From: Bill Duarte <BillD@BOGDANFRASCO.com>
To: "'baidarka@lists.intelenet.net'" <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
Subject: RE: baidarka North Baffin Technique
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 16:47:15 -0700
I understand what you are saying, and to a large extent I agree with it.
Put me in a frigid and dangerous environment and I'd be the first one to
club a seal.
Nevertheless, your argument supports unlimited technological growth and
expansion. Where does it end?
I do not blame the native alaskans for readily accepting technological
advancements, but I do believe than the inclusion of european technology
into native culture destroyed (too strong a word?) the culture it tried
to conserve. The firearm, I believe, was the beginning of the end.
Thanks for the response, though, Robert. I wrote quickly and emotionally
in a way probably not suited for this group, but I enjoyed reading your
point of view.
Bill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Morris [SMTP:brewerycreek@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 09, 1999 3:53 PM
> To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
> Subject: RE: baidarka North Baffin Technique
>
> Bill
> The reason that people in a hunting society
> hunt, is to eat, and stay alive. When a better
> tool comes along, it is adopted because it
> furthers the ultimate goal of survival.
>
> If the only way you could get to your primary
> source of food was across an eight lane
> highway, you would develop strategies to do
> so as safely and effectively as possible. You
> might be Very Fast on your feet and become
> Very Agile, but If someone offered you a car
> to do the trip would it be less honourable to
> drive? Less courageous? Perhaps, but maybe
> honour and courage are not the issue. Maybe
> eating without getting killed is.
>
> To attack an animal and injure it without
> ensuring to the best of your ability that you
> can kill it is both foolish and moraly wrong.
> You risk your own life and health as well as
> those of the family that relies on you. In a
> hunting economy you may not be in a
> position replace lost, wounded game. Every
> game animal is important in a society where
> famine is clear in the memories of middle
> aged people.
>
> The culture of the north is different than it
> was when kayaks were a primary hunting tool.
> The culture in the south is different than
> when oars and cloth were the primary means
> of nautical propulsion. What we have now is
> less romantic, but in both cases, our life
> expectancy has climbed nicely. and I would
> argue that that is a strong argument for
> adopting effective technology for survival.
> (let the environmental discussion begin!)
>
> The best people to direct and affect the
> shape of their culture are the members of
> that culture. If arctic peoples decide that
> firearms integrate well into their economy,
> from what base of fact or experience can
> foreigners fail to respect that choice? An
> assumption that our values, formed in a
> different environment and based in a
> different culture, are stronger or better, is
> disrespectful of indigenous peoples.
>
> By the way, has nobody has mentioned that
> the North West Teritories have split into two
> teritiories! Nunavut and North West
> Teritiories. This is a very significant political
> event in the arctic, and a long step toward
> self government, and cultural self direction.
>
> Robert
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Bill Duarte <
> BillD@BOGDANFRASCO.com>
> Reply-To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
> To: "'baidarka@lists.intelenet.net'" <
> baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
> Subject: RE: baidarka North Baffin
> Technique
> Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 11:05:17 -0700
>
> I have to say something.....
>
> I understand the necessity of the hunt. I also
> respect native hunting
> rituals and the danger that the seal and
> whale hunters put themselves
> into when searching and capturing their
> prey.
>
> There is no honor or courage in what I have
> read regarding "modern"
> North Alaskan hunters. Once the hunter
> distances himself from his prey
> and from the kill(by using a .22, no less) , he
> distances himself from
> the spiritual and emotional nature of the
> hunt. I see no courage or
> honor in what is described below. To
> intentionally wound an animal and
> prolong the suffering of the creature for fear
> of losing the body is
> despicable and does not deserve my respect.
> Once native hunters got hold
> of such a cowardly hunting tool as a rifle, the
> culture died.
>
> Bill
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Robert Morris [SMTP:brewerycreek@hotmail.com]
> > Sent: Friday, April 09, 1999 9:58 AM
> > To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
> > Subject: Re: baidarka North Baffin Technique
> >
> > I wrote a "how to" article for Sea Kayaker magazine last year on
> > building a version of the North Alaska retrieval kayak. The
> > introduction of the firearms changed the use of the kayak in
> hunting.
> >
> > As part of my research, I asked my father about hunting seal with a
> > gun. We lived in Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, in the mid 1960s and
> > he spent some time out on the land with Innu hunters.
> >
> > He told me the .22 was favoured for several reasons:
> > #1 A large round such as a .303 (or 22 mm!)would lower the value of
> > the harvested seal because of the damage to the pelt and meat.
> > #2 a .22 round costs less than a larger round.
> > #3 A dead seals sink. The .22 would wound the seal, keeping it
> closer
> > to the surface, slowing it down, and making it easier to then
> harpoon
> > and retrieve. (The harpooning activity is skipped across in the
> > quoted text, but it was part of the hunting pattern, in Baffin
> > anyway.)
> >
> > I would presume that a large gun's recoil would restrict the arc of
> > fire to within a few degrees of the bow. The .22 would allow wider
> > angle deflection shots.
> >
> > Robert
> >
> > ----Original Message Follows----
> > From: vdoucett@uism.bu.edu
> > Reply-To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
> > To: <baidarka@lists.intelenet.net>
> > Subject: Re: baidarka North Baffin Technique
> > Date: Thu, 08 Apr 1999 08:20:23 -0400
> >
> > Hey Guys,
> > That was typed as written in the text [the other typos were
> mine].
> > Vernon
> >
> >
> > Say Vernon that's a mighty big gun for a kayak, 22.? Is that
> > millimeters?
> > even so it had to be deck mounted? And whats more, it fires harpoons
>
> > with
> > lines and floats? and accurate at 75' wow some gun! ;^)
> > Bram
> >
> >
> >
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>
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