloader (more on that later!).  We’ve found that 2 deer yield enough venison for us for a year.  With the leftovers from last year, and my deer, we realized that we only needed half a deer so we’re letting a friend have half of this doe’s venison.

Once we’ve harvested what we need, we always offer up what we shoot to friends so at this point, we’re hunting for others.  We figure it’s a way or us to be able to continue to hunt, which we love, and also provide a service to friends.

There are many reasons our family loves Deer Camp every year.  There’s (of course) the hunting, spending time together, being out in the woods, camping, a lot of things.  But one aspect of Deer Camp that we all look forward to, and take much time to consider ahead of time, is the food.  This year, we even had a typed out schedule we prepped ahead of time.  We (of course) didn’t keep to that schedule, but at least we knew what the menu had to offer.

Everyone contributes to  the menu, which I think is a great way to do it.  Some of the meals included Chicken Bbq via crockpot, Uncle Fred’s (my actual uncle) homemade beanie weenies with grilled cheese, Uncle Arv’s (another uncle of mine) braised sirloin tip, Chili and many more.

I’m not sure if there’s a camp-favorite or not when it comes to meals, but one for certain is my Uncle Ed’s (yeah, the 3rd and final Uncle on this side of the family) Dutch Oven meal (desert included).  This year Ed made a Chicken pot-pie  in 2 ovens – a 12-inch AND a 10-inch.  There were some leftovers.  He also made a peach cobler in another 10-inch oven.  This was a dump-cake style cobler where I believe the only wet ingredient was a can of Mountain Dew.

Here’s a visual…

Nothing like a good meal served up by the light and sound of a Coleman lantern.

As for drinks, the Pepsi Co. loves us.  We had the occasional Mich Ultra.  And, we also had our fair share of Vernors.  If you’ve not yet had Vernors Ginger Ale, you should try it.  It’s the most unique ginger ale you’ll probably ever take a sip of.

Then there were the breakfasts.  Woah.  I do love the breakfasts.  Probably the most memorable breakfast was the Sunday morning at the end of Camp.  We had…

bacon,

eggs (that's Dad cooking),

and plenty of coffee.

The meals were good and I’m already looking forward to next year’s menu.

For the past 17 years, my Dad and his 3 brothers have taken a week out of Virginia’s early muzzle-loader season to camp and hunt.  Since the Mrs. and I were joined under God’s holy union, we’ve started participating in this annual event.  Deer Camp – as it is called – has come a long way.  I believe in the early years, the brothers would pull up onto a flat plane in the Nat’l Forest and sleep in the back of pickup trucks, covered by a tarp not quite the size of the bed.  It didn’t take them long to learn that there were better ways to camp; they were, afterall, accomplished Boy Scouts.

These days, the brothers pull up campers and my Dad even has a small utility shed – turned cabin.  This thing is awesome.  He’s rigged it up with cabinets and countertop, a bunk bed, electricity, and a banquette (L-shaped booth) that used to be in my grandparents’ house.  Here are some pictures of camp…

That’s the camp.  More pictures coming soon of the good stuff (food & harvested deer).  Till then…

Sorry I haven’t posted anything here for a while.  I’ve been pretty busy prepping the future man-nook (I won’t have a full cave, but have been allowed commandeered a nook).

More to come soon…