Has anyone had a hunting camp where the guests obeyed the rules?

[BigFatKen]

I bought this in 1990 and lived off-grid until I sold this land in Wisc. in 1999. The new owners were horrified by the property taxes, they got a demolition permit and tore the house down to save taxes. I had a barn built to look like it. That is still there turned into living quarters.

While it was standing I hosted many fishing and hunting parties. I would demonstrate how the big generator would bog down when the water pump was on. I opened the kitchen door so everyone could hear the generator, then I ran cold water until the generator bogged down, then closing the faucet, the generator would speed up again. Then I pushed the off button. I showed how we now had the little blue water tank with the 11 gallons it could deliver.

This rarely worked. People would flush the toilets so I turned off the valves. They would use up the water then be surprised when there was no water.

They would leave the lights on even tho I told them it ran on batteries. Has anyone been successful in getting house guests to follow the rules?

​

It is for sale if you want one, just be ready for -60F in winter.

 

[Dibbs]

My theory is people have two ears so that, just in case any of your words get into the first ear,
they can escape out the other, before anybody actually hears them.

And "don't" means "immediately go do what I just told you not to do".

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I've never been a party to an off the grid camp like that. Just our deer lease.
We do have guests that can pay a daily fee and hunt.
There aren't many rules, but the few we have we take seriously.
They follow them or they don't come back.

 

[BigFatKen]

Dibbs, Yeah, you are likely correct. I will add a new horror story to bump the thread but if someone succeeds, wow.

 

[DukeConnor]

That is some BLUE water

 

[Art Eatman]

I'm happy to say that the dozen or so guys at a lease we had during the '60s/'70s were common-sensical and we didn't have rules problems. In the late '70s into the early '90s, the folks at my own deer camp were never a problem.

 

[Patocazador]

We had a 30 member 6000 acre deer lease in central Alabama. It lasted for 24 years. We added rules every year until we had 2 pages of single-spaced rules. Everything was common sense but no one seemed to have any sense. We had 15 core members but kicked out 2 or 3 members every year for drinking or breaking the game laws or just being too stupid to be safe. As one of the directors I had to be a danged policeman and didn't like it much.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Sure, but the problem is the camp is too much like home.
A generator, electric lights, flush toilets? They aren't thinking to themselves, "Aw heck, I'm going to flush this toilet just once, it's no big deal", or "Aw heck, there's plenty of water in that 11 gallon tank". They have modern habits and those modern "on the grid", and on the city water & sewer habits, can't be overcome with an hour of "how to" at your lodge. They simply don't realize until it's too late.
Switch over to a composting toilet.
Have them fill the water tank by hand, AFTER they boil the water to make it drinkable (even if it's safe to drink already).
You want to teach "water discipline" fast ...... have folks lug their own water a few times and they will learn how not to waste it. As a youngster I didn't care about leaving the tap running when brushing my teeth. Spent five days in a very "primitive" camp as a young man, lugging every gallon of water from the lake to the boiling pot, then letting it cool for drinking water. Ever since then I can't let the water run in the sink when shaving nor, brushing my teeth, nor even when washing hands. That was more than 30 year ago too...., still can't let the water run.....,
Switch over to candles for light, IF you don't want them to use a kerosene or white-gas lantern (I'd use candles over a flammable liquid, myself) Tell them to bring their own reading lamps and use their own batteries for these.
Took you a while to learn to live well "off the grid", and you've outsmarted animals in the past..., your guests are animals with habits, so time to outsmart those habits too.

LD

 

[jmorris]

If my guests don’t follow “the rules” they don’t get invited back. Keeps life simple and top shelf company at our place.

 

[PapaG]

My deer camp is limited to my sons, two nephews, one grandnephew and one friend. They are all invested in the place with work, money, and results. No rules problems.

 

[BigFatKen]

Sure, but the problem is the camp is too much like home.
A generator, electric lights, flush toilets? They aren't thinking to themselves, "Aw heck, I'm going to flush this toilet just once, it's no big deal", or "Aw heck, there's plenty of water in that 11 gallon tank". They have modern habits and those modern "on the grid", and on the city water & sewer habits, can't be overcome with an hour of "how to" at your lodge. They simply don't realize until it's too late.

You hit the nail on the head but some things got worse. This was the problem. I had Humprey Lamps for cooler evenings and an LP fridge and freezer.

I will add more as needed.

 

[WestKentucky]

I went to a camp one time. Didn’t hunt, just slept there that night and drank a whole lot of beer. The camp had at one time been plumbed, wired, and heated. The water was from a well and had a small tank in the rafters that served as a water tower. Maybe 25 gallons or so. The wiring went out to a small solar panel on the roof. The heater was a window unit and had wires ran to a rock pile in the yard where a generator likely once sat. There was a 50 gallon fuel tank in the yard. Seemed like a really good setup, except the fuel tank had been shot up, there were water marks where the tank had been overflowed, and there was no longer a generator to power anything. The solar panel was still there, but there were no batteries to charge. My assumption is that people didn’t respect the minimal comforts that the camp provided, and overtaxed the resources with disregard for longevity or quality. The sign on the door said a whole lot... “go away, your not welcome here”.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

We lucked out this year.
We have roughed it (not really) for the past few years.
This year, we rented a house in the town that our deer lease is located a mere 1 mile out of.
It's nothing to write home about but has power, running water and 4 bedrooms to put bunks in. I'm pretty stoked about it.
Being able to take a hot shower every evening at camp is going to be nice.

 

[Armored farmer]

We spent a week in the Ontario Bush every summer for four or five years.
It took our kids about 6.5 days to stop leaving (battery) lights on, keep coolers closed, conserve water, and take care of trash and fish guts(bears).

 

[Patocazador]

s

We spent a week in the Ontario Bush every summer for four or five years.
It took our kids about 6.5 days to stop leaving (battery) lights on, keep coolers closed, conserve water, and take care of trash and fish guts(bears).

I turned off lights and water faucets and closed doors behind my kids for 15 years each until they moved out. They still leave exterior doors open, lights on and water running but now they're paying the bills.
Some things will never change.

 

[jmorris]

Yeah, kids are the one guest you can’t disinvite.

 

[Ks5shooter]

Camp way or the highway. I am by no means shy about letting someone know when they don't tow the line.I go to relax not babysit the guy who cuts loose at camp because he is not allowed to at home.

 

[Rembrandt]

Random thoughts as I read the OP's post.....

99.999% of the population that use flush toilets never...never...never replenish the water tank or consider where the water comes from. As I understand it, we are attempting to train people to add a step to their habitual bathroom duties that they instinctively do out of rote memory.

After failed attempts to fill the water tank, wouldn't a float switch on the tank that turned on the pump for a fill....then turned off as the level reached capacity reduce the anxiety level and frustration?

As for leaving on the lights, a simple timer or motion sensor can shut them off or on.

Only say this to confirm the OP's conclusion that some people are un-teachable, thus comes the age of technology which we can use to compensate for stupid people.

 

[BigFatKen]

All of these issues are what I now know as the "Normalcy bias".

Thinking back on it, this was 1990, people were not staring at iPhones yet. While the house had power, there was no phone for several years.

Now I would call this "the normalcy basis."

I had this happen to me in 1965. My Dad bought a1957 Pontiac in about 1960. Then a few years later my older sister has the Pontiac. It runs normally to her. Normal was inserting the key into the slot, turning the key which engages the starter. But for some reason, the Pontiac is in the shop. She asks can she use my 1952 Henry Jay. Ok, I say but it's not like your Pontiac. You must insert key, turn key to on, then push the starter button which is wired hot. I also tell her to not use the passenger side door as it takes 5 slams to get it to lock right. I demonstrated this. It was a POS $50 car.

So I get tracked down by the neighbor to ride my Honda to go to Sears to get the Henry Jay started. I drive to Sears and all over the parking lot. No Henry Jay. When she gets home, I am to blame of course. Sister takes Mom to Sears shopping but, I'm certain she does not turn the key to "on" on the return trip. After grinding away on the starter, Sister finally turns key to on. Feeling pissed off, Sis drives away quickly almost throwing Mom out the side door. Bottom line, if sis was honest, I would never have let her borrow it if she told me Mom was coming. It was a tricky and dangerous car. Sis only knew turn key then put in gear.

I was watching this video of a Japanese ferry boat that had some bad thing happen; not sure what but running the bottom over a reef is about as bad as it gets. The office workers are drinking their drinks, giving high-fives and anything but running to the lifeboats. Then the ferry starts to list and finally they start to act like they could take a 40-degree swim.

 

[dh1633pm]

No people are people. There is always at least one that doesn't conform to any logical ruleset. Just fly on an airplane and you can see it first hand. People who block the isle while they get out their cell phones, tables, cords, food, and other things. People who bring suit cases on board with no hope of fitting it overhead. With no consideration that a hundred people are behind them. I could go on an on. No not all people can follow the rules. Even basic ones.

Like I told my son when he headed out for Marine Corp basic. Son, the easiest thing to do in life is to do what somebody tells you to do. In other words follow the rules and don't be one of "those" people.

I rented some land with 7 other people in Oswego County NY. Always had to front money for those that were slow to pay. Others wouldn't hunt in agreed areas, and still others would do things that the lease didn't allow. After two years, I called it a day and didn't renew the lease.

 

[redneck2]

I suspect a lot of it is simply a lifetime of habits. We are on a well and if the power goes out you don’t flush the toilet. I still catch myself trying to flush, and it’s my rule

I’ll walk into a room and inadvertently try to flip on the lights even though the power has been off a couple hours

 

[BigFatKen]

Speaking of on a well, I lost power in the daytime. I then turned my refrigerator to off. As expected, as soon as power was restored, everyone on the circuit's (about 100 users) well pumps called for power. I left one light on. When the light came on, I measured the voltage at 109 volts. Trying to start a motor that expects 117 volts can burn it out. Submersible water pumps not affected because of water cooling. In 5 minutes the voltage was back to 121 and safe to turn the fridge back on.

A few neighbors fridges were on their last legs and burned up.

 

[buck460XVR]

While it was standing I hosted many fishing and hunting parties. I would demonstrate how the big generator would bog down when the water pump was on. I opened the kitchen door so everyone could hear the generator, then I ran cold water until the generator bogged down, then closing the faucet, the generator would speed up again. Then I pushed the off button. I showed how we now had the little blue water tank with the 11 gallons it could deliver.

This rarely worked. People would flush the toilets so I turned off the valves. They would use up the water then be surprised when there was no water.

They would leave the lights on even tho I told them it ran on batteries. Has anyone been successful in getting house guests to follow the rules?

​

Usually, folk only get invited once or twice to our cabin iffin' they can't follow the rules. Funny how most of those folks that couldn't or didn't want to follow house rules, were also guilty of not following hunting/fishing and safety rules very well either. Kinda an ethics/values kinda thing. Comes down to the respect of other folk's property and respect of others. Some folks generally don't just show a lack of respect to one set of rules, but instead show a lack of respect towards all rules. Believe me, there are folks out there that follow the rules and respect the wishes and property of others. Maybe you just needed to be a tad more selective on who you invited, or you just had to become more tolerate of their shortcomings. Being in the construction business for 40 odd some years I had folks all the time want to "borrow" tools. Learned real fast that lending them out meant being very selective on who you lent them out to, or being able to accept they weren't gonna come back the way they left. Same goes for guns.

Slob guests don;t always just disrespect property. Many times they disrespect fellow guests with obnoxious behavior, arrogance and selfishness. They always "need" or want the best bed or deer stand. They always come for the weekend with cheap or no beer. Their donation to the weekend food supply is a bag of chips and an open pack of donuts. They never seem to be able to wash dishes or even cook a meal, but are always the first to the table.

Yep....sometimes iffin you don't want jerks to show up, you have to be a jerk yourself and not invite them.

 

[redneck2]

Jerks is jerks.

 

[Riomouse911]

You find out really quickly in these communal situations who was raised to be a respectful and helpful person... and who was raised into a selfish boor.

I don’t have many (any?) boors in my circle of friends...I don’t have the time or patience to deal with them.

Stay safe!