Everything else has went to crap this year. Why not deer camp too.

[turkeyfeather]

Long story.....but you can't make this *censored* up.

Deer Camp 2020 went about as well as the rest of 2020 has gone.

We knew what the forecast for the weather this weekend was but decided to give it a shot anyways.

Thursday evening/night....
Arrived at camp, got everything set up right at dark. Made dinner and went to bed in excited anticipation for the next morning. Didn't sleep good as it was a "new environment".

Friday morning....
Got up early had some coffee got ready and we all headed out just as it was starting to get light out. Carrie (wife), Cameron and Jake(sons) headed in one direction and Brendan(oldest son) and I went in the other. About an hour into walking an old logging road Brendan and I had our first ever encounter with a black bear. Saw a sow and her cub feeding in the valley below the road we were on. She was probably 60 yards when we saw her. She must've heard us as she quickly came up the hillside onto the road we were on about 50 yards in front of us. At this point we decided we were no longer interested in hunting this particular area and backed away.

 It started snowing as we decided to jump across the highway to hunt a large area that had been on fire and clearcut a few years ago. At this point the snow was really coming down (forecast was for 3-5"(we got somewhere between 8-10")). Hadn't seen anything (except the bear) by midday so we decided to head back to camp and get lunch and dry out. Carrie and the other 2 met us back there. They had seen a spike but it was gone before they could get a shot. Decided not to go back out as it was still snowing and we had just gotten our stuff dry and we're expecting colder temps the next day.

Friday evening/night....
Still didn't sleep great and was woke up by the faint sound of either a dog (other campers down the road) or wolf howling at 3:00 am. Went back to sleep only to wake up again to what I thought felt like the faint sound of something walking through the snow outside about an hour later. Listened for a bit.... didn't hear anything else (figured it was my imagination and went back to sleep.

Saturday morning....
Got up had coffee and pop tarts and got ready for another day. Clear skies and cooler temps with a fresh blanket of snow on the ground gave us high hopes. Those were quickly dashed.....
Brendan went outside to "water" a tree and informed us he thought he saw wolf tracks. I went outside to inspect and confirmed....we had wolves walk right through our camp in the middle of the night/early morning. Talk about an eerie feeling. At this point we are starting to realize why we aren't seeing alot of deer. But we headed out for the day anyways. Brendan and I did alot of walking up the logging roads that we had encountered the bear the day earlier. Finally came across a valley that had ALOT of fresh buck tracks from that morning in the snow. Decided to grab a blind from camp and set it up for the evening. Unfortunately....no luck. The day was more productive for Carrie, Cameron and Jake. They went to the other side of the highway in the clear cuts after discovering wolf tracks in the middle of the road they wanted to go down after seeing the spike the day earlier. The clear cuts never presented a shot opportunity but they did seeing quite a few deer including a shooter buck that was diving into the thick timber just as they caught a glimpse of him. Day 2 was in the books and still no tags filled.

Saturday evening/night....
Played cards with the kids, made chocolate chip cookies and went to bed. Slept pretty good.

Sunday morning....
Woke up to bitterly cold temps (7°). We knew it was expected to get pretty cold so it wasn't a shock. We woke up and the trailer was a little cold as the furnace had quit working about a half hour or so earlier. Quickly troubleshooting that and got it fixed and warming up only to discover the pipes in the bathroom sink seemed to be frozen. No water flow (hot or cold) everything else in the bathroom worked (toilet, shower) as well as the kitchen sink. No problem.... we'll set a little space heater in there pointed at the pipes under the sink and warm them up. It was about this time that Carrie developed a migraine. Ugh....this isn't good. Her migraines are debilitating. Talking about what to do Jake volunteered to stay back to take care of Mom(he wasn't hunting anyways) and Brendan, Cameron and I all go out together for the day. A few minutes later the frozen pipe problem got worse. The toilet pipes were now frozen and we have no toilet. It was at this point that we decided it was time to call it a weekend. Brendan and I hiked a half mile up into the woods to retrieve our blinds as Cameron and Jake packed stuff into the truck and got the trailer ready to go home. We (Brendan and I) get back to the trailer and all we have to do is hook up, shut down the generators and bring in the slide and we are ready to go. Of course.....it wasn't that easy. Damn slide was frozen and wouldn't close.

 Hoisted Brendan onto a curved rv roof covered in snow so he can break up the ice jam keeping the slide from closing. Nothing sketchy there right?🙄

So.....here I sit watching football, eating warm chocolate chip cookies glad I'm not freezing my ass off but bummed that our hunt got cut a day and a half short as I really thought we had a chance to fill a tag or two.

Almost forgot.....
Came home to a couple large chunks of our maple tree laying in the front yard.
FU 2020

[Jimmer]

Usually  hunt out of a tent after packing in a few miles  in the same type of weather..
Kinda don’t feel sorry for you. Sorry your poop pipes froze. 

[Alchase]

Hopefully this won't come a crossed as criticism?

But that is hunting as I grew up with.

Sleeping in a tent in the methow, and your only source of water is frozen solid.

No heater, your first hope of warmth is getting the coleman stove started for coffee.

Having no toilet?

Step outside, for God's sake.

I can't count the times we saw bears, but did not let them affect my hunt.

Obviously shooting a Sow with cubs, is not the thing to do. But it is not difficult to discourage them from the area you want to hunt.

Did you not have a portable generator with a small heater?

Not hard to unthaw the pipes of an RV, if prepared.

Again, not trying to be critical, but it sounds like your whole group was not prepared, and your hunt was done because of it?

There is an old saying, two is one, one is none.

If your whole hunt is dependant on one thing.

Well, you will be going home early.

[Fl0und3rz]

Sorry your plans got spoiled.  The weather was no joke cold as . . . .

[turkeyfeather]

Hopefully this won't come a crossed as criticism?

But that is hunting as I grew up with.

Sleeping in a tent in the methow, and your only source of water is frozen solid.

No heater, your first hope of warmth is getting the coleman stove started for coffee.

Having no toilet?

Step outside, for God's sake.

I can't count the times we saw bears, but did not let them affect my hunt.

Obviously shooting a Sow with cubs, is not the thing to do. But it is not difficult to discourage them from the area you want to hunt.

Did you not have a portable generator with a small heater?

Not hard to unthaw the pipes of an RV, if prepared.

Again, not trying to be critical, but it sounds like your whole group was not prepared, and your hunt was done because of it?

There is an old saying, two is one, one is none.

If your whole hunt is dependant on one thing.

Well, you will be going home early.

Did you not read the parts where I mentioned both the generators and the heater? They obviously didn't do any good. My wife likes outdoor activities but she isn't gonna wander outside to do her business everytime she needs to, so......the toilet is a pretty critical thing to have. And as far as the bear.......first time I've ever ran across one.

[Alchase]

Hopefully this won't come a crossed as criticism?

But that is hunting as I grew up with.

Sleeping in a tent in the methow, and your only source of water is frozen solid.

No heater, your first hope of warmth is getting the coleman stove started for coffee.

Having no toilet?

Step outside, for God's sake.

I can't count the times we saw bears, but did not let them affect my hunt.

Obviously shooting a Sow with cubs, is not the thing to do. But it is not difficult to discourage them from the area you want to hunt.

Did you not have a portable generator with a small heater?

Not hard to unthaw the pipes of an RV, if prepared.

Again, not trying to be critical, but it sounds like your whole group was not prepared, and your hunt was done because of it?

There is an old saying, two is one, one is none.

If your whole hunt is dependant on one thing.

Well, you will be going home early.

Did you not read the parts where I mentioned both the generators and the heater? They obviously didn't do any good. My wife likes outdoor activities but she isn't gonna wander outside to do her business everytime she needs to, so......the toilet is a pretty critical thing to have. And as far as the bear.......first time I've ever ran across one.

Again, was not trying to criticize, but that is hunting in winter. Some years there is a ton on snow. Some years everything freezes. Other years it is 60 friggin degrees!

Having a couple bad years prepares you for them in the future.

Sorry you hunt was cut short, but to be honest, all of those things that shortened your hunt could have been prepared for.
Except the Bear, if you have never encountered a bear before.

And yes, if the toilet is not working, you step outside.
Even we we had and RV, we did not go No. 2 unless hooked up to a septic?

[wadu1]

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. I would venture to guess some of us have tails to tell similar to yours. You and family are home safe that what matters.

[jstone]

Spoiled if you have a toilet.

[jstone]

Keep at it.!!
Enjoy the family moment and out doors

[Alchase]

Keep at it.!!
Enjoy the family moment and out doors

Exactly!

Live and learn, and hope for the best next year.
After a few years, you will be prepared for just about everything.

No having said that, My hunting buddy brought RV One year. On the way to our camp, his whole black water system dropped out from the bottom of his RV right in the driveway of a cow farmer on the 100 RD in Winthrop. Dumped everything right in the farmer's driveway. My buddy was mortified. 

The farmer says,
"its not like I don't deal in $hit all day long" 

Did not stop the hunt. Not much he could do until back in town any way.

[Fatherof5]

Its frustrating while you are going through it. But you will be able to laugh about it next year.

The first year me and my family hunted late season, we bought a "slightly" used wall tent stove. Well The first night was fine. The second night, the stove cracked, so we couldn't regulate the temp or stop the smoke from coming in the tent. Now, its a funny memory...

[Fl0und3rz]

Just so you guys know, it is now 17F, with an overnight low of around 9F.  This morning, it was 4F. 

It was in the forecast, but that it pretty uncharacteristically cold for this time of year from my experience.

[Alchase]

Most of the RV hunters that use to hunt in our group also use to run a 10-12 ft corrugated pipe, in to the ground (a whole they dug) so their gray water went into the hole.

Then take a tarp and wrap a couple trees, dig a hole, and put a plywood box with a hole in it, and attach a toilet seat. Instant toilet.

[builtfordtough]

Did your mom die on Thursday of a 5 year battle with cancer.?  Did you get exposed to covid on Wednesday afternoon while looking at a job.  Now waiting in quarentine to get tested on tuesday( missing all this weekend deer hunting and being with family). Things could be alot worse my friend. Enjoy the time out there with family and if things go wrong look at it as a teaching/learning experience to your kids. But I also know migraines and hopefully your wife's migraine wasn't too bad. I dont mean to come on here and complain about my situation but after a week of hell I would have done anything to be out there in the snow, sleat, cold 🥶 to do what I love most. To be outdoors with the opportunity to hunt mule deer. Hopefully I didnt come off looking like a jagoff.

[Alchase]

Just so you guys know, it is now 17F, with an overnight low of around 9F.  This morning, it was 4F. 

It was in the forecast, but that it pretty uncharacteristically cold for this time of year from my experience.

This may sound weird, but up until around 2000, It was always in the in the 20s and even single digits during the General Rifle. Especialy before they moved the season back a week or two.

Between 2005 and 2015, I can't remember it getting that cold.