Now is about the time of year that a landowner should start thinking about who is coming hunting in the Fall. Hunting is an important management tool. Every year, a guy like me should be thinking about how many hunters, how many deer, what sizes. The answer for the past 10 years has been 3-4 hunters, a buck and a doe apiece– give or take. That includes my best friend and my sons and a total of 5-6 deer taken per year. Off our 200 acres, that seems to be about enough. Some years, double that harvest would hardly put a dent in things. In other years we wind up only filling a couple of tags. My reason for writing this post is the thought process that goes on after that decision has been made.

Our deer camp a year or so after its founding. Barney, the camp dog, loved to have his picture taken and always tried to get in the shot

Who comes to hunt?

I stopped giving out permission to hunt to anyone except the folks coming to Deer Camp. I just had too many problems. As the patriarch of camp, I reserve the right to have the ultimate say. There are a number of factors:

Safety
Experience
Personality
Expectations
Adherence to Fair Chase

Safety comes first. Folks who come to hunt have usually been out to shoot with us. I’ve seen some newbies who pick up on gun safety at first exposure. I have seen other folks with years of experience that refuse to show proper safety. If you cannot handle a firearm at the firing line, I will not trust you around my family in the field. However, it goes deeper than that. I want someone who does not get lost, and is willing to use a walkie-talkie when the need arises. He should not be prone to wandering or going out with proper clothing. The morbidity stats of hunters show shooting down near the bottom and hypothermia at the top. The only casualties I want are the deer.

I have always had a soft spot for beginners. I love going to hunt with folks who don’t know much about it going in. I love seeing a fellow take his first deer. A hunter that’s been there/done-that just does not bring the same joy to camp. Somewhere in the middle is a guy who has paid his dues and just never had the breaks– kind of like me when I first hit the farm. He probably is going to do his best.

Personalities

If you are reading this, having never participated in a deer camp, it all may seem a bit strange. Let me tell you that even with my limited knowledge, you have no idea. There is a threshold you cross in hunting where it is just you, and your own morals and ethics. The crosswalks and signposts are gone. There is no cop on the corner. That does something to folks– even to me. I find that I learn more about myself in a day afield than I learn in a year of getting up and going to work. Coming to camp where the main job is to hunt deer, it only gets magnified. Some folks swim in that pool like fish while others flounder.

Above all remaining aspects, I want someone around that is easy-going and willing to fit into camp. Highly competitive types, practical jokers, loners/brooders, whiners and loudmouths are just some of the types that don’t fit in. Deer hunting is about competing only with yourself and the deer. We are all focused on just that. You want someone that complements that endeavor, not competes with it. You also want someone that is not so quiet that he makes you worry. No drama. No drugs. Alcohol consumption should not be problematic. Keep it all in one sock.

Expectations

The big thing about deer camp is . . . well, deer camp. We aren’t guides. I’m not the concierge. You need to do things like fix coffee and drive the deer truck and clean your own deer. You are also going to be presented with only a certain number of shooting opportunities, and you had best take what you think are your best choices. You are not there to clean out the deer population. You are also not guaranteed the biggest buck. You may miss it. You may wound one or lose one. You will participate.

Fair Chase

As far as the hunt is concerned, Fair Chase says it all.

Rule #1: Obey all Rules. I want you to show up with your Hunter Safety Card, and all proper licenses and tags. I don’t want you crossing onto the neighbor’s land. You should also have a fair comprehension of the regs and read them every year, from start to finish. Nowadays, I’m down to a quick skim, but I at least read the blue stuff (what’s changed) carefully.

B&C Fair Chase Statement

This is important. There are no high fences. You would be hard-pressed to find an unfair advantage on the deer on our place. If you do discover one, I’d like to know about it. However, the most important thing is that you follow the rules. You wear your orange. You stay unloaded until legal hunting and unload at dark. You do everything you can to follow up your shots. You only shoot what you know you can cleanly reduce to possession. Most of the rest is between you and your conscience. After it gets through that, then we’ll talk about my conscience and whether you’ll be invited back.

I liken deer hunting to Golf.  There are darn few rules, and you are judged by others by your ability to internalize those rules and enforce them on yourself.

The Lacey Act

There is one issue you need to know and it will simplify things greatly. Some think of me as big-time deer hunter, because I’ve done some writing, and I’ve done some pro-staffing gigs and that sort of thing. That puts me up for a wee bit more scrutiny than a lot of other hunters, and there is a thing called the Lacey Act and the fact that I currently live in Ohio, but hunt in Kentucky. I therefore frequently transport meat and trophies across state lines. In the past decade or two, TV show personalities and Youtubers and such have had have caused state officials to start referring even minor game violations to the Feds to be prosecuted as Lacey Act violations. I cannot and will not deliberately try to break or skirt game rules, and I cannot be seen as shielding or condoning the acts of others.

Who doesn’t come to hunt?

There must be some stories here, Shaman.

Most of them are mundane.  A surprising number of folks either don’t read the Kentucky Regs or wait until late in the game to read them. There is some serious shock when they see the non-resident fee schedule.  Kentucky is still one of the cheapest states for an out-of-state hunter, but it is steep. This limits a lot of folks. Some folks try to bargain with me, thinking I can get them a deal because I’m a landowner.

By the way: No, I did not invite you and all your friends, coworkers and distant relations forever and ever. I invited you.

I’ve had some lifelong friends who have never come to deer camp and a few that have not been invited back. I had one best friend that stepped in front of a kid on his first pheasant hunt and blew a bird out of the air. After I told him off, I never hunted with him again. I had another friend I knew since childhood who never got the invite. He kept trying to school me on why he didn’t need to spring for a non-resident license, because I was the landowner, and I had final say. I had a co-worker who once showed up to a squirrel hunt in black tactical gear. We had a couple show up to a shoot and sneak off behind the shed to drink beer in between turns at the line. There is a list a mile long, and it is not that I’m all that picky. It’s that people can be so wanton and stupid.

Hunter Ed

. . . or ignorant. That’s why I demand a Hunter Safety Card before I start consideration. I did not go through Hunter Education until I was in my 40’s, because I was exempted. I went through twice– once with each son. I learned something the first time and learned something when I repeated it a few years later with my youngest. Hunter Safety is not all that hard,  and it is a fairly easy subject to teach. Most of it is just common sense, but you would be surprised at the stupidity I’ve seen from uneducated hunters. Even if I was not hunting, as a landowner I would demand to see a Hunter Ed card before giving permission to hunt.

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