Feature ArticleNovember 14, 2001
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The
Hartington crews Robertsville hunt campby
David Brison
Last
week, as usual, in our northern townships,
businesses and institutions slowed down as groups of men headed
out to hunt, relax, and enjoy each others company in the isolation
of the bush. A group from the Hartington area have built a hunt camp
for themselves on the former Crain farm located in a secluded area
3.2 km. south of the Robertsville Road.
They originally bought the old Crain homestead from Willis Crain, and then bought 100 acres adjoining the homestead from Williss brother Henry. More recently, they bought the Angus St. Pierre farm which abuts the old Crain homestead. With another recent purchase, they have managed to accumulate 800 acres. The site they choose for the camp is about 1.5 km. from the remains of the Crain house on a small natural lake. The lake sits next to another 30 or so acres of beaver ponds, creating a beautiful view from the hunt camps windows and porch.
The
men first had to build a road in to the site.
The lumber for the cabin came from poplars they cleared to make
the road. The building
uses materials that were scrounged from a number of sources: patio
doors that were left over from renovations to their own homes, a wood
stove from the Ompah general store, and windows from buildings that
were torn down.
The cabin is comfortable with a basic male decorating style. There are no lacy curtains (no curtains of any kind!), no bedspreads; the walls are bare except for a large painting of a deer; and table clothes and napkins dont grace the dinner table. The cabin is lit with propane, as there is no electricity. There is a propane refrigerator, and a drilled well which provides water pumped into the house by a generator. The men sleep in a room with bunk beds. There is no indoor plumbing, but a handy outhouse.
Restoring connections to the Crain homestead was an important consideration in building the camp. A beam from the Crain home was used as a basic structural element, running across the length of the building. Phil Leonard says, As a young man, I probably wasnt much interested in history, but I am now and want to bring some of that history in to the camp. We are moving flowers that used to grow around the homestead (lilies, lilacs, and rose bushes that Mrs. Crain tended. We also are putting up a Tysick/Crain sign to honour the former owners.
The new owners have also cleared the old fields and planted trees throughout the property.
Another way to maintain the Crain connections has been to make the Crain boys, Willis and Henry, welcome at all times. They both hunt with the group when they can (Willis at 79 can still go through the bush like a young man, said one of the hunters).
Henry took your reporter into the camp. On the road into the old farm, one passes through miles of rough bush. Then suddenly, the road opens up into beautiful, green fields. It is hard to imagine the Crain family farming in such isolation.
On the way in, Henry reminisced about the farm he left as a young man, just after he returned from air force duty in WW II. My mother made her own soap and baked nine loaves of bread a week. We had pigs for meat in the winter, shipped cream, and managed to eke out a living, Henry said as we passed the old homestead. Henry also told about cutting wild hay on the marsh in front of where the cabin is now (backbreaking work).
Co-owners Phil Leonard and Robert Woodruff were at the camp when I visited, along with Scott Lattimore, Dennis McEwen, and Glen McKinley. They hunt with another Hartington-based group who have a camp on the Bell Line Road. So far this year, they have gotten six deer between about 12 hunters. Scott Lattimore lured a buck out by rattling two sets of deer horns. He explained that this will work during rutting season because bucks are attracted by males fighting over females.
The
men eat well. Glen
McKinley was the chef when I was there and the food - venison stew, Harvard
beets, mashed potatoes, and pickled beans, all prepared on the
wood stove by Glen, was wonderful. We like to enjoy our days here
hunting. I guess you would call it male bonding. We get out here and forget the rest of the world.
We are all nature lovers; this week there have been otters out
on the ponds and we have been watching them, said Phil Leonard.
In Phils case, he has to go back to 
South
Frontenac to attend to political duties, although he tries not to
schedule any meetings during deer hunting season.
There are a few tall tales told, the usual clever put-downs of their buddies, and the occasional drink. Come to think of it, did they take me in with that horn rattling story?
Phil was a bread salesman in the north and knows many people in the area. He says he is thinking about retiring from political life. He served five terms as reeve and is in his second term as mayor. He loves the isolation of the camp, and might retire there.
