Anderson: Amid autumn’s changes, the allure of Minnesota deer camps remains constant

When the Minnesota firearms deer season opened early Saturday morning, Sheldon Weston toted a Marlin lever-action .30-30 rifle to his stand. Also along, like memories he couldn’t shake, were recollections of long-ago hunts with his dad and brothers near their Roseau, Minn., home, on the Minnesota-Canadian border. Now 63 years old, Sheldon was 14 when he bought the Marlin, a true brush-buster. As a boy, he killed a nice buck with it, an 8-pointer, and on this 2026 opener, as daylight gathered through the aspens in central Minnesota, with the temperature hovering in the low 30s, he hoped to shoulder the rifle one more time, and squeeze its trigger. Advertisement He also hoped his son, Dallas, and daughter, Stevie Lee, who were on stands in opposite corners of the 40-acre plot they hunted, would see deer, and perhaps shoot one. Whether they did or not, at breakfast later that morning, they would have stories to tell. Perhaps Dallas would see the bobcat that roamed the property. Or Stevie Lee would spot a bear or a timber wolf. Or a wild turkey or a ruffed grouse. However exciting it might be to swing a 10-pointer from a meat pole on this first day of the season, this was why Sheldon bought his property — for the camaraderie, and the stories. “We haven’t dragged any really big bucks off this land, not yet,” Sheldon said. “But there are a lot of good times we share around the campfire, talking. To have your own place, and to be able to look up at the stars at night, is great. It’s a feeling of gratitude that you have a piece of the pie you can call your own.”