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Beryl Novak has lived alone in his one-room deer shack for 44 years. That's the way he likes it
duluth news tribune ^ | 5 Nov 2021 | John Myers

Posted on 11/05/2021 8:50:33 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

GREANEY, Minn. — Beryl Novak bought 40 acres of forest here in 1966 for $700, eventually moved an old one-room shack to the site for a deer hunting cabin and then liked it so much he moved in for good.

That was 1977. He hasn’t lived anyplace else since. He hasn’t slept in any other bed, not a single night away, since May 1993.

“I’m kind of a homebody,” Novak said.

Novak, 71, shot his first deer at age 10, in 1960, hunting alone. He still has the paper hunting license and aluminum buck tag pressed between pages in a photo album. Since then, Novak figures he’s shot 75 deer in these woods northwest of Cook.

Through his military service, he would come home on leave scheduled around hunting seasons.

There's a gas range for cooking, a bed in the corner and a small TV that gets three stations over the airwaves. “Why would you need any more than that? Everything on TV is all so damned depressing anyway,” Novak said.

Novak formally “retired” in 1995, meaning that’s the point he stopped trying to earn a living and focused on the living part.

“It doesn’t cost much to live up here. I get by pretty cheap,” he said.

His last car broke down in 2005 and he hasn’t driven one since

“I’ve been social distancing out here for 20 years,” he said.

He hasn’t shaved or had a haircut since 2001,

“If people would read what Thoreau wrote in the 1800s it might help them today,” Novak said. “Simplify your life. That’s what I’ve done. … People out there working to make more money are just chasing their tails.”

(Excerpt) Read more at duluthnewstribune.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Gardening; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: deerhunter
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To: Prole

If it were just me and had the means, I would live in a similar but neater fashion.

Most of modern society I don’t want.


41 posted on 11/06/2021 1:23:32 AM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure.)
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To: Prole

If it were just me and had the means, I would live in a similar but neater fashion.

Most of modern society I don’t want.


42 posted on 11/06/2021 1:23:32 AM PDT by wally_bert (I cannot be sure for certain, but in my personal opinion I am certain that I am not sure.)
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To: markman46

Obviously the mule passed on years ago.


43 posted on 11/06/2021 1:32:19 AM PDT by Justa (If where you came from is so great then why aren't Floridians moving there?)
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To: lee martell

New Hampshire.


44 posted on 11/06/2021 1:51:09 AM PDT by Does so (DC: "The Chinese city on top of a hill".)
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To: goodnesswins

Nonsense. His bed is made up.


45 posted on 11/06/2021 1:55:58 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
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To: DUMBGRUNT

A man who lives in a tidy house is (1) married, or (2) has a housekeeper, or (3) is gay.


46 posted on 11/06/2021 2:02:25 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I admire his non-attachment to the rat race, but wonder if the attachment to isolation in the forest is better.

I’ve done both and feel that the middle road is best.


47 posted on 11/06/2021 2:19:34 AM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: DoodleBob

He certainly looks content.


48 posted on 11/06/2021 2:23:47 AM PDT by caww ( )
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To: wally_bert

When I took this semi-efficiency apartment 15 years ago it was going to be just over the winter as I had one day to locate an apartment after traveling here. I learned over those 6 months this was just fine for me. And it has a wonderful deck and walk in closet and two entrances . On the second floor I couldn’t be happier.

Learning to live smaller is really quite wonderful.


49 posted on 11/06/2021 2:30:58 AM PDT by caww ( )
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To: tired&retired

I’ve lived in big cities and rural areas.....love where I am now with population about 13,000 , modern and all a big city offers on a smaller scale. Great shopping and eating establishments......parks etc.......and yet less than 15 minutes you’re traveling country roads.


50 posted on 11/06/2021 2:37:50 AM PDT by caww ( )
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To: caww

Exactly same for me. We may be twins separated at birth.


51 posted on 11/06/2021 2:41:19 AM PDT by nomorelurker
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To: goodnesswins

shhh... this is how most life long bachelors places look like-I’m married but my single brothers...


52 posted on 11/06/2021 2:59:32 AM PDT by TECTopcat
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To: Deaf Smith
The 64 oz can of Jiff peanut butter with the spoon on top is a nice touch.

Oh yeah, I see it now, next to the roll of toilet paper.

53 posted on 11/06/2021 5:04:41 AM PDT by Tommy Revolts
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To: goodnesswins

Maybe, but it is his pigsty, not yours!

Your comment is the reason a lot of us men either get or stay single!


54 posted on 11/06/2021 5:26:09 AM PDT by Redleg Duke (“I’m not the olny one!”)
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To: RoosterRedux

Lol... Well said. Organized piles are a natural thing.


55 posted on 11/06/2021 5:48:12 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

If the dems get their way, a whole lot of folks who do not want to will have to live this way. That old saying “lucky to have a roof over my head” is going to be a real thing.


56 posted on 11/06/2021 5:54:59 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

“If people would read what Thoreau wrote in the 1800s it might help them today,” Novak said. “Simplify your life. That’s what I’ve done. … People out there working to make more money are just chasing their tails.”

Yep... slavery to that dollar.


57 posted on 11/06/2021 6:02:33 AM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: wally_bert

Amen.


58 posted on 11/06/2021 6:13:50 AM PDT by MAGA2017
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Best story I’ve read in a long time........thanks


59 posted on 11/06/2021 6:15:41 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (My favorite word is Tweezer)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
When I was 7, he gave me a single-shot .22 to use and one .22 short bullet and took me grouse hunting and told me not to miss. … I got one.”

Having grouse hunted myself but with a shotgun, I am pretty damn impressed!

60 posted on 11/06/2021 6:22:50 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (My favorite word is Tweezer)
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