BrentD
Well-known member
That is a VERY fine ptarmigan pistol. 
Growing up in the Canadian arctic
- Thread starter Griggs
- Start date
Some more pictures, this from a more local cultural perspective, back to hunting pictures next...
This was a common game, although I was never good at it as a kid, the object being to kick the hanging object. I was always impressed with the vertical ability of some of the competitors.
These two are fairly self explanatory. I remember walking through town, and sometimes going to visit friends and their grandmothers would be gnawing away on the hides, making mukluks, gloves, or something else. At times they would offer me some muktuk. Never having been a fan of it, I usually declined the offer.
One of the few trucks in town, at the time at least. I'm sure that in the decades since a lot has changed.
More of the traditional games songs and dances and such.
One of the many weddings we were at.
The cakes were obviously not up to the typical wedding cakes you might see on TV, or anything, and my mom used to make a few of them. Obviously you make do with what you have.
An this is how I learned to skate, and eventually lay hockey. How truly stereotypical, I suppose. As we moved south it was common as most people are aware to fill sections of a back yard to freeze for a rink. Although I did miss the bumps and snow patches. I know my kids would go crazy, not having morning cartoons and things like that...
I'll get back on track with hunting pictures and the like once some more pictures get sorted.
This was a common game, although I was never good at it as a kid, the object being to kick the hanging object. I was always impressed with the vertical ability of some of the competitors.
These two are fairly self explanatory. I remember walking through town, and sometimes going to visit friends and their grandmothers would be gnawing away on the hides, making mukluks, gloves, or something else. At times they would offer me some muktuk. Never having been a fan of it, I usually declined the offer.
One of the few trucks in town, at the time at least. I'm sure that in the decades since a lot has changed.
More of the traditional games songs and dances and such.
One of the many weddings we were at.
The cakes were obviously not up to the typical wedding cakes you might see on TV, or anything, and my mom used to make a few of them. Obviously you make do with what you have.
An this is how I learned to skate, and eventually lay hockey. How truly stereotypical, I suppose. As we moved south it was common as most people are aware to fill sections of a back yard to freeze for a rink. Although I did miss the bumps and snow patches. I know my kids would go crazy, not having morning cartoons and things like that...
I'll get back on track with hunting pictures and the like once some more pictures get sorted.
Gerald Martin
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- Jul 3, 2009
- Messages
- 8,643
That was certainly worth the time it took to read! Thanks for sharing your memories.
ashersdad
Well-known member
What an incredible childhood you had! Love the pictures and stories. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us.
SaskHunter
Well-known member
Seriously awesome thread! It keeps getting better.
huronmtns
Well-known member
I will second this reply.
I wish I would have had more time to learn the cultural when I was in that geography. Hunting is beyond the killing. It's the adventure and learning on the trip that makes you a better person. I have no problem learning from the content of what has been posted. It is an adventure for me.
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Well said.i know that at least for me it’s the whole experience. While as a kid we thought nothing of it, really, since it was merely how we got our food. Now I see it completely differently, since I can get just about any food I want relatively easily. So hunts for me now are all about the experience, and if I don’t get anything o don’t mind, so long as it was an adventure to put in the old noggin.
last one for tonight....
Whales were rarely in our area, so to actually get one was a special event for the settlement. My dad told me (as at the time I never cared to take notice) that they would store their rifles in the boats over the winter, and come spring/summer they would “release the spirits” of the rifle by firing it into the air. I saw this a few times but thought nothing of it. The spirits were clearly seen leaving the rifle, clouds emanating from the muzzle.... I’ll leave that to other people to determine if it was rust/fouling, etc. or if it was Indeed spirits. I’m not here to cast judgement. This was not done to all their rifles, but just the boat ones. Also, that may have just been the people we knew, I don’t know if that was a cultural thing or not.
Some whales were also taken by rifle. With a lot of the whales being lost as they sunk, and a few being recovered. Harpooning took place after the whales had been shot. At least on the whale hunts that we got to accompany. Not being Inuit we could never hunt the whales, but I would have no desire to do so anyway.
Northwoods Labs
Well-known member
Always love it when this thread is updated
BrentD
Well-known member
Kills me when it happens, 'cuz I have to stop whatever I'm doing, no matter what it is, and catch up.
Best thread on the forum for me.
406dn
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- Dec 12, 2019
- Messages
- 2,266
Wow, wow,wow.
I just found this thread. Thank you so much for sharing a singularly unique childhood.
While you have not said it directly,, it is so obvious that your parents are/were extraordinary people.
I just found this thread. Thank you so much for sharing a singularly unique childhood.
While you have not said it directly,, it is so obvious that your parents are/were extraordinary people.
Long post, apologies…
Thanks to all. I’m glad people get enjoyment out of his life and stories. It was my childhood, but it was his life, and I’m just trying to share his experiences as they fascinate me, and as much as anyone might enjoy reading about it, I enjoy reliving it when I post the pictures or write the brief stories. For me it’s a glimpse back into a time I can’t go back to, it isn’t the same as it was 30-40 years ago. A great many of the people in the photos would be well over 100 if they were still alive.
Thank you, they were/are. I try to limit my overall discussions of my parents prior to, and post northern living, as my intent is not to create a memorial thread for my Dad, but rather to just share his experiences. They had their experiences in life and adventures sure, everyone does, but for me this is about the northern adventure, with the person not being as important as the story. There is already a fascinating thread started by Bigfin about the good old days, but I have so many pictures that I didn’t want to thread jack. I can’t stress enough how mortified he would be if he was alive and knew any of this was shared with anyone he didn’t know. He was a very private person.
I could have sworn that I had more pictures of whale hunting, and of hunts other than just beluga. Maybe I do somewhere, there’s 40 years of pictures to scan, upload and sort. At any rate, here are some more.
My brother in attendance, these were the early hunts in the first few years we arrived there. I want to say we had only been living there a few years by this point.
My sister and her friends are in this picture.
Here it is clearly being towed back into shore. They didn’t use the traditional harpoon with seal skin floats, rather a harpoon after the whale happened to float, then tying it off to the lead boat and returning to shore. Again these were just the hunts we got to go on, I’m sure they’re all different now, or just in general.
Cutting the first slabs off to be brought back in. Nothing was left or went unused. The bone was used for carvings, which would be sold off for a hefty profit. Most people would carve and sell, since it was a great source of income. The edible portions, if you want to call it that… would be distributed, and the remainder, went to the dogs. My father would do the same with any seals that were sent our way, or fish. Seal skin became either prints, I’ll see if I have any pictures of those, if not I will take some in a few months when I get home, or clothing. All the intestines, etc. would go into a giant pot with some other stuff and be cooked together, which made a foul stench, and was fed to the dogs to fatten them up. The dogs loved it, which is good because at times they would be frozen to the ground, no injury or anything, just fur frozen to the ground, and had to be lifted off. Not to dissimilar from my sister, who would on occasion wake with her head and hair frozen to her bedroom window.
I often forget to post in here until I get an email, and there's way too many pictures from the years. So I will likely keep posting for far longer than there is interest in it, but that's fine with me. Trying to compress 40 years into one thread.
Thanks to all. I’m glad people get enjoyment out of his life and stories. It was my childhood, but it was his life, and I’m just trying to share his experiences as they fascinate me, and as much as anyone might enjoy reading about it, I enjoy reliving it when I post the pictures or write the brief stories. For me it’s a glimpse back into a time I can’t go back to, it isn’t the same as it was 30-40 years ago. A great many of the people in the photos would be well over 100 if they were still alive.
Thank you, they were/are. I try to limit my overall discussions of my parents prior to, and post northern living, as my intent is not to create a memorial thread for my Dad, but rather to just share his experiences. They had their experiences in life and adventures sure, everyone does, but for me this is about the northern adventure, with the person not being as important as the story. There is already a fascinating thread started by Bigfin about the good old days, but I have so many pictures that I didn’t want to thread jack. I can’t stress enough how mortified he would be if he was alive and knew any of this was shared with anyone he didn’t know. He was a very private person.
I could have sworn that I had more pictures of whale hunting, and of hunts other than just beluga. Maybe I do somewhere, there’s 40 years of pictures to scan, upload and sort. At any rate, here are some more.
My brother in attendance, these were the early hunts in the first few years we arrived there. I want to say we had only been living there a few years by this point.
My sister and her friends are in this picture.
Here it is clearly being towed back into shore. They didn’t use the traditional harpoon with seal skin floats, rather a harpoon after the whale happened to float, then tying it off to the lead boat and returning to shore. Again these were just the hunts we got to go on, I’m sure they’re all different now, or just in general.
Cutting the first slabs off to be brought back in. Nothing was left or went unused. The bone was used for carvings, which would be sold off for a hefty profit. Most people would carve and sell, since it was a great source of income. The edible portions, if you want to call it that… would be distributed, and the remainder, went to the dogs. My father would do the same with any seals that were sent our way, or fish. Seal skin became either prints, I’ll see if I have any pictures of those, if not I will take some in a few months when I get home, or clothing. All the intestines, etc. would go into a giant pot with some other stuff and be cooked together, which made a foul stench, and was fed to the dogs to fatten them up. The dogs loved it, which is good because at times they would be frozen to the ground, no injury or anything, just fur frozen to the ground, and had to be lifted off. Not to dissimilar from my sister, who would on occasion wake with her head and hair frozen to her bedroom window.
I often forget to post in here until I get an email, and there's way too many pictures from the years. So I will likely keep posting for far longer than there is interest in it, but that's fine with me. Trying to compress 40 years into one thread.
As long as I'm a member and you are posting there will be interest! Thank you!
stillkickin
Well-known member
I’m with Dave N. Keep posting Griggs!
6mm Remington
Well-known member
Griggs so it's now 3:54 AM and I've been awake for a couple hours now. Hard night sleeping for some reason. I came to this thread and absolutely loved looking at the pictures and reading your stories. They are fantastic. I got to go on a grizzly bear hunt north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska last year. We were about 80 miles south of Prudhoe Bay. It's amazing country and my 8 days spent in a tent out on the tundra with my guide pales in comparison to the adventures you had growing up. I loved every minute of it even if it was such a brief time. That north country sure is amazing. Keep sharing with us please!!
I am quite jealous of your hunt. That’s on my hunt bucket list, maybe one year....
I think I made mention previously, but being out on the tundra, just the thought of it, completely ruined my academic career later in life. After we moved, and to this day, I constantly daydream of being back there. And that’s about all I did in school was daydream about going back there in the spring/summer on a hunt. Cool breeze on your face, Stalking any game up there. Just being “out on the land” as they called it was a great feeling and something I truly miss. To spend an hour doing that again is something I would love, so to hunt grizzly like that, I’m jealous.
My dad spoke in his later years of us going back and doing just that, spending a couple months living off the land again. But he was already 5 years into his 11 year battle with cancer. We often spoke of the time up there with great fondness, akin to remembering a lost loved one, I imagine.
Closing out this thread, in regards to the whale hunts. I have searched and searched and searched, and found only these. I gather my father only took pictures of the first one
Hopefully these can satisfy your inquiry, as it appears they are all I have remaining of that hunt. They would take the blubber and edible flesh, as I mentioned already, and divvy it up. The first going to he eldest, and so down the line in village “rank” with everyone getting a portion. Deference was always given to the elders, as you might expect.
not much need in the way of captions, they’re fairly self explanatory.
I’ll have to break this up into two posts I guess...
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