Season tickets to some Wisconsin sporting events are held
forever just by passing them on to surviving relatives when present holders get
too old. The same thing occurs in some deer camps in northern
Wisconsin.
"There are hunting groups who have been
here for at least 30 years," said Lori Brynes, who owns Hidden Acres Resort near
Iron River in Bayfield County with her husband, Mike. "We've owned the resort
and five cabins for four years, but some of these guys have been coming here
when several past owners had the business."Each
gun-deer season Lori's four cabins are filled. Some hunting groups stay 10
days, coming a day or two before season opens and checking out when the season
closes.
"Some come for the first several days and head
home for Thanksgiving," Lori said. "It's all guys, not a woman in the bunch.
In fact, the other night we went out to eat at a local restaurant and other than
the owner, I was the only woman in the place, so for whatever reason, almost all
hunters in deer camps are men."
A few members of these
deer camps tease their wives and tell them the family is going to spend the
weekend in deer camp. And some do just that.
"This
one guy did bring his wife and family up here, but it was during the summer, not
during deer season," Lori said. "When he told his wife he was taking her to
deer camp to show her what it was like, she said she was scared it would be a
real dump, but when she got here she was impressed with the kind of place the
guys stay in during the season."
Hunters who have been
coming to Lori's Hidden Acres often have camp names, like an 84-year-old man
whose name is Junior. While in camp, he's Junior, Boss of the
Woods.
"Some camp members die and are replaced with
kids or grandkids," Lori said. "I had a couple new groups start coming up here
and they said they'd be here for life."
Most hunters
who stay at the resort hunt on public land in the Chequamegon National Forest,
between Iron River and Cable. A few own land, but don't have a place on the
land to stay, short of putting up a tent.
Lori's
cabins have kitchens, so most guys cook meals in the cabins. Occasionally the
furniture and beds get moved around, because the floors are used for sleeping
locations, too.
A time or two, Lori may even puts on a
chili supper for some of the hunters.
"The guys who
come up here are serious hunters," Lori said. "They leave before it's light and
don't come back until after dark."
Lori's pre-season
business, during Zone T and archery season, is dependent on the types of seasons
in Bayfield and surrounding counties. This year, for example, no hunters came
to stay during the Zone T season, because there was no need to come early to
shoot an antlerless deer.
Last year, however, some
of her cabins were filled because deer camp members felt a need to get their
Earn-a-Buck stickers ahead of the regular season.
In
spite of what rumors suggest goes on up north during deer season, there are many
serious hunters, really serious hunters who beat the brush, put on deer drives
and rarely go home without venison.
But why aren't wives allowed in these
deer camps, except during summer weekends?
Maybe
they have their own camps that their husbands don't know about.
