Drinking at hunt camp

I think the difference is space, in the west we still have lots of free space and feel no need to organize a camp to secure a hunting area or because we have to travel great distances to go hunting. In the east because of a higher population density they have different expectations
 
When I deer hunt, we hunt together but we all apply for tags on our own and we are close enough to stay at home. We usually pick a morning time to head in to our stands/blinds together, but it's not mandatory. Arrive when you arrive, leave when you leave. Just try to minimize your beating around the bush by the other guys stands. Send off a text when you are coming in/leaving so we can keep an eye out for you or anything you may stir up. If someone brings one down, we all head over to help gut, drag out, then skin. Guys with tags head back out, guys who fill tags will offer to come out and push the bush if wanted. If it's getting late in the season and tags haven't been filled, they will usually be offered up for others to come back out if they want. No fuss.

Moose camp is slightly different animal. Primarily because we are all in a camp in the bush along a river and you stay there for a week in an old 24x24 section of military barracks. If we managed to get a tag, it's a group tag. The dynamic is such that we we don't have rules per se, we just know what is expected and everyone just "does". If you are hungover and not heading out, or heading out late, or going fishing instead, or walking for birds instead, give'r. If you are going to bring a new person, you run it by the others and you only run it by the others because you know they will fit in with the whole dynamic.

In either case, if you want a Shannon's and coffee (way better than bailys IMO) kickstart that morning. If you want a beer at lunch, quench that thirst. If you want to sip on a flask in a brown paper bag in the stand, hobo it up. Everyone knows their limits and is uncommonly good at applying common sense and the 'Don't be an a$$hole' mantra.
 
I think the difference is space, in the west we still have lots of free space and feel no need to organize a camp to secure a hunting area or because we have to travel great distances to go hunting. In the east because of a higher population density they have different expectations

I think it has more to do with tradition and type of habitat.
 
I think it has more to do with tradition and type of habitat.

Agreed....... I also spend a more "serious" second week of whitetail season on another piece of land i own spot and stalk and stand Hunting..... and a third week with black powder if necessary...... so I do take it seriously..... but I love the comraderie at camp and I am almost positive the guys never get tired of me breaking out my guitar around the bonfire and belting out a tune...... they haven't said so, but I just know it! (Lol)
 
Agreed....... I also spend a more "serious" second week of whitetail season on another piece of land i own spot and stalk and stand Hunting..... and a third week with black powder if necessary...... so I do take it seriously..... but I love the comraderie at camp and I am almost positive the guys never get tired of me breaking out my guitar around the bonfire and belting out a tune...... they haven't said so, but I just know it! (Lol)

Agree with all the above, shotgun week here is half about hunting and half about the camaraderie of a bunch of close friends. I bow hunt by myself for a more serious hunt.
 
Well - This whole discussion leads to a bigger issue - that is having a general compatibility amongst the folks you hunt with. Drinking habits falls in this category, as does:
1) being wound too tight
2) not pulling your weight
3) excessive snoring
4) not following the plan (eg space cadet)
5) drinking someone elses booze
6) excessive body odor
7) being controlled by the wife while away (yes dear, no dear..)
8) being a motor mouth and/or know-it-all

The list goes on. In our camp, we have up to 7 guys living in a common room that is 20 X 30 ft in size. You find out very quickly about these issues. Guys have been punted as a result of not being able to keep it together.

You just described me to a Tee. LOL except for the wife. Having the rest of those traits pretty much guarantees you don't have to worry about a nagging wife. So having said all of that, I still think I'm ahead of the game. Now back to your thread on drinking and hunting.
Oh wait, I don't drink anyone else's booze either.
Not a know it all.

Okay maybe the snoring thing. But when I snore, it makes up for not having the rest of those habits.
 
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Agree with all the above, shotgun week here is half about hunting and half about the camaraderie of a bunch of close friends. I bow hunt by myself for a more serious hunt.

It has actually increased my success......... leaving my second property alone while at camp has caused deer from surrounding areas to be driven to it for refuge after the first week's activity.......
 
Maybe a beer with breakfast if its warm out . and maybe 2 or 3 after back at camp , but not every day . Usually my drinks for hunting are monster with a coke and or bottled water
usually for me drinking , when I feel like it , is splitting a 26 er of tequila washed down with Molson,s with a buddy or piling into half a Canadian Club with coke . But I keep it light on hunt fish days
 
Someone drops a deer, usually crack a beer, once out of the bush.
When we stand down for the day, back at the ranch, few Cognac then rack..
 
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...Send off a text when you are coming in/leaving so we can keep an eye out for you or anything you may stir up. ...

In AB and East of AB this might work.

For the rest of the country...Laugh2

Now, AB and East of AB might laugh, but we in the rest of the country are SO DAMNED GLAD that we typically can't TEXT when we are hunting!!!

"Uhh, sorry boss, I was out of cell range..."

(I can be out of cell range in 20 minutes, and I love it! - because even when I am in range, I can lie about it... "Is that a deer... yep... and there's another one.. OH! Bone!)

 
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In AB and East of AB this might work.

For the rest of the country...Laugh2

Now, AB and East of AB might laugh, but we in the rest of the country

AB and east of AB.... So everywhere in Canada except BC, Yukon, and a portion of the NWT?? :)

It's definitely a less unplugged experience when deer hunting. I can usually resist taking my phone out of my pocket and I'll put it in DND mode with a list of allowed numbers that will vibrate through. The boss definitely isn't on that list... Well work boss anyway.

Moose camp we use smoke signals... or handheld two ways with earbuds if it is too windy. Phones get just enough reception at base camp to intermittently send/receive texts if you go out onto the one corner of the dock or position yourself 'just right' by the one tree. In the bush/stand... nadda. It is blissfull.
 
AB and east of AB.... So everywhere in Canada except BC, Yukon, and a portion of the NWT?? :)

It's definitely a less unplugged experience when deer hunting. I can usually resist taking my phone out of my pocket and I'll put it in DND mode with a list of allowed numbers that will vibrate through. The boss definitely isn't on that list... Well work boss anyway.

Moose camp we use smoke signals... or handheld two ways with earbuds if it is too windy. Phones get just enough reception at base camp to intermittently send/receive texts if you go out onto the one corner of the dock or position yourself 'just right' by the one tree. In the bush/stand... nadda. It is blissfull.

So there is still some room for real peace back there? That's good to hear, brother!

BTW, smoke signals is BC is always a good sign.
 
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It isn't camping without baileys in your morning coffee! After that, the hunt is on, no time for wobbly pops! Once it gets too dark to see the sights, it's time to crack open a cold one and get set on fixin supper. There are those that do get "drunk", but not "blacked out in a pool of their own vomit" drunk. Just enough to get a good shine on and make everyones recycled hunting stories just as amazing as the first time you heard them. Nobody handles firearms under the influence. Those that do over-embellish usually skip the morning hunt.
 
Some people have problems with booze, its got nothing to do with age. I enjoy a beverage at the end of the day but I prefer not to hunt with people who drink from morning to night, in fact I don't.
 
I usually drink 6 beer with breakfast before cleaning my loaded gun (you never know when that 6 point will walk out), then walk around and find my spot, have another beer or shot. Usually by 9 am I am passed out, no big deal, prime hunting is over by 8:30. I wake up in my tree stand with a back up beer in my bag and a mickey of vodkda around 12:30 and hunt till happy hour. Pretty hard to tell if its a 2 or 4 point that walks out. Or if that's a bear or my buddies wife. I'm kidding... no bear is that fat.
 
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I usually drink 6 beer with breakfast before cleaning my loaded gun (you never know when that 6 point will walk out), then walk around and find my spot, have another beer or shot. Usually by 9 am I am passed out, no big deal, prime hunting is over by 8:30. I wake up in my tree stand with a back up beer in my bag and a mickey of vodkda around 12:30 and hunt till happy hour. Pretty hard to tell if its a 2 or 4 point that walks out. Or if that's a bear or my buddies wife. I'm kidding... no bear is that fat.

Very nice! I like!

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