hunting – Maclean Family Blog

Hunting 2018

Davis, Loren, Dad and I all made our way up north to deer camp near Valleyview Alberta on November 10th this year.

Davis and I arrived first and helped the last remaining owner Remo and his friend pack up their stuff so they could get on the road home and then Davis and I squeezed in a quick evening hunt to get the lay of the land, look for sign and hopefully even shoot an animal. While we didn’t see any ungulates, we did see tonnes of sign on the property and on all the adjacent/nearby fields that we like to hunt including a plethora of tracks, rubs and scrapes.

Warning: numerous large and graphic images ahead. Proceed at your discretion.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Snowshoe Hare Stew (Lagos Stifatho)

On our 2017 hunting trip my brother Loren snared enough hares to share a couple with Dad and a couple with me.

Snowshoe hares are a little bit more flavourful and tougher than their cousins cotton tail rabbits, as such they are very well suited to stews and braises.

I decided to use the snowshoe hares that Loren snared and subsequently shared with me to make a hare stew inspired by Theo’s Restaurant in Penticton, British Columbia. Theo’s has long been a family favourite and every time we go I can’t help but order their Lagos Stifatho which is the most delicious Greek rabbit stew with lots of onions and tomatoes and cinnamon and the most incredible depth and complexity of flavour.

Below is a rough recipe;

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First Attempt at a Euro Mount

Trophies and antlers have never been the objective for us when hunting, in fact, even when we have shot an animal with a decent rack, we’ve never done anything more than take the skull plate and toss the antlers into a tree or perhaps the garage. For us, it’s all about filling the freezer, enjoying nature and time with each other, and the satisfaction that comes with hard work.

This year, Davis shot a whitetail buck with a fairly interesting rack with lots of broken tines and an abscess and I thought I would take the opportunity to learn how to turn it into a European/skull mount. Lucky for me my parents were in town for a visit and my dad was able to give me a hand.

I think it turned out really well for a first attempt and I definitely learned a few lessons to keep in mind for any future endeavours.

Click on images to enlarge.

Euro Mount of Davis' Whitetail — Euro Mount of Davis’ Whitetail

Sadly I don’t have any pictures of the process, but here’s what we did.

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2017 Hunting Trip

Every year my two brothers and our Dad head up to a hunting camp a little bit north of Valleyview Alberta in an effort to fill our freezers with delicious wild game meat. This year we called in support from Janet’s parents so that I could head up north for a week without feeling too guilty about leaving Janet alone with seven month old twins.

As this is a post about hunting, expect to see some graphic images, if that’s not for you, you may not want to proceed. You may not want to eat meat either if you can’t handle where it comes from, but that’s another subject. 😉 Continue reading “2017 Hunting Trip”