Deer hunting isn’t what it used to be. That’s neither good nor bad; it’s just a statement of fact. I’m almost 45 and have been going to deer camp since before I could walk, and it’s incredible to see how camp has changed even since the 1980s, much less how different is from my father’s and grandfather’s youth—days that live on only in memories, stories and faded photos. Technology has changed, the pace of life has changed, expectations and laws and standards have changed, and it’s all changed hunting for better or worse.
Many of our hunting traditions have changed, too. Although plenty remain, and hunters continue to start new ones, some of the old traditions are falling away. What are some of the more common hunting traditions, old and new? Well, we can sort them into two categories: what happens in camp and what happens after the hunt.
Camp Traditions
Every deer camp has its own traditions, but there are a lot of commonalities. Most have a tradition around a certain food or foods—it might be Grandpa’s deer jerky, powdered Hostess doughnuts, a huge late-morning breakfast with all the fixin’s after a morning hunt, that specific flavor of Doritos you only eat once a year in deer camp, or Mom’s black bear chili. At our deer camp, the Packing of the Lunches the night before opening day is a ritual in itself. Many camps have a tradition of eating a certain part of a harvest first—often the heart or the tenderloins, and alcohol-related traditions involving toasts are also common, either for good luck or for congratulations after the hunt.
Other night-before rituals abound. Some camps play card games, watch the same lousy hunting movie every year, or listen to “The Turdy-Point Buck” while organizing their gear.
Buck pools are another camp tradition, although I get the sense they’re not as common as they used to be. Before opening day, everyone chips a specified amount of cash into the kitty. After the season, the cash is divvied up, with the hunter who killed the biggest buck taking it all or sharing with the hunter who shot the first buck of the year.
There are also good-luck traditions, which tend to be more individualized, but a common one that applies to men only (as far as I know!) is avoiding shaving. Some don’t shave their beards the entire hunting season, while some go without shaving only until they tag out. My entire life, my father would start growing his beard on opening day of deer season in the fall and wouldn’t shave it off until he killed his spring turkey, or until turkey season ended if he failed to bag a bird.
After-the-Hunt Traditions
The most cherished hunting traditions tend to happen after the hunt is over. One that’s still around, although fading a bit with modern times, is blooding a hunter after they shoot their very first deer. Decades ago, this used to be a messy affair, with an older hunter smearing a youngster’s entire face with the deer’s blood while the kid tried to escape. That still happens, but these days it’s often a little kinder and gentler. When my daughter killed her first deer at the age of 8, she was so excited that she couldn’t wait to be blooded—she did it herself, dotting one neat little fingerprint of blood on each cheek.
Along those lines, it used to be commonplace for a hunter to take a bite of the deer’s raw liver or heart, sometimes later that night at camp but more often immediately after field-dressing while the organs were still warm. I did this in Africa nearly 15 years ago after shooting my first African plains game, without much thought other than “well, the PH says it’s tradition.” I’m not sure I’d do that again, now that I’m older and less reckless and a little more aware of food-borne pathogens. As far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t mind if this tradition continues to fade away.
Field-dressing has its own traditions. Some parents make their child gut their first deer; others merely have them hold the legs while Mom or Dad does the messy job. Some insist it’s important that a young hunter drags out their own deer or at least helps. And, in an old tradition I haven’t seen since childhood, a lot of hunters used to hang a buck’s testicles in the nearest tree when they field-dress a deer. Dad always said it was so his brothers, who all hunted the same mountain, would know someone shot a buck if they came upon the gut pile. Of course, these days, the brothers would have already gotten a text message about who killed what.
Different cultures have different ways of honoring an animal’s life. Many Native American tribes consider tobacco a traditional offering for ceremonial and ritualistic purposes, and sprinkling a pinch of tobacco on a deer or at the site of its death is a sign of giving thanks and honoring the animal’s spirit. In Europe, the traditional German practice of the Last Bite involves breaking a twig from a tree, placing the animal on its right side and pulling the broke twig through its mouth, leaving it clamped between the jaws. Another broken twig is placed on the animal’s chest, and a third twig, wet in the animal’s wound, is tucked into the hunter’s hat and into the collar of a dog that helped find the animal, if applicable. Some American hunters have picked up this tradition, while some have evolved it into a simpler method of placing a leaf in the animal’s mouth or laying a twig over its fatal wound.
And, of course, not every hunting season ends with a harvest. The one hunting tradition you really don’t want to be a part used to be universal, but I haven’t seen it done in a long time: Cutting the shirttail of a hunter who shot at an animal but missed. In many camps, they’d peg the scrap of shirttail up as part of a decades-old wall of shame. Of course, back then, hunters were going afield in Army surplus gear and cotton long johns. Hunting clothing has evolved since then, and many of us are going afield in expensive high-tech camo. I can’t imagine anyone wants a $200 Sitka shirt sliced up as a camp joke. Maybe that’s one hunting tradition we’re not sorry to see fading away!
