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McManus Camp
2010 Hunt Reports and Photos
Please Note: Double-click on an image to enlarge it.
Also Please Note: Hunt reports are posted in reverse order with the most recent hunt at the top of the page. To follow our season in chronological order, scroll to the bottom and work your way to the top.
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| Beaver McManus |
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| McManus Camp
Since 1989, Beaver McManus has been hosting Adobe Lodge hunters at his ranch. Repeat hunters make up close to 90% of each year's list of clients. There is often a waiting list to secure a spot for a deer hunt.
The McManus Camp can host a total of only four hunters on each hunt, and there are a total of only five hunt dates during the whitetail season.
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Hunt 5 December 16 - 19
The McManus Camp finished its season with three brand-new, first-ever Adobe Lodge hunters in camp. All collected mighty nice bucks, and all are talking about bringing friends to the "McManus Hunting Mecca" next season. That's the kind of news that we like to hear.
The New York hunters, Rich Mezzullo (Highland Mills) and Vitor Proenca (Astoria) had booked their McManus Camp hunt way back in February. It seems a mutual friend of one of our veteran hunters told the pair to "look us up" on the web. They did, and booked on the spot. So they had a long time to prepare and get ready.
No so, Greg Jimerson, from Frisco, TX. Somehow he discovered this website (as we hope every hunter in the nation will do, sooner or later), and began following the reports and photos. But issues with his work schedule prevented making any kind of hard and fast plans until right at the last minute. An exaggeration. It was the night before the scheduled arrival in camp of the two NY guys when Greg's email came saying: "Alright. I'm going to be able to pull off the hunt if you can accommodate".
We could, and he did. Nothing warms an outfitter's heart like getting a hunter for an empty slot in the schedule. Especially at the last minute.
He only missed the first morning's hunt, but before it was over, Greg had collected a mighty fine buck, shown with a couple of photos below. Regarding photos, normally we show only one of each buck and hunter mainly to save space and download time. But every now and then, it is impossible,with only one shot, to capture a good image of exactly what a buck's horns looked like. Such was the case with that buck of Greg's. So two are shown, just so you'll know.
Both Rich and Vitor (who hails from Portugal, by the way - an Adobe Lodge "First"), took their good bucks early in the hunt, and then went on to add a couple of does each.
So the McManus Camp ended its 2010 whitetail year as strongly as it began way back in November. Once again, for the umpteenth season, Beaver's hunters were 100% successful in taking bucks. Everyone acknowledges the fact that there are no guarantees in hunting whitetails. But the track record of Beaver McManus and his McManus camp (low fence and fair-chase all the way) comes as close to a cinch as you are likely to find in the sport of hunting whitetails.
WAY TO GO BEAVER. AND WAY TO GO ALL YOU 2010 McMANUS CAMP HUNTERS.
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Conrad Miller, Millersburg, PA
1936 - 2010
Just before posting the following report on the McManus Hunt # 4 to the web, word came that Conrad Miller had passed away on Thursday, December 9, 2010, the very day of the beginning of the hunt. Conrad, along with his hunting partner of many years, Frank Harris, had been regulars at the McManus Camp for many, many years, always coming on Hunt # 4.
Talk about ironic. One might say that Conrad was here in spirit, after all. Rest In Peace, Conrad. And may you find some good bucks to hunt in your new home.
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| Conrad Miller, Millersburg, PA |
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Hunt 4 December 9 - 12
For years now, the fourth hunt of the season at the McManus Camp has had the exact same four hunters - a party of two and two parties of one. To say they have "bonded" as a group is an understatement. Unfortunately, complications arose in 2010. Only two of the "regulars", Frank Harris and Alan McKeithen, were able to come. Frank's old hunting buddy, Conrad Miller, was battling major health issues. Both are from Millersburg, PA.
Justin Carrisio, Wilmington, DE, the other regular, had to sadly postpone his trip until next year when a bucket of complications fell on his head. So for a while, it appeared that only Frank and Alan were to be in camp. When Arizona hunter, John Eck, who was booked on Hunt 5, got news of the open slots, he asked to be moved to this earlier date at the McManus Camp. John had hunted the Home Camp back in 2009, but being an adventurous sort, was eager to hunt new country in 2010.
So, if you have been keeping track thus far, we had three parties of one. All this is mentioned to underscore the fact that plans change and when they do, the Adobe Lodge can be accommodating if at all possible.
But even being one hunter shy of a full camp, the three guys did mighty good by taking five bucks and two does. And speaking of the bucks, good ones they were, as you will see in the collection of photos below. When two-thirds of the hunters find two bucks they like this late in the season, you can bet there are still plenty of shooters to be had at the McManus Camp.
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Hunt 3 December 1 - 4
Since way back about 1999, John Hubschmidt, from Bridgeton, NJ, comes to hunt the McManus Camp every year. Most years, he brings a total of four hunters to fill the place with his amigos, and sometimes, family.
Accompanying John once again in 2010 was Ellsworth Harris, from Elmer, NJ. First-timers this season were David Harris from Mantua, NJ (Ellsworth's son) and David Hitchner, also from Bridgeton.
It is highly unlikely that a father/son duo will ever top, with two bucks, the accomplishment of the Harris pair. Both collected bucks with fourteen points. Yep, that's twenty-eight points on two bucks. To make it even better, David's buck had one heck of a drop-tine - something we just don't see very often. Beaver McManus found that it was totally impossible to get all fourteen points into one, single photo. So you'll have to take our word for it - sho-nuff fourteen points, and they are all there.
Sadly, a broken tine and a broken point, Beaver calculated, cost David's buck about eight inches. Measured as is, he tapes out 133 inches. But if you were to credit him with the lost inches, he'd top 141 easily. So take your pick.
In counting the points on Dad's deer, and just to make it fair, Beaver diplomatically found a similar number of points on Ellsworth's buck. Depending on how you might define a "point", there could very well have been a few more. But peace in the family must be maintained. Father and son, it was declared solemly, tied in the point-number column. Any way you want to figure it, the Harris guys outdid themselves.
All four hunters wound up with nice bucks. John Husbschmidt's buck had eleven points. David Hitchner's buck had ten. That, folks, is one heck of a heck of a hunt. It will be a long time before that record is surpassed, point-wise.
On the final morning of the hunt, Ellsworth saw nary a deer of any kind/size. ZZN (zip, zero, nada). But Ellsworth took it in stride by observing that seeing no deer was simply conditioning for his return back home where seeing no deer is the norm.
Except for a super-dry front with a raw north wind on Saturday, the weather was near ideal for the duration of the hunt. As you would expect, the following morning was in the 20's, but warmed to the mid-fifties by the afternoon.
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Hunt 2 November 18 - 21
What a difference a year makes. In 2009, this Hunt # 2 group at the McManus Camp had to contend with snow and cold weather. Here we are twelve months later. This year, it was hot and dry. Hmmmm - all this must be happening in West Texas.
Pennsylvanian E. J. Deseta hunted the McManus Camp three years ago and liked it so well, he persuaded three buddies to accompany him last year. Which they did, in the aforementioned snow storm, and despite that hardship, they all returned again for the 2010 season. In addition to E.J., the group includes a father/son duo, John and Joe Petrillo plus Dickey Mumford. Some live in PA; some live in Delaware, but all that gets confusing.
Anyway, it was one heck of a hunt. The four hunters collected seven bucks and there wasn't a bad one in the bunch, as you will see in the photos below.
They could have easily harvested an eighth buck, too, but Beaver would not let them shoot his camp pet, also to be found in the photos below. Yep, the McManus Camp has a wild buck that regularly visits the camp. You might have seen his shadow on the propane tank in the collection of photos back on Hunt # 1. Somehow, he just doesn't seem to be afraid of the place, even though all the temporary residents of the bunkhouse are what you might describe as blood-thirsty killers of deer. Little does he know. Having a bait of corn on the ground surely helps. Yep, you guessed it - he's hooked on welfare and sees no need to scrounge up something to eat out in the pasture.
Let's see now - the McManus Camp has a fine buck deer for a mascot. The Home Camp has a donkey. Good grief.
Beaver and his helper, Mario Rangel, were kept plenty busy in the skinning shed. In addition to the seven bucks, four does were also harvested by the four hunters. As you might expect, the hunters were already trying to make plans for another trip to the McManus Camp in 2011.
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Hunt 1 November 11-14
When each year's deer season kicks-off at the McManus Camp, you can bet that both Darl Hospelhorn and Ed Miller will be on hand. Darl still lives in Waynesboro, PA, and Ed used to. Ed's job took him to Hahira, GA a few years ago. But the long-time amigos, who once lived side-by-side in Waynesboro, continue to get together each fall for a deer hunt with Beaver McManus. This season, they were accompanied by their old buddy, Jeff Hastings, from Hagerstown, MD, just across the Mason-Dixon line from Waynesboro. Jeff first hunted with us back in 2007.
And there was a new/old face on the hunt, too. Mike Anderson, who has hunted the Mustang Ranch Camp with Ben McCulloch for several years, was the fourth man in camp. It was Mike's first hunt with Beaver. It just so happened that the McManus Camp had this open spot on a date that would work for Mike. Since Mike lives in Richardson, TX, he drove into San Angelo at the appointed time and didn't have to contend with airline travel.
So, if you are keeping track, the four hunters came from four different states: PA, MD, GA, and TX.
With the crop of deer being mighty good this season, and with all the hunters being sho-nuff veterans, they wasted no time in getting some good ones to Beaver's skinning shed. In fact, three bucks were taken by noon of the second day of the hunt. And if Ed Miller's camera had a bullet-shooting attachment, Ed might have had one by then, too. Ed had photos of several bucks that most any hunter would be proud of. But Ed, who collected a spectacular 160-some-incher a couple of years ago, was more interested in shooting images than deer.
Unfortunately, Beaver's new camera was set to some incredible resolution. Something about the "RAW" format. Hint - hint. Don't ever dial your camera to that setting. At the conclusion of the hunt, it was impossible to harvest the photos off the card in the Canon Rebel. A plea for help was sent to the local photo store. Thankfully, with their banks and banks of computers plus their technical knowledge, the photos were recovered. Which are all posted below.
To sum up the first hunt at the McManus Camp: four hunters collected six bucks and one doe.
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