The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1921-07-29
Seal Hunting In Alaska
Donald McCrea Writes Interesting Account of Big Sea
Hunt Copper River For Alaska Fish Commission

long and 20 yards wide with the
river on three sides, and a dense
growth of willows and Devil club
on the other.
Somehow after a hard half hour
of putting and pulling we managed
to get the old boat up to our pros
pective camp. After an hour and
half we were both sitting on the
grass with our stomachs full of out
door grub. tent pitched. bed made,
both satisfied and no worries at all. |
After a couple OF hours good rest
took nv gun and went down to the
mouth uf the river. The contour of
the land changed here. 1t is sandy
there and sprlnkled with graveLwith
no trees. This sandy spot extends
away from the river for distance
of almost two miles and is about
one mile wide. 1t is divided by
small streams of dead water. These
dead streams were cut up by big
bear tracks, medium bear tracks,
and small bear tracks,. b had never
seen so many tracks in my life.
There were about ten different
kinds of tracks Wlthin distance
OF ten yards and could only pick
out three that | was sure of. Bill
gave me a lesson the next day on
tracks. After four hours OF ex-
plantations and two hours of swear
ing on Bills part, was able to tell
what they were. They were wolf,
fox. wolvei inc, whistler, mink,
beaver. land otter, eagle and bear
Well, | nsade up my mind right
there that was gong to Kill bear,
, so set out and afte. six hours hik-
ing | only obtained bath in Ice
water, blister on my heel. an
, empty stomach and fluent use of
the kind of english not IN the die
| tionary,
On my way to camp saw where
two bears had crossed my trail and
) even where they had followed it for
short distance, and by the size of
, one of these tracks | Immediately
decided that bear hunting was IN.
deed a mans job because this track
j, was twelve inches wide and longer
than 1T was wide. | got back tC
a camp tired, wet, hungry and E
, little bit disappointed with my frs,
q bear hunt.
= We stayed in this camp for toul
f days and hunted bear IL hours ou1
= of every "a but did not get one
= altho several times heard them II
e the woods near me. never saw
one close enough tor shooting.
O On the fifth day Bill and | de
r clded that we were supposed Il
r hunt seal instead of bear so we pull
l. ed tent and turned loose for dowr
v river. Inc seal varies in length
r from three to eight feet and weigh
t from sixty to thousand pounds
IS You would hardly imagine that the.
v get that large. | killed one tina
r Bill and l could not lift out of tn
r water. These are the hair seal
n not the fur seal. They have twt
% small fins right back of thei
# shoulders and about halt way dow
e their side, and from their side, an
IS from their back they are shaped JUS
& like our fairy mermalds". Thel
e heads are small and when swim
=. ming only about half visible. II
e the afternoon they are gathere
+, In herds on sandbars IN the river
d but at night and IN the mornln
IS they are hunting in the eddie
n and on the swift places of the rive
10 because they are then very close t
land and you can shoot them easil
le if you shoot quick enough. Bu
,e when they are on the bars they ar
,e on watch and 1t is almost impossibI
1T to get close enough. One day 81
IN and | placed green boughs on ou
Of boat and landed on a bar wher
is there was herd of about forty an
Ie we killed % of them. So far "
# have killed over $50 which we col
ut slider very good.
le suppose you are wondering VIII
er We are killing these seals. At tn
o. time of the year the salmon al
H. coming up Copper River to spawl
III The seal follow them up and kl