Winema Hunting Lodge used to be the place to stay for the Hollywood, San Diego, and San Francisco guys looking for some good bird hunting and a great time. And today it provides year-round food and lodging for local as well as international visitors.

The Winema cookhouse and bunkhouse, on Hill Road west of Tulelake, were built in the early 40’s by Winema Farms. This was originally comprised of Lewis Kandra, Steve Takacs, and Lee Dixon families.
It seemed that the farmers had so many hunters staying seasonally in all their out buildings and spare bedrooms, Mildred Takacs decided to convert the farm buildings into a hunting lodge.

Rosie Thompson tells how her late sister Mildred was a co-owner owner, cook and hunting guide, and also had to teach the city hunters how to hunt. She recalls hunters getting into a whole lot of trouble from Mildred if they shot the birds before she told them to.

Mildred’s sister-in-law Carol Suty reminisces about the good times at the lodge. She said "Millie could out-hunt and out-drink all of the guys, and was a wonderful cook." She was the only woman hunting guide in California.

That was when there were hundreds of hunters, one behind every telephone pole near the fields and refuges. After a cold day of hunting and plucking the birds, the hunters would frequent the Tulelake Sportsman, El Rancho Tule and Cal-Ore dancehall, which were packed with hunters and locals from sunset til early morning. They’d sleep a couple hours at the lodge, then everyone was up again before dawn to hunt!