The City of Kaktovik Alaska


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Animals/Harvesting

The Kaktovikmiut have always looked to the land and all its creatures for both physical and spiritual sustenance. The animals found in this area are plentiful, but we never take more than we need to survive. Each year after a hunt we celebrate the animals as they give themselves to us so that we may provide for ourselves and our families.

A common term used for our dependence here on the wildlife is subsistence. This idea separates us from other people who often hunt for sport. The people of Kaktovik prefer another word when talking about hunting animals : harvesting. Although the land here is usually frozen solid and the climate too harsh to farm, we still see ourselves as harvesters of the land. Just as farmers work the land to grow crops for food, we work harmoniously with the animals here to provide for our people. According to the Subsistence Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Kaktovik harvests more animals off the land per capita than any other village in the state of Alaska.

During the summer months fish, birds and berries are important food sources for the Kaktovikmiut. Walrus and seal are also harvested. During the fall the people of Kaktovik hunt the bowhead whale, and we have festivals to celebrate the event, along with the safe return of our hunters from the sea.

Caribou, musk oxen and sheep play an important part in the subsistence lifestyle of the Inupiat. Here in Kaktovik we hunt the Porcupine and Central Arctic caribou herds, and less frequently the Teshepuk herd to the west. Hunting musk oxen is permitted in a limited drawing hunt, which allows fifteen musk oxen to be taken by local residents. Increasingly more moose are moving into this region and are harvested from time to time as well.

A little known fact about the Kaktovikmiut is that we are the only indigenous people in the world to hunt both the bowhead whale as well as Dall sheep. Our unique placement here, where the land and sea are so close, allows us to be truly bimodal in this regard.

Federal law permits Alaskan natives to hunt polar bear. During an especially harsh winter polar bears may frequently wander into town in search of food. They are usually desperate and hungry and can do much damage to the village-- tearing open storage lockers, freezers and doors, stalking residents and even killing our dogs. While nuisance bears are killed, the Kaktovikmiut generally do not regard polar bears as a meat source.

Throughout the year all manner of animal come and go from this place. With very few exceptions, most all of the bears, whales, seals, walrus, birds and caribou leave at one time or another. The one living thing that most consistently makes its home here year round is us: the Kaktovikmiut.