Those fish super tasty to me. I suppose eating them as often and you did might make them seem pretty ordinary, but lake trout are a favorite of mine.
I was particularly surprised to see your dad's sailboat. I don't think I have seen a picture of a sailboat in that part of the world. Makes lots of sense since parts and fuel for motor boats would be expensive and hard to come by, but I'd like that boat on any water.
Do you know if rising sea level a bit concern up there now?
There must be some stories behind those bear skins. Were they hunted for food at all?
You certainly had some adventures. I hope you record a few of them permanently. I'd love to hear you tell a few stories on The Moth radio show. Maybe I will some day.
My Dads boat was more of a nautical interest to him. There were few sailboats, mostly canoes, kayaks and outboard motor types (at least 40 years ago). You are correct on the parts issue though. One example was our snowmobile caught on fire, we covered it in snow to put it out. My Dad pieced it back together from scraps and kept it running for many years afterwards.
I still like the fish now, an at the time it was ok to me. But I know my Dad loved it, and very often would reminisce about the giant slabs of fish and how much he liked it. I am not sure of how the rising sea levels are a concern, although one of our friends still there that we spoke with recently, ha made mention of some significant changes there. Aside from the population growth, other issues associated with that, the caribou herds were "almost gone", musk ox weren't as numerous, due to overhunting. I'm sure that stems from a population that is far larger than it started out as, with subsistence hunting still being pretty much a necessity, as in my experience no family ever wasted any parts of a kill. We used the hides for clothing (rabbit made for great gloves), bone for carvings, guts for dogs, etc.
Bear was never hunted for meat in my recollection, but more as a precautionary measure, i.e. harassment. Although I had polar bear meat, and I did not like it in the least.
As for a show, my Dad was a great orator, but I could never retell his stories and do them even one iota of justice. Although I am writing a biography for my kids about him, as he did many other things including a decade as a consultant in Moscow after his retirement.
This has been a really cool thread to follow. Some great pictures from back in the day showing a lifestyle most of us would never even think of. You see stuff on TV now and then, but this is the real deal. Thanks!
Thanks! I watch some of those shows now merely to be reminded of how it was. If you treat it like a movie of sorts, just like "Ice lake rebels" if you pan to the right 5 degrees you can see downtown, that sort of thing.
I am guessing that this is a seal hunting set up and you have an indicator of sorts in that small pin with the flat top on the right side of the picture.
What are some of the other parts? Looks like a club maybe net to the reindeer covered "stool".
How is it to pull a seal up through the hole and snow?
I will have to ask my Mom about this one, as my Dad is not around to ask and they were not my hunts. I cannot remember the seal hunts, as they stopped occurring for us when I was very little. I'm not sure if it was increasing regulation, or changes in the law or what but I was about 2 when we stopped hunting seal, but the Inuit continued. The dogs continued to eat other parts of the animals, like fish guts, etc. but nothing was better than seal fat for them. So I will get back to you on the specifics of the hunts.
ETA: Spoke with my Mom briefly today, my Dad did "accompanied hunts" for seal, as a non native he was not allowed to hunt seal, so it was the "guides hunt". But he was allotted 1000 lb. of trout and char on his permit, if memory serves...
Also, according to mi madre, apparently that was "everything needed to hunt a seal - harpoon with long lead on it, the tip of the harpoon stays in the seal and the long cord is used to pull it in. The caribou pads are for kneeling on the ice and waiting for it to appear (assuming you are hunting seal on land - looking for seal that come up and sit on the ice). They used the same harpoon when in a boat."
