Our moose hunting group fell apart a couple years ago. Two job transfers wiped us out. It was a small group but a lot of fun and I miss it. One of my partners moved to Ottawa and his son was put in 'time out' at school for making a gun out of Lego while in class. Not impressed. My son is dragging his feet getting his PAL, very busy. One of his mates stores his guns. I have a small collection which I want him to have. While back east this spring I found my Dad's (since passed away) 22 Cooey which will be a winter project. Hope it stays in the family.
THE DYING OFF .....of a hunting group
- Thread starter jraab
- Start date
blasted_saber
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- A blue part of Ontario
We do the same thing. Need to honour the memory of those passed
^^^
This.
I am involved with two separate groups, one for deer and one for moose. Grouse, rabbits etc...it is just my dog and me.
Moose is the hardest for us. Guys come and go in this group and maintaining enough pool 1 hunters to be guaranteed a tag is the trick.
My advice to anybody wanting to join a moose gang would be to enter the draw every year to keep your pool 1 status regardless of whether you intend to hunt or not. This way, if an opportunity does pop up you are good for the draw and thus more of an asset as a new member.
My father and 6 of his brothers bought 500 acres of land up north for hunting 30 years ago now. Although my father and uncles are still in decent health, They are getting up there in age, They are all 65+ years old now. Now everything is starting to get passed down to their kids and grand kids, Me being one of them. Now we own 700 acres, Have an awesome camp that is everything they hoped it would be when they first bought the property. But I can see the decline already. 90% of my cousins don't want to invest any money or more importantly - Time, To keep this going. They are always too busy for work weekends or to do any up keep on the place. Summer comes around they treat the place like a party house, By the hunting season rolls around, All bridges and trails are trashed, Bush littered with beer cans and garbage. Its just disgusting to see.
Last camp meeting we discussed most of these issues and it seemed like the only people that cared are the oldtimers and myself. So guess what, They have made me President of the camp and I will also be secretary very soon because no one else would volunteer and when they voted, I was nominated.. I really wish I had the money to buy all of them out and keep the place to myself, But that will never happen. So I will rely on these half ass hunters to keep the very place I enjoy the most a float.
I'm not sure how much longer we will be able to keep this place, Often think about selling my own share that I bought when I was 18 ($13,000) and just buying 100 acres even farther north and keep it to myself.
rant over.
Last camp meeting we discussed most of these issues and it seemed like the only people that cared are the oldtimers and myself. So guess what, They have made me President of the camp and I will also be secretary very soon because no one else would volunteer and when they voted, I was nominated.. I really wish I had the money to buy all of them out and keep the place to myself, But that will never happen. So I will rely on these half ass hunters to keep the very place I enjoy the most a float.
I'm not sure how much longer we will be able to keep this place, Often think about selling my own share that I bought when I was 18 ($13,000) and just buying 100 acres even farther north and keep it to myself.
rant over.
DVX.... do yourself a favour..... bring some new eager hunters into your camp.... I have always helped new hunters and shooters and it has been a rewarding experience for me... And it can be reinvigorating.... you ma get some duds ... but they are easily weeded out.....
That is very good advice for someone thinking they would like to join a moose hunting group. Pool 1 status is a definite asset.
You want to talk about a group suffering fast.
6 guys moose hunting in a group,
One guy dies in a fatal firearms hunting accident at 40 and the next year 2 of the old boys die of old age..
One more guy faded away. Just Jim and I now.
Can't even describe how crappy it feels to have lost them so fast.
Enjoy what ya got while you got it.
6 guys moose hunting in a group,
One guy dies in a fatal firearms hunting accident at 40 and the next year 2 of the old boys die of old age..
One more guy faded away. Just Jim and I now.
Can't even describe how crappy it feels to have lost them so fast.
Enjoy what ya got while you got it.
My family settled in the area between Erinsville and Verona, Ontario some time around the Irish potato famine and has hunted in various homesteads and camps for game whole time. The family, and I use that term loosely, now has a very nice large camp north of Tamworth and has been our staple hunting ground for the passed 30 years or so.
I am the youngest of the grand children in my family, my father and mother died while I was very young, under 10 years old. My remaining extended family never really made an effort to include me in the traditional deer, bear and moose hunts as I grew up. I always had interest and asked to take part but I was never obliged.
Fast forward to a few years ago. I am about 30 , I am in the Navy and posted to Halifax, NS at this point. I have always has my father's .303 and 870. I meet a girl, her father is a very avid hunter; and boom the itch is scratched. Him and I have hunted together at every opportunity sense that time, roughly 6 years. And I have enjoyed it thoroughly. In fact we are now looking at buying a camp and some acreage together.
My family, back in the Kingston area, is now realizing that 1) I am a hunter and 2) the "family camp" has been splintered by rivalries and petty differences and is now almost totally taken over by "friends" and "followers". Suddenly the push is on to get me to drop 3K and pay the yearly dues to become a member of the camp to help prop up the family side.
I wont do it. I will, in all likelihood, never live in Ontario again so it doesn't make any financial or pragmatic sense to become a member of a camp and pay dues if I am never going to use it. Not to mention the politics of the camp are a gigantic head-ache and petty.
My point here is this; the camp, my family camp, is losing its roots and history because they have failed pass on the tradition, and I don't feel bad one bit, I feel that I am creating a new history and tradition in a new place and I look forward to applying the effort it requires to foster it.
I am the youngest of the grand children in my family, my father and mother died while I was very young, under 10 years old. My remaining extended family never really made an effort to include me in the traditional deer, bear and moose hunts as I grew up. I always had interest and asked to take part but I was never obliged.
Fast forward to a few years ago. I am about 30 , I am in the Navy and posted to Halifax, NS at this point. I have always has my father's .303 and 870. I meet a girl, her father is a very avid hunter; and boom the itch is scratched. Him and I have hunted together at every opportunity sense that time, roughly 6 years. And I have enjoyed it thoroughly. In fact we are now looking at buying a camp and some acreage together.
My family, back in the Kingston area, is now realizing that 1) I am a hunter and 2) the "family camp" has been splintered by rivalries and petty differences and is now almost totally taken over by "friends" and "followers". Suddenly the push is on to get me to drop 3K and pay the yearly dues to become a member of the camp to help prop up the family side.
I wont do it. I will, in all likelihood, never live in Ontario again so it doesn't make any financial or pragmatic sense to become a member of a camp and pay dues if I am never going to use it. Not to mention the politics of the camp are a gigantic head-ache and petty.
My point here is this; the camp, my family camp, is losing its roots and history because they have failed pass on the tradition, and I don't feel bad one bit, I feel that I am creating a new history and tradition in a new place and I look forward to applying the effort it requires to foster it.
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It is not challenging, it is next to impossible!
Because of me, me, me generation...
Sadly, these problems seem all too common. So many long established camps have either died-off (almost literally) for lack of new blood, had a rift come up between camp members and disbanded/dwindled, lost their land due to development/sale, members lost interest/had a change of life situation (kids/work), etc. It seems the "good old days" of a full week or two spent in hunting camp are a thing of the past. 
It's a problem with camps and even hand me down cottages. The original intent is gone or most likely not the same so there is infighting. Talk to your average young couple these days, they are mortgaged way beyond their means and the last thing on their mind are hunt camps. Sad when your hear these stories.
It makes me sad to see some of these replies, good camps with great tradition dying off. I've always had a fear that my land would go to waste, one partner cannot have children, the other is married to an anti-hunter and refuses to let him or their children hunt or even go to the camp.
Then my youngest (20 yrs old) comes back from school for Christmas break and the first thing he does is head up to the camp!!!!!! First major snow fall of the year ,almost 2ft, and he didn't care, he had to miss deer hunting for the first time this year since he was 10 and he was determined to spend time up there. Damn I'm proud of him.
I was also proud of his stubbornness, I warned him that we were getting a major storm in and that he would be in for a world of hurt if he tried to take the 4 wheeler in, (no road access, we are in the boonies), he and his buddies pushed/pulled/screamed at the ATV for 3 hours before a couple of snowmobilers saved their dumb butts.
Guess I should mention that he and one of his buddies are in Forestry courses and the other is a miner. Other than the miner who is 250lbs my son and his other friend weigh in at about 160lbs each.
Did I mention that I was proud of my boy?
Then my youngest (20 yrs old) comes back from school for Christmas break and the first thing he does is head up to the camp!!!!!! First major snow fall of the year ,almost 2ft, and he didn't care, he had to miss deer hunting for the first time this year since he was 10 and he was determined to spend time up there. Damn I'm proud of him.
I was also proud of his stubbornness, I warned him that we were getting a major storm in and that he would be in for a world of hurt if he tried to take the 4 wheeler in, (no road access, we are in the boonies), he and his buddies pushed/pulled/screamed at the ATV for 3 hours before a couple of snowmobilers saved their dumb butts.
Guess I should mention that he and one of his buddies are in Forestry courses and the other is a miner. Other than the miner who is 250lbs my son and his other friend weigh in at about 160lbs each.
Did I mention that I was proud of my boy?
