This Cache is located at the Presque Isle Lake south boat landing, on County Hwy P, west of Presque Isle
If ever there was a bowhunting legend in Wisconsin, it would have to be the well-known and renowned Art LaHa. In his time, he was a celebrated bowhunting personality who achieved success, notoriety, and fame on a local, state, and national level.
All this began when, as a teenager in 1936, LaHa received his first bow. A lumberjack friend of the family made it for him from an iron-wood stave. This sparked his interest and sent him on a journey that was to last his entire lifetime.
Starting in Vilas County with subsistence bowhunting during the depression, he went on in succeeding years to bowhunt in 48 of our 50 states, and all 14 Canadian provinces, along with Greenland and Iceland. His list of big game animals taken with a bow and arrow includes black, brown, grizzly, and polar bear, as well as white-tailed deer, elk, caribou, moose, wolves, wolverine, walrus, mountain goat, and Dell sheep. In total his bow harvests numbered 250 individual specimens, many of which were trophy class animals.
LaHa’s prowess with the bow is well-known and recognized on a national level, but relatively few are aware of his contributions to bowhunting in the early days of the sport. He promoted bowhunting on a local level by talking to people on the street and by recruiting new members for a club being formed in his area. He soon met and teamed up with Roy Case, later to be the founder of Wisconsin Bowhunters (WBH), and the two worked tirelessly to get the first bow and arrow seasons installed on a permanent basis. For a number of years this was a work in progress, but Case and LaHa partnered with Otto Wilke, Larry Whiffen Sr., Aldo Leopold, and Fred Bear to accomplish this mission.
With time, tenacity, and commitment, this group eventually prevailed. By the mid-1940’s bow hunters had regular seasons and were starting to be accepted within the Wisconsin outdoors sporting community, and by the general public. Case and LaHa began to routinely prove the effectiveness of the bow, and became unofficial public good will ambassadors. Their efforts eventually led to full acceptance of the bow as a game management tool, and the recognition that bowhunting was here to stay. LaHa often shared his experiences with others in articles in Outdoor Life and National Bowhunter magazines.
Vocationally, LaHa wore many hats during his lifetime. As a youngster he held a number of odd jobs and, while in high school, boxed professionally. He was known to travel as far away as New York to meet opponents. During WWII he joined the US Corps of Engineers to do construction on the Alcan Highway.
Returning to Winchester, WI, he raised a family while running a hunting camp, a grocery store, a wholesale meat business, and later, a very successful combination restaurant, bar, and lodge, serving bowhunters in autumn, and skiers and snowmobilers in the winter. Unfortunately, his Bear Bar & Lodge suffered two devastating fires, the last in 1987, which destroyed many of his bowhunting trophies and mementos of a lifetime outdoors. During these years he also found time to operate a small archery tackle business and then to become involved with, and a major stockholder of, the American Archery Company in Oconto Falls.
This busy lifestyle would have overwhelmed many men, but not Art LaHa. He also found time to be a hunting guide. He had fallen in love with Alaska when he worked on the highway during WWII and vowed to return. He did so, 52 times over the years, first as a hunter and then as a guide. He became such a frequent visitor and well-known guide that the Governor named a lake after him, LaHa Lake. He guided over 1,000 hunters in Alaska and his clients harvested nearly every legal species of game found there.
However, probably his greatest passion was to guide bowhunters in his native Wisconsin. Starting in the 1940’s, and continuing through the 1983 season, LaHa hosted and guided thousands of resident and non-resident bowhunters in search of deer and bear. Many a neophyte bowhunter harvested their first deer under his tutelage, and then went on to become a repeat visitor at his hunting lodge. He had a quick wit, and easy smile, and a desire to befriend all. This personality combined with his hunting and guiding skills to make his camp a fun place to be and one of, if not THE best, bowhunting camp/guide services in Wisconsin. He officially retired from guiding bowhunters at the end of the 1983 season, but kept his lodge open to accommodate bowhunters for many years.
Art LaHa passed away in 1994, and in April of 1996 was posthumously inducted into the National Bowhunters Hall of Fame. He remains an undeniable presence in camps thoughout the bowhunting community and is remembered by many. His legacy, impact and teachings will live on for many years in the hearts and memories of those who trekked the north woods with him, and with those who only know him by reputation and wish they could have.
It was a fitting honor that he was inducted into the Wisconsin Bowhunting Hall of Fame in March, 2016, during the 75th anniversary year of the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association. Had men like LaHa not been involved in bowhunting, and the WBH seventy-five years ago, that association would not be celebrating that significant milestone.
So, to Art LaHa, and to those who were his counterparts back in the day, we offer a tip of the camo cap and a hearty “Thank You.”
You are looking for a waterproof match container, attached to an “appropriately themed” host.
Permission for this cache placement was obtained from Scott Mcpherson, President, Presque Isle Chamber of Commerce.