Yesterday's Weapons Forums

My barts Brett,(who took the picture) Ess and Joey , smiling ,were puttin' along, up the Kobuk River this week looking for Caribou, but the weather was not in their favor....to warm for Caribou to start moving....yet..........but being real hunters, and I mean Hardcore, they couldnt possibly go back without a boat load of meat.
When they got home (Kotz) tonight, they just sent me this;





All smiles when the work is done

These guys are some of the very few Eskimos I know that hunt Moose.....I just watch them walk by, unless someone has asked me to catch one....then "Maby"

Still this Big boy is only terribly typical of Moose here, they are everywhere.....

Its because we have Caribou, Yockey.

Caribou are easier to work, softer, milder, and your not dealing with a huge load.
There are thousands of uses for Caribou, maet and skins are vital to people.
Fact is, we consitter Moose as a back up sorta animal, but with 1/2 a million Caribou around, who needs back up?
Thing is too, Moose have only been in Northwest Alaska for a bit less than 100 years. They were gone from the archeological record here since the 1200's, and being so recent, they have little preference, traditional use or even an Inupiaq name.....they are called by the Athabaskan name "Tene'kok" (Ten-ee-kock)
They figured the lush groth has been what brought them back, away from the borial forests and to our Arctic area.
With grub galore, their populations exploded and the excellent feed makes them some of the largest moose in the world.

When I'm asked to hunt anything, I say "Maby" as best I can, but getting a prime Moose is ALOT of work, and they'd better be in real need or have some excellent trade, or their gonna eat Caribou.