2009 - Arnold Dahl still enjoys the hunt after 80 years

November 24, 2009 • Voyageur Press



Tyson Warner may have taken home the biggest buck of the season and has a story of his own to tell, but another member of his hunting party has quite a hunting history himself.

At 92 years old, Arnold Dahl is still taking to the woods each fall, hunting from a stand on the family farm. This season, he added another successful hunt to his record, harvesting a nice eight-point buck with a single shot.

“I didn’t connect that he was an eight-point buck until he started chasing a spiker off the field,” Arnold recalled at the deer shack north of Wright, Minnesota, a place he affectionately calls his “home away from home.”

“I saw his horns out beyond his head, and I said, ‘You turn broadside, and I’m going to let you have it.’”

When the spiker turned toward the woods and the larger buck turned broadside to follow, Arnold took his shot.

“He never even wiggled,” Arnold said. “He went down for the count.”

Arnold hunts with a single-shot firearm, and he takes pride in his recent track record.

“I’m 5-for-5 since I got that single shot,” he said. “Five years in a row, a single shot ... five deer for five shells.”

His hunting experience spans an incredible eight decades. Arnold first started hunting 80 years ago, with a few interruptions along the way.

“Except for three years when I was chasing Adolph Hitler ... and those years where there was no season. I might have hunted one of them too. I don’t know,” Arnold said with a chuckle.

It was his brother-in-law, Donald Clark, who first introduced him to hunting. Arnold has been at it ever since, although he has trouble recalling his very first deer.

“It was a long time ago,” he said. “I know I didn’t get one my first or second year. It might have been the third or fourth.”

Among the many hunts he remembers, one stands above the rest. In 1942, while home on a seven-day leave from military service, Arnold harvested what he still considers the biggest buck of his life.

“If I would have had him today, he would put all these to shame,” he said.

Arnold remembers borrowing a .38-55 rifle from a man in Cromwell when a large buck appeared.

“My brother emptied his gun when he was going broadside, and when he got by me, he was going into the woods straightaway,” Arnold recalled. “It was a straight-shooting gun, and I shot.”

Arnold wasn't initially sure whether he had connected, but other members of the hunting party saw the deer roll. The bullet had entered the top of the buck's head, just beneath the horns.

“You could put your thumb and your index finger between his horns where the bullet went in and came out,” he said.

“What a lucky shot.”

These days, Arnold hunts alongside his son, Jim, and grandsons Robert and Steven. Other members of the hunting party include Jim’s friend Steve Johnson, Tyson Warner, John Koupal and Mark Dahlman.

Their gathering place is an old mobile home that once served as an office for Northland Construction. Over the years, it has become a familiar gathering spot and a place where hunting stories and friendships continue to grow.

For Arnold, however, the best part of deer season has never been limited to what comes home from the woods.

He especially enjoys spending time with family and friends and watching the landscape come alive in the early morning.

“I really enjoy getting up in my stand when the sun is coming up and looking at the landscape. Shooting the deer isn’t as important anymore. It used to be when I was a kid.”

At 92, hunting does come with a few more challenges. Arnold admits his knees aren't quite as cooperative as they once were.

“The knees don’t like to straighten out once you sit down,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the regular stairs going up to the stand ... I can’t climb a ladder anymore. Once I get up there, I pull my gun up with a rope.”

The cold is another challenge.

“I can’t stand the cold anymore. You freeze, so I have to have a little heater up in the stand.”

Despite those challenges, Arnold's enthusiasm for deer season remains strong. And, judging by his five-for-five record over the past five years, his shooting hasn't slowed down much either.

Arnold isn't one to brag about his marksmanship, although he did offer a little friendly competition when comparing his success with his son Jim's recent hunt.

“I will say it took him three shots to get his buck, and it only took me one shot,” Arnold said.

Arnold also knows there may come a day when climbing into the stand is no longer possible. But that doesn't mean he plans to give up his place at the deer shack.

“I will move out here [to the shack] and become the swamper,” he said.

Drawing on memories of the old logging camps, Arnold already has a retirement plan in mind.

“I'll start the fire, sweep out the cabin, prepare the meals and do the dishes ...”

“That's fun too. We might even play a little poker in the evenings too.”

After 80 years of hunting, Arnold Dahl has earned his place among the veterans of deer camp. Whether he's sitting in his stand at sunrise or keeping the coffee pot going back at the shack, one thing is certain: deer season wouldn't be quite the same without him.