by Steve McLeod

At dusk in November, lights will flicker on in thousands of Deer Camps in the hills, dales, and deep woods throughout Rural Vermont as hunters gather for Vermont’s unofficial sixteen day holiday otherwise known as Rifle Season.  Vermonters hunting out of home will be anxiously organizing their gear in hopes of bagging the big one on also.

Many hunters take a two week vacation so as to be encamped the entire rifle season.  Some are so in love with the hunting way of life that they will deer hunt in more than one state.  Many camps are multiple decades old, some as much as a century or more old.  Generations of family and friends have been part of camp lore.

Come Saturday morning, after a big hunter’s breakfast at camp or at local breakfast spots, hunters will filter into the woods, some in cover of darkness, in hopes of bagging the ever-elusive white tail buck at first light.  Soon, shots will ring from the hills.  If the hunter hears shots near him or her, they will hope one of their camp mates fired the shots and bagged a first day buck.  Or, if the shots missed, the hunter hopes the deer is heading his or her way. 

Soon after dawn, Deer Reporting Stations in small towns throughout Vermont will come alive with hunters reporting their buck as per state law.  The Reporting Station will record weight and other information.  Many Reporting Stations run Buck Pools and post photos of each successful hunter with his or her buck.  There is a buzz at the Reporting Stations from all the activity that Opening Day creates. Even though in recent years there has been an option to report deer online, there is still something special about the camaraderie and pageantry surrounding these check stations, and many folks are eager to see, be seen, and swap stories at these social hubs. 

Back at camp, it will be a festive 16 days where participants hunt hard, some harder than others, eat hearty, and enjoy leaving life’s daily problems far behind.  Rural businesses throughout the state will benefit from all the hunters that are suddenly in their midst.  This is tourist revenue for non-tourist towns in many cases.

Camps generally have a large dining table to accommodate everyone, and many heart warming and hilarious hunting stories get told around that table.  Wild game meals are common.  Camp participants range from kids to some of Vermont’s oldest citizens and from first timers, to those who only join us in memory. 

Steve McLeod, a Bolton resident, is an avid rabbit hunter, camp owner, former Executive Director of the Vermont Traditions Coalition, and President of the Champion Lands Leaseholders and Traditional Interests Association.