Have You Seen Camo Mountain? How to organize your hunting gear
Getting in and out of the house can be treacherous during hunting season! Our back door entry becomes blocked by a huge camo pile! Am I alone on this? Sure, anticipation builds for a new hunt, and ALL kinds of equipment is prepped. But in short order, several months’ worth of supplies gets discarded by weary hunters. Boots, jackets, gloves, hats, gear bags, gun cases, chairs, blinds and more becomes a mini-mountain for all to ‘enjoy’. Does this leave you wondering how to organize your hunting gear?
How to Organize your hunting gear
For those of you with ample space, I am so jealous—honestly! For 15 years I have endured that mess and finally decided to make a change. After our sons moved out, we had an extra room that became the hunting den one afternoon while Brian was at work. I had hatched a plan in my head over time and dedicated the day for the big move. Consequently, here’s how to organize your hunting gear.
First I had a couple of extra dressers with drawers full of general stuff. Anything not hunting related got purged. The remainder of items were sorted and redistributed, leaving more room for equipment stashed in various other places around the house. Thoughts while working:
He is going to hate this new arrangement. I’ll never hear the end of “Where did you put_______? I always kept it right here. Now I can’t find anything.”
Next, I dragged an entire gun cabinet from another room into place. Years of dust needed wiped off; but I made sure to keep every item in its exact position so I could just say, “Exactly where you left it.” Since the gun cabinet is not large enough, we have a rack built by Brian’s father for some other pieces.
After that, there were ample gun cases that needed a solution. I am a garage sale and auction addict—LOVE the thrill of finding a super deal. That’s my kind of treasure hunt! So, I just happened to have an extra coat rack which filled this bill perfectly. I put it behind the door, out of sight, and full of cases.
Bulky camouflage coats, jackets, and bibs seemed to be around every corner of the house. So I bought a standing clothes rack and consolidated them in this new hunting den. Voila!
To give this room a final touch, I searched the archives for all kinds of family hunting photos. I created framed art collages and some special larger pictures for the room. As many of you know, banquets come along with the hunting experience. Of course the fundraising aspect is amazing, but after SO many, we have quite the museum of artwork after being the high bidder. Several of these pieces adorn this den.
How to Climb camo mountain
All this work helped significantly, yet we still had the issue of Camo Mountain! During the Covid Pandemic, we were both home a lot, so we decided it was time to get the double garage added on in 2020. I worked all winter on a suitable design and work began in May. A breezeway would connect our 100 year old home to a huge garage. This breezeway became a perfect storage area.
Now, if you were alive through this time, you know that during the pandemic, prices became outrageous for building supplies. Plus the supply chain issues made acquiring what you needed nearly impossible. So, we experienced unexpected frustrations. The most complicated issue was finding people that wanted to work; heavily influenced by government handouts and the practice of isolating oneself from others to stop the spread of Covid. We were grateful to get a few contractors to get the foundation and framing done.
Then we took over much of the work. Thank goodness majority of it took place in the summer and avoided hunting seasons! We are a pretty good team! Brian was teaching me how to shingle when a tiny but mighty hailstorm hit. Our addition became a whole house exterior makeover and then some—a story for another day! (Remember you could not get supplies or workers you needed).
Getting Organized!
Brian actually likes the arrangement of the room; though I have heard a few ‘I can’t find it!’ statements. Finishing touches are still to be done two years later, however, the added space has been a lifesaver!
We have ample storage in a his & her coat room behind a gorgeous antique door I salvaged. Each side has a cabinet, coat rack, boot mat, and a seat. In the main breezeway, we found 2 beautiful, matching, old TV cabinets and rebuilt the interior shelving to serve as ‘built-in’ cabinetry. A repurposed buffet cabinet became shoe storage between the cabinets, leaving a 10’x10’ area for the day’s camo stuff.
Now the larger equipment can be housed in the garage while the remainder have designated places to be. This is how we chose to organize hunting gear, and thus, the original entrance is back to its beautiful, wide-open self once again!
Inspiration taken from:
