OK, if you want to accuse me of again getting too nostalgic, that is all right and fair.
More than once in these pages, we have covered how things have changed in the outdoors world over the years, including topics such as “Whatever happened to deer hunting?” I certainly got enough fan mail (and the other kind) about what we said on deer hunting then and now.
(READ MORE: Times change, and so does deer hunting)
We have talked about this before as well, folks, but it is the whitetail deer that gets most of the attention in the hunting world.
Once upon a time, not that long ago really, the deer herd was a fraction of what it is now. Dad and Granddad can tell you all the stories about how whenever they found a deer track somewhere, it would be big news in the neighborhood. If you were lucky enough to see a live deer, you might have even been interviewed by the local paper. If you went hunting and actually brought a deer home, you were probably asked to run for president!
Times changed. Whitetail deer increased at an incredible rate and now are considered a nuisance in some areas, eating our vegetable gardens, feasting on fruit and ornamental trees, even causing car crashes.
(READ MORE: Don’t let a varmint stand between you and a tomato sandwich)
The hunting of these deer changed as well. Did their abundance change the way we hunted? Maybe so.
Back in the day (there is that term again), you loaded up and went for a week or two to some remote area that actually had deer. Traditional deer camps were the rule in these remote areas, because you had to have a place to stay if you were a hundred miles from home.
I’m saying around 40 years ago may have been the golden age for deer camps, and what a glorious time it was! Friends and relatives piled into camp a day or two before hunting season opened. Camp was cleaned up and made ready. Fires were started in long-cold stoves, and cobwebs were swept out of cabins. Huge meals were prepared, and hot card games burned into the night.
It was deer season! You waited on it all year.
Now I know there are those who still go to deer camp every year, and I applaud you. I’m just saying there may not be nearly the same number of us who do that anymore.
Why is this? The deer are still there. Many of the camps are still there (even if some may need a little TLC and repairs). Many of us don’t go to deer camp like we used to because we now have deer in our backyard and don’t need to travel a long way and stay in camp.
I’m taking a stand right now and declaring this to my fellow hunters: You should go anyway.
Easy for me to say that, right? But I am just proposing that maybe some of us might need to take a step back and think about how Dad did it, along with what brought us into the hunting fold to begin with.
Did Dad (or Granddad) hunt like we do now? He may not have.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with riding your four-wheeler up to your stand and hunting over a corn pile for deer (if it is legal in your state). On the other hand, Dad and Granddad went to camp, enjoyed all of that camaraderie, and probably before daylight wandered up on the ridge to an old favorite stand. Better yet, they may have taken advantage of a light snow and cut a deer track and spent most of the day seeing where it took them.
Woodsmanship, tradition, trying to reconnect with the ancient hunter in all of us. Too nostalgic? I hope not.
Friends, if you have a camp or access to one this year, just go.
It doesn’t matter if it is a ramshackle cabin with holes in the wall that you could throw a tomcat through. It could be an ivory tower facility with heat and air and satellite TV, or an old army surplus tent you put up next to US. National Forest land.
Just go. You don’t have to wear red plaid Woolrich hunting clothes and carry a battered Winchester Model 94 .30/30 with open sights like Dad did.
But it would be kind of cool if you did.
“Guns & Cornbread” is written by Larry Case, who lives in Fayette County, W.Va. You can write to him at larryocase3@gmail.com.