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The wars went on for several years with sorties back and forth with ever increasing weapons. Finally, in the late 70s it came to an end and peace was restored.
December 12, 1968 Dear Buck Well, the wars reached a new height this year. I can’t believe how this has progressed over the years. Just a bit of history before I tell you about the latest from the combat zone: You know the Lang brothers from Paynsville who stay at Grandpa’s resort each deer season. They’ve been coming up since the 1930s and established their hunting territory on several forties of Itasca County land in East Balsam off the Range Line Road. It’s worked out well for them and they seem to fill all their tags every year. All was quiet until the Young America bunch came onto the scene about 12 years ago.
They looked for some open woods to hunt and found three forties just to the north of where the Langs set up for deer season. There’s a natural boundary of a creek leading into a beaver slough and for a time, all worked out well.
In the early years, both hunting parties would go to the Balsam Store on the first Saturday of deer season and have a few 3.2 beers in the bar just off the food and merchandise part of the building. Being new, they were happy to tell deer stories and give each other intel on the middle ground between the two established territories. Tales of big bucks and tracking escapades – typical of all deer stories – established a good rapport. Soon, some good-natured kidding and bragging upped the ante a bit.
The first real escalation came in 1962. Floyd Lang’s son in law “Trigger” came up for the first of his three years of hunting. Trigger was a “carny,” traveling with a small carnival that roamed the Midwest during the summer and the deep south in the winter.
He also rode bareback broncs in a regional rodeo circuit several weekends a year. He was a small, wiry man with a bit of a Texas drawl and missing front teeth – no doubt from a facial encounter with the back of a bucking bronc’s head. Trigger had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He reminded me a lot of “Festus” on Gunsmoke. He also liked to pull a cork.
Well, the first night he attended the annual meeting at the Store, several bottles into the evening he introduced “trash talking.” He talked up his exploits as a hunter and berated anything the Young America crew might accomplish. As the night wore on, he crossed several lines that the YA bunch took exception to. While no fisticuffs happened, the banter became louder and louder until “Toi” - the owner – booted everybody out. The talk the next couple of years became uglier and uglier and there was just that feeling that sometime there were some real battles that would take place.
Each crew would come up a couple of times in September and October to clean out shooting lanes and repair stands in their respective haunts before deer season started. The trips included scouting forays, not only in their own areas, but into surrounding woods as well. Being public land – and not during deer season itself – scouting across the beaver slough was fair game. In time everyone knew where the deer moved, bedded and where each in both parties had their stands. These outings led to the next levels of wartime behavior.
In 1966 the Langs struck the first blow. They crossed into no man’s land the evening before season opened. Knowing where the Young America’s stands were, and the trails they took to get to them, they set booby traps with trip wires. Strung across forest paths and part way up the wooden ladders they put out “party poppers.” You know – those little firecrackers where you pull the string, and a loud report sounds with several strands of confetti shooting out. Opening morning sounded like a rifle range! While the Young America bunch was going into shellshock, the Langs were giggling every time a new “bang” from a different direction went off! They had put out 20 charges and the day wasn’t complete until all 20 had been set off and accounted for! Saturday evening’s meeting at the Balsam Store was a lively one!
To be fair, a truce was set up for the remainder of the season so that some actual deer hunting could take place. That doesn’t mean that the Young America crew didn’t spend each night plotting their revenge. Next year, the Langs would not go unpunished!
Young America followed in 1967 using the same tactic but with a twist. Instead of using party poppers that were a “one and done” attack, they strung lines with cowbells and sirens that could be set off every time the string would get pulled. Opening day meant that the morning shot was only the beginning. The Langs had to spend the rest of the day finding and disarming the armaments. Confusion reigned until early in the afternoon. Again, a truce took effect for the rest of the season.
This year a more subtle battle plan was hatched. When the Langs went up in September to brush out shooting lanes, their scout onto the neighboring territory found some curious contraptions
on the Young America side. Seems that one of the younger YA bunch was going to the University of Minnesota school of Engineering. He had developed a camera system as one of his projects that could be placed along a game trail. The camera was housed in a box and had a wind-up motor that would advance the film. A wire extended across the path and every trip of it would take a picture of whatever critter happened to be walking past. Ingenious! However, fertile minds can find a way to confound the most intelligent of designs.
They came prepared for their October trip. The Langs knew of two of the camera setups. They treated each a little differently. At the first one they placed several stuffed animals in front of the camera – a teddy bear, zebra, a moose and a horse. Pulling the trip wire from the side and out of camera range made it look like the toys walked there by themselves. They made several exposures but left some clicks for real critters to trip. For the other, a more diabolical plan was in place.
Using both a Ken and a Barbie doll that had been stripped of their wardrobes, they were placed in front of the camera in what we could say were “compromising positions.” As it was explained to me, “even the illustrator for a certain book from India would blush.” They made sure every pic the film would allow was “exposed.”
It sounds like the Saturday night meeting at the Balsam Store was a real hoot! Many extra beverages were consumed and vows of “wait ‘til next year” were exchanged.
Buck, I have no idea of where the escalations could go from here. It seems like this last battle included the A-bomb itself. Maybe that will be the end of the war, but I doubt it. I guess we’ll have to see what next year will bring us.
In the meantime, have a good Christmas!
Take care, Hoops
