Welcome TO camp

Is there any place better than a good hunting camp? It has everything: great food, games and pranks, and of course, hunting. Shoot, we don’t even mind going to camp for grueling work days in the summer. Here, our contributors share their favorite stories, traditions, and lessons learned from camps they’ve shared. So come on in and join us. The door’s open.

- DAVID E . PETZAL

clean YOUR OWN skull

FIRST, YOU’LL NEED A HEAD. A whitetail buck is best, since the antlers provide a sturdy grip and because the skull isn’t too big, but any hard-earned trophy—bear, pronghorn, elk—will do.

Skinning the skull is best performed around the campfire. You’ll need a sharp knife and a cold beer. Work carefully but efficiently. Marvel at the way the nose comes away in your hand like a doorknob and how the ears don’t seem to be attached to anything. Snap the lower jaw and carve out the tongue. Once the hide has been peeled away, you’ll turn to what naysayers call “the disgusting part.”

Cut out the eyeballs, then extract the brain. Savor this part—scooping slippery chunks of brain matter with a twisted loop of wire hanger is an art. When the skull is empty, submerge it in simmering water and add a generous helping of baking soda. Remove the skull every 15 minutes to attack it with a wire brush. Each time you think you’ve gotten the last scrap of flesh off, another baptismal round in the pot dislodges more. The delicate nasal bones, in particular, are like a maze stuffed with half-cooked headcheese. Loosening this mess with a power washer is easiest, but any long, slender object will work. As you’re rooting around your buck’s nose, a buddy will inevitably chime in. This person always has clean hands and always asks the same question: “You know you can pay someone a hundred bucks to do that for you, right?” Sure I do. But where’s the fun in that?

—Natalie Krebs

MAKE A deadly BONEYARD