New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Deer Camp 2005- I am the forest.

Tuesday 11/08/2005

I have been going to "Deer Camp" in Maine annually or frequently since the 1970's. Deer camp is such a special place. Our family camp in Maine near the family homestead has been a part of my life for 40 years or so. And the lake it sits on for all my 55 years. But the family camp becomes more magically when it turns into "Deer Camp" each fall.

This year my son Adam was back at deer camp after a 3 or 4 year hiatus due to work commitments. And Adam took a nice fat doe the very first day. My son-in-law Derek has been an annual participant for several years. Our crew of three has managed a number of first-day deer most of the last 5 years. Last year Derek and I both got one within hours of arriving. Adam had the right moves and luck this year seeing a total of 7 deer. Derek and I saw none in our 4 days at camp. But I saw so much more.

Deer camp is a time to focus on deer and all the things that make a deer hunt. While deer are central to any conversation at deer camp for me it is a time to really connect to the earth itself. And this year conditions seemed perfect for me to become just another limb in the forest. I spend quit a bit of time in a tree stand. I like to become one with the forest. The longer you sit suspended above the ground and hidden amongst the branches the more you indeed become more of the forest. Life from the tree stand was sparse this year, save for a big tom turkey swaggering up the blue berry field 60 yards away in the full sun of the day. Squirrels were even scarce this year. But acorns were not as the ground was covered with them 100 yards from my tree stand.

The deer did not move much during the days which were unusually warm near 70 degrees each day. They already have donned their thick winter coats and stayed cool quiet and bedded during the day. So my perch in the tree along their normal travel to feeding areas was for naught. They stood up and ate the plentiful nuts then just laid back down.

I can't remember a year when the forest around me was so full of leaves. Fall is running late and even a number of trees had green leaves on them. My preferred tree stand is near a grove of pole stage beech trees that give the deer plenty of ground cover and serves to hide them when they move through. The beech leaves were brilliantly colored in shades of yellow.

There was a wall of color hanging like a curtain on the trail that leads toward my tree stand. It felt like I was literally entering the forest through this curtain and practically needed to swim through the sea of color to my stand. It was surreal at times.When I walk through the forest I can't help but touch the trees as I pass feeling the different textures and feelings of trees.

I spent the better part of three days in my stand. I knew I should get out and step on a deer, but time in a tree is well spent. I completely leave work and other life at home when I am at deer camp. I think deer, trees, shadows, sounds, colors and soak in all that my perch has to offer. Just one cloud sweeping past in front of the sun suddenly changes the whole texture of the forest spilling out before me. And as the sun slips across the sky the mood of the forest changes with each degree the Earth spins eastward. It's totally amazing how the view changes from one perspective from a tree during one day. There is a hundred different views of all the same things I have stared at for hours at a time. It is a time lapse of a day in the forest. It just takes 8 or 9 hours for the scene to play out.

Sounds means so much more when you sit stationary in a tree for a full day. Monday the ravens, which are usually quite chatty, were pretty quiet. All that changed with the field dressing of the deer Adam had taken. Tuesday the air was full of raven voices. Even a bald eagle soared by at one point to snack on the left overs the ravens had not cleaned up. A Great Horned Owl, not audible even at close range, slipped through the trees not 10 feet above my head on Thursday morning. Eyes and ears strain constantly to gather any changes in the forest all day long. To miss a sound or a movement could mean missing a deer. Every sense of the forest is gleaned from the forest if you are a deer hunter. That's one of the things I like most about "deer camp".