Deer Camp 2025

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Day 1 of 7: I am once again privileged to be a part of a century old Deer Camp tradition, joining a colleague and friend and his family at their 140 year old cabin in the beautiful Ozark mountains.

On the 5 Hour drive from our Northwest Missouri farm, the temperatures averaged to 81°. This is the warmest opening day I can recall.

We are now at the blinds and hearing shots in the distance well before shooting light. When the action begins, I am ready with my dad’s old Savage .243.

It’s ann absolutely beautiful morning, and I am so blessed to be with friends at such a beautiful location on opening day Missouri rifle season.

 

[Mozark]

Other than a few ducks getting whacked on Truman Res, very quiet opening morning here in mo.

 

[Mortenson]

Good luck guys.

 

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Thank you for the well wishes. We didn’t see anything this morning, although some friends from our host’s church harvested a buck and a doe.

We have an interesting phenomenon in that with the exceptionally warm weather, there are tubers on the river. One group has camped about a quarter mile away. They started playing their music last night, and they are continuing to party on a shore bank about 500 yards away. From our deer stand, their music is 65 dB.

Otherwise, it is another beautiful day. We enjoyed a relaxing side-by-side ride and visited several deer camps in the area.

Despite the hip hop music, it’s great to be out on such a beautiful evening.

 

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Day 2 of 7: We’re back at the river blind one more time. We saw several pictures of nice deer harvested on opening deer at church. This is my first sit with my host. It’s a beautiful evening. Hopefully it will be interrupted by some deer.



PM: My host’s brother filled an antlerless tag tonight at the close of shooting light. Camp Deer #1.

 

[bigboreblr]

Best deer at camp, guys partied all night with music on. Guy was a little too ethanoled out to go hunt in the morning. Saw the buck Infront of the outhouse before he was going to use it. 20 yard shot..... PRobably 15-20 years ago.

 

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Deer Camp Day 3 of 7: Welcome morning! I’m hunting on public today. I’m enjoying a very beautiful morning, watching the forest wake up as I still hunt.

 

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Day four of seven. After an uneventful morning hunt, we regrouped around the campfire and enjoyed strong coffee and blaming one another for not seeing deer .

Outdoor writer Bill Cooper and our friend Tommy Miller showed up, prompting a camp breakfast of bacon & eggs, biscuits & gravy.

After breakfast, Bill threw together a portable studio and recorded a podcast of the history of Huzzah Hilton deer camp and other traditions as told by my host and co-owner of the property. While the podcast will be only 45 minutes, we covered lots of ground and didn’t finish swapping tails and listening to Bill until it was almost too late for an evening hunt!
(The episode will post next Wednesday on the Living the Dream Outdoors podcast).

We are experiencing near records highs that are better for camping then pursuing deer in the woods. Therefore we were all pretty thankful that we didn’t see anything, as none of us felt like processing a deer tonight. Back at camp we put the blackstone back to work making venison fajitas from the last previous year‘s harvest, and sat around the campfire until calling it a day…a very good day.

 

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Day five of seven. Today I still-hunted to a blind we set up on public land. I heard a buck snorting from the creek, and am currently being serenaded by the sound of turkeys to the west. What a beautiful day to be in the woods.

Update: I missed a running doe at 80 yards, officially adding my name to the wall of shame. I drowned my sorrows with sausage, eggs, sourdough bread and camp coffee.

 

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Here’s a few of the guys from camp; Landowners Spencer & Paul, cousin Boone and me in front of the cabin.

 

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A fine end to a fine day . . .

 

[TreeDaddy]

Here’s a few of the guys from camp; Landowners Spencer & Paul, cousin Boone and me in front of the cabin.

View attachment 85666

I bet those fellas could "shoot some bull"

bill

 

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Day six of eight: We’re staying on another day as the next two are rainy. One of the camp regulars showed up last night and is hunting with us this morning.

We’re all a little queasy as the cook mistakenly used seasoning for a rub last night. To say we drank a case of water with and after this meal is not a tall tale.



So far it’s been quite in the woods. We had an inch of rain and more on the horizon.

 

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Day six update. After driving the area and ATV’ing the area I had a much better perspective on the lay of the land and the beauty of the Huzzah River.


Tonight we hunted over the food plot. Two came out at 5:00 pm and I was able get a round into a 130# doe. We were hoping for a “1-2-3” double, but a failure to click off the safety meant the doe lives for another day.


So far camp has resulted in seven deer aging in the repurposed morgue.

 

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Day seven was rainy, so we’re moving spent a good portion of the day by the porch fireplace and the insulated deer stands. We didn’t see anything, but we ate well and swapped many stories of past hunts, old cars and departed friends.

 

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Day eight. After starting the morning in a pop up blind on public, a transition to still-hunting was merited due to thermal changes. The woods are surprisingly quiet for firearms season. Reports from friends are coming in of successful harvests in other parts of the state.

During the final hunt of camp we opted to go to the aptly named Riverside blind. I was on a doe at 110 yards, safety off, when another member of camp in the Condo blind took the shot at 30 yard—missing the deer but solidly connecting with the blind window frame. Needless to day, there will be campfire stories about this for years to come.

While the sun sets on Deer Camp 2025, the memories and stories will be with us for many more seasons.