In 1985, the deer shack known as the "Swine Suite" came to be. It was located near the Walnut Lake Wildlife Management Area in Faribault County, Minn. My brother and I had hunted deer during the muzzleloader season in the area since 1982. After staying in an old cement-block garage for a couple of years, we felt warmer accommodations were in order.
We located a 12-by-24-foot attachment to a trailer house and a deal was struck. Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire before we ever used it. There was an old 12-by-16-foot farrowing house nearby with a good roof and tin siding. It was built on a poured slab that was sloped to facilitate clean out — and the building followed the slope. The only things square and level were the door and the window. GI cots had to be elevated 10 inches on one end to handle the slope. But it was warm!
We installed a level floor over the next few years, leaving the wall at one end of the building just 5-feet tall. My brother's wife made the Swine Suite sign and we added a deer skull found in the area. Three bunks were built and many coats of paint were added to cover the dried fly poop staining the ceiling and walls. After a couple of different color schemes for the exterior, we finally hit on John Deere green and yellow to match the area's prevalent machinery. A deluxe one-holer outhouse was built. A telephone pole was cabled to a couple of trees for a meat pole.
The happenings at the shack frequently were more memorable than the actual hunting. The good times included our boiled Thursday night dinners, the elk and halibut feeds and our friend Jim's daily coffee stops. There was a 30-cup coffee pot that frequently was brewed three times a day to accommodate the many guests and friends who dropped by.
Deer hunting was generally tough but we managed to "make meat" most years. We collected stories about deer we nicknamed Crooked Horn, the Red Buck, the Bad Back Buck and the Disappearing Doe. More impressive were tales of the ones that got away, deer with names such as the Hole-in-the-Ear Buck, High Tines, the Hair-Trigger Buck and the Palomino Doe.
Unfortunately, all good things must end. In the summer of 2004 the landowner told us he wanted to clear the area and expand his field. Vandals had shot up the shack a couple of times and break-ins were becoming more common. We decided to give up the shack. It was bulldozed that fall. The "Swine Suite" is no more, but we feel good about our 20-year run. Our memories will last for a long time.
BRAD SCHULTZ, LINDSTROM
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