GUNS OF OUR FATHERS: A Rifle Family

Article by Rachel Alexander
Photos by the McLean’s

I grew up in Bremerton, Washington, next door to the McLean’s. Art and Alice McLean were some of the dearest people you could ever meet. Art went hunting every year in Canada until it got too expensive, and started moose hunting while just in junior high. He hunted with a .30-06 bolt-action rifle, customized for his left handedness. His first deer rifle was a .300 Savage from Sears and Roebuck. He also enjoyed elk hunting in the Cascades and Olympic Mountains. Eventually he added a black-powder musket loader for hunting deer, and a 28-gauge shotgun.

He would later take Barney, the brown German shorthaired pointer who we loved, hunting for pheasants and grouse in Spokane, Wash.

At age 45. Art started moose hunting in Canada, with a guide named “Hungry.” Hungry was sort of a recluse, but became a good friend to Art and his hunting buddies Ed and Perl Maurer.

His son Bob told me that his dad would take him fishing, but he had a bad habit of falling asleep! One time Art had a bad experience when a motorcycle gang surrounded him, and decided it was time to expand his collection to include a .357 Magnum revolver.

Art enjoyed horseback riding, and Bob has saved the saddle and chaps, and the green hat Art would wear. Art has long since passed away, but Bob has carefully saved the gun collection, which will be someday handed down to his children.