(told by Job Bearskin)
Take real care of what I am saying. Hopefully, this is how those children who hunt now will know, if hunting was not properly taught to them. I know my father taught me properly. That was how I knew how hunting is done. People talked a lot about my father and my uncle saying they were very good food providers. My father and my uncle taught how hunting is done, through their experiences. They were able to hit their mark when they had only one bullet. That was how they were talked about, when I heard them being talked about. That is how hunting is.
My father taught properly about how to deal with caribou. Today, caribou are not hunted the way they used to be because caribou are numerous. They directed caribou to each other. The hunters directed the caribou to whoever was thought to be a good food provider and good marksman. The hunters told him to shoot the caribou. That was what my father used to tell us and he talked about it thoroughly.
My father told me completely how to place and set a trap for beaver in the winter. He said, “When trapping for beaver, the trap is set directly straight where the tunnel reaches the land.” Wooden stakes are used to block the way so it cannot go around the trap. When I trapped for beaver in the winter, I inserted beaver traps at the tunnel many times. That was how I caught beaver many times. Also at the beaver lodge on the waterline, that was where I for sure put the trap—straight across the waterline. And that was how I caught beaver many times. Once the water froze, the beaver could not surface and drowned instantly. It cannot surface so it does not fight it long because the wooden stakes are in the way.
In the winter and also in the summer, my father took a long time telling us about the beaver when we wanted to kill them. So if I wanted to talk thoroughly about how beaver are done when killed, I would take a long time. That is how one particular thing that is hunted seems. There are many teachings about how hunting is done.
My father also told me what to do with the bear in the summer when we saw it And that was exactly what I did. Of course I killed bear when I hunted for it. Sometimes, there are crafty ways for people not being able to make kills. Even if one sees game all the time, one cannot kill something if it is not given to him. That was what my father used to tell us. When it is not given to him to kill, he is unable to kill it. But another man who seems to know how to hunt and who always make kills, he is the one who is chosen to kill it. He was the one who helped the people. What he taught me is what I know.
There are times when one kills a bear and gives the bear to another. He is given the responsibility of properly skinning, butchering and distributing the food. When my father killed a number of caribou, there were times when he did not oversee the distribution. My father said, “If I killed over 10 and if I didn’t teach myself of it, I would only need one person to oversee all of them. As I gave them to him to take charge over.” That’s what he told us.
