We were walking around in the woods in Wisconsin. After about a mile or so of walking, knocking over dead trees, and just taking pictures, we found an abandoned building eventually. I had spotted this place previously on Google Earth, but there was no way to tell whether or not it was actually abandoned. We explored a little as there wasn't much, but it was still an interesting find and intrigues me to why the people who likely camped here never came back, leaving tools and other stuff behind. I took all these photos with my phone since I didn't have my DSLR camera on me.


^The markings on the wall may show that it was built in 1977, but I couldn't find any info on the place.


^The building was made of very cheap low quality wood boarding. The insulation was either chewed to shreds by rodents or it wasn't made well since the inside was just as cold as the outside. The second half of the building was also cracked and tipped like the titanic did, making a gap in the roof.




^The main portion of the interior. In very good condition as if no one has visited ever, seemed frozen in time.


^An old wooden stove which I found interesting. Wood still in the bottom along with the furnace shown in the next photo, along with pans and a lantern shown in this photo.


^The old bunks along with a chest that still had old magazines and stuff in there. Much of the foam mattresses have been chewed on by animals.


^"This must be the place" along with some deer antlers. Maybe it was a deer hunting camp.


^The wood still in the furnace along with a box of maybe beer with a Green Bay Packers logo.


^The toilet that still had a moist substance in the bottom after all those years, which I found pretty gross albeit interesting.


Buildings deep in the wilderness always intrigue me, but since this place was pretty small I can't say if I'll ever return, maybe to try and find some history of the place.

Looks like an old deer hunting cabin. I grew up in Wisconsin and a lot of folks I knew attended camps like that- gun deer season in Wisconsin is only nine days out of the year, so a ton of folks would just ask those nine days off work and live in these camps with a group of friends/family to hunt deer by day and drink beer by night for the entire nine days. Deer season is almost a holiday in some parts of the state and deer camp is a revered family tradition bordering on an annual reunion for many folks in those parts.

Outside of hunting season these camps are almost always vacant the rest of the year because hunting is the sole purpose they were built for. The cheap building material, barracks layout, gun rack on the table, the wood-fired stove- all of that is quintessential hunting camp chic, and I'll bet you anything that it's probably still owned by a hunting family that just hasn't used it in a few years but will someday return.

That's interesting, thank you. It was honestly pretty hard to tell how long no one has been there, but judging by the gap in the ceiling, rodent feces all over the table and floor, and chewed up foam and insulation, it was probably a while. My family isn't a hunting family, so I never knew about these kinds of structures and that they were made solely for this purpose. It probably had more land at one point judging by how much of the land surrounding it is now DNR apart from the plot the cabin is on itself, so I'm guessing they probably gave it to them.

I own 40 acres of land in the Iola area. I don't hunt, I just use it mostly for camping and nerdy off-grid survival stuff. In fact I bought it 35yrs ago for the sole purpose of just having a place for my friends and I to camp away from all the yuk-yuks during the Iola Old Cars Show. But I do have friends and family that hunt the land. They have 2 salvaged (not road worthy) campers that stay up there, one of them even has permanent electrical service and is plumbed to the well (sorta, there is only a hand well that when pumped will fill a 40g tank on the camper). There is also a 100g propane tank back there for both campers. They only use them during gun season. They legit look abandoned - one of them is even sunk into the ground up to the frame. I always make it a point to check on them when I am up there, and in the past have often found doors and cabinets wide open. You won't find anything in them but a bait bucket for mice and some bear spray, maybe a can of beans. They haven't been vandalized in 35yrs, just rummaged through. The closest thing to vandalism was a bunch of beer cans left in one, likely local kids partying. The first couple years when just one was there, it was broken into several times. I told the owner to clear it out at the end of the season, and leave it unlocked - better for whoever broke in to rummage and find nothing then to also break a window/door and still find nothing. There has not been a break in or any damage since, like 33yrs now.

Other than the 2 campers, the entire 40 acre plat is empty other than mostly pines with some mixed hardwoods and swamp. So for anyone to ignore the No Trespassing signs, once the campers come into view it does indeed look like an abandoned property - you wouldn't think anyone would stay in these campers lol. Myself included - I sleep up there in either a tent, hammock, the Jeep, or right on the ground - I would NEVER sleep in those dank and stinky tick nests lol. In the last few years, they appear to have been untouched by trespassers, or at least they have been closing the doors after their visit. I think that is just because as I age, I find myself spending a lot more time up there. I am now up there 2-3 weekends a month, even in the winter. I am even known to camp in temps well below 0 (F), and major snow storms. I think the limited amount of traffic that drives by the front of the property now see regular activity there, and whoever was always rummaging/partying in the campers stays clear. People can be weird up there, and generally don't like "weekenders" so I have very limited communication with neighbors. In short, the full time neighbors up there are not very friendly, which is just fine with me – I go up there to be alone, not talk about how slow the corn is this year or how *insert party and/or politician here* is ruining the country lol. I don’t care about your problems or opinions – I have wood to chop, a steak to burn, and bourbon to drink…

My personal experience is a great testament as to why "leave only footprints" is a great rule for everyone. Since, with the exception of some break-ins the first couple of years, in 35yrs there has been no real vandalism, I really don't even care anymore if someone ignores my signs and had a peek - just be respectful. And if I came up there and found you trespassing and/or camping I would lay 4 very simple rules on you. 1. NO HUNTING. 2. Clean up after yourself. 3. Bring your own firewood - MY deadfall and split wood is MINE, for ME. 4. Do ONE thing to improve camp i.e.; pick up trash by the street, drag some dead fall to my wood pile, shovel the fire pit out - some gesture of kindness as “payment”. If you leave no footprints, I just don’t care…

Yeah I couldn't imagine sleeping in one of these little shacks in the winter. I'm planning to camp out in Voyageurs National Park and other kick ass places when I get older. I haven't done much camping in my life, though my dad used to camp quite a bit and do a lot of outdoorsy stuff when he was my age. I guess if it's just a place where you have the bare essentials and have a fire going, a "little" crack in the roof might be solved with that heat, which would make it habitable at least. Along with bringing a broom and new mattresses it may not be so bad after all, not that I'd like to stay there.

It seems they might've done the same as you, apart from unlocking the doors. All that was left essentially that might be of importance was some tools, cooking equipment, and an old half full bottle of some kind of alcohol in the cabinet along with Yahtzee. And when it comes to no trace, the only thing I can think of was me not being able to shut the sliding window completely where I entered, as I left by unlocking the door and locking it behind me again out of respect. Since your camper is about 35 years old and experienced some vandalism, this building is possibly 45+ only judging by the paint and probably has had its fair share of vandalism. Who knows.

This one seemed to not have much vandalism from what I could notice though, but I guess I would need to see it in a previous state. It's located pretty far into a random dead-end back road from the nearest town, not sure how far yours is from Iola or any neighbors but this one was pretty much alone apart from farms outside of the woods.

that's cool. I used to wander around google earth sometimes but I never seemed to find anything when I delved into backroads and forested areas, idk if it was my technique or i just wasnt looking in the right places, but i couldnt find anything. As of now i've been using another resource to find abandoned barns and houses (that are NOT on state historical registers) and whatnot in the eastern wisconsin area.

I've been out to a few rural places so far in the milwaukee county/ozaukee county area but ive never been out into the really forested areas in further counties like washington, fon du lac, sheboygan counties, etc. I guess you could say that I've been drifting away from UrbEx and been doing 'RurEx' instead, lol.

Found some pics. This is the NICER of the 2. I'd rather sleep in the snow and let Bigfoot have his way with me. *shudder* Nasty M'er F'ers....

















Note the bullet hole lol

That's one humble abode. I don't get what's with teens finding the most repulsive places to party/chill in. But then again some of the measures some explorers will take are worse. In a recent house I explored we found a white claw and a huge hole in the floor. Wonder what caused that lol. Even putting a little pressure on the floor it felt springy. I would post them, but that day I explored two and I feel like a single abandoned house or two would be too easy of a thing to post, so I'll probably save a bunch of them before making a post.

But actually, I cannot imagine wanting to stay in that place. I'm surprised it's not completely full of spiders, wasp nests, and some other weird creatures. It very well could be but I don't see it in the photos. Though judging by what appears to be shit I imagine some mice are pretty common. I would expect after 35 years a place like that would be rusted through completely, you'll see newer cars with pretty big holes gone from rust. Especially where someone shot a bullet through.

Posted by Thecurious I'm surprised it's not completely full of spiders, wasp nests, and some other weird creatures.

It 100% is lol. And they can awaken once they start heating the dump during hunting season. Since that one is split at the front seam, there has even been bats in there. I wouldn't be surprised to find the door ripped off and a bear sleeping in there one day lol. I would imagine the same of the shack you posted. Reason #1263 as to why I'd rather sleep in the dirt/snow than in one of these.

When I was exploring a building once, I found a box outside kind of like a cooler. I opened it in the darkness and thought I was looking at water. And then I turned on my flashlight and nope, full of a thick layer of spider webs and wasp nests. I found the photo:



It genuinely looks like there is a layer of water and beneath the first layer of webs it looks like sediment. From that top layer down, it was like carpeted layers of pure web and where wasps felt like building beneath and then where spiders built back over again.