Deer Camp Never Felt So Good!
Andy Husek 12.14.20
I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a year for the record books, and not in a good way! I, for one, cannot wait to put this year in the rear view, move on and get back to some sense of new normalcy – whatever that may be. One thing that I would NOT allow 2020 to take away from me, though, was Deer Camp! Going all the way back to my childhood, I can remember like clockwork as summer drew to a close and the mornings started to feel a little “different,” come September we were inching closer to Opening Day!
Now, there are a ton of opening days; opening day of archery, opening day of muzzleloader, youth season, antlerless season, liberty hunt and the list goes on. But for me, nothing comes close to comparing to November 15th. The opening day of Michigan rifle season.
It’s time to load the truck up and head north to Deer Camp!
Now, I’m quite certain Michigan is not an anomaly in the fact that the opening day of rifle season is more like a religious holiday for most mid-western hunters. Family and friends gather in camp, and you eat the same meals, hear the same stories and make the same jokes that you have for decades.
And I can guarantee not a single person in camp would change it for the world!
Deer Camp goes beyond the hunting, though. For some camps it is a large part of it, for others not so much. We all have that one guy in camp who has probably only hunted for a total of 3 hours over the past 3 years, and that’s okay! He heads out and plops down on a stump, watches the sun come up and then heads back to camp for coffee and breakfast. We all do things a little different, and if that’s the speed he’s comfortable operating at, that’s just fine.
This year in my camp, we had some old and new faces. My dad and I have been hunting together since I was born, but I had a buddy who’s relatively new to hunting, as well as my future brother in-law – my father’s future son in-law. It goes without saying, but we were excited to show everyone what a traditional Michigan Deer Camp was all about!
We stayed in a wall tent and ate more than we should, stoked the fire way too hot and told the same lies to the new faces who hadn’t heard them yet.
Let’s talk guns. After all, that is the best part about this ‘holiday!’
A lot of guys use the same rifle and equipment they have been using since they were a kid. I have some old pieces of gear that definitely carry a certain nostalgia, but I love trying new gear, guns and optics. This year, I was fortunate enough to have a couple different rifles topped with some brand new Burris optics. I had been using these scopes throughout the year on a couple different hunts, and could not wait to get them up to Deer Camp to show them off to the crew.
One of the scopes was the Burris Signature HD sitting on top of my 300 Win Mag. I planned on using this gun to sit over some of our food plots where longer shots would be an option.
My daughter had used this scope to shoot her black bear earlier in the year, and I love the illuminated reticle for low light situations. This was a perfect feature for those deer leaving the plots early in the morning and then hitting them again at last light. It allows me to easily pick up the center point in those low light situations. With the 30mm tube and 50mm objective, I knew it was the perfect glass for the days I sat those particular stands.
On my second rifle, I was sporting the Burris Fullfield IV 4-16 x 50 and it was sitting on top of a brand new Ruger American chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.
My plan was to use this rifle in thicker timber closer to bedding cover, trying to intercept deer as they milled around during midday hours. It is a much lighter gun and way easier to handle in the thicker brush. I have used both of these scopes throughout the year, and have been really impressed with the quality and performance.
You can see the craftsmanship and the performance speaks for itself.
Both optics hold zero with no issues, and the adjustments are true to scale. How many times have you tried to zero your rifle, and you need to lower the impact by 1.5” at 100 yards only to find out that it took WAY MORE than 6 clicks of the turret to get there? Not with these Burris scopes, they dial exactly as they should.
This precision comes from their background in producing high end competition scopes for PRS and NRL shooters. For them – and all of us really – precision in your adjustments is paramount, and that is the norm for Burris!
I highly recommend you head over to Burrisoptics.com and check them out, along with their lineup of other great products. I can tell you for sure, they have some new and exciting things coming out in 2021 that I can’t wait to get my hands on and get out in the field. You may even see a couple of them floating around Deer Camp next year, stay tuned!
Deer Camp was once again a success this year for a ton of different reasons. For starters, it made 2020 feel somewhat normal – even if it was for only a few days! We caught up with old friends and got out to enjoy the great outdoors, and we hopefully have some new blood in camp that will help us carry on the traditions. We even shot a couple deer in between all of the feasting, BSing and campfires. Who woulda thought!
But like I mentioned before, sometimes it’s not ALL about the deer hunting, it’s about the whole experience! If you’re a deer hunter and you haven’t ever done it before, find a way to get to Deer Camp!
