And it will be colder than it is now if I get left on venison after the first of

14:14 Jan 14, 2020 

Thank you, Henry, for your native speaker's input. I thought "it will be colder than it is now" might be some idiom I'm not familiar with, but you say it's not. Although famous for his Woodcraft and Camping, Nessmuk was a woodsman rather than a writer. For the most part, I understand what he means, but this senstence got me really puzzled. I think I agree with Robert, too.

17:32 Jan 13, 2020 

Here is an earlier excerpt from the text:

I stopped at Ed Bennett's Under the Hemlocks and then paddled slowly over to the Raquette House, kept by Ike Kenwell, and well kept, too. The selection of this hotel site was judicious. It stands--the hotel--on a dry breezy point of land jutting out into the lake, and it is always cool in the hottest weather. The house is well furnished, the table good, and the open bark camp with its fragrant bed of browse and rousing fire in front at night is a delightful woodland affair that should always be a part of the wilderness hotel. The best bass fishing on the lake is in easy reach of the landing.
http://robroy.dyndns.info/books/gws/N3C.HTM#top

15:50 Jan 13, 2020 

(I don't understand Polish. This question caught my eye because I live not far from the area of the story and have spent time on Long Lake.)

I find it difficult to make sense of the sentence. If GT is any indication, I think Robert Foltyn's interpretation may be accurate. I took "left on venison" as Robert did. That is, if no one is bringing any other foods to his place, or if no one is coming to stay at his place (giving him the money to buy other foods), he will be left to survive on the deer meat that he hunts himself.

I find it difficult to be sure about the sense of "and it will be colder than it is now". (Being summer, it would not be cold...?) But I tend to agree with Robert there, too. I imagine a scenario where the guest is complimenting Dave on how cool it is at his place. (People went to the Adirondacks in the summer to escape the heat of the city.) Dave replies, with some self-effacing humor, that if no one comes to his resort after August 1, when the hunting season is underway (and one would expect to have more guests?), it will be "colder still", meaning, if he has no guests later in the season things it will be lonely, or difficult, for him.

I would say that the line after -- "It is at these less pretentious houses where the landlords have mostly been guides that I find the best fare and most sport when I care to fish or hunt." is part of the context for this line. It signals that Dave is unpretentious, so it would support Robert's interpretation.

Still, there might be another, better explanation. My confidence, like Robert's, is not that high.