It’s been a dream for a number of years. Hunting land in northern Minnesota. I’ve been going on the annual deer hunting trip for over 40 years. I did not think about it too much when we got married, it was just a few days to get away from home. I didn’t imagine that I would look forward all year long to deer hunting. Of course, the hunt itself is great, I have shot a few deer along the way. But, being in the woods in the stillness when you can hear the smallest animal or bird move gives a person time to clear their mind. How often do we give ourselves time to sit, just sit, and listen.
Our Deer Camp Family also makes it a very special time of year. It started more than 50 years ago. My father-in-law and his friends met a guy from the Twin Cities who had come out to west central Minnesota for the pheasant hunting. In the mid 60’s, pheasants were plentiful in our home area and hunters showed up from all over in the Fall. With that meeting, a great hunting story began. After successful pheasant hunting, it was only fair that the guy from the Twin Cities invited his new hunting friends to deer hunt with him ‘up North’ near his cabin.
My father-in-law and a few friends took up the offer to deer hunt in northern Minnesota. They stayed with their new friend, it immediately became an annual event. One of the original hunters brought his son along the year he was old enough to start hunting in the north woods. Through the course of a few years, my father-in-law and his friends met more hunters and began to spend time with others as well. As sometimes happens, my father-in-law and friends (and son) met someone who introduced them to someone and a new hunting camp came to be. This last hunting season, we celebrated 50 years of H__ Deer Camp.
You see, those original hunters met up with someone who had a great love and knowledge of the hunting land in that area. He (BH) and his wife had bought a cabin and with their daughter and more family (twin daughters) on the way at that time, the cabin became their escape from day to day work and those routine responsibilities. This was home for his wife, (MH) she had been born and raised in the area. He had spent time with an uncle in the area and had come to love being in the woods. My father-in-law and friends began to spend more time with this couple and eventually made that their new deer camp.
As time went on, that first generation of hunters from west central Minnesota all began to bring their sons. The sons had friends that didn’t have such a great place to hunt with a few days of camaraderie. Those friends were welcomed to Deer Camp too. The day came that the first of the sons was married and then another and another. Their wives didn’t want to miss out on the fun, so they were welcomed to join in too. Time went on. There were years with more than 24 hunters at Deer Camp. MH always found a way to make room for more. While some of the hunters helped out with cooking, it was always under MH’s watchful eye and direction. If anyone was hungry in MH’s kitchen, it was their own fault. Washing dishes was your task when you joined the Zing Zing club (shot and missed).
Over time, some of the hunter’s lives changed and they no longer went up north to Deer Camp. The original hunters grew older and died. However, there were 3 families of hunters that continued to join the family up north. Two generations had grown to 3. Each of the 3 families had 2 sons and all sons continued the hunting tradition. Even the tradition of inviting a friend to join in, he is still part of the hunting crew. Eventually those sons married and started families. A daughter-in-law had an interest in hunting and so the hunting family grew again.
Meantime, the family up north continued to grow too. Daughters were part of the hunting crew at Deer Camp, 2 eventually married and started families. Grandchildren [of the couple that owned the cabin] arrived, grew and became part of the hunting crew as well. The 3 families continued to arrive each year for deer hunting season. Menu planning, who was arriving when and where everyone would sleep were important conversations leading up to the first day of hunting each year. Time passed quickly and eventually the 4th generation of hunters were beginning to come to Deer Camp.
Each of the 3 families had spoken of buying hunting land. There was some discussion about land or cabins for sale over the course of a number of years. One family found the perfect location. There was clean up of an old trailer to complete, trails to make and the building of a cabin. With a lot of hard work, and many, many weekends, the family had created their retreat. Over time, the second family found land that had a few acres of an open pasture and woods on 3 sides; just what they had been looking for.
This left the 3rd family still looking for land, our family. I was beginning to feel like Goldilocks. This one is too big, this one is too small, too much wet land, too far away from Deer Camp. We had to stay within a short distance to Deer Camp. Even with the families’ purchases of land, Deer Camp was still Deer Camp. Our home base, tradition and routine. And for the 4 families, this was Family. Finally, last year, we found our land. Close enough to Deer Camp, in line with the other families. Now the work begins.
