Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1906-05-16
THE ALEUT HUNTERS
PERlLS OF WIND AND WAVE IN QUEST
OF THE SEA OTTER.

Their Hunting Il the Very Incarnn-
PIow Through surf and Rocks In
Their Fragile BidarIas.
Unalaska, westward Of the Aleutian
hahn or islands, and KaGiak. just
youth Of the great Alaskan peninsula.
were the two main points whence IA
fiated the hunting fotilhs Tor the sen
sitter grounds. Formerly q single Rus
'ian schooner or packet boat would
lead the way with a procession of a
thousand bidarkas Later schoOncrs.
thirty or forty Of them, gathered the
hunters NJ some main FUR post. slowed
the light skin caiques In piles on tue
decks and carried the Aleuts 10 the
otter grounds. This might be at Adka.
where the finest otter hunters in the
world lived. or on the south shore Of
UnalaSSa. or in Cook inlet, where
the rip of the tide runs a mill race. or
just of Kadiak on the south coast,
where twenty miles of beach powders
und surf waters and little lSlets of sea
Scip provide Ideal fields for the sea Of
ter. Here the sweeping tides and boom
ing backwash keep up such Il roar OF
tumbling seas that the shy, wary otter,
alert as an eagle, does not easily get
scent or sound OF human intruder.
Surf washes out the scent OF the man
track. Surf Outsounds noise OF the man
killer, ana no fires are lighted. be il
winter or summer. unless the wind is
straight from the southwark, for the
sea otter always freQuents the south
shores. The only provisions on the car
rying schooner are hams. rancid butter
or grease, some rye bread and flour:
the only clothing. what the Aleut hunt
ers wear.
No Soone~ has the schooner Sheered
Off the hunting grounds than the AleutS
are over decks with the agility OF per
forming monkeys. the schooner captain
wishing each good luck. the eager hunt
ers leaping into their bidarEas follow
ing the lead OF u chief. The schooner
then returns to the home harbor. leav-
ing the hunters on islands as bare rs
planed board for two, three. -four
months. Upon the Commander group
otter hunters are now restricted 10 the
use OF the net alone. bat formerly the
! nature of the hunting was determined
entirely 10y the weather If 4 tide ran
with heavy surf and wind landward ia
conceal sound and sight the hunters
| lined along shore of the kelp beds and
engaged In the hunt known as surf
shooting. Their rifles would carry LOCO
yards. Whoever saw the little round
black head bob above the surface of
the water shot, and the surf wash car
ried In the dead body
If the weather was dead calm, fog or
clear, bands of twenty and thirty men
| deployed in n circle TO spear their quar-
ry. This was the spearing surround
Or If such hurricane gale was churn-
| ing the sea that gusty spray and sleet
storm washed out every outline, sweep
/ ing the kelp beds naked one minute
| inundating them with mountainous
rollers that Numbered up the rocks the
next, the Aleut hunters risked life
scudded out on the back of the raging
storm, now riding the rollers, now dip
ping to the trough OF the sea. now
scootlng with lightning paddle strokes
right through the blasts OF spray
athwart wave wash and trough, straight
for the kelp beds or rocky powders
where the sea otter must have beer
| driven for refuge by the storm.
This hunting is the very Incarnation
of the storm spirit Itself. for the wilder
the gale the more sea otter have com,
! ashore. the less likely they will be &
see or hear or smell the hunter. CAT
or paddle In hand, me Aleut leaps from
rock to rock or dashcS among the tum
| bling beds of tossed kelp. \ Quicl
blow of tho bludgeOn-the otter neve
knows how death came. This is III,
| club hunt. But where the shore L
hOneycombed with caves and narrow
inlets OF keip fields there is a safe
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