Who wants Muktaq???
******Caution!! Pictures in this post are graphic******
Muktaq {muk-tah}: noun. Whale meat (inuktitut)
Last week Etienne phoned me at home to tell me that there were Whales in the bay and the whole town was going crazy trying to hunt them! I stuck my head out the back door to see boats driving around like crazy. I heard a shot. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I wasn’t able to see anything. We don’t have our quad here yet and by the time I walked all the way over to “the point” I would have missed everything. I wasn’t too upset as I was sure that within the next 2 years the Whales would come back again.
Today while Etienne and I were eating lunch I had heard a gun shot. We looked out the back door and noticed a few boats out on the water. We figured they had found more whales. Shortly after lunch I took the dog outside to run, and that’s where I saw more boats driving around and heard multiple shots. I figured that they had definitely spotted whales. Later in the afternoon Etienne came home to pick me up, they were heading out to the point to see what they had caught. Now I don’t like hunting of any kind. I have always said that I would NEVER had a mounted head in my house! EVER!! I have had to change my thinking since moving up here. I have told myself that I would come up here with an open mind and try to experience all aspects of living in the north. Whale hunting is definitely a part of this. I can’t say that I would ever be an active participant in the “hunt”, but I did want to see how they divided up the meat. I’ve also never seen a whale up close. Dead or alive. lol.
When we showed up there was a lot of people there. From first glance we saw 6-7 Beluga Whales. It was a pretty gruesome sight, but it was neat to see the town come together to help with the butchering of the animals. I was talking to one of the locals and he was so happy that he now had enough meat to feed his 13 team dogs for the entire winter! He seemed thoroughly happy. That was nice to see. It was comforting to see that they use pretty much every part of the animal. They are also very generous with the meat. I can’t count how many times we were offered some. People would offer us meat right from their share, no hesitation, absolute generosity. I know that I have said that I came here with an open mind, but I still have a limit and unfortunately, whale blubber is that. Who knows, maybe next year i’ll be a bit more brave….but there’s no promises here!
We noticed a few things while they were butchering the whales. They cut them in fairly even pieces. Once they cut the meat off the whale, they cut a little slit into the piece of meat, this becomes a handle of sorts, enabling them to carry the meat around. Once they have cut all the meat off they drag the carcasses back out into the water. If they leave them on shore it will attract bears. The amount of birds that were hanging around was insane! Just as we were getting ready to leave we saw a boat coming back to shore and behind the boat was a tonne of birds following. They must have smelt the blood from the whales they were dragging.
Below are a few pictures that I was able to take.
Last boat coming in....Notice the birds following them
Coming in with two more whales
Pulling one of the whales onto shore
Young beluga. They are grey up until about age 13, when they turn completely white
Yes, that's me touching it
Starting to butcher the whale
Meat and a flipper
Cut up pieces of meat. You can see the slits they use as handles.
Carrying the meat.....
Dragging the carcass back into the water
I picture showing how many people were there...this is only part of it
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 20:05 and is filed under The Experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
10 Responses to “Who wants Muktaq???”
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The above photo is me and her. You probably had it all figured out anyways. We are about to live a once in a lifetime experience, The Great White Canadian Arctic. We have decided to create this blog to keep our friends, families and curious strangers abreast of our adventures. I'm sure a few misadventures as well. All while living in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut. Read on to see what it's all about!
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Oh! And by the way, this is Cisco, our dog. Even though she likes to puke a lot, she's still part of the family and will partake in our adventure to the North. She'll be sure to keep us on our toes and keep the polar bears at bay! She's also good for a few laughs in between leg humping sessions. We still haven't figured out how to stop that...
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September 22nd, 2009 at 21:07
Thanks for the great photos guys. Yes graphic but so awesome to see how the town comes together and use all the animal.
September 22nd, 2009 at 21:25
You are stronger than me. I definitely could not watch that. We took Etienne whale watching when he was young. That’s a lot more fun.
September 23rd, 2009 at 06:38
Great pictures. I’m with you on the hunting. I hate it too, and don’t really understand the want to kill something. Having said that I do find that my attitude changed here because it’s a way of life AND everything, for the most part, gets used. It’s truely for feeding yourself, not for the sport of putting a head on your wall. Cape Dorset has the bow whale hunt this year and we are waiting for them to come in with it any day now. My pictures will hopefully be as good. No muktuk for me however
September 23rd, 2009 at 13:00
WOW, very interesting!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 21:25
Okay…initially I was terrified to look at your pics, because I cry over things like that, but really it wasn’t that bad! Very interesting & good luck next year with giving it a try!
September 23rd, 2009 at 22:03
Thank for the pictures Carly, That is so interesting.It is there way of life and they are not just doing it for a sport. I bet this means they will eat good this winter.
September 24th, 2009 at 21:12
I agree with you Pat, but it is necessary for their way of life.
September 25th, 2009 at 23:26
Culture or not that made me cry. At least its not like japanese whalers that waste for profit.
March 6th, 2011 at 21:00
Cetacean News and reasons for Hope! | Rekindling The Waters says:[...] Also see this disturbing blog from the arctic: http://www.thearcticpost.ca/2009/09/whale-hunting/ If these hunters can ship in bullets, guns, speed boats and engines–they can probably obtain [...]
March 6th, 2011 at 23:25
So much to cover! So get comfy! « A Teenage Activist… says:[...] Leah, author of Rekindling the Waters. I could not believe what I was seeing… this is a link to a Canadian blogger who witnessed the slaughter of 6-7 Beluga Whales. Arctic cetaceans need our [...]