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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.

Most state lands you can overnight without a permit, most any where as long as it isnt on a lake shore. State lean toos are great for being a flat dry place to camp, but actually they tend to be a very cold camp...thus we dug down in the snow. Every winter I get the pull to get out and do it again. I have the gear, and likely would just go up to my camp and then head out into the adjoining state land. Funny thing is, most of the time the weather isnt apprpriate for it....not enough snow, which actually is important for insulation (bare ground is colder, and more exposed to the wind).

Got my first lesson today and was given 5 traps to place. Wish me luck!

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.

One of the craziest things I had happen trapping, had a trap wise Fox digging up the trap around a hole set. An old timer showed me how to set a triangular triple trap set around the hole to catch trap wise culprits, theory was while digging up one trap carelessness would make for a wrong move and get a foot caught in one of the other two traps set nearby. Checking the triple set one morning I found a Cottontail Rabbit got caught in one trap which apparently caught the attention of a Great Horned Owl who swooped down on the Rabbit and ended up stepping on and getting himself caught in one of the other traps, that was a three ringed circus. By the way the triple set was successful for me several times on trap wise Reds. Al

I still have two cameras out but this is what I got off of three. Along with these bucks were some nice looking Doe. Also saw bear tracks yesterday in the snow. Pretty odd don't you think?

Let's hope it never gets to that stage. Our old hunting rifles won't really stand up too well against missiles and such.......lol. No, I think we will more likely get "nickel and dimed" to death to the point where we won't even know what happened. Just activities, rights, freedoms will be gone, and we won't even realize it or even know why. I look around today and I have to say that this generation does not have the same spirit and backbone as those people the revolutionary war days.

That sounds like a lot of fun too. I was always going to build a "shooting shack" out behind the house. haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe I will get to it next summer.

Yes that is a problem. We used to camp all over the adjacent state land, until they posted all the rules and regulations. They don't allow camping there now. There is a sign up in the parking lot stating that.

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.

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.

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.

Town of BurlingtonOtsego CountyWater Rescue/Recovery: On Jan. 6 at 2:45 p.m., a subject walking his dog called 911 after seeing two ice fishermen fall through the ice on Basswood Pond. Forest Ranger Laymon was at the Jacobs Road trailhead one minute away from the pond. Ranger Laymon saw one of the men treading water, but lost sight of the other. The ice was approximately one-inch thick, unsafe for fishing. The Ranger entered the ice, crawled toward the 42-year-old from Richfield Springs, and used a throw bag to help the subject out of the water. The subject grabbed the rope and Ranger Layman pulled him onto a sled. At 2:55 p.m., the Ranger pulled the sled to shore where he was met by members of the Edmeston Fire Department, who used their truck to start the drying and warming process to help the subject suffering from hypothermia. Ranger Laymon headed back to the ice to search for the second man, the first subject’s brother. At 3:05 p.m., Ranger Laymon located the 41-year-old from Richfield Springs in seven to eight feet of water. New York State Police, Otsego County Emergency Services, and Edmeston, Fly Creek, Schuyler Lake, and West Edmeston volunteer fire departments helped pull Ranger Laymon and the submerged man out of the water and onto shore. At 3:23 p.m., the subject was transferred to EMTs who began CPR. Both subjects were taken to the hospital. The first was treated and released. The second subject was declared deceased by the hospital later that night.