Have we lost the art of hunting?

[Subarctichunter]

Good evening Waftrudnir,

You're welcome kindly. Glad you enjoy the photos! I am new here on this forum - that's for sure. And you are right, we just don't know if someone is making up a story or not. I think backing up stories shared on the forum with photos should be the norm. I love learning from people, and sharing examples I believe is another way of learning quickly from each other.

With respect to using the power sander on the hides, my crazy in-laws have tried the sander and the powered planner to expedite the process of shaving the moose hide evenly. The revolution of these power tools are too fast, and the friction that they generate melts or thaws out the hide too quickly which renders the work to a stand still. The hide has to be completely frozen solid right through in order to shave it properly. That is the way it has to be done. A good old axe head or chisel by hand is the way to go. You control the friction better that way.

I hope to hear and see you on the forum as well. Good night!

[GW11]

Welcome to the forum Subarctichunter. I'm sure you can add an interesting perspective to some of the discussions here. I just looked up Peawanuck... you're quite a ways North of most of us.

[Subarctichunter]

Thank you for welcoming me GW11! Glad you checked up on my location. I get a good chuckle when your part of the world, and especially Toronto call the Muskoka regions, North Bay, Sudbury, the Soo and Timmins north. And I consider myself not even north yet. I am still faraways from the true north, the high arctic. It is minus 33 this morning.

If you check the book of Guinness, we run the world's longest seasonal winter road in the world. It is thought of to be anyway. We are a fly-in only community. Interestingly, Peawanuck is built exclusively by Winnipeg, Manitoba. All of our supplies come from there. Instead of coming straight south to connect and access the urban centers of southern Ontario, we go further north to access the goods supplied by Manitoba.

Once in awhile, I will buy my hunting supplies from Accuracy Plus. I believe they are located in your neck of the woods in Peterborough. Pretty nice folks there!

If I can share and give a different perspective, then I am happy. Likewise, I learn so much from the various perspectives of others as well. They help tickle and enrich my mind. Catch you soon.

[Final Flight]

Have we lost the art? It warms my heart to see many of the next generation hunt with the public view in mind. They do not follow the hunting methods of their elders. Without expressing what those elder methods are, I am very proud of many young hunters.

[Hunter John]

Thank you for welcoming me GW11! Glad you checked up on my location. I get a good chuckle when your part of the world, and especially Toronto call the Muskoka regions, North Bay, Sudbury, the Soo and Timmins north. And I consider myself not even north yet. I am still faraways from the true north, the high arctic. It is minus 33 this morning.

If you check the book of Guinness, we run the world's longest seasonal winter road in the world. It is thought of to be anyway. We are a fly-in only community. Interestingly, Peawanuck is built exclusively by Winnipeg, Manitoba. All of our supplies come from there. Instead of coming straight south to connect and access the urban centers of southern Ontario, we go further north to access the goods supplied by Manitoba.

Once in awhile, I will buy my hunting supplies from Accuracy Plus. I believe they are located in your neck of the woods in Peterborough. Pretty nice folks there!

If I can share and give a different perspective, then I am happy. Likewise, I learn so much from the various perspectives of others as well. They help tickle and enrich my mind. Catch you soon.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing with us.Do you ever fish the Winisk's legendary brook trout.?

[welsh]

Nice to see how the other half lives.

I had a plan at one point for a Winisk brook trout trip, so I know where Peawanuck is. Another world entirely.

A couple of remarks:

Some of us just use our resource (our kill) in a very limited way, while others use the resource to its fullest benefit and limit.

We in the south are wasteful with our game, no question. Hardly anyone will pluck a grouse and make soup stock from the carcass, for example; most just take the breasts and leave the rest, it seems. But this isn't the only difference.

When we talk about losing the "art of hunting," there's no ignoring that different people see the art of hunting differently. One of the long-standing conflicts between hunters is sport vs. sustenance, going back to the late 19th century conservation movement, which sought to preserve game for rich/urban sports and saw meat hunting as the enemy. We have mostly moved past this but it lingers. You hit the heart of that conflict right here: I don't have a romance with nature and the wilderness - I live it!

When we talk about the sense that the art of hunting is being lost, we're often talking about different arts. For many in the south, a good day afield is still a good day with nothing in the bag. In Peawanuck, I'm thinking that's not a good day.

Your comment also reminds me of Hank Shaw (honest-food.net). Now, his sensibilities are pretty far removed from Peawanuck, I think, as his foodie-ism is rather urban. But I do like the way he encourages getting the most out of your game.

[Waftrudnir]

....
the friction that they generate melts or thaws out the hide too quickly which renders the work to a stand still. The hide has to be completely frozen solid right through in order to shave it properly. That is the way it has to be done.
....

Frozen, eh.
you really might add another perspective ;-)

[Subarctichunter]

Hunter John, thanks for welcoming me to the forum. I have a cousin whose name is John Hunter. So you stand out for me. I live on the Winisk River...and yes, I fish the Winisk brook trout. Sometimes these brook trout are known as the Winisk square tails. Mighty fine eating! I also fish the Sutton River. In the words of MNR, the best speckled trout fishing "in the world". I hope this helps.

Winisk river means groundhog. It is pronounced Weenushk...with a high "H" sound. lol, I'm laughing at myself...as if this pronunciation and sharing it with you would mean anything. Catch you again.

[jaycee]

Hunter John, thanks for welcoming me to the forum. I have a cousin whose name is John Hunter. So you stand out for me. I live on the Winisk River...and yes, I fish the Winisk brook trout. Sometimes these brook trout are known as the Winisk square tails. Mighty fine eating! I also fish the Sutton River. In the words of MNR, the best speckled trout fishing "in the world". I hope this helps.

Winisk river means groundhog. It is pronounced Weenushk...with a high "H" sound. lol, I'm laughing at myself...as if this pronunciation and sharing it with you would mean anything. Catch you again.

Welcome ! and that is fact , the Sutton River is the best speckled trout fishing , have been there twice , flew there with a friend , in his Cessna 185 float equipped directly from Puslinch Lake Cambridge On. via Hurst to refuel. We stayed at Albert Chookomolin's camp at Hawley Lake where the Sutton flows out of , absolutely fantastic fishing in the Sutton.
Also it was amazing to see polar bears swimming in Hawley Lake , 3 of them , while we fished for lake trout .
Back then , we could bring out our limit each of speckled trout, which is not the case now , you are limited to 1 only trophy trout , the rest is all c n r.

Sorry . didn't want to hijack this thread, but had to tell everyone about the fishing in the Sutton , absolutely fantastic especially if you are fly fishing .

[Subarctichunter]

Good morning Welsh, you really should come up and visit our last true frontier of our province. And you don't necessarily have to kill something. It is expensive to come up here. The regular return airline ticket alone from Timmins is over two thousand bucks Canadian to Peawanuck.

With respect to just taking the breast meat only from grouse, I believe our hunting culture has really changed. The power food is not in the meat alone. It is the whole combination of the bird. Your power food are the kidneys, gizzard, liver and the marrow of the game. That is how we use our grouse and waterfowl. Incidentally we have the Canada geese, snow and blue geese, the lesser Canada, the Ross goose, the speckledbelly; the brant and sometimes the white-fronted goose. We pluck all of our birds and make goose down blankets. The blankets are the warmest out on the land. Nothing is wasted.

I believe true sustenance from free-ranging big game is becoming more important today. I see the food industry using man-made feed for our beef, bacon and chicken. In my mind I see this feed as enhancers for the rapid growth of our day to day and for marketing of our food. Caged animals do not have access to a variety of true nutrients and plants for their diet as they are limited to inside the fence so to speak. On the other hand, our white tail, moose and caribou are free-ranging and have access to a variety and a multitude of different foods which is healthy and very nutritional for our diet. We know a moose will submerged in the water for aquatic plants and then move on to a swamp and then find food on dry hills and so on. Our caged animals do not have the same access. Sometimes I don't know what I am eating when I go to the butcher shop.

The winter months are so cold up here. You will be amazed that the moose knows how to find find the anti-freeze in its foraging to stay warm and to keep from freezing during the extreme cold winter months. This is uncanny. It is something we haven't discovered yet as hunters. If you truly open your mind, you will see these things.

I am so remote I have no knowledge of the competition between the urban/sports and sustenance hunter. I will not go there.

You are right about coming up empty handed in Peawanuck. When the fuel is at $3.00 a litre, you can feel it. Fortunately, sometimes we get our breaks and lower the fuel to $2.90 a litre and think the fuel is cheap. Luckily it is cheaper now. Take care!