There weren't many deer up there. It used to be really good, but I had a laugh one day, they called it the tin house 'cause the tin- the tin camp or-something, there were more near Ottawa. And they built this tin hunt camp up on ah legs up off the ground. And there was steps, five or six steps up into it. Novemember was the hunt. So we went up in October and- my friend and I and

So we did have a deer hanging up, I forgot about. So we had a roadkill and a rabbit and I-don't-know partridge, and a mouse hanging up. That was our kill for the first- first day. So the other guys had drop in from the other hunt camps you-know for a beer in the evening.

Interviewer: I bet you have some pictures of that one. Speaker: Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah I don't know. I don't know where that book is now. They gave me I think- they gathered up a bunch of the pictures and- 'cause I was- Gus and I it was sort-of our hunt camp but our place was the headquarters. And so at the end of the season they'd usually give us something like you-know. And they- and they made up a- a- a book of pictures- of all the pictures we'd- they'd taken and-everything.

The Vietnam draft dodgers come up here to Canada? ... Well they had a group ah there must have been oh maybe twenty that came up into that area and kind-of lived in the bush. And one day I was going down this bush trail, there was another hunt camp on in from us about a mile and a younger guy he was walking this way and I met him and we were standing there talking. He said "Did you see where those two live?" They'd built their hunt camp there. Said "Did you see where they lived the first winter?" And I said "No." He said "Come with me."

... my dad was the first one to build out of nine of us and he was very excited 'cause he cut the lumber 'cause we have property across the lake, hunt camp and a maple syrup camp, type- we have that there and my dad in the bush he cut lumber and cut the lumber for the house and he was very excited when I first built and I was excited too.

... on a Saturday afternoon, and he'd go out driving the old t-- logging roads, and- and go partridge hunting. So ah I'd go with him. But then when my brothers got older they went, and I never did go like to hunt-camp or-anything. 'Cause my dad went hunting every year, he was gone to the hunt-camp for ah a week maybe two- for the two weeks, yeah. 'Cause he loved the outdoors. That was one of the reasons he wanted to move back to Barry's-Bay.

... we each contribute so much money a year for upkeep and maintenance and building and the whole bit. Yeah, and it's there ah, anybody can go out and use it whenever they want. If I want to get out of Dodge, I go out to the ah hunt camp and I can be there all by myself alone and- and build a little fire and a wood stove, and feel comfy and cozy.

I am a hunter and, ah, there's ten of us that have a hunt-camp together. Um, one is my cousin, um, that, ah- his father was also a partner at the door plant with, ah- with my dad. And then, um, there's three or four other guys that are my age, ah, late-forties, mid-forties.

... you would hear about it all the time, well before the hunt actually started, months and months before people would be talking about it, and months and months after people would still be talking about, ah, their hunting experiences. So I was offered an opportunity to join this hunt-camp with ten members back in ninety- ninety-two or ninety-three and I bought in a share and we built a camp and, um, ever since then, ah, I've been (inc) so I was about early twenties when I started. Very late, um, for this area ...

And I know, like- my buddy across the street, his dad has two fish mounted on the wall, um, two big fish that he caught and mounted on the wall, and a lot of people around here, in their hunt camps, have like, deer horns, ah, stuff-like-that, on their walls.

Speaker: Um, I went just like- rabbit hunting, and-stuff-like-that, but I-don't-know, I don't- I don't find it that fun. ... Yeah, it's not something I'm really into. Interviewer: Yeah. Well, I think part of it's the social for them, too, right? Speaker: Yeah, yeah, w-- like- I went, ah, um, one of my buddies' hunt camps, and that was fun, just like, sitting around hearing some of the stories his dad and their buddies had to- had to tell us, but I fe-- I actually fell asleep while we were in the bush, 'cause you get up really early, and- and you just kind of sit there, so I fell asleep.

But the Indians want their own. And now the other kids as I tell you work- Sam works at a hunting camp just out of Sault-Lookout, Mandy lives a-- or she works at the big- there's a big store it's all ah groceries, she works there. And now Rebecca is the youngest and she works f-- where A-- Andy used to work at the ah drug store ...

I have a really good hunting story. ... Well um, my dad let me go to- to his hunting camp to hunt deer. So I was with him and we're up on a hill and we look down, and we see a deer. So he gets ready, he shoots, he shoots.

Near um New-Year's-Eve um, we've been to this hunting camp for two years and um the first year it was in- it was twenty-ten, it was t-- it was coming to twenty-eleven. And that was a fun a party we stayed up all night and then-

... well both George and Sandy and my mom and dad were good friends and, um, I used to spend, ah- so we started out like a lot of young kids ah- you-- I'd go up to hunting camp every year and- and ah- you-know- started out feeding the dogs and then maybe the next year if you didn't act the bear you'd- they'd let you maybe walk with the- with the guy that was running the dogs ...

So we had bears but I don't remember deer. They're- they used to go by horse and sleigh to the hunting camp, wherever the hunting camp was. And I was too young to be interested.

And then the people that came to the deer camps bought cottage lots and built cottages. It was one of the real- go back to my- go back to my- I'm thinking. Something we did ourselves to attract people. And ah- like the lake. Haliburton-Lake used to have five hunting camps on it. Now it can't support one.

So our guys hunt on their property and they have- actually have a- a hunting camp down on a piece of Garrett's land that th-- well I don't know how you work that out now i--

And ah, a friend of mine has a hunting camp that we've hunted together for some forty-five ah maybe pretty close fifty years now I guess.

Speaker: Everything stops, comes to a stop during deer and moose hunting. Nobody works, nobody- Interviewer: Really? Speaker: Oh no, everything's shut down, totally. Interviewer: So everyone can go deer hunting. Speaker: Yup and-and we have- we have a hunting camp ah in the bush, you-know, we go out there, I guess we can probably sleep abut twenty-five people out there. We do our own cooking and ah it's pretty well organized.