In the cold of January, it’s the arrival of seed catalogs putting your head into the coming years’ gardening season – knowing that in a couple months you’ll have seedlings starting their journey. With hunting, at least in this province, today’s a similar kind of day. It’s mid July, our gardens are just staring to catch their stride, but it’s … Read More
Calf Moose Hunt 2009
We’re going to remember the 2009 season for a long time, for the absolute opposite reasons we’ll long remember 2006. On my 2006 hunt, we saw 67 moose in two days – which was remarkable. This year, in two days, we saw 2 moose. Two. Just under 3% of the action we had only 3 years ago. Our best guess … Read More
CBC Flugabwehrkanone
Quick comment on some recent flak I took in a national news forum. First, the author’s intent was genuine: to promote the ‘interesting topics you write about’, and I thank her for the exposure. But in the comments, a couple themes emerged. A couple readers felt that my use of the word ‘product’ to describe game meat severely disrespects the … Read More
Blamin’ it on Jamie Oliver
A little gross? Yeah, I know. But if Jamie Oliver can publish photos of a slaughtered lamb and a boar split in half in his ‘Jamie’s Italy‘ book, I figure I could post this with clear conscience. Wild, sustainably raised, milk fed, finished on alfalfa and native grass, drug-free, free range, local, and harvested stress-free at its peak of quality. … Read More
Calf Moose Hunt 2008 – First Morning
We got lucky to get permission on an exceptional piece of land yesterday. We then got lucky again this morning that we found 5 moose on it – two sets being cow-calf. Populations are drastically down, thanks to a hard winter and deep snow a couple years ago – so this was some luck indeed. The second cow and calf, … Read More
Calf Moose Hunt 2008
Inherited family curse? I don’t know, but I’m up at 3:30am this morning. My dad suffers from the same early-morning-syndrome, so we’re going to go for a walk in the moonlight to look for animals on their land. After some coffee, of course.Last night we saw one cow moose, one buffalo, and about a dozen deer. But more importantly, we … Read More
Goose Hunt I, 2008
Another successful goose hunt. Opening morning was warm [4C], calm, foggy, and it was just plain nice to be out in the stubble early in the morning. Once again, I’m very fortunate my uncle and his hunting partner are so kind to share their gear, company, and opportunities with me. To add to the luck, my brother-in-law was keen to … Read More
I just got the call
I just got the call. Opening season for geese is tomorrow morning, and my goose-hunting-uncle called to offer me a spot on a shoot. So my lazy-apple-processing-day has turned into a crazy-run-around-getting-set-up-for-hunting-why-didn’t-I-do-this-earlier-kinda-day.
Aging Moose and Elk
Yesterday’s post brought up an important topic: the aging of big game meats. Someone posted the following in a comment: “Not all meat should be aged. Young game animals are tender by nature. Aging game that has been skinned often results in excessive weight loss, dehydration and surface discoloration of the lean tissue…” I’d had this pang of guilt tucked … Read More
Calf Elk. Finally.
Calf elk neck. In my little world, this is exciting stuff. It’s an achievement. I grew up eating bull moose and deer – moose generally being preferred over deer. Elk were not around the parts my family hunted – so until the past few years, I knew little to nothing about elk. Once introduced to our kitchen, the general preference … Read More