GORDON, Wis. _ There are close to 60 sets of deer antlers in the Finstad family deer camp south of town, more than one for every year there's been a camp on the shores of Harriet Lake.
A few sets are loose on the coffee table. Most are screwed to plaques. A dozen are full head or shoulder mounts. There isn't much open wall space remaining, what with a couple bear heads and stuffed bass to boot. But, somehow, they will make room for more antlers, you can be sure of that.
"We have fun, but we're pretty serious about our deer hunting," said Erik Finstad, 44, the patriarch of the camp since his dad, Roger, died in 1993. "Dad started this camp in a tarpaper shack across the lake. Next year will be our 50th year."
So Erik, 44, was out in the woods Saturday morning, albeit without a rifle to start. He was "guiding" his daughter, Naomi, 13, first in a ground blind then in a tree stand. Not that she needs much guiding. Naomi already has shot seven bucks in her brief deer hunting career, including a buck during the bow season earlier this year.
"We've been a bucks-only camp forever," Erik noted.
Erik's son, Carter, 11, was in camp for the night-before-opener festivities, but missed the opening day hunt to attend a basketball tournament. That's OK, he noted, there are plenty of days left in Wisconsin's nine-day firearms deer season. Besides, he's already shot two eight-pointers this year _ one during the bow season and one during the October youth firearms hunt.
Also hunting from the Finstad camp were Dave Chura, a college buddy of Erik's, and his son Wes, 16, of Duluth. Jay Burfield of Bennett and Mike Love of Solon Springs also stopped by for the traditional pre-season steak dinner at the Finstad camp and were hunting nearby.
Everyone splits up for the most part, hunting in all directions from camp, sometimes miles away _ mostly on public access land managed by the county forestry department or timber companies.
"We go where the deer are," Erik Finstad said, noting he has 20 trail cameras out spying on deer. "I don't think we've used the same stand location on two opening days. We move around a lot."
