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Well this is my first night at. Camp this year. My BIL and nephew are out of town and my 3yo stayed home with momma so I am sitting on the porch of my travel trailer, country music plays softly in the background and a cold beer sits by the rocking chair I am in. Life's hectic pace slows way down out here by yourself and as I go thru my gear getting ready for the morning hunt I find muy self caressing items from years past. Binocos, flashlights, and knives some of them giving to me by my Dad others are his that became mine on December 14th 2006 just 2 days after my 35th birthday. There are more items in this bag than I will ever need or use. Some I will hand down to Hayden, some were intended for Owen. I still don't know what to do with those. The first night of camp used to be filled with great anticipation this year it will be replaced with reflection on more memorable seasons, and hope, hope for those days when the camphouse will once again be full of laughter and cheer. As for now I'll sit here alone and reflect on happy days. Wait for the news to come on, crawl in bed and hope sleep finds me well tonight. I look forward to first light and the warmth of the morning sun. Till then Good night all and good luck on tomorrow's hunt

Good Luck on everything.. i know when i am at camp alone the first night i hear everything. no worries.. thoughts wander around and into everything. glad for the moments alone but cheerish the times spent with friends and familly..

Hope all went well with ur hunt.

Don't you think that heaven will kind of feel like deercamp. That is what I always think anyway.

I too lost a parent at near the same time, I understand exactly what your feelings are. There is a smell and feel in the air each year as hunting season begins. For the biggest portion of my life it was spent with anticipation of the opening day so I could preform similar to Lab pupp, going out and proving my worth and learning by bringing home game. Now without my dad, I don't have the killer instinct to bring home game but I cherish each moment of alone time at the camp seeing what my pop and I created from the design of the skinning rack to the piss poor design of our sewer system. As I enter the woods I feel the same change from being a killer to a person who appreciates the game in respect to out thinking each animal and using the tips and tricks given to me by the hunters pass. The reality is that when the person you hunted hardest to impress is gone, your direction and style of hunting changes. I still look forward to opening days and camp time but I feel honored to have spent my prior years with my father and his freinds who have gone but left me so much.

Chris McFarland wrote:I too lost a parent at near the same time, I understand exactly what your feelings are. There is a smell and feel in the air each year as hunting season begins. For the biggest portion of my life it was spent with anticipation of the opening day so I could preform similar to Lab pupp, going out and proving my worth and learning by bringing home game. Now without my dad, I don't have the killer instinct to bring home game but I cherish each moment of alone time at the camp seeing what my pop and I created from the design of the skinning rack to the piss poor design of our sewer system. As I enter the woods I feel the same change from being a killer to a person who appreciates the game in respect to out thinking each animal and using the tips and tricks given to me by the hunters pass. The reality is that when the person you hunted hardest to impress is gone, your direction and style of hunting changes. I still look forward to opening days and camp time but I feel honored to have spent my prior years with my father and his freinds who have gone but left me so much.

Well put. I have had those same changes.