Hunters of the Northern Forest

This article was originally published in the Northwoods Sporting Journal.

Hunting cultures are fascinating. The tools, techniques and survival skills developed to adapt and survive in harsh environments over time can teach valuable lessons to society. What if we didn’t have the benefit of cell phones, snowmachines and power boats? What if we needed to kill or gather everything we ate? Would we be able to? Where would we find the knowledge to do so effectively?

Anthropologists study cultures and their development over time. This can seem pretty boring to some, but what if you could picture yourself living the way past cultures did? Could you survive? Would you thrive? And more important, would you be happier than you are now?

One culture that’s always intrigued me is the Northern Athabaskans – hunters, gatherers and fishermen who roamed the boreal forests of the subarctic. My interest in living off the land by hunting, fishing and trapping in a northern climate led to a search for books about those who did so, and at some point in the past I stumbled across “Hunters of the Northern Forest”.

Anthropologist Richard K. Nelson was also intrigued by northern hunters, and he spent a year living among the Kutchin (now Gwich’in) and Koyukon peoples of interior Alaska between 1969 and 1971. His goal was to document hunting and survival techniques used in the culture through active participation – learning by doing.

Nelson chose Chalkyitsik, Alaska – a remote native village above the Arctic Circle, home to around 100 people, for his study. He befriended many of the villagers and took part in hunting and trapping activities with them almost daily, asking questions, learning and taking notes.

The Gwich’in culture has changed dramatically over the past 200 years. Traditionally, they lived as nomadic hunters, fishermen and gatherers, moving to follow food sources, and relying on nothing from the outside world. The change began around 1850, when Fort Yukon was established on the Yukon River by the Hudson’s Bay Company. The fort was established to trade furs, and the surrounding Yukon Flats were a rich land teeming with furbearers.

The opportunity to produce income, or trade for goods with furs incented many of the Gwich’in to become trappers. While they maintained their hunting and fishing traditions, increased opportunity to purchase goods with furs changed their habits. Winters were spent in small family groups on scattered traplines, and the subsistence-only culture joined the cash economy.

When Nelson arrived in Chalkyitsik around 1970, many of the Gwich’in considered themselves trappers, first and foremost. There were decades prior where a hard working trapper could easily make a generous year’s wage in just a few months on the trapline, and trapping became a critical part of their livelihood. By then, though, most of the serious trappers were gone, and the comforts of a central village, education for the children, low fur prices, and other factors kept most from running the long trap lines that were common in their fathers’ time.

Nelson documented a culture in the midst of great change, but the Gwich’in still practiced many of the ancient survival skills passed onto them by their elders. Through his hands-on work and careful documentation, he gave us a glimpse into a unique lifestyle in the remote Alaskan bush.
I have it on good authority (a trapper from the area) that Nelson was criticized by his peers for spending too much time focusing on the trapping aspect of the Gwich’in culture. As a trapper myself, I can see how a guy could get caught up in that. Makes me smile every time I pick up the book.