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Are Hunting camps dying out ?

13K views 105 replies 56 participants last post by  DennyF 
#1 ·
I don't hear many folks talking about going to camp for deer hunting like i use to ?
Some of my family has had a camp for years and years. They slacked off going there a few years back due to the lack of deer but still go for bear season. Bears have gotten scarce there now also so they don't get excited about that season now ?
All of the original camp builders have long since passed away and their kids are now grandparents? The grandchildren have no desire to go sleep in a cabin nor hunt for a couple of days on ruffing it.
 
#63 ·
Sure there dying. I keep hearing no deer, no access, no time, yada, yada.
my camp is on Rt 46 south of Betula. We've owned the property for 70 years. 12,000acres of games lands in the back and front yard. 217,000 acres of Elk state forest just over the mountain. Should be able to find a spot there. also, if you want to lease, there's plenty of leases looking for guys.
hunting up north is just not a priority anymore. The bucks are bigger, just not lots like before HR. too many things compromise guys time, and going away for a few days just doesn't cut it. easier to hunt back yard deer and keep on the good side of the wife.
We saw a big loss after the steel industry dropped in the '80s around our area.
My grandfather died on his stand in 1979 the year of the big rain on opening day. We still carry on many of the traditions that he started in 1935 when he first came up north and stayed with a friend. He bought our place in 1947. back then it was considered a privledge to be invited to a camp, and to me it still is.
Drive down 46 south towards the end of the first week of buck season, we are usually the only camp in. Our best day last year was opening Friday!
 
#67 ·
We have a camp in the ANF near Barnes. Been hunting the area steady since 1976. Both my sons, now 30 and 25, learned to hunt and love the big woods. That being said, it's difficult to continue that love for hunting when you hunt hard for 5 to 7 days of archery season and 3 hunters may see 3-5 deer in that time frame. We have hunted the entire first week since we started hunting in 76. The past 3 years, some of our crew hasn't seen a day in 2 or 3 days. We do hunt off the beaten path and put on multiply drives during our stay. IMO the lack of deer is the main reason guys don't head north to hunt. We had two new hunter join our group three years ago, two of the three has not seen a deer on the first day. I give them credit for staying with the sport. We hunt Westmoreland County for the late muzzle loader season and manage to put a good amount of deer in front of them. I think that is what brings them back.
We did shot some dandy bucks the first couple years after AR, but they have become few and far between. IMO the lack of deer is what is keeping hunters out of camps. I know there are quite a few guys who would come to my place if they simply would see a few more deer. This past year was the first year since 1976 that our camp was shut out on bucks. It's gotten so bad that half our hunting group in actually going to Missouri to duck hunt the second week of buck season. A couple years ago, that would not have been a consideration.
 
#70 ·
I belong to a beautiful camp in Clinton county in the Spoul.....It gets used but in spurts because all of us are spread to the 4 winds. I can honestly tell you it would get used much more if we could hunt Sundays.
Especially in turkey season! Lots of birds and fun hunting up there but man is it hard to muster the energy for a 3hr drive up on a Friday night after work for Saturday hunting only....and until noon at that for 1/2 the season. I would probably be there every weekend if I could squeeze 2 days in and correct the mistakes I made on Saturday :grin2:

6hrs driving at 15mpg on turkey season sleep for 6hrs of hunting is hard to justify.
 
#71 ·
Is lack of deer in the big woods the only reason camps are dying out? Absolutely not. Is it a main reason; you bet. I know a person with a camp in the ANF area that gave up going to camp and buying a hunting license because he says he's "not giving the GC anymore of his money when there's no deer around to hunt". I think a lot of PA hunters feel this way.
Bring back the deer herd and you would see a revitalization of the deer camps in NC PA. A good place to start would be by PA hunters refusing to shoot does. Study after study has shown that this is the single most important thing the average person can do to improve the local deer population. Think about it.
 
#73 ·
Anyone who thinks that there are no deer in the ANF better go and open their eyes a little. It is APPARENT to the most casual of observers that the deer herd there has been on the increase for the past several years. If there were any hunters actually in the woods in the ANF anymore, a lot of people would be surprised at how many deer they would see.
 
#78 ·
Well at 82 and having hunted in the N C area for (god willing) 70 years coming, my observations are as follows.
As for deer numbers, you cant arrive at a camp in Sinnemahoning for example, on Sunday afternoon, take a ride up 872 to the state park and back, and see 50 deer like years ago. Fact is you might see none.
And you wont be seeing the big herds of 35 doe and a 3" spike either.
Fact is the deer have had to reinvent themselves in order to survive the long seasons, and even more so, the predators we didn't have back then including more bears and Bobcats. But it seems to me hunter methods and attitude hasent changed much other than blaming something else like not enough deer.
Nothing in life stays the same, you either adapt, get out, or go broke, like many businesses, or ***** about the bad situation.
I have no doubt in my mind that the odds for a dedicated hunter to kill a big buck in
Cameron county are better now than at any time in my life. And if your not real fussy,
you could have one pretty much every year the weather cooperates. Ditto with turkeys,
better now than ever.
No doubt camp interest is dying compared to years back. I see it in our own camp even though the younger members had no outlay of time and cash to create it.
That dosent make them bad people, just that there are so many other things today older hunters didn't have access to.
For that mater take a poll as to how many of the 25 year olds feel about other things, including the direction of this country.
We have much bigger problems than the loss of interest in camps and hunting.
 
#82 ·
Some camps are still doing well with hunter numbers, others like mine, are not. The wife and I have owned the place for over 25 years, and when we first started it the camp was dang near full, not anymore. It will sleep 9 in beds, a few more if one doesn't mine the couch or easy chair, but 6 or 7 hunters is ideal. I believe the most I had for overnight last year was 5 in bear season, we had a total of 14 hunters , but the rest just came for the day. We have loss a few due to having to leave way to soon, some that just moved on, and some due to life changes as far as overnight stays go. Bottom line is , if you want to have a full camp in todays world you need, tv service, indoor toilets for the women folks, and cell phone/ internet for the young folks. I would say the TV is most important, too many people just don't want to miss sports, and an ample supply of game in the area doesn't hurt anything.
The days of seeing this I feel are long gone.



I sure a lot of people on here have seen this camp, and would be surprised where it's located, though it doesn't look like this anymore. It's been remodeled to the hilt so I'm not surprised. If you like to spend a few days in it, it's available for rent from the DCNR.
 
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#84 ·
We got two bucks and a bear in rifle camp. We also got a buck and a doe in archery. Not too bad. We had our worst archery season in years, though. It seemed like all the deer left our mountain for the month of October. The bottom of the mountain, up to about half way up, was loaded with acorns. Our property has zero oaks. I think the deer just moved a mile to get all those acorns. We have browse and food plots.
 
#90 ·
I can picture him in my mind, he has done a few skulls for me, also others in our camp.
They do some really nice work there, the wood elk head Cliff did is real art.
Anybody who is in denial as to the amount of really nice bucks in the big woods area, should visit that shop toward the end of buck season and get a reality check.
 
#87 ·
Those are nice bucks in that photo. We had a couple like that right after AR took effect. Haven't seen to many like that the past couple years. I see the date on the archery kill was 2011, there were definitely a few running around then. I guess we all enjoy different things about hunting, I still get excited seeing deer. Big racks, small racks or any in between. Just isn't near as much excitement in the ANF these days. This is probably hurting the newbies to the sport more than they ones who have killed their share.
 
#88 ·
If its hurting the newbies, then maybe the newbies weren't cut out for hunting! I had a 14 yr old this year that has not shot at a deer since he started hunting at 10. Well this year was his year and he got 2 deer, a buck and a doe, so he's hooked.. It took the kid 4 years and he never wavered. I'm sick and freaking tired of the cry babies on here who can't kill a deer. Once again, if ya put a little time in here in PA, killing a deer is easy!!
 
#89 ·
The deer herd was at it's lowest point in 2005 and has been on a slow but steady increase every year since.We still don't have big herds of deer running around but if you know what they need and when they need it,you can still find plenty.Archery season can be slow because there's more food for the deer and the deer don't have to be on their feet searching.Last year my son and I saw a grand total of 12 deer the entire archery season.We change tactics during rifle season and we see a lot more.My son has never experienced seeing a lot of deer per day so his expectations aren't high.However,he has learned that his chances will come if he does everthing right and he's never once complained about being bored or wanted to go home early.We hunt fresh sign so we know the deer are there.
 
#91 ·
Cliff used to do about 120 deer per year with only about three averaging a spread over 20 inches.Now he routinely does over 400 with about 60 having spreads over 20".He has a small spindly 12" 8 point in his shop that they mounted in 1981.It was the biggest buck they did that year.The quality of the deer and the quality of the habitat is light years better today than it was 30 years ago.
 
#93 ·
To see the decline in the old style hunting camp and the rise of the new generation one only has to look at our group. When my dad started hunting our group stayed in a motel unit we became friends with a farmer who had a cabin on his father's property. We hunted three adjoining properties one owned by the farmer, the other by his father and the third we leased from Glatfelter paper. For the most part they only hunted rifle season and might only come up once or twice a year for archery. They had many good years of hunting from that cabin until the old farmer had to rent it out at which point we stayed in the basement of his old farm house. This was when I started hunting back in 2004, at that point our camp was comprised of 4 families each with 9 of us crammed into this tiny basement.

That spring the farmer's father sold his farm and we searched around to find a new place to stay. By the end of the summer we found a partially finished house on 12 acres we turned into our hunting camp. My grandfather passed away before hunting season and by the following year the farmer's father went crazy, drove his family away and stole the lease from us which made for a hard year of hunting. This really marked the end of our old style hunting camp with the four families getting together twice a year in the old farm house for rifle season.

The rise of the new generation of hunting camp really started when got our own cabin and became much better friends with the farmer and his family. This led to us buying more property and my dad, my brother and me started going up more year round and helping them plant food plots, cut a shooting range and adding ATV trails through the thick pine trees. We started the tradition of bringing a group of friends up for the early junior rifle season, we still continue it to this day though all the juniors have grown up. We also started bringing more friends along to hunt with us some of which had never really got to hunt before.

So while my family has become more involved, my uncle and his sons were coming up less. They came up quite a bit when we first got the cabin however over the years my uncle had to work more weekends and the sons just weren't as interested in hunting. One has stopped hunting and only comes up to hang out on opening weekend while the other only hunts rifle season and could only hunt the first Saturday for doe. They were both more concerned with football and other sports growing up so hunting was always seen as the twice a year event after thanksgiving. Based on this trend I don't see my cousins really getting their future children into hunting the way my family is.

Additionally the change to buck only for the first week has really put a damper on our opening day, while we still have the camaraderie of deer camp it is hard to muster the excitement to rush into the woods at 5:30 am knowing that I will most likely have to pass on every deer I see. This is especially frustrating for me, I started hunting with the combine season so that is all I had ever known until they did the split in 2014. We hunt for the meat so bucks, while cause for congratulations when harvested, mean very little to our group overall.

Our area has very few bucks in relation to the amount of does that we see, for example we went spotlighting the Sunday before opening day and counted upwards of 80 deer in the fields after a half hour drive checking the local fields. Not one deer that we saw had any visible antlers. These deer however the past several years have practically vanished between opening day and the first Saturday due to hunting pressure. Our group of 12 to 14 people went from getting 6 to 10 deer in deer season to maybe 2 or 3.

This past opening day was hands down the oddest year we have had since I started hunting. Between many of the people not getting up until late Saturday or Sunday, the near nonexistent deer (our entire group saw maybe 5 does even after multiple drives) and the heavy rain on Tuesday we ended up just working on the cabin then packing up and heading home early. I just hope that it was an off year and not a sign of how our future seasons will go. If that is the case we may just scout the weekend after thanksgiving and save the vacation time for the following week. If it comes to that then there will be just another empty cabin on opening day.
 
#94 ·
When my great grandfather started hunting sinnemahoning, there were truly almost no deer on his farm in Beaver county. It was a big deal to go North for an entire week. Basically an entire day to get there. By the time he quit hunting in the mid 90s, there were deer all over the farm.

I have had excellent success in Elk, Susquehannock, and Sproul over the years, but have hunted closer to home in recent years. Actually, the most deer I have ever seen (80 in 2 days) while hunting, was on the cameron potter county line.

Life has just changed for me in the past few years, and I find it easier to drive 15 miles from home, shoot a deer and have it hung in the shed by lunch time.

In 2012, a guy from our crew walks into the beer distributor in cowdy wearing his hunting clothes during EML. Clerk asks how he did. Friend says "got 7 doe so far" clerk says "We dont like guys like you around here." Buddy says "Who? The kind of guys who spend money?" And leaves.
 
#95 · (Edited)
If that is the case we may just scout the weekend after thanksgiving and save the vacation time for the following week. If it comes to that then there will be just another empty cabin on opening day.
Some of the cabins I know do this. They want to save their vacation days for when they can shoot buck or doe. Gives them a shot to get a deer or two.

I have had guys in my camp suggest this. But, we have bear the first week. We have gotten 3 bears in the last 4 years so I convinced everyone to stick with the first week. Plus.....wait for it.....it's tradition. :D

This past season, my 86 year old dad got his biggest buck ever. A 23 inch wide 5 x 3. If the goofy side matched the typical side, it would have been a 160 class 10 pointer. Even so, it broke 130.

 
#96 ·
Being only at my current job for 3 years I only have 2 weeks PTO time, between fishing and earlier hunting seasons I save my last two days off for deer season. Plus in 4A we cant even hunt bear the first couple days so it is literally buck only. Since the switch three years ago we have only gotten one buck on opening day and 4 bucks total. We just simply do not have a high number of bucks on the property at that time of year so we are stuck watching does for two days. I'd much rather pull out and let hunting pressure drive more deer on to our property and whack them hard the first Saturday.

That is a fantastic buck and congratulations to your dad, I will admit in some cases the odd bucks make better trophies than the typical bucks. There was a buck a few years back we got on our trail cameras, the left side was a beautiful 5 point, the right was a large 12+ inch spike with two points curving forward and up. We called him elk horn, I hunted him hard in archery but the closest I ever got was kicking him up in the dark trying to sneak into my stand. Later we learned that the neighbor had emptied his gun at a large 5 on one side buck in deer season but didn't get him. I can only assume it was him but we never caught him on camera again so I don't know what happened to him.
 
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