2013 New Jersey Muzzle Loader Deer Camp Report

Made the trip down to New Jersey for our annual Muzzle Loader deer camp at Mohican Outdoor center in the Delaware Water Gap.  After missing last years camp, I was excited to be back and this year I brought my daughter.  Yup, I broke the no girls in deer camp rule and I am proud of it.  My daughter and I were the only ones from Connecticut this year and My brother Steve couldn't make it but the rest of the characters where all present including my dad.

Sunday morning found us delaying our departure due to icy roads in our area of Connecticut but we were on the road by 9am.  Made the stop at Stokes Forest Sport Shop to get my daughter her NJ licenses.  This used to be a tradition for our trip, but since they went to the online purchases we only have to stop for first time licenses or when someone forgot to do it online.  As tradition holds, there was a line of other hunters doing the same thing.  We left the sport shop and headed down in to the Gap but made a quick stop fore a warm delicious Taylor Ham, cheese and Egg sandwich.  We can't get Taylor Ham here in CT, so I always take the opportunity to get some when available.  We arrived at the Mohican Outdoor Center where the Blueberry Hill cabin becomes our home base for deer camp.  The cabin sleeps 16, has heat, fireplace, 3 bathrooms with two showers, a full kitchen and no TV or phone or even phone service!  Sure beats when we used to stay in hotel rooms

Once we said hello to everyone, my dad, bill, my daughter and myself decided to do a quick scouting trip to check out the areas we were thinking about hunting in the morning.  We started down a short section of the Appalachian trail that connected to the Copper Mine trail and continued down to kaiser trail and then cut back through the woods to our starting point.  We didn't bump any deer but we did see plenty of fresh sign and some really good buck sign.  With our plans confirmed we headed back to the cabin to unpack and settle in for our first evening.  Raymond was busy manning the smoker as he was smoking some pork ribs which would be the main dish for dinner that night and they were delicious!

We got an early start on Monday morning and were headed down the trail just after 5am and there were not to many other hunters around which is not a good sign.  The woods are big and the hiding spots for deer many so you need hunters in the woods to help move them around a bit.  As legal shooting light approached I always sit in anticipation of the first shots and with Pennsylvania being just across the river and Monday being their firearms opener as well it didn't take long to hear the first shots of the season.   It was a pretty quiet morning with the sound of distance shots breaking the silence every so often, but none that suggested the shots were close or from any of our 11 man crew which was spread out over 8 miles.  About 8am we heard a close shot coming from the direction of where Bill and his son Eric had setup and withing a minute or two of the shot the radio cracked and it was Bill letting us know he just dropped a deer.  That definitely got the attention of my daughter he she was scanning the woods hoping to see one for herself.   About 9:30 my daughter was ready for a little walk to warm up and we headed off our perch and to the trail to head down to my dad and check in with him and then we heard another shot which sounded like it came from where Billy and Bob where setup just off the top of the mountain on the river side.  It wasn't long before the radio went off and we confirmed that Billy shot a nice doe. We made it over to my dad and he had seen one nice deer to far off and we looked the area over and decided to build a hide for my daughter and I to sit on Tuesday.  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful and we headed back to camp a little before the end of legal shooting.

We spent some time getting dinner ready, while everyone cycled through the showers and participated in many discussions about what everyone saw and gave thoughts on their plans for Tuesday.  Plenty of laughs to be had over dinner as well and then it was time to cleanup, sit back and watch Jeremiah Johnson on the computer before heading to the sack for a good nights rest.

Tuesday found us once again heading down the Coppermine Trail and into our blinds well before legal light.  My dad had a spike sneak into him early and it headed our way but stayed low and we never did see it.  We had two come by our setup but too far for a shot and they didn't stick around long.  About 7:30 I get a text message and it was from Raymond who had just shot a 8 pointer about 5 miles down river from us.  Turns out Raymond's deer would be the biggest buck and he would win the big buck pin and have bragging rights for the year!   Billy missed twice that morning as well and young James also had a swing and a miss.  My daughter and had had another encounter with 4 more deer in the brush but never did get a shot at them.  We poked around the woods until about noon and then headed back to the cabin to get packed up and see what everyone wanted to do.

The Muzzle Loader season in the zone we hunt is a 15 day season, but the days are spread over a full month so we only had Monday and Tuesday to hunt.  The other 13 days would occur after the 6 day firearm season ended.  Kaleigh was tired and ready for a nap, so we decided to pack it up and head back to Connecticut which allowed me to beat all the dang traffic.  No deer for us, but we will get back down for another hunt or two and hopefully get lucky.

So final count was 3 deer taken and 3 misses which makes for plenty of ribbing and a little bragging.  as always time spent with family and friends is what really matters at our camp so it was a success for sure.

Muzzle Loader Camp 2011

What a difference a year makes.  Last year we had great cold and clear weather and a full meat tree, while this year we had warm weather for two days along with Rain and fog and a damn near empty meat tree. 

This is our annual after Thanksgiving Muzzle Loader hunt down in the Delaware Water Gap area of New Jersey and it is always greeted with great anticipation and excitement.  Much of this excitement and anticipation is the fact that we have almost 30 miles of state and federal land to hunt and with that much land to hunt you never know what is going to happen.  The trip starts out early on Sunday as members of our Connecticut crew pile into the trucks and head south to our camp which is a cabin at the Mohegan Outdoor Center where we meet up with friends and family from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. 

Once our gear is unloaded in our rooms, some guys will sit around telling stories, others tart preparing some snacks and dinner while the rest will usually take to the woods for a last minute scouting trip.  Once it gets dark, it is time for a great dinner and then time to prepare out packs and lunches for the next day's hunt.  Of course a little night cap is always in order to help fight through the restless night that we all face.

Wake up Monday was 4am and about 4:05am, someone heads out side to see what the weather is like and the report was not good.  It was already in the 50s and temps were expected to get to the mid 60s.  The first of the crew that are hunting off the mountain head out at 5am and the rest of us are out the door by 5:30am.  It was a short hike to my perch for the morning, same spot that i shot my 8 pointer last year.  I was all snuggled in and anxiously awaiting shooting light a good 25 minutes before it arrived.  As the sun started to rise I was already greeted with bugs buzzing around me.  This was not going to be good.  Pennsylvania has their deer season opener on the same day and this usually makes for plenty of shots heard through the morning, but this morning things were usually quiet.  I should have known then that this was going to be one of those trips.  Few deer were sighted that morning, of course none by me.  Chuck scored a nice 5 little 5 pointer and we joked about this being the big buck pin winner, little did we know it would end up to be not only the pin winner, but the only deer taken in two days.  Some of us met back at the cabin for lunch and after getting Chuck's deer to the check station and hung up on the meat pole, we headed off the mountain to meet up with the rest of the crew so we could make a push or two.  We setup for our long pond push which seldom lets us down, but it did on this day.  As one of our standers was walking in he jumped a lone doe and took a shoot and missed.  That would be the only deer seen on this drive.  By the end of this driver, most of use were soaked and picking thorns out of our clothes and body so with about an hour left many of us just head back to camp to get an early shower.  Chuck, James and Myself decided to butcher Chuck's buck and get it in a cooler as temps were not excepted to drop below the high 40s.  We had a good dinner, some more laughs and a night cap and then off to bed.

Tuesday morning's weather report was warm and damp.  According the to radar we had about 4 hours before it started raining so out the door we headed.  The rain started around 8:30am but it was light and mostly a mist, but the fog was heavy at times and visibility was down to 40 yards at times.  About 10:30 the chatter on the radio was to head back to the cabin because according to the radar, the skies were about to open up.  Well, some of us didn't make it back in time and we got soaked.  It looked like the rain was going to hold on through the majority of the afternoon so guys started to head home.  Busch Pilot and James decided to do a little walk about and ran into nothing but black bears.  We decided to pack it in and head back to CT around 3pm. 

We had one deer to show for the trip and only two shots taken in two days which is a far cry from our usual trips.  The weather didn't cooperate, most of the hunters that stayed through the mid day heat or rain, sat tight and so did the deer.  In terms of deer, camp was a letdown, but as always we had good food and lots of laughs with family and friends and that is truly what makes camp so special.

They Have The Passion Weekly - Whitetail Woods

I know it's still spring and everyone is chasing fish and turkeys but it's never to early to start thinking about this year's deer season, so this weeks Passion post features Rick from Whitetail Woods.

Rick's Muzzle Loader hunt to remember

Rick is a fellow Nutmegger who lives out my way and has a passion for those four legged critters and deer hunting.  If Rick isn't out hunting for deer, he is scouting for deer or preapring for the season.  He might be on the range or even on a stream chasing trout.  Rick has really taken a liking to blackpowder shooting and considers it "an important part of American history and tradition that should not be forgotten." and I have to agree with him.

Rick's replica of a 1860 Colt Army .44 revolver

Rick has been blogging since 2008 and always has great information related to shooting and blackpowder guns to share with his readers and when he is not sharing great information he might just be showing off his woodworking skills , some recipes or pictures from his trail cameras.

If you have an interest in shooting, blackpowder and deer hunting then stop on by Whitetail Woods and see what Rick has to offer.