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Saturday, November 8, 2008
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HAPPY DEER CAMPERS For the women in this local family, firearms deer hunting season is a major occasion Outdoors Editor As spirited talk of past deer hunts subsided a bit, the women and children gathered around the dining room table at Wendy and Mike Doran's home on Perch Lake in Baxter, sorting through a stack of blaze-orange memories.
While grandma Judy Koep, aunt Shelley Bartella, mom Wendy Doran and little sister Abby Doran passed around photos of previous family hunts, 11-year-old Megan Doran - seated at the end of the table - put pen to paper.
Moments later, her masterpiece was complete: A smiley-faced, wide-eyed character with the words, "Megan. I'm a Big Redneck HUNTER!!"
When it comes to deer hunting, or at least the thought of deer hunting, Megan is indeed smiley-faced and wide-eyed. And she's not alone in this family.
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One big, happy family of hunters - and soon-to-be hunters - gathered to talk deer hunting recently: Abby Doran (left), Shelley Bartella, Megan Doran, Wendy Doran and Judy Koep. Brainerd Dispatch/Brian S. Peterson
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For the wife and daughters - and now granddaughters - of area fishing legend Marv Koep, the firearms deer hunting opener is a celebration. Has been since Marv's wife, Judy, joined him in the field in 1961. But back then, Judy was more of a pioneering woman embracing what had long been a man's domain.
"I go back (more than) 40 to 45 years, when women hunting was uncouth," said Judy, 66, who along with Marv lives in Breezy Point. "Kids go along hunting and they take it for granted now that women are hunting."
But not Marv's and Judy's daughters. Back in the day, when Shelley and Wendy, now 46 and 40, respectively, started hunting, it still wasn't a girls' thing. But it was always a family thing.
"Mom did it so I figured I had to. It was normal," said Shelley of Nisswa.
"In those days, it was a family trip," Judy added.
Still is. On Saturday, Judy, Wendy, Megan, Shelley and Shelley's daughter, Nichole, 26, of the Twin Cities were to head out for the 2008 Minnesota firearms deer hunting opener. The always-growing family was split into two groups of a half-dozen or so hunters each. One group - the Koeps and Bartellas - hunts near Nisswa; the other - the Dorans and friends - hunts near St. Mathias.
"For a few years, the women outnumbered the men in our party," Shelley said.
Then, in the days after the opener, the women usually break away on their own to hunt.
"Breezy Point - our house," Judy said of the women's "deer camp."
"We'll grab some soup somewhere," Wendy added.
That wasn't always the way. In the early years, the family hunted out of a rustic deer camp near Osage.
"It was an old, haunted farmhouse. No running water. It was a hunting shack," Judy said.
"We roughed it," Shelley added. "We would hear clunks and thumps in the night and Dad would tell scary stories and we'd all end up in bed together."
But, when it comes to deer hunting, don't think these women are soft. And that they don't take it seriously. They still labor over the missed shots. And the missed openers.
Judy said she hasn't missed an opener since joining Marv for that 1961 hunt, and the daughters said they've only missed one opener each since joining the party when they turned 12. But they haven't forgotten it.
"I had the flu once when I was about 18," Wendy recalled. "I went up to the Nightcap (now Timberjack near Nisswa, where the hunting party congregated the night of the opener) Saturday night. It felt like I had missed a party."
"My daughter was born (in November) and I was living in Texas," Shelley recalled. "It's the only one (opener) I missed. And it killed me."
The women lost count when trying to tally the number of deer they've bagged through the years.
"Usually, these girls are all one shot," said Mike Doran, Wendy's husband. "When we (Mike and Wendy) were dating, I'd go hunting with the guys and she would go with her family. She'd say, 'Yeah, I got one.' And I'd be, 'We didn't even see one.'"
As for gutting a deer ...
"If the guys are here they can gut it. But I'll gut it," Shelley said.
"I don't mind it (a dead deer) if I don't have to gut it," Judy said.
And Wendy? "You can gut it, I'll fry it."
The night before this year's opener, Marv was cooking up venison at the Doran home in what has become nearly a weeklong celebration of the event. As in years past, they also were to meet up for dinner and stories the night of the opener.
"It's always a weeklong thing," Wendy said. "People talk and get together."
"Wednesday through Friday nights (before the opener) we all see each other," Judy said. "And then there are a lot of phone calls."
Even 10 days before the big day, excitement was building with the bunch, which was growing by one with Megan - although not yet 12 and yet to take the firearms safety course, a new rule by the DNR allowed her to hunt using an adult's tag should she bag a deer. Little sister Abby, 7, also seemed anxious to join the group when she's old enough.
"Once the kids get old enough to hunt, as the head of the tribe, you have to get up early," Shelley said. "It kind of sucks to be the mom. But just the first day. Still, the best part is when the kids hunt."
In that sense, this year's opener was a celebration of Megan's first hunt. And, as usual, a celebration of family. And a grand Minnesota tradition.
"It," Shelley said of the season, "is still my favorite thing."
BRIAN S. PETERSON may be reached at brian.peterson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5864.
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