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Got a couple of hours afield before the deluge of rain. Small female Enhanced Impulse .243/Halo X50 https://youtu.be/3kB9_T80Waw

I've got to say that the best memories I ever had were made on those hunting experiences that involved primitive winter camping. I think back to some of those trips back in where you couldn't even here a car or any other human sounds. There was an extra connection with the whole hunting experience. We were a lot tougher back then in our youth, but the effort got us away from other hunter pressures and often paid off. We didn't know the meaning of discomfort. It was all just excitement and anticipation and adventure. Of course I was a whole lot younger back then. Today at age 80, I have to agree with you. I have grown accustomed to my need for creature comforts now. But I sure am glad that my youth was filled with those remote camping experiences.

When I was in Boy Scouts, we camped every month, year round. Sometimes in the winter it was cabins, but we also would hike in and set up camp (usually left friday night). We got quite proficient at it and I used to like it alot...actually, I would love to get out and do it now. We made "dog sleds", I still have one, that carried our heavier gear, which included water. The key for happy winter camping is to go when it is COLD! the colder, the better, as the snow isnt so likely to melt on you, it acts as insulation , and you are less likely to sweat profusely. You bury your water in a snow drift...it will not freeze. We usually had an area scoped out ahead of time and would usually pre-cut wood, and clear an area for a shelter. We would dig down in the snow, lay down boughs, and spread a tarp across the top...building up walls on the ends. With only a candle lantern or two, it would warm up considerably. The coldest we were out was a measured -20 on the Tug Hill in the early eighties, but we were comfortable. Nothing like a still woods on a calm, clear night. Now I have an insulated cabin, which is cheating. It still takes most of a day to warm it up though (wood heat and an area propane heater). I go up in the a.m., fire everything up and head out for an afternoon of activities, by the time I get back the cabin is close to warm.

The closest I’ve done to winter camping, was mid-October in my truck campers, up in the Adirondacks. I’m on my third one now, and each of them had propane heaters in them. The first one lacked a thermostat and many other modern conveniences. It had numbers one thru five on a dial. With that, it was always a little too hot or a little too cold, when I woke up to go hunting in the morning. The current one has a roof-top air conditioner, so it’s real nice for super hot weather summer camping. I’ve done plenty enough of it, to cure myself of any further desire to camp in cool weather, without a thermostat controlled heating system. That’s something best left to the folks who don’t know no better. For me, the best thing about “the good old days” is that they are over.

I have an insulated ARE cap on the back of my pickup set up for camping. I will do an overnight in it hunting for yotes or grouse and squirrel this time of the year. Once I'm in for the night, I have a comfy cot, warm sleeping bag, cooler, fixed light and flashlight, candles for heat and a small propane stove to make boiled water for coffee, tea, instant oatmeal, cup-o-soup etc. I bring bread and cold cuts for lunch and hope to eat a grouse or squirrel for dinner over the campfire. It's great to be able to spend a night anywhere at any time, and if it gets too cold, I hop in the cab and turn on the heat and radio. I keep a bottle in the back to pee in, but #2 in the woods can be chilly. I have a wash basin and cloth I set up on the tailgate when needed and plenty of bottled water to use. I also have some bottled water to use for everything other than drinking. I can only do this solo though. I do keep a small tent in the truck too, just in case it's needed or someone else wants to come, but it's not as cozy as it is in the cap. It's still fun to do, but I hardly ever do more than one night to make a weekend out of a hunting trip. Sure saves me a lot of money though.

What a sideshow!

Anybody here doing any mid-winter camping? I used to, but I'm not as tough as I used to be anymore. My first experience was the first year I went hunting deer. I built a shelter up on the hill, made out of on-sight materials, and I spent nearly a week up there with a high school buddy. It was great fun. I had my old bent-barrel 20 gauge and missed a couple of shots. We tried eating a squirrel cooked over the fire (tasted good, but tough as shoe leather). The next phase was tent camping in the winter and for hunting. That worked out well and was a lot of fun for a lot of years. I can't really describe the appeal of roughing it like that, but it sure was a lot of fun and added a lot to the hunting experience. Eventually, my Brother-in-law and I built a small 12' x 12' cabin up there and did our camping and hunting from there. Great times. Snow and cold outside, but we stayed toasty. So, I was wondering whether there were any winter campers, or camper/hunters here.

Back in 1986, myself and three other coworkers planned an archery moose hunting trip up in Ontario Canada. We took 2 canoes and a small aluminum boat and all our gear back along an old dirt road for umpteen miles, entered a lake and went to the end of that lake. Then we did a 150 yard portage into another lake and then went to the far end of that lake and set up camp. It was to be a 1-week hunt.... No guides. We set up tents and that was home all during the hunt. We did our hunting in the first hours of the day and during the last part of the day. During the middle of the day, we fished and caught some of our meals. The fishing was great. I never saw nights that were so dark and it was so quiet like I have never experienced. These lakes were not occupied, and there was a feeling of total isolation. There was a grey jay that we could feed out of our hands. I saw my first and only marten on that trip. It just was a fantastic experience that I never would have had if we hadn't decided to rough it. Oh, and by the way, we did get a small bull moose. It was just a perfect trip.

Back in the Boy Scout Days we camped out one weekend per month all year long , miss those days !

I do not do any archery shooting during the winter, it has always been a fair weather activity for me. I do quite a bit of firearm shooting during the winter months, I have a shack with a window facing my range targets to keep out of the weather. Al

Yes sorry that camera was set up wrong am/pm!

1:23pm and its fully dark in pic? Nah! Probably am, right?

Our exploits up on the hill were a bit more challenging because it is a 1/2 mile climb up a rather steep "killer" hill before the advent of ATVs. But once we got ATVs, we dragged all the materials up and built that little 12' x 12' cabin and it all seemed like great luxury. We had a kerosene heater and propane lanterns for light. Bunk beds with real mattresses. A sink (no running water other than what we took up in a huge Igloo water container), an old kitchen table and a few chairs. We hunted out of there for quite a few years. Last year we logged the woods, and the loggers dropped a tree on the cabin and demolished it. So that was the end of that.

When I started hunting I used to camp in the Adirondacks, Moose River Area. It was fun but I felt I was spending more time camping than hunting.. I would try to get back to camp before dark to get the fire started. After six or so years I started hunting the Catskills out of rental units like Motels or lodges and eventually bought a camp down there which was closer to my home in LI. I loved it but couldn't do it now.

Is anyone surprised by this? It didn't require a fortune-teller to see this coming. And yet there will be those who say, "Well gee, I don't have any of those and I don't see any reason why they should be in the hands of private citizens." Some people just don't get it. They are after ALL guns..........ALL OF THEM!.......GET IT?

Back in the day, it was much more common to got to hunting camp for an extemded time....a week or two, or the whole season. You worked for your deer. there are a lot more sedentary (read FAT) lives now then there was...

1930's

The Democrats and their party's platform are becoming totally incompatible with the outdoor sports in every phase, be it shooting, hunting trapping, fishing, their end goal is to eventually shut everything down, that along with just about everything else. Al

Obesity, in general, was a rarity back in those days cuz life was harder. A lot of those guys were better still hunters back then, too which is far more physically demanding then sitting in a tree stand.

Most of the men back then had physical lifestyles and ate wholesome home cooked meals that were healthy. They burned a lot of calories working and ate far less crap food than people do now. It's all about diet and exercise, both of which are ignored today.

I think those politicians know why people are leaving. They know why businesses are leaving too. They also know NYS is near bankruptcy and that major loss of tax revenue is going to need replacing somewhere. I think they are hoping they can get a Democrat President to bail out bankrupt blue states at the expense of the entire country, because if they can't, they are going to DOUBLE the taxes on all the NYS residents that chose to stay here. And even if they can get a POTUS to bail them out, they will just figure they can do it again if need be and put NYS right back into major debt. That is what a collectivist mindset believes. That's Marxism.

Looking at these old photos one thing that is noticeable, most of these hunters are lean and knarly looking, not many fat asses posing with game. I don't think they sat in stands much back then with all the comforts of home. Al

Politicians are representives of the people. Not representative s for themselves. They are suppose to act on fact, not emotion. What is truly best for the people. What they determine the majority of their voters " think" would have a successful outcome for the non voter. What gets me, fact; population is declining in New York. Then politicians look at each other dumbfounded and ask the question why.

Fred Bear

1953

I'm on call this weekend and had to take care of an emergency, so my buddy went out solo Friday night. With a storm approaching I knew the dogs would be on the prowl, especially at the two new farms we just got access to. He dropped 2 coyote and a big fox. This is the second time he's hunted solo and I couldn't be more proud of his success. SJC