Hunting
Bruce is a subsistence hunter, who relies on eating the animals in his homelands for his own survival. He combines the use of a gun and traditional hunting and butchery techniques in order to humanely and safely dispatch caribou.
Bruce is willing to teach you the skills he uses in order to hunt caribou, including the skills of butchery, whereby an animal is skinned and parts eaten at the kill. He ensures that his hunting is sustainable by only killing what he will eat and watching the caribou before the skill to ensure that he does not shoot a pregnant or suckling female caribou (cow).
Bruce butchers the meat using a traditional Inupiat hunting knife - the 'ulu' and his hands. If the animal is healthy, he will eat its bone marrow and antler tips (in June or July). He will then cut out the liver and marinate it in strips within the stomach before eating it raw. You will be invited to taste these parts of the animal!
Once the caribou is killed, it is taken back to the village, where it is hung up and smoked in order to store it for the hard winter ahead. You can try tasting the smoked meat and may be allowed to participate in hunting by shooting a caribou yourself.
Fishing
You will have the opportunity to pursue fishing or ice fishing depending on the season. Bruce has taught his own daughter ice fishing and she may accompany him on these trips to assist. The typical Inupiat diet includes fish like arctic char and herring.
You may be shown how, when and where to set a net in order to yield the biggest fish catch, which you can then eat once you set camp or return to Kaktovik.
Camping
Bruce is experienced at setting camp and surviving in the wilderness; skills which he is happy to impart to you. He can take you out into the tundra and set up camp with a cook tent and windbreakers. This will give you the opportunity to explore 120 miles of coastal lagoons and to take part in subsistence hunting.
Bruce can teach you how to study the weather and make the right decisions about when to break camp and when to move camp. He can teach you to start a fire, build a shelter with driftwood from the beach and put up canvas wall tents.
Hunter-gathering plays an important part in a subsistence lifestyle and Bruce can gather food from the land - both from vegetation and from animals in order to create traditional Inupiat meals for his visitors.
Bruce is a subsistence hunter, who relies on eating the animals in his homelands for his own survival. He combines the use of a gun and traditional hunting and butchery techniques in order to humanely and safely dispatch caribou.
Bruce is willing to teach you the skills he uses in order to hunt caribou, including the skills of butchery, whereby an animal is skinned and parts eaten at the kill. He ensures that his hunting is sustainable by only killing what he will eat and watching the caribou before the skill to ensure that he does not shoot a pregnant or suckling female caribou (cow).
Bruce butchers the meat using a traditional Inupiat hunting knife - the 'ulu' and his hands. If the animal is healthy, he will eat its bone marrow and antler tips (in June or July). He will then cut out the liver and marinate it in strips within the stomach before eating it raw. You will be invited to taste these parts of the animal!
Once the caribou is killed, it is taken back to the village, where it is hung up and smoked in order to store it for the hard winter ahead. You can try tasting the smoked meat and may be allowed to participate in hunting by shooting a caribou yourself.
Fishing
You will have the opportunity to pursue fishing or ice fishing depending on the season. Bruce has taught his own daughter ice fishing and she may accompany him on these trips to assist. The typical Inupiat diet includes fish like arctic char and herring.
You may be shown how, when and where to set a net in order to yield the biggest fish catch, which you can then eat once you set camp or return to Kaktovik.
Camping
Bruce is experienced at setting camp and surviving in the wilderness; skills which he is happy to impart to you. He can take you out into the tundra and set up camp with a cook tent and windbreakers. This will give you the opportunity to explore 120 miles of coastal lagoons and to take part in subsistence hunting.
Bruce can teach you how to study the weather and make the right decisions about when to break camp and when to move camp. He can teach you to start a fire, build a shelter with driftwood from the beach and put up canvas wall tents.
Hunter-gathering plays an important part in a subsistence lifestyle and Bruce can gather food from the land - both from vegetation and from animals in order to create traditional Inupiat meals for his visitors.
