by James C. Fulmer | Past President NMLRA
Many people enjoy setting up or going to a camp in order to hunt for deer and bear. Some have been doing it for years and have developed many years of traditions. From cutting shirttails for missing their intended prey, the great meals, and the terrific times, it is fun to go away to a hunting camp. That is why I still attend “Squirrel Camp.” The fall of 2014 was the 35th anniversary of “The Squirrel Camp.”
By 1979 I was heavily involved with Council Cup Muzzle Loaders. Council Cup was a group of muzzleloaders who not only shot competitively, but also recreated the pre-1840 rendezvous time period. Here is where I learned to throw a knife and hawk and make a fire with flint and steel. That group of men was a great bunch, always eager to share their knowledge of not only what they knew, but what they just learned. For me from 1972 to 1982 was a period of enlightenment. We were all learning the ways of our muzzleloaders and the skills of the pre-1840 period.
By 1979 a group of us from Council Cup Muzzle Loaders had the skill sets to keep a round ball shot from our muzzleloader rifles in a one-inch group at 25 yards. We learned to get the smoothbore flint muskets we used in the Bi-Centennial to pattern and shot good enough to kill squirrels at 25 yards. So in the fall of 1979 a group of us set out with nothing but the gear of a pre-1840 mountain man. Actually a lot less, dressed in our primitive clothes we had a haversack with one onion, two potatoes, three apples, tea, salt , pepper, tin plate, and cup, a wool blanket, a canteen full of water, and a piece of canvas that measured nine feet by twelve feet.
When we engineered this, all of Council Cup was invited, but only Dale Clemons, Donnie Fenstermacher, Dave Cooper, Tom Ball, his son Tom Jr., and I decided to go. The location was my wife’s parent’s farm in Sullivan County where it has been held every year since. There is always some game in the woods. The place is loaded with hickory and oak trees at the top of the mountain.
Author’s grandson, Lucas Fulmer, newest member of squirrel camp, received his first bead and a journal to record his history at camp now and in the future.
Donnie and Dave both carried .45 cal. flintlock longrifles, which were legal for squirrels back then in Pennsylvania. Today you can only hunt squirrels in Pennsylvania with muzzleloading rifles of .40 cal. or less. Tom Ball Sr. hunted with a .36 cal. original half stock percussion and Tom Jr. tagged along with his dad. Dale and I had reproduction 1763 .69 cal. Charleville muskets. I loaded mine with 80 gr. of FFg blackpowder, added wadding and 1¼ ounce of number 6 shot. We were ready. That hunt was a learning experience like you wouldn’t believe. The highlight of the hunt was Dale taking a turkey while sitting, waiting for squirrels. I got one squirrel and Donnie shot a grey fox. We already had cooked the grey fox and eaten some of it before the turkey arrived. You don’t want to eat grey fox; it was pretty stringy and reminded me of unraveling a wool sweater.
When we got back home from the hunt, our excitement and stories stirred more people to come with us the following year. It was a rain or shine event. During the fall here in Pennsylvania we have experienced -5 degree nights, 6 inches of snow, and three days of rain. We arrive at the camp Friday after work, set up camp, get a little sleep, and hunt all day Saturday. We have a Saturday night feast, usually from the game we take. Sunday morning we cook breakfast, break camp, and head for home.
The hunt grew quickly, but many people just wanted the one time experience and to say they did it. Then there was a hunt with three days of heavy rain. The following year only Alan Housknect and I made the hunt. The weatherman was calling for every night being in the teens and highs around freezing with rain and sleet during the day as a party favor. That year Alan became determined the hunt would not fail and actively recruited people to come to the hunt.
Thirty-five years have passed, and we have had many anniversaries. Alan came up with the idea of a necklace that had beads on it so you could keep track of the years you attended the hunt. Special beads can also be added for shooting turkey and grouse. Beads are awarded for special events. There is a snow bead, an eclipse bead, and also beads for number of years you attended. It all is good fun. This year we had 16 people at the 35th Annual Squirrel Hunt. The hunt has grown, along with the knowledge of living outside in the rain, snow, and cold using pre-1840 gear.
Squirrel Camp 2014 included (front row) the newest member, Lucas Fulmer, his father, Curt, and Norm Hoover, who is proudly displaying the turkey gobbler harvested this year. (Photo by Rich Clemons)
Squirrel Camp 2014 included (front row) the newest member, Lucas Fulmer, his father, Curt, and Norm Hoover, who is proudly displaying the turkey gobbler harvested this year. (Photo by Rich Clemons)
It was a successful hunt this year with Norm Hoover shooting a nice gobbler turkey with an original 12-ga. shotgun. That is the third turkey he has taken with that shotgun over the years. The turkey filled the stew pot along with a half a dozen squirrels and a porcupine. The porcupine got shot before we knew we had a turkey. In Pennsylvania there is a porcupine season with bag limits. It is closed during regular firearms deer season. For people who never ate porcupine, one of our favorite statements is “not only have we eaten it, we even have different recipes.” You need to remove as much fat as you can from the meat and parboil it; leave it to simmer to get as much of the fat off the meat as possible. Pick the meat off the bones, re-rinse, and place in stew pot. Porcupine has a distinct taste you will not confuse with any other game, especially squirrel and turkey.
What made the 35th anniversary hunt a success was not the amount of game taken—we have taken more, but the fact that 16 people attended and of those 16 exactly half of them were young folks, the next generation who will carry on the hunting and gun ownership traditions. They are the ones who will not only be carrying on the muzzleloading tradition, but protecting that tradition as well.
This year a third generation showed up at squirrel camp: my grandson, Lucas Fulmer. Lucas is still too young to hunt, but his father Curt, who has attended since he was young, wanted to bring him along to learn about camp life. Lucas learned how to make hot chocolate in a bean boiler over a fire, learned what acorn nuts and hickory nuts look like, and where the squirrels like to eat and live. He had a terrific time being newly exposed to all kinds of old things.
This year we gave a journal to all participants of the “35th Anniversary Squirrel Hunt.” The journal is leather bound and is a copy of a pre-1840 journal like so many travelers and explorers had in the 18th and 19th centuries. All of us signed Lucas’s copy and I hope he will be in attendance 35 years from now with a full journal and a lot of memories. He is our future—and grandpa says he’s a great kid!
