Bear Grease - Ep. 151: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Deer Camp

Episode Date: October 6, 2023

Deer Camp holds a lot of special memories for many and Brent is no exception. This week he’s talking about the traditions and legacy around his deer camp and how easy it is for you to start your own and do the same. He’s starting off with a story of deer hunting, bologna and underwear. That’s an unusual combination, but we’re sure it’ll all make sense when he explains it. Reasonably sure anyway. It’s Deer Camp time on This Country Life! Connect with Brent and MeatEater MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Shop Bear Grease Merch https://gootf.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First Lights fieldwear collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends. Products built for early mornings, full days in real use. Hard wearing where they need to be versatile where it matters. No shortcuts. Just gear designed for the work that earns the season. Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new fieldwear gear at firstlight.

Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves. From Coon Hunting to Trotlining and just general country living, I want you to stay a while as I share my stories and country skills that will help you beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast the Airways have to offer. All right, friends, pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I think I've got a thing or two to teach you.

Deer Camp Deer season is what the majority of the hunters in America look forward to every year with over 15 million licensed hunters in the U.S. Y'all know over 11 million of them are chasing deer? One of those statistical digits belongs to me and for the better part of my existence on this spinning orb we call home,

Deer Camp was what I look forward to most of all. Tradition and legacy are a big part of, of the outdoor culture. And believe it or not, it's never too late to start your own. We're going to talk about that and a whole lot more on this week's episode of this country life. But first, I'm going to tell you a story. My nephew Matthew was 17. That's the same Matthew that I let get lost in the woods on a windy coon hunt a few years before with his little brother Will. If you miss that story, skip back to episode 141 and hear that tale of miscommunication. and buffoonery.

But Matthew will be 45 this December. His oldest is in her first year of college, but on this day, he was still a younging. It was the middle of the morning, way past the golden hour of morning deer hunting, and I don't remember for it was hunger or boredom that got me off the stand early that day. It was a safe bet that it was one or the other.

I love to deer hunt. And by deer hunting, I mean that I like to be where the deer hunting. is taking place, not necessarily literally taking part in it. And at that time, it was taking place at the B&R deer camp. More on that place in just a minute. But I remember getting back early and sitting on the front porch of the deer camp in the cool breeze while everyone else was still scattered to the wind, still sitting on their stands. I was eating a bologna sandwich that was sporting a mule, lip, thick piece of bologna,

and covered with Miss Mickey Bryant's famous pepper relish. Now, folks, I like stories that are descriptive. I like to read or listen to someone telling me about an experience with the clarity that makes me feel like I am the person experiencing the event or that I can see it played out in color like a little movie in my head. I had a freshman comp professor that told me I was a very descriptive writer. Well, that's cool, I guess, but let me tell you. William Shakespeare himself couldn't gather the prose necessary to come close describing how good her homemade pepper relish was.

I can taste it right now, and I ain't had a bite of it in many, many moons. But I had my sandwich and some reheated coffee from the stove and it was enjoying just sitting on the porch, waiting for someone to come rolling in with a deer or at least a deer story. And then all of a sudden, bam! My sandwich date was interrupted by a rifle shot just a little south of due west. Well, that's Matthew Stand. I decided I'd give him a minute or two before I go checked on him. Mainly because I wanted to finish that sandwich I was eating before I started walking from the camp,

down to the creek bottom where he was hunting about a quarter of a mile away. That first sandwich was so good I fixed me another one, and I lit out across the yard making my way toward Matthew Stan. It was cool walking in the sunlight with the wind out of the north, but downright chilly, once I stepped into the woods where all the direct sunlight was hidden by some old-growth timber. The canopy was so thick that the ground was pretty well absent of brush and briars, and you could see a pretty good ways down through that bottom. I was taking my time and wearing my hunter orange, so when Matthew eventually saw me walking, he wouldn't bust a cap in my direction. I was also gnawing on that sandwich with reckless abandon. It'd been a long time since we'd all let breakfast, and I knew he'd be hungry, too.

So the last thing I wanted to do before helping him gut and drag a deer back to camp was share my sandwich with him. I know, that's terrible. But don't get me wrong, I love my nephew just like he's my son. And I would have given that rascal both of my kidneys to this very day, but I wouldn't have shared a bite of that pepper relish and mule-lip sandwich with St. Peter if he asked for it. The precious few folks on this planet that have eaten it, they understand. Anyway, I finally swallowed that last bite as I came into view of Matthew Stand.

We call it the corner stand and it sits in a little oak flat that at the time could have doubled for a state park. Now with the timber having been cut in there, there's more undergrowth and brows, which is better for deer anyway, but it just don't look as pretty, not as it did then. It was a great spot, and it still is. A natural transition from a big overgrown clear-cut that funneled deer along a creek bottom and into that oak flat where that stand was located. I looked at the stand as I got closer,

and when I was within 60 yards or so, I could see that he wasn't in it. I continued on, and as I rounded a set of holly bushes that was growing on the bank of the creek, I could see Matthew Sennon, there. He just crawled up out of the creek as I rounded the corner, barefooted as a goose, dripping wet from the waist down and grinning with a mouthful of choppers that even that fifth dentist would have approved of. He was looking in the creek and smiling back at me. In his

underwear. They were the whitey, tidy kind, but purple. And I was confused. Boy, what in the world are you doing? It was a rhetorical question. I could plainly see what he was doing. He was standing on the bank of the creek in his drawers. I just didn't know why. Uncle Brent, a buck walked up here from down the creek and I shot him. When I did, he fell in the creek and I couldn't see him after I shot.

So I got down, I came over here and I looked in the creek and I still couldn't find him. I had to get in there to check and, sure enough, that's where he was. He had pulled him up on a little sandbar. and he was proud and I was proud. After he got his bridges back on, we pulled him up on the bank and we drug him back to Camden. I fixed him a bologna sandwich, and that's just how that happened.

Last spring, Clay Newcomb and I collaborated with Jason Phelps at Phelps game calls in building each of our own favorite turkey diaphragms called prime cuts. Now, I'm going to tell you, I love mine because it's easy to use. I'm not going to go, I'm not going to win a turkey calling contest. It's just not going to happen. But when I run this call, I get the sounds that gobblers are looking for. I have a great turkey hunting track record. If you go listen to real turkeys out in the woods, they're not going to win calling contests, right?

That's who I listen to. I can make those sounds on my cut. I also hunt with Phelps's cut, and I hunt with Clay's cut because they're all three great cuts. Check out Prime Cuts at Phelps gamecalls.com. you'll be glad you did and you'll find out that the steve ronella cut is an easy-to-use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action our first deer camp structure if you could call canvas a structure was an old war surplus army tent that would sleep a dozen folks if you scooted everyone's cots close together it was miserable hot

during the day and cold as a steel wedge at night. The only sustainable feature that carried on day and night was the relaxing smell of moth balls that permeated that thick canvas fabric that may have deterred malls, but it seemed to have no effect on the mice that chewed on it from year to year. Every year saw new patches and areas that had to be sewn back together from the previous 11 months of storage. We would put it up about a week before. the gun season opened in November and take it down a week or so after it went out.

Back then, which is a phrase my 11-year-old daughter Bailey references, often that includes anything that happened before cell phones and yogurt britches, gun deer season was a week long in Arkansas with a few additional days scattered here and there around the holidays. But for the serious rifle hunters that were chasing bucks, that first week of gun deer season was what we had waited for the other 51 weeks out of the other 51 weeks out. of the year. We ran deer dogs for several years, beagles mostly, but as the time went on, running dogs became more and more of a burden as previously free timber company land that we hunted became leased land. Folks weren't as interested in pushing their deer over on the neighboring lease

for someone else to let the air out of. We were paying for the opportunity to shoot the deer on our lease, not move them somewhere else. Now I understand why the tentations. Now I understand why the member company started leasing, but it literally and figuratively changed the landscape of deer hunting in Arkansas from the onset, but that, as I say, is a whole other podcast. Today we're talking about deer camps, specifically the one that I hunted in for many years. The B&R deer camp. That stood for Bryant and Reeves. The Bryant was the family that my brother Tim married into, and when he did, they got me by default. Not sure if I was part of the day. diary or more of a consolation prize, but regardless, there I was.

Now, my brother's in-laws that I referenced many times on this podcast are all just like my family. His father-in-law, Mr. Billy Bryant, was my turkey hunting mentor. His mother-in-law, Miss Mickey, that was a nickname for her. Her real name was Amelia Ruth, and that lady was something special in her own right. In all the years I knew her, I never saw her when she wasn't sporting a smile. Don't even get me started on her cooking for the love of humanity. She was in a league of her own. Joe, their son, was four years older than Tim, and he was a big brother to us all. Initially in the camp, it was Joe, Tim, and a cousin of ours. Then, as a kid of 11, I was allowed in. That eventually grew to include other family members, our children, and

now the children of our children. That's heritage, that's tradition. That's tradition. That's how you build a legacy. And it wasn't done with the deer that we killed one week out of the year. I mean, that's South Arkansas. Not a lot of folks longer to hunt that area like they are southeast Kansas. Not then for sure. It's gotten a lot better because people are educating themselves more on growing their deer to maturity and maximizing the age of deer to grow them bigger.

But back then, there's Bailey slang again for ancient times. Back then it was a sin to shoot. to dough. Now why you asked because every old head would stand on a soapbox and tell you that dead mama deer don't have baby bug deer. That's how I think the buck to dough ratio got so out of whack, but that's a whole other podcast. A small buck would get smashed because the prevalent thinking was if I didn't shoot him, the next fellow would. Anyway, that's all changed now and changed for the better. But Brent, stay on track. After a few years, sleeping in the tent and losing the battle against the forces of mice and mothballs, we decided

a building was in order. So we procured several bunks of lumber, mostly hardwood slabs, and built a 32 by 16 cabin with a hammer, a chainsaw, and a square. The tin roof was scrapped from a chicken house, and after a few weekends in the blister and heat, the B&R deer camp had a deer camp. Our stove was an old barrel cut out with doors and a stovepipe attached. It sat in a big sandbox that would catch any fallen embers or coals when the door was open and to keep from heating the floor to the point of combustion when the stove was full of wood and the damper opened. I've seen that thing glowing red as we laid in the darkness, smoke billing out of the stack like a steam engine. The temperature fluctuating from the surface of the sun on the side. The temperature fluctuating from the surface of the sun on the

side that was facing the stove to absolute zero on the side that wasn't. We turned back and forth all night, trying to find the sweet spot between being scalded and frostbite. The fire pit outside was where we gathered. It's where we told stories and revisited the day's events. There was no electricity. The fire was our TV. A ballgame might be played from a truck radio in the background and peeing off the porch was

acceptable except for the no-pee zone. where the steps led you in and out of the front door. We had a gas stove that we cooked on, and it ran off a big bottle that was kept out back. We took turns getting up early to start the coffee and stoke up the fire in the stove. My work eventually took me away from this place, making it troublesome to continue,

but the tradition is kept alive by everyone else, and I miss it dearly. The adults that were only kids when we built that camp, now have kids that are older than they were when we started. We built it in 1988, 35 years ago, and it stands today not unlike it stood then. A rectangle of mismatched furniture, out of plum walls, creaking floor, and the occasional adventurous field mouse that would dare to run the gauntlet after everyone finally quieted down when the lanterns were turned off.

I miss all of that Except the mouse part I hate them Now outside of someone Killing a big deer Family night was the highlight of the week Wives, mothers and friends would cook and bring a big potluck supper

To the camp and it was way more food Than we could eat in any one setting So the leftovers would stay And we'd work on them the rest of the week Deer chili, chicken Cornbread beans Peas, cakes, pies, cookies you name it, it was there, and it was good, every bit of it.

Some of y'all are going to hear this and think, man, I wish I had that in my life. Well, let me tell you, you can. You don't have to be from where I'm from to have something like that. It's never too late to start a tradition. Traditions don't have to be old. They just have to have value to the folks that are participating. The value can't come from the success. of the endeavor, it can't rest on the shoulders of a successful hunt either. A successful hunt is a

fleeting wind that fades away quicker than the deer meat in the freezer. It has to be organic and come from the people that gather there together for the shared experience. Each person and family represent a crucial part that makes the whole experience a tangible entity. That's what creates the basis for tradition, and tradition is what builds the legacy. It ain't hard. Surround yourself with folks you love and enjoy being with and doing something you all love to do and the next thing you know You'll look around and there's a whole bunch of little folks that resemble you and the rest of the old G's standing in line to carry the torch Deer Camp

It's more than just deer hunting a whole lot more The time to be at the camp is fast approaching you folks make sure you've got those words Wals nest taken care of and your stands inspected and for the love of humanity, wear a safety strap. You can't help build a tradition if you ain't there. If you ain't there, there's going to be some folks missing you. I sure appreciate y'all listening. And until next week, this is Brent Reeves, signing off.

Y'all be careful. Last spring, Clay Newcomb and I collaborated with Jason Phelps at Phelps game calls in building each of our own favorite diaphragms called prime cuts. Now I'm going to tell you, I love mine because it's easy to use. I'm not going to go, I'm not going to win a turkey calling contest. It's just not going to happen. But when I run this call, I get the sounds that gobblers are looking for. I have a great turkey hunting track record.

If you go listen to real turkeys out in the woods, they're not going to win calling contests, right? That's who I listen to. I can make those sounds on my cut. I also hunt with Phelps's cut. and I help with Clay's cut because they're all three great cuts. Check out Prime Cuts at Phelps Game Calls.com. I think you'll be glad you did,

and you'll find out that the Steve Ronella cut is an easy-to-use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action.