Badger Deer Camp - Badger Sportsman Magazine

ack to bed for a nap. He put on the chili or stew later in
the afternoon so that it was ready when everyone emerged
from the woods as it began to get dark. The dinner of
venison liver and onions, from the first deer that were
killed, was always a high point of the camp. Then there
were the card games in the evenings. Cribbage, sheepshead
and poker matches would go on for hours.
School, Christmas Trees and Sausage
The spirit and excitement of deer hunting permeated
the state. Everyone took an interest in the deer hunting
season. Even if you didn’t hunt you could not miss it.
You always knew someone who did hunt and it was the
neighborly thing to take an interest in how they did. If
they had been successful they might give you a deer roast
or a stick of deer sausage and no one would ever turn that
down. There weren’t many vegetarians in those days or
people squeamish about eating wild game.
It was normal for kids who hunted to be excused from
school for the deer season. No teacher or principal ever
complained about a kid being gone for the deer season.
After Thanksgiving it was normal for teachers to ask the
kids how they did deer hunting. One kid in my junior high
school became something of a hero because he shot a bear
during the deer hunting season. In the days of my youth
a black bear was considered a bonus and didn’t require
anything more than just the big game license. There may
be some schools in the northern part of the state that excuse
kids for the deer season but that doesn’t seem to happen as
often as it once did across the state.
As you would be driving around during the deer season
everyone in the car would get excited to see a car driving
with a deer tied to the fenders, roof or hood. Even people
LOOKING BACK
who had no real interest in hunting found it to be exciting
in those days and it would be worth pointing out to the kids
in the back seat. People would gather around successful
hunters when they stopped at the service stations and
would ask how the hunting was. For many hunters in the
1950s and ‘60s, they would cut their Christmas tree while
they were up north deer hunting, so it wasn’t uncommon
to see cars driving south at the end of season with a pine
tree attached to the roof. If they had a very good season
they had both a buck and a Christmas tree tied to the car.
After the hunt the deer were butchered in garages and
basements. Butchering the deer was part of the ritual of
deer hunting. Sausage was made. For many hunters in
those days having a meat grinder was just as important as
having a deer rifle. I remember my grandfather making
two kinds of sausage. One was a summer sausage type
and the other was a sausage that was fried in a pan. It has
been almost a half century since I last tasted those venison
sausages, but I can still remember how good they were.
The Memories Are Still There
A lot of those memories are now recorded in old black
and white photographs, corners turning up, stored in
boxes in the attic or closet along with the old red checkered
Mackinaw and the metal deer tags. Much has changed
since those days. The equipment and clothing have gotten
better. There are special scent reducing soaps that hunters
use today that no one ever thought of back in the middle
of the 20th century. Trail cameras help with scouting
today and we have elevated hunting stands.
Some of us that remember those days of the 1950s and
‘60s no longer deer hunt. We are now maybe the old uncle
or grandpa that no longer cares to shoot a deer but come
back to the deer camp each season to still be a part of the
excitement and to enjoy the companionship and the card
games. We now make the early morning breakfast and get
all the younger hunters out into the woods. Then we go
back to take a nap. We still have the memories of seasons
past when deer hunting took over the state and I am glad
that we have them.
Mike Yurk has been writing about the outdoors for over forty
years and has been published in numerous local and regional
outdoor publications since then. He has also published seven
books dealing with the world of hunting and fishing. He lives
in northwestern Wisconsin where he has found some of the
best bass fishing in the country.
NOVEMBER 2011 ❘ Badger Sportsman ❘ badgersportsman.com ❘ 23