The Daily Alaska empire., 1940-03-31
WALRUS iS
 BIG GAME
 POSSIBILITY
WiIdIife Agent Describes Habits, Hunting of
 North Species
Rv CRENOLD COLLINS wudlife Agent, Alaska Oathe
 Commission

During the VarlouS eiiiAOo
 visited the Arctic since 1921' l nave ,oen particularly interested in the pocific Walrus as a species worthy of special study and attention. ! believe from my experience, that t,,e walr7ls is a very attractive game s,ecies from the standpoint of the big game hunter and sportsman.
 Tn carly July of this year l re- ceived authority to fly up the Arc- +ic Coast and was requested to make sneeial study of the walrus slt- nation and on July 12 left kotze- bue and flew direct to Pt. Lay OH the Arctic Coast.
 The Pacific Walrus were lornieiiy abundant in Bering Sea SouCli "o the Pribilof Islands and Cape New ;,,o,am and used to haul out 1nore in large numbers. Due to persecution by ivory and oil huhI- CTS and by whalers, they have been oln,ost exterminated in the south- ern portion of their former range.
 Whale Horses
 Tho name "walrus" is supposed in be derived from an old Norse word "valross," which means "Wilaie horses" The adults vary m puih from 2oOo to 5000 pounds in weighV and they are from ten to tWelVe feet long The female tusks are long and slender and curve inward at tbe ends with bow at the middle The male tusks are much heaViei than those of the female ana are often blunt or broken at the enoS' The length of the male tusKs Is from 14 to 26 inches, although tusKs un to 36 inches are sometimes Ca- ken. Charles Brewer of Pt Bar row reports a pair of tusKs liia' measured 39 inches. The male tusKs weigh from six to nine pounds each. The average large tusk IS apouC seven pounds.
 The wrinkled, blotchy skin of this animal together with its great pulk' tusks. and bristled, blunt nose, glVes it a very grotesque and formldaoie appearance,
 They feed on clans and other mo,lusks which they dig from beds h1 the shallow sea. They break the shells with their teeth and suck the meat down into their throats. They also eat large quantities of a sea snail about three inches long. The stomachs. when loaded with clans are about three feet long, and the contents will fill washtub The Eskimos consider the half digested clans and snails from the stomachs a great delicacy.
 Sometimes Charge Boat
 Usually walrus are timid and try to escape but occasionally they gel excited and attack a boat. II the tusks are driven through the bot tom of the boat, the natives plug Il with a shirt or any handy article If the tusks are hooked over the side of the boat, the natives some times avoid disaster by grabbing the tuks in their hands and showing the boat out from under with their feet Otherwise the boat will be over turned and the natives drowned,
 The killer whale is the worst ene- nv of walrus and often kill them in great numbers It is reliably re- ported that three years ago large herd of Walrus were driven ashore by killer whales, in the vicinity oi Panuck. St. Lawrence Island. These walrus piled up on top of each other in such great numbers, while haul ing out on the beach, that over 2OO of them were smothered and crush ed and left dead on the beach. These carcasses were used by the Eskimos
 Ivory 60 Gents Per Pound
 Walrus are utilized by the na- lives for meat. blubber, skins anc ivory. The ivory is sold raw fol 60 cents a pound. and also carved and sold or traded for supplies ano white mans food.
 In former times, walrus were ta- ken by the natives by harpoonlne them from skin boats, kayaks, ol lancing them on the ice; now they use high-powered rifles Along the Arctic Coast the hunting operations are carried on in the following man. ner:
 The natives use a launch or whale boat, powered by an outboard motor to tow a string of oomiaks out along the ice pack off shore to the arena' where the animals are hauled ou on the ice. They locate them II spite of the almost continual fos that hangs over the ice, by listening for their roaring whistle that seem to carry for a great distance. Thi sounds somewhat like the brayin! of hound dog heard from loni way off.
 Small Groups Selected
 When the boats have worked thei way in among the large pods of wal rus hauled out on the ice, the Els kimos select a small group of tn animals that are ideally situate' for killing. It would be too dan gerous to make a kill where severa hundred are congregated and thi is to be avoided. The natives u LID their boats and several stay be