In Texas, deer season ranks right up there with Friday night football as a kind of religion. Sure, the scoreboard gets its cheers, but when the first cold front blows through and the leaves start turning, you can feel the congregation shifting to another place entirely: deer camp.
Now, for some folks, “deer camp” may sound like a summer kids’ program involving crafts and safety lectures. But for many of us, it’s a term we grew up with, a place more alive in our memories than any vacation or holiday. My first buck was taken on a place my grandpa leased in Coleman, Texas. We had our camp set up there, and it wasn’t just a spot to park and hunt. It had a different atmosphere. You could feel it the moment you stepped out of the truck.
If you’ve been to a real deer camp, you know exactly what I mean. It’s where conversations build over the years into something richer than a simple story. The same tales get told and retold, sometimes changing with every telling, but never losing their charm. It’s where you know that sooner or later Uncle Randy will have one too many and nearly stumble into the campfire, and it’s funny every time because it’s part of the ritual. It’s where boys and girls learn the true freedom and spirit of the outdoors, lessons that don’t come from a textbook or a phone screen.
We need more deer camps today. More places where family gathers, where kids grow up around people who know the land, respect it, and care for it. Where men and women share stories of hunts gone right and hunts gone wrong, and the younger ones sit on the edge of their seat imagining the day they’ll have their own to tell. Deer camp is the kind of place you remember well into your older years. If you’re lucky, you pass it on to your own kids, hoping they feel the same magic in the early morning air, the same anticipation in the hush before sunrise.
“The greatest reward in hunting is not the deer, but the memories created.” — Unknown
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By: Sheldon Wellborn – sheldon@ranchconnection.com Ranch Sales & Acquisitions | Ranch Connection, LLC.
