December 22, 2022 at 10:53 a.m.
Fish Like a GIRL
My experience at Liver Fest at Muutka Lodge
Fish Like a GIRL
Turk said the whole thing started with cooking chickens during the hunting season. Back in the day, he had a bus that served as his hunting camp. Hunters and friends brought chickens to the affair and food and fun abounded. In 1990, Turk bought the hunting camp which is now the Muutka Lodge. In fact, it is very near where my Dad and I used to hunt growing up.
I went to school with Turk's daughter, Ann (Turk) Kipper. We were in band together and several other classes. I have also known his son, Craig, for years. Longtime readers of the River News may recognize Craig's name, as he penned this column well before I came to land here.
Pulling up to the Muutka Lodge, it is a deer camp like many others. A fire pit outside, with several people enjoying the warmth of the fire after a long day in the woods. Warm and inviting lights from inside the camp welcome hunters after a long day.
Inside, posters covering the ceiling would rival any teen boy's bedroom back in the '80s. The table in the camp is adorned with old photos, old back tags (including Craig's first), and other memorabilia from over the years, all part of the table permanently, thanks to what looked like an epoxy coating.
One thing that really stood out as far as furnishings was the stove. I have cooked on lesser equipment back in my restaurant days! When you put a professional-type cook with professional-type equipment together, you just have to know you are in for a treat. Above the stove still hangs the old gas lights that were original to the hunting camp, not replaced by generator-powered incandescents.
"We first started out in buses," Turk told me. "We used to have a chicken feed with a couple of deer parties. They would come to our bus. One year we would pay for everything and they next year they would pay for everything. And I would always cook everything."
That went on for a number of years before Turk purchased what is now the Muutka Lodge, the home of Liver Fest and a wealth of stories and memories made over the 30 plus years.
"When we bought this hunting camp in 1990, we switched over to cooking deer liver," he said. "And that went on for a long time until CWD showed up, so I went to beef liver."
Each year Turk hosts 30-40 people, with 35 at this year's event. The camaraderie in the group permeated the room. I could feel the friendship and the entire camp had such a welcoming feeling. It is hard to describe. We did not have a hunting camp when I was a kid, but as an adult I have hunted with groups that would meet up afterwards at one hunter's house or another. But to say the feeling at Muutka Lodge is special would be an understatement - Turk happily working away at the stove, enjoying a beer and chatting with each hunter who came near. He and Ann cooked together, with the father in charge of the liver and ham, and the daughter in charge of the potatoes. The sparkle in both of their eyes showed there was certainly something special about this event.
Turk said he goes through 10 pounds of liver, five pounds of ham, 20 pounds of potatoes, five pounds of onions and five pounds of bacon every year. With all of this food, as well as all of the food brought by others, no one goes away hungry. Turk said about half of the people who attend enjoy liver, hence the ham as an addition to the meal.
"There's also a lot of people that don't like liver, but they have tried mine and they come back for it every year just for it," he noted.
I have to agree with them. While I have always liked liver, even when I was a young child, Turk's is likely some of the best I have ever tasted. I do not know if he uses a special seasoning, if it is something about the camp, or just the feeling you get when you walk through the door - but there is something special about that liver, and, truly, about the whole experience at Muutka Lodge.
Ann has been involved with the LiverFest festivities since the beginning, though she has been hunting for only five years. When her mom passed away she decided to take to the woods with her Dad. Prior to that, she spent deer season attending the many "Hunter's Widows" events that happen across the Northwoods, spending time with her Mom.
Sadly, Ann's mom passed away shortly after deer season in 2017. When the next fall rolled around, Ann felt saddened by that time of year and the things she would miss with her Mom. It was then she decided to take to the woods with her Dad.
Bawb convinced his daughter to get a license. She said she would have been happy simply sitting in the blind with him. She was not sure if she could kill a deer. Fast forward five years to this year's hunt and Ann is the only one in the blind carrying a gun. Bawb sits with her, coaching her and giving advice. Now she is after her first deer. But Liver Fest has been an ongoing tradition for her as long as her Dad has been involved in it.
"I think there's events like this at every hunting camp, right?" she said. "And this is just Muutka's Lodge's version of it. And what a wonderful thing to do, especially the day before Thanksgiving, to spend time together and have the camaraderie and be thankful for everything we have."
Ann said the thing she enjoys most is seeing how happy her Dad is putting on Liver Fest each year. He loves to cook and he loves his friends, she said. This event is certainly an incredible mix of both of those things. He cooked in the military, Ann noted, and still loves to cook today.
What does Muutka mean?
Muutka means "bend," or "curve" in Finnish. A muutka is when a person has a blanket over them and they lift their feet so the blanket curls, or curves, under their feet to keep them warm and cozy.
Muutka Lodge is warm and cozy with a wood fire and great food, prepared by Turk himself. Family, friends, and plenty of story telling abound at the lodge.
Ann's great uncle Oiva's hunting shack was also called Muutka, so it was decided to adopt that name for this lodge as well - a fitting tribute, and a name that fits this camp like no other would.
Turk said his favorite part of Liver Fest is seeing all of his friends and sharing stories with them.
"Some of them only see each other once a year, and that's here," he said. "These are all personal friends of mine from the military and close friends. And I invite them every year and most of the same ones come every year."
Some hunters and friends had been coming for years and others, such as Pat Maass, are newer to Liver Fest. He was invited out by a mutual friend two years ago and said he will definitely keep coming back. But no matter who you might talk to at the Muutka Lodge, it is Turk himself who keeps everyone coming back year after year.
Quick with a smile and eyes that twinkle like Santa Claus himself, Turk is the center of all that is Muutka Lodge.
Beckie Gaskill may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].
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