Several times each summer, when temperatures are favorable, anywhere from a few guys to as many as 20 will gather at a rustic Spencer County farm for Man Camp. Named thusly by one of the men’s wives because only dudes are invited, the gettogethers are outdoor feasts — pot lucks — cooked by veteran fishermen and hunters sharing the prior year’s quarry, the bulk of which is taken from Bluegrass lands and waters.
These are leisurely picnics where conversations rarely get serious, unless talk drifts toward gathering game and cooking it. “Oh, we’ll talk about politics now and then — family, too,” says Steve Taxes, an investment banker who, in a past career, spent two decades on the hog killing floor at Fischer Packing Co. “But mostly we like to talk about hunting. And maybe we’ll give each other a hard time.”
