Members of the Colegrove family gather at the yearly deer camp in 1990. Pictured are (from left) Louis Colegrove, Phyllis Colegrove, Ralph Colegrove, Carol Colegrove, Al Colegrove, Ron Colegrove, Ralph Colegrove, Jr., George Henderson, George Henderson, Jr., and Jerry Colegrove. The family's traditional hunting camp gathering is all about food, hunting, playing cards, and spending time together as a family in the great outdoors. (Colegrove family photograph) Louis and Phyllis Colegrove and their family may be difficult to find after November 15, when they return to their deer camp near East Lake, a tradition that has been sustained for about 55 years and still brings three generations of family members to the site.

Each year the group brings their trailer, deer blinds, and other hunting equipment to the campsite, Camp No-See-Em, in the Hiawatha National Forest, where they enjoy the hunt, meals together, card games, and most importantly, the fellowship of time together as friends and family.

Louis Colegrove (left) and Robert Colegrove pose with their deer at the family's deer camp near East Lake in 1979. The family tradition of hunting together goes back 55 years. (Colegrove family photograph) "The camaraderie, I guess, is the biggest thing about deer camp," Mr. Colegrove said. "We have a really good time."

Through the years the group has seen all kinds of hunting conditions, from warm fall days to opening days with two feet of snow on the ground.

"We have seen all kinds of weather," Mr. Colegrove said. "That can really make things fun for us."

They don't see as many deer as they did years ago, he said, and the group of hunters seems to get smaller as older family members die and younger ones move away. But regardless of the number of deer or hunters in the woods, sustaining the spirit of deer camp is what they find most important.

More important than bagging a big buck or bringing the venison home to share is the time they spend together, he said. Long games of cards, big meals cooked on the grill, and swapping great stories is what the time at deer camp is all about for their family.

"We have good food out there," he said. "And we have some real good games of cards."

The group is usually made up evenly between men and women and they spend hours in the trailer playing games of cards, with a men's game taking place at one end of the trailer and the women's game at the other end, Mr. Colegrove said.

It is a family-friendly affair at the Colegroves' deer camp -- alcohol and radios are not allowed, something Mr. Colegrove said helps them to be safer and have more fun together. All of his children and his 18 grandchildren have grown up with the tradition of deer camp each autumn.

"A lot of people have got their first deer out here," he said.

The best stories are those told at deer camp, Mr. Colegrove said, because funny things happen when you are out in the woods.

"I don't know why it is so fun to laugh at the misfortunes of others," he said. "But it is really funny to hear some of these stories."

Mr. Colegrove told one such story of when his tree stand, suspended 18 feet in the air, dropped three feet down the tree and he nearly fell off.

"That was really scary," he said.

Getting a big buck is all well and good, Mr. Colegrove said, but they are happy to bag any deer and butcher the venison the whole family enjoys.

"We all like our venison," he said, "and we share the meat."

The group processes their own meat and usually brings some of last year's venison jerky along to the next year's deer camp.

But it's not all venison and card games at Camp No-See-Em. Mr. Colegrove has been tracking the deer population in the area for several years and now has more than 300 deer camps reporting what they see to him. This data, which has accumulated into a stack of filing boxes at the Colegroves' home in St. Ignace, is used by both the Straits Area Sportsmen's Club and Michigan's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to help track and forecast the deer populations and movements in the area.

"That is very important," Mr. Colegrove said about the information they have collected, which he said is crucial in managing the deer herd. "Our club has done a lot of good things."

In addition to tracking all the deer noted and shot at the camps reporting to him, Mr. Colegrove has also worked with the sportsmen's club to tag more than 100 deer with purple ear tags. If hunters shoot or see a deer with one of these tags, they are asked to report it to the Straits Area Sportsmen's Club or the DNR.

Most of the deer were trapped and tagged between Carp River and Moran, and since have been found as far away as Brimley. Fawns that were tagged have been found again as eight-point bucks.

"Most of them seem to have moved north and west," Mr. Colegrove said. "None of them went east. It has all been very interesting to watch."

Regardless of where the deer are or how many there are out in the woods, Mr. Colegrove said the whole family looks forward to the big day in the middle of November when they drop everything to talk, eat, play cards, hunt, and enjoy the company of the people most important to them.

"My wife and I are involved in a lot of community organizations and we do a lot of things," he said. "But on November 15, we are done."