Polar Bear Hunting: Three Areas \Vere Most Important for Hunting Was Less Mtensive South of Shaftesbury Inlet, Where Polar Bear

$Polar Bear Hunting: Three Areas \Vere Most Important for Hunting Was Less Mtensive South of Shaftesbury Inlet, Where Polar Bear$ 1Ire8, whenever seen, most often when people • SlImmary: In compan on with othcr Kcc\\attn settlements. ibou or trappmg. the people of Chesterfield use a rclati\"cl) small arca of land. ÏlItt11iDl Hunting. 80th ringed and bearded seals Chesterfield is a small c1osc-knit seulement. and evcryone year rooud. In sommer people hunt along shares the land and game of the area. There is usually JnIet toParther Hope Point including Barbour suffieient supply of game nearby without their having to e coast from Whale Cove to Karmarvik Harbour, travel very far. Many people are also wage carners and are omiles mland. For mueh of the year people hunt Iimited to day and weekend hunting trips, exeept for holiday' 'h . d 1 oe èdge, which is usually three or four miles out ln t e spnng an summer. ement; however, the distance varies along The area most important to the people of Chesterfield is !'the pnncipal seal hunting season is spring, w en the mouth of the inlet. north along the coast from Cape the ice. At this time, too, young seals are hunted Silumiut to Daly Bay: and ülland to nearby caribou hunting lairs. The area from Baker Foreland to Bern and fishmg areas. ThiS rcglOn 15 nch ln gamc. and il COI1 and along Chesterfield Inlet to Big Island is weil stitutes the traditional hunting ground for 1110st of the :Cape Silumiut area is extremely popular for week Chesterfield people. Il does not overlap with land cOJnmonly trips, and people often hunt atthe floe edge near used by any other seUlement, although people from Rankin t. Inlet do oeeasionally use it. From Chesterfield nonhwest ta 11Ugrate into the area in summer and are hunted Ekatuvik Point and from the inlet south along the coast ta InIet around Marble Island to Bernheimer Baker Foreland arc other major areas of aetivity. MO>I of the O"Qg"" Chesterfield Inletto Ekatuvik Point. Harbour land used lies within an area of 30 ta 40 miles south. 40 to ted, particularly in summer, when they haul out 50 miles west, 60 to 70 miles northwes!. and 70 ta 80 miles 1bays and rivers. Important areas are Barbour north of the seulement. ~:seaI bays, Severin Harbour, Cape Silumiut, and :rnlteiimer bays. es migrate through the area in summer and are Raokin Inlet to Bernheimer Bay, and along d InIet to Farther Hope Point, Southampton Island and Coats Island were honted from the Marble Island area to Cape Period II/ (1962-1974) Today they are seldom found south of Chester- but to the north they are most cornmon in the Coral Harbollr (64°08'N, 83°10'W) is the 01111' seulememoll -.In the sommer they are hunted in the water SOll/hamptolllslalld. II is located al the head ~f SO/lliz Bar Bad boats, and at other times of the year on 011 the central south coast. Sadlermilll were the original oratthe floe edge. Occasionally people go to occupnms 01 the island, and they had substafltial conUlet Irilll offSouthampton Island to hunt them. w/zalers t1uring the 19th century. During wiflter 1902-/903, bears are hunted on the ice and at the floc edge 1P!iJar the island's whole population was destroyed hyan epideJ11ic of Chesterfield Inlet and from capes Silumiut A bout 19/0, .rame A h'i1ingmiut sen'ing as creU' on a whaler mclnding the Winchester Inlet, Daly Bay and Bayareas. visited the island and, Inter, the)' brought their lamilies la !jsJüng is an important aetivity in Chesterfield lil'e there, They traded at Chesterfield IlIlet /III/il, ill1916 1918, H. T, At/Will operatet! a Irading ant! whaling post rUl tht' opnng the people jig through lake ice near the both spring and fall people travelto many lakes sOllth coast of the islalld. III 1918, the H.B.C. opelle" a pa" on COats Island. but mOl'et! it ta Coral Harbour in /9]./. Tilt' the ~ape SiI'!'"iut area, along Chesterfield ' m the WI~ehester.Inlet and Daly Bay area, Coats Islmul post was reopelled for a year ill 1927. Tize populatioll al Coral Harbour has graduallr increased lI'it/J onder the lce, parlIeularly in the fall, when I~ ght are f~ozen for winter use, During the more Inuit nuwing in fram the main/and the n'est, and lfilll pIe fish ':" many streams and rivers along Ihe earlier illhaMtams of Coats Islalld. et, IDeludmg the Connery and Lorillard The Anglican mul Roman Catholic C/wrches opelll'd "IIS- 5 sialiS on Southamptoll Islalld ill the 1920'5. III 19~:. ,hr ~. t nets m the sea near the setUement Air Force built a large airstrip north of the settlemt'lJt. 11'111(1 Il reland; a10ng the inletto Big Island' was larer maintained by the Departme111 of TrlU/Sport. /.t1tt'f ~aIIyID Winchester and Daly bays ' immigrants to the island Îlu:lutleti 1nuit who Iwd u'orJ.t'd jllf the DI" dm'/t,l/If g SOmmer in lakes near the selliemen~ and . epartment 01 Transport on Resolution mu ,01 . g prOYldes the people with ineome ISla/J{/s. There lI'a.\' fi decrense in population tiuri"g tlit' C:0flstruction of the DI:..' W-Lille, but many 111t'1I relllrtlt'd 'l' 1 Islalld !ollowing constructiOIl. Welland: Kcc\\OIlin .tnJ Soll1holmplon 1 J.mJ 'eduol schaol was built in 1950 alld more federal _WiCD were soon added to the settlemeflf. III 1974. the the use of snowmobiles enables them la lravel to their old JOPI Qtion was 404 and sen'ed by an all-weather airs/rip wi/h hunting areas for short visits. :'vIany who are nat employed füghts jrom Churchill. a nursillg s/a/ioll. a primary full-limed caminue ta trap and hunt in ail paris of the island. kindergarten to grade eight). a commlllli/y hall. • Trappù,g: Trapping conlinues ta be a major source of rtlTY. telephone service. a post office. a mo/el. a gelleral incorne. A nctwork of trap lines cm'ers Southampton Island and the KatudgMk Coopera/ive. as il did during Period 11. Both caasts of Bell Peninsula remain very important. and the East Bay area north ta the Ascension thougb everyone on Soulhamplon Island al present lives in Islands is heavily used. Many people have trap lines rtInning the selllement of Coral Harbour, camping in the spring and saUlhwest from Ihe senlement ta the Cape Law area. around $Ummer remains a significanl pari of lhe people's yearly round Cape Low to Bay of God's Mercy. and overland between (Map 19). Many huniers camp al important fishing and seal South Bay and Bay of Gad's Mercy. Sorne people still trap hunling areas. Every June, mosl families, including those in the Cape Kendall arca. more th an 130 miles from Coral hose members hold full-lime jobs, go ta camp for several Harbour. Very important trapping roures are from Coral Harbour ta Salmon Pond. where fish arc often caehed in Ihe weeks at various places, where the men hunt seals on the sea fall for use as fox bait: and northward along the wc si side ce and atthe tloe edge, hunt geese and collect eggs. Most of of the hi Ils ta Duke of Ynrk Bay. where sorne trap lines thase camps are at places where Ihey have lived in the past, circle the coast. Other trap lines ex tend from the Salmon and Many people relum ta Ihe same camp every spring. Pond area to the west and northwest. The coast of Rocs The most important siles are in Ihe Soulh and Native bays Welcome Sound from EII Bay to Banel)' Bay is trapped and include ative, Prairie, Ruin and Bear Cave points. area, eXlensively. a distance of 200 miles. Trap Iines rlln north from Other pring sealing camps are in Ihe East Bay area. where Coral Harbour and along Kirchoffer River ta join the roule to man geese nest. There are summer fishing areas near Coral Duke of York Bay. Other lines run up Kirehaffer River to Harbour at the mouths of char rivers, especially Kirchoffer Canyon River. and there are still others through the mount- River Rocky and Sixleen Mile brooks. Camps here remain ainous area ta the north. OCCUpied througbout the fishing season. A nurnber of short trap lines extend in ail direclions from Some years, in spring, a few families move north ta camp the senlement and arc used by weckend trappecs. generally Btvanous locations in Ihe Duke of York Bay area. After by men who have full-time employment. The area on the - faIIs, they retum la Ihe seulemenl, which Ihe men now northwestern lip of the island has not been uscd by people llSeas a trapping base during Ihe winler. In fall, a large number living in Coral Harbour. and there has recentl)" becn le... ~ people make ovemighl camps in the Salmon Pond area. Irapping in the Cape Kendall area. Caats Island has been lIhere there are IWo cabins. There are no permanenl winter trapped in recent years. particularly by seven trapper... who CImps on Southamplon Island, but huniers lending their Irap fived on Ihe island in Ihe winter of 1971-1972, Theirtrap may Spend nights in snow-houses. lines extendcd around the coast and crosscd the i... land al Colts Island remains important. During the winters of several places. 1970 and 1971-1972, groups of more Ihan 20 persans Bait for traps consisrs of char. seal or walrus caught dunng on the ISland. These people went ta Coats Island by the summer. although occasionally seals arc hunted \\hcrc ~ boat in the fall, lived Ihere ail winter while they traps are bcing laid at SOITlC dista~cc from the ..

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