Hunting and Trapping: ThenandNow Jacob Archie’s Story

Jacob

Archie is 74 years old, and still makes it a point to go out on the land daily if the weather permits. “ I used to set 40 to 50 traps near the lake,” he said. “Now, I set about 10 traps, because when you are older your energy levels are different. But I try to go out on the land everyday, because I like how I feel when I am outside.” Jacob is an older son of Archie and Mary Erigaktuak. Here is a story of the respected trapper’s life and times.

“You have to work, otherwise you will have nothing.” These words sound absolute, but they are a reflection of Jacob’s work ethics. “About 5 or 6 people here [in Aklavik], we’ve been trappers all our lives. I started trapping when I was four years old, with my mom. We were from the Beaufort, Yukon area before we moved to the Delta in 1940. The profits from muskrat trapping were good, each skin was worth 70 cents then.”

Jacob has kept track of fur prices over the years, as he is determined to stay aware of changes in the market. He even attended a fur convention in Toronto once, to better understand the marketing process behind the fur trade. As we pored over the latest price lists for pelts and a book where he notes fluctuations in all kinds of fur prices, he recalled, “Around 1977 to 78, fur prices were very good, I had a cabin with my wife and children, way up in the mountain. We checked our traps once a week, so the trapped animals suffer less. You have to be careful and look out for bears. The traps are hard to set, because they are hard to open up. We look out for pushups from muskrats, and we also shoot muskrats. It was a lot of fun. Billy [my son] and I used to canoe all night and fill the boat with our catch.”

His wife and him would share the work. “We hunted together and skinned the muskrats early in the morning.” Life started changing when fur prices dropped, and Jacob moved to Aklavik with his family. He worked for the Hamlet of Aklavik for four years, and instead of living in cabins, they moved into their first house in 1963. “ The government wanted people to live in town. I missed trapping, so I continued to trap on weekends. My job also allowed me to take a couple of weeks of no pay leave, and I would go into the bush. I still made some good money trapping.”

He noted the differences between life then and today. “Long ago, we hunted with harpoons. My mum also snared a lot of ptarmigans around the coast, and we fished for loche, jack fish, white fish and char. In the last 7 years, you can catch fish even in the delta, although you used to have to look further. In the fall, we hunted for caribou, and in the winter, when it was cold, it was good to look out for footprints.”

“I hunted a polar bear once. I chased it by Herschel Island, and finally moved it up the shore. The ice was going out, it was dangerous. I used to hunt seals a lot more too, but again the ice is changing. It’s harder to get around now. The price of petrol is also too high now.”

What does Jacob think about famous Beatle, Paul McCartney’s bid to end seal hunts? He paused solemnly, and then said, “Hunting is what we have done for years to survive. They should respect that people have to make a living. It costs money for us to travel around here, even to visit our family who live in other towns. The fur trade allows us to make some money from our work.” He definitely preferred it to getting hand outs from the government.

Jacob also compares the change in transportation used for hunting.

“In 1975, the first skidoos came out. They were called Elans, and they were yellow and black in color. These skidoos would only last a year of use. Some people started using them to chase animals like caribou. Even nowadays, I try to stop people from doing that, but they do not listen."

"When you used to be successful at trapping, others could see it from the skins piled up high on the skidoos! My son did really well with rabbit skins last year.In a couple of days everything was sold. Muskrat meat and rabbit meat, skinned fresh, sold quickly for $10 per piece.”

Jacob speaks fluent English, but had never attended residential school. “My parents did not go to school. Neither did I. My children did, and my son Billy lost his language. Thankfully, my daughter Verna is now a language teacher. In the old days, when people lived in the bush, we did not socialize much. We saw people other than our immediate family mostly at whaling camps. Now, I see my friends mostly at church.”

Jacob still brings the skins he harvests to the Northern Store to sell. He gets paid a base price for each fur, and depending on the final price at which the skins are sold, he collects the rest of his earnings from the Northern afterwards. “In the winter, the furs are thick and their prices are higher. Right now, fur prices are rising again after a slump,” he said. “My son gives me all the skins of the animals he traps, I skin all of them.” It is a way in which his son helps provide for Jacob. Although Jacob is concerned about change, such as the environmental impact of the proposed gas pipeline in the Mackenzie Delta, he said, “The Berger report stopped it [the pipeline] from going through in the 70s. It’s up to the young people now. They need jobs too.”

The only thing Jacob would like to see disappear is alcoholism. “You see some people around here bootlegging, selling drugs. They are selling a 40ounce bottle for $60. Some people buy from them even during the week,” he said in a sad tone. What does he prefer then? “Rabbit soup! It’s very good, when made with vegetables and onions. I used to like muskrat meat and duck soup, but find those too rich now. I am older now, I prefer loche, white fish and char, they are lighter!”

Jacob is also passing his skills and knowledge onto the next generation by taking children in schools to bush camps. “I show them how to set up a trap,” he said, “they seem more interested in wrestling amongst themselves, but it’s still good to teach them how it’s done. We have a lot of fun.”

A typical scene in the old days, a great number of pelts were piled high for trading and selling