Feb 10, 2022
Mina Campbell
joins us from the Labrador region of Newfoundland. She lives in a
small town where seal hunting season is a community endeavor.
Mina tells us about what it's like to hunt
and harvest seals, the cultural dimensions of the hunt, and how
lake ice makes or breaks the season. Plus, she tells us how to make
an ulu and how a traditional harpoon works.
1:00 An enviable #freezerselfie - ptarmigan, grouse, salmon,
moose, trout, beaver
2:00 Life in a small community in the Newfoundland
3:00 Baked beaver tail
5:00 Growing up in a family & culture of
hunting/foraging/trapping for subsistence
6:30 "My ancestors from time immemorial came from here -- and
I think now, at my age, I will always be here."
8:00 A tradition of sharing harvests
9:00 Seal hunting - ecology, ice conditions, where to look,
seasonality
11:00 Harpoon vs. rifle / How a harpoon works
14:00 Cleaning seal skins with an ulu & making boots from
them
16:00 Ice conditions make or break spring seal season;
Freeze-up in the fall can tell you a lot about spring ice
conditions
19:00 Processing seal skins
[19:00 I love it when Mina says, 'You
know... an ulu? You must've seen them... even down there." This
made me lol. I have 2 cherished ones that sit in a kitchen drawer.
I need to start using them more]
23:00 Making an ulu (plural: uluit)
33:00 A year of seasonal harvest in Labrador
37:00 Abrupt decline in the George River caribou herd
38:00 "It's not only about the [seal] hunt... it's a communal
gathering out on this big lake"
40:00 Skills, etiquette, and other values that pass
person-to-person during a hunt
42:00 When hunts involve people of all ages
43:00 Waterfowl hunting in the far north