As rifle season approaches I get a little sentimental the older I get. Recently while visiting my folks, I went through some of the dozens of photo albums my mom has accrued over the years and and come across some of my greatest memories. When dad first started for the SCS they moved him out to Snyder in 1982 and we lived in a old farmhouse in Dunn. He didn’t make a lot of money and mom was a stay at home mom. He accrued a hunting lease nearby for dirt cheap. We didn’t wear much camo back then. My grandma cut out and stitched my camo overalls in the pic with the turkey. We weren’t poor, just…normal. Things were much simpler then.

The SCS moved dad to Abilene in 1989, he got on a lease up between Albany and Breckinridge, I believe the landowners name was Hall, in the early 90’s. He told me him and 4 others leased the 1,000 acres for $200 a gun. We had moved up in the world as we had tripods made of oilfield pipe, homemade feeders from metal drums, and numerous brush blinds we made by piling up dead mesquite limbs in a square about 3’ high. I don’t remember dad shooting many deer but I killed a ton. I believe he was letting me take everything (hunt off his tag) for the lease spot. We had a 1950’s Bluebird school buss with bunk beds that was camp. Came with the place along with a resident pack rat that ate up the mattresses yearly. We didn’t have game cameras, cell phones, no electricity or running water in camp. Camo wasn't allowed to be worn in restaurants, you were respectful like that. The DQ in Albany had the best steak finger baskets I've ever had. It was the greatest decade of my life. THIS is what I miss in deer hunting.

Great! Memories are made of this; take care of those old pics!!

A great time in your life, with pics and memories. I have similar memories, but unfortunately, no pictures.

Wow what great memories and pictures, thanks for sharing

you rattled up a few of my earlier memories from various deer camps.

When I was 3 circa early 1960s, we hunted in NW Burnet county on the Fry family ranch, I was too young for a real rifle, but I carried a daisy BB gun and sat on various stands with my dad. A couple of boards nailed between limbs in a live oak tree.
We moved to the old Garrett ranch on top of White Bluff overlooking lake Buchanan and we used the old fish camp below as our camp. one larger building (maybe 20x20) had electricity and lake water pump, this was our kitchen & dining room. The adjoining building was an old stone building that was likely the coldest I have ever been, nothing but old metal army surplus cots with cotton mattress and old army surplus wool blankets. We hunted there several years, I was hooked and killed my first deer there slightly before my 5th birthday. Old man Garrett passed and the kids took over that place for their own hunting lease, so we moved to just slightly north & east of Llano. We had 2x army surplus teepee style tents, one had a pot belly stove for heat and cooking, the other had 4 sets of army surplus metal bunk cots with cotton mattresses, no heat in that one.
We were only there for a couple of years before moving out NW from Llano near Valley Springs, north side of hwy 71 about 750 acres. My dad's group updated to a larger army surplus "mess" tent that had a butane stove & fridge but the LO dropped in a power pole the following year and we were in high cotton. There is a side story to this ranch, but it will wait until later. We hunted here for several years when this LO brother's place opened up on the south side of hwy 71 and it was larger place (~900 acres), so we moved 1/2 mile down near a creek and during the off season, I helped my dad gut out an old school bus and revamp it to a better camp house with the same metal army bunks to sleep 8 people, had stove, fridge and sink that we carried water up from the creek for cleaning and coffee. That LO wanted a longer term lease, so all the hunters ponied up and paid out 10 years. We were very settled, and it was a great lease, even had a big stock tank full of catfish. After about 5 years, the LO approached the hunters around the first of season stating both of his sons were getting married and building houses on the ranch, told us this was our last year hunting there. When confronted about the 10 year agreement, he said oh, just kill enough this season to make up for the next 5 years, so we did and maybe a few dozen more.
After several hours of fiddling, we finally got the old bus started and drove to the next lease out north of Llano around Baby Head mountain. It was a smaller place, about 500 acres but several of our hunters dropped off. We got the bus set up next to a windmill with electricity and ready to go. We hunted there until after I headed to college. Shot a lot of decent Llano county deer for that time frame. My dad's group stayed there until one of the newer hunters accidently shot a barbado ewe thinking it was a WT doe, ticked the rancher off and said that hunter had to go, so my dad's group just decided to pull up and move to the next place.

that's approximately time line from 1962 thru roughly 1984 ... and I could go into great details about each and every ranch, most of the stands, all the camps, all of the guys, and tons of deer ...

That camo cowboy hat is slick.

He "painted" it with a brown sharpie!

Waaaay Kool........thanks for sharing!!!

Brother, that's what it's all about!

Thanks for sharing.

That’s fantastic, thanks for sharing

No doubt your Dad made memories with you that have lasted a lifetime

great pics!

Pics capture memories.

Now that you say it, I can see it, still a solid job.

More than a X's 2 on that. ^^^^^^^^^^

Great pics!
I remember back in the early 60's we would go to the Army Surplus store and buy camo shirts or make our own mainly for dove season, and deer season it was blue jeans and a flannel shirt, and olive drab army jacket.
Great times!

Man those are fantastic pictures and I'm sure great memories.

I'd do anything if I could take my dad on another hunt again.

Congrats that is the kind of stuff we all never forget

Man, those are great photos & memories.