Deer Camp, Furnished

How to set up a hunting camp worth coming back to.

The last weekend in October, someone always gets there first.

They prop the door open and sweep out the camp house. They find last year's coffee can, still half full. They pull the chairs out of the back room, count them, and count again. Then they light the first fire of the season and sit down in front of it, alone, for about ten minutes.

That's deer camp. The hunting happens somewhere out past the feeder. Camp is everything else.

A good deer camp setup is what turns a lease or a family place into somewhere people plan their year around. This guide covers when to open camp, what it needs, how to furnish it, how to keep it safe, and the traditions that make it last.

When should you set up deer camp?

Set up deer camp two to three weeks before the general opener. That leaves a weekend for repairs, a weekend to stock it, and time to order whatever broke last season.

Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. County rules vary, so check yours in the Outdoor Annual.

If anyone in the group bow hunts, camp may already be open by early October. Either way, the last weekend of October is the traditional setup weekend. The opener is too late to discover the table has a cracked leg.

What does a deer camp need?

A deer camp needs a fire, a table, somewhere to sit, a place for gear, and a warm, safe place to sleep. Everything else is a bonus.

1. A fire ring. Keep clear ground around it, with a water bucket and shovel nearby.
2. A table. Make it big enough for supper, cards and a map spread flat.
3. One chair per person. Add one more for whoever shows up Saturday.
4. A gear wall. Hooks, a bench and a boot tray by the door keep the mud where it belongs.
5. A camp kitchen. A stove, a cast-iron skillet, a big pot and one cooler per purpose.
6. Light. Keep lanterns inside and a headlamp near every bunk.
7. Carbon monoxide alarms. Place a battery-powered alarm in every sleeping space.
8. A camp book. Save names, dates and stories in one place.

Camp house, wall tent or trailer

The list holds whatever the shelter. A camp house can keep furniture year-round. A wall tent or trailer camp needs everything to pack down and travel. Plan for the harder case, and the pieces work for both.

How to furnish a hunting camp

Furnish a hunting camp with pieces that fold, carry and take a beating. Camp furniture lives in truck beds, gets rained on and has a dog asleep under it by nine o'clock. Most of it is replaced every season, which says more about the furniture than the camp.

Chairs that last longer than the lease

The chair is where most of camp happens: coffee at 5 a.m., boots off at dark, and the long stretch by the fire in between. The Vaquero is a campaign chair made the old way, with a solid hardwood frame, natural cotton canvas and full-grain leather. It folds flat and carries in one hand. It gets worn in, not worn out. Scuffs on hardwood and a softened canvas seat look like seasons, not damage.

A table worth sitting around

The Gunnison has a solid hardwood slatted top, and its canvas top doubles as its own carry bag. It sets up in under two minutes, which is useful at 6 a.m. in the dark.

A proper bar, after the guns are cased

The Sundowner opens in under 60 seconds and carries a full bar kit. It stays shut until every rifle is unloaded and cased for the night. That's not a Chama rule. It's a camp rule, and a good one.

How do you keep deer camp safe?

Keep deer camp safe by controlling three things: fuel-burning heaters, the fire, and firearms in camp.

Heaters. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warns never to use fuel-burning portable heaters or lanterns while sleeping in tents, campers or vehicles. Carbon monoxide has no smell, and its early symptoms look like the flu. Shut heaters off before bed and hang a battery-powered carbon monoxide alarm in every sleeping space.

The fire. Keep water and a shovel beside it. Check the county burn ban before lighting it. The last one to bed puts it out.

Firearms. Unload before coming into camp. Case them, store them in one place and keep them away from the fire and the bar.

What makes a deer camp worth coming back to?

The traditions. People forget most of what happened in the stand. They remember who cooked Friday night, who snored, and the year it rained for four days straight.

Keep a camp book

One notebook, kept on the shelf, where everyone writes the date, who came and one line about the day. Twenty years in, it's the most valuable thing in camp.

Friday night supper

One meal, cooked the same way every year by the same person, until they hand it down. Chili, venison backstrap, a pot of beans that's been going since noon. The menu matters less than the repetition.

Save a chair for the first-timer

Every camp gets a new face eventually: a kid's first season, a son-in-law, a friend from town. Give them a good chair near the fire and a story or two. That's how a camp outlives the people who started it.

Set it up once, set it up right

A good deer camp isn't expensive. It's considered. Open it early. Give every person a chair, a place at the table and a safe place to sleep. Keep the fire tended and the rifles cased. Write it down.

The gear that makes it into the camp book is the gear that stays. Buy it once, and let it wear in with the camp.

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