Daniel Kutsiutikku, 16, poses for the camera after his first bearded seal kill. (Photo courtesy of Mark Kutsiutikku Jr.)
Proud dad ‘all smiles’ after son’s first bearded seal kill
Mark Kutsiutikku Jr., of Kugaaruk, is teaching all 3 of his children how to hunt
Hunting is about more than just food for one Kugaaruk family. It’s about tradition.
Mark Kutsiutikku Jr. started taking his 16-year-old son, Daniel Kutsiutikku, out hunting when Daniel was 10 years old.
They’ve been on the land more times than Mark can count, he said, but all of that training recently bore fruit after the teen bagged his first bull caribou and bearded seal last year.
The bearded seal is Daniel’s most recent kill. The duo were hunting polar bears last fall when they came across a small pod of seals about six or eight kilometres west of Kugaaruk.
Daniel shot the seal with a .22-calibre rifle and then they started the three-hour process of bringing the bounty to shore.
The teen’s hands were shaking because he was so excited, Mark said.
The animal, about 1.5 metres long, was stuck in the water for about 10 minutes before they were able to pull it on land by towing it behind their boats.
Mark said he was really happy and “all smiles” about his son’s first successful seal hunt and Daniel, a young man of few words, called the hunt “Good and fun.”
Mark and Daniel gutted and prepared the seal and went on to share some with community members. Some of the meat they cook, some of it they eat raw.
The Kutsiutikku family sticks to fishing with nets this time of year, which has been fruitful so far, Mark said.
Daniel isn’t the only hunter in the family. He has two siblings, both girls, aged 12 and 18. Mark is also teaching them to hunt, he said. Daniel’s eldest sister caught her first caribou three years ago.
Mark added it isn’t uncommon to see polar bears, narwhals and bowhead whales near Kugaaruk.
As for Daniel, he said he loves caribou hunting, but really wants to bring down a narwhal or polar bear next.
He shot the se POW right between the eyes, and then I let out a big YELL
That’s a big seal!
Teaching your kids to kill…even polar bears who are threatened with extinction, narwhals, whose numbers are only about 80,000, and bearded seals, who are threatened by climate change. And not in order to survive. More important than taking someone’s life to eat them is taking someone’s life because your ancestors took their ancestors’ lives. If tradition is of supreme importance, let’s urge the Mayans to resume child sacrifices, because their ancestors did it. Since tradition is so important to you, why don’t you send your children to Mexico and volunteer them to be the first 21st century sacrifices?
I don’t understand why this vile comment was allowed through moderation.
The person who wrote it has obviously never stepped foot in a Nunavut community. Communities who’s Northern stores and Co-ops sell less nutritional meat and protein for insane prices.
The person who left it has obviously never been told that the majority of Inuit in small communities absolutely still rely on local food production; i.e. hunting your own food.
As there are so few employment opportunities within the settlements, and fewer even that pay well enough to subsist off store-bought food entirely, this haughty, unjustified show of indignation from diana is totally misplaced.
If you are so concerned with human sacrifice, maybe turn your attention to Rome, Greece, and all of western europe at one time. They all sacrificed their fellow humans. Or maybe look at the witch trials of the Americans in more recent times. Not to mention the genocide of indigenous peoples that was deemed necessary by Europeans settling the Americas.
I also see how you honour the western tradition of blaming the needy and poor for their misfortune. And the practice of scrunching your nose tightly at the prospect of them pulling up their bootstraps and feeding their families, their communities with their own hard work (something you’ve likely never done).