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Yukon Salmon Fishcamp (lots of photos)

Started by fuzzybear, February 17, 2011, 03:39:57 AM

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fuzzybear

  For 1000's of years my family has fished for salmon along the banks of the Yukon and Pelly Rivers here in the north.  I would like to take the time to show you a little bit of a way of life that is slowly dying.  This is our families way of trying to keep the tradition alive.





  We have a very basic frame set up for camp.  In just a few short hours my brothers and nephews have the whole camp up and ready.





  This is my families wall tent. It is the home for my wife and children for 1 month every July/August.


   My twins were 4 months old when they first came to fishcamp.



   The first trip of the season. We empty the nets every 12 hours. Most years we start with 3-50' nets, then drop to 2 nets. We have to do this because there are just to many salmon to cut. 


  This was from 1 net, 12 hours after it was set.



   This male weighs about 50lbs.



   My niece gutting a female. She has been doing this since she was 4yo. Notice the eggs on the bench. They are eaten or saved for bait for trapping season. The guts are put into 5 gal pails and rendered for fertalizer for gardens.



   My wife Julie with the head from a 50-60lb male. We always make fish head soup as our first meal.



   After gutting, the fish are washed in the river to remove blood. This is the job of the boys and the guests that come every year.



   My wife cutting the salmon into fillets for drying.



   Ater they are cut they are hung in the drying racks and smoke until they are dried. We also send out whole fish for freezing.



   The fires in the drying racks stays lit the entire time.  What you can't see is the number of flies and bees. The yellow jackets can strip a fillet down in just a few hours. The smoke drives them out.





  The view of the river.


   My mother Lizzie Hager/Hall, with my son when he was 1 month old.  People asked if we were afraid of having a 1 month old baby in the middle of the bush. My reply was...I feel safer than in any city.



   My father Teddy Hall. This man is a true bushman, that helped build the north into what it is today. He's built everything here from the Alaskan Hwy, to power plants.  He is one of the best trappers up here. Him and my mom live trapped and cared for 100 lynx in one winter. These animals were relocated to Colorado to try and bring the population back. They were both in their early 60's when they did that.



   My Auntie Rachael Tomtom.   My mother and her were the first people in here family to see a whiteman. They were born and raised in the bush. The knowledge they they have and the stories could fill many books.
   Each year I set up and run this camp for my family. It is a great honor for me to do this. Our camp feed over 30 individual families with salmon for 1 year. It is a time when we get together and swap stories and fish. We pass on traditional knowledge and ways to our children. We hunt moose and set rabbit snares. We will have given away around 1/4 of our catch to those that are in need. It is our way of life.
   At the end of one month we will have had around 400 salmon pulled from the nets. It is sad to think that it may come to an end very soon.  I am not one to point fingers. Some blame Alaska for the drastic decline in salmon. Others blame the ocean bycatch from huge industrial fishing boats.  I have made my view very clear to those that will hear it.  The truth is we are all to blame.  we knew this would happen and we did nothing to prevent it. We sat around and pointed fingers until it was to late.
  For my part I have decided that we are going back to old  ways of fishing, and we are limiting the harvest to just 12 fish per family this year. We are going to build a fishwheel and release all females and large males back into the river to try and continue the cycle as best as we can. It's a small step but it is better than doing nothing. We hope to teach others how to conserve and hopefully save our salmon and our way of life.

  I hope you enjoyed a little glimps into the life of a bunch of simple down to earth bush people.
FB
I never met a tree I didn't like!!

WildDog

So thats the mighty Yukon. Half your luck Fuzzybear, looks like a great place.
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northwoods1

Thank you very much for sharing all these photos I find it very interesting. Makes me wish I was there though to take part in the activities :)
I wonder how many salmon do you need to put up in a season and how many people do they feed?

Mooseherder

Thanks for sharing your great family fishing history Fuzzybear. :)

TeaW

That is a great tradition fuzzybear I hope it continues for many years,thanks for sharing.
TeaW

doctorb

Fuzzybear-

Very intersting!.  With all that food around, do bears ever wade into camp and make a mess of things?  Thanks for sharing your family summer salmon harvest with us.  Doctorb
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

WDH

I am enriched by your sharing this with us.  Family is the center of life.  Your carrying on this tradition for your family will long outlive you. 
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Norm


isawlogs


Thanks for sharing the pics of your family and family ways. You can put all the pics you want up I sure like to see the north lanscape   8) 8)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

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ely

it was good to sit here and learn about all your family and the yukon fish camp. thank you fb

Autocar

Great pictures I surley enjoyed them and your storys about everyones life. Ive been lucky enough to see the salmon fun in Alaska, B. C. and the Yukon I couldn't believe the size of the fish and how many there were in the streams. It sad to think about the future of fishing and the wildlife that will suffer and the local folks.
Bill

ErikC

 Great Camp Fuzzybear, I would like to meet your folks  :) The thing about a lot of hunting and fishing people who don't do it fail to understand is that the basis for most of it is stories and traditions like yours, and not just wanting to kill fish or wildlife.
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pigman

Very interesting fuzzybear. Thanks for posting.
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Quote from: fuzzybear on February 17, 2011, 03:39:57 AM
 The knowledge they they have and the stories could fill many books.
   

Thanks for sharing, The books idea is a great one, so much of the real knowledge and history is lost through not writing it down.  Sounds like a neat project for you Fuzzybear.
A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

Sprucegum

  8) Thanks for sharing with us  8)

I saw one of those fish wheels by the side of the road when I drove to Alaska in '99. I had to stop the van, jump the fence and climb all over the thing to figure out how it worked (I needed a break from driving anyway  ;) ) I was sorry there was no one there to talk to about it. The wife said that's a good thing or I'd a been in the river with it and another day lost on our trip.  ;D  ;D

Buck

Great post Fb, thanks for the pics and sharing it.
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fuzzybear

Thank you every one.
  Northwoods1, we pull about 400 salmon on average. We give away a lot of fish to people in the Yukon that are having a hard time. we usually feed about 30 families each year.  It's a lot of work, but well worth the rewards. We do not sell salmon ever. At any one time there may be as little as 2 people in camp, or like on my nephews birthday we will have 60 people. Plus my mom is always finding some lost soul and bringing them into our family. I thank the good Lord she does this. She found this lost soul many years ago, and wound up adopting me as her son.

Doctorb
   Our camp sits at the river crossing of 6 trails, these are century old trails. On average we have at least 3 bears a year.  They don't get very far usually. I have been blessed with finding the best dogs for bears a man could ever want. My pack would give up their lives and some have, to keep us safe.  We have a system of placing the dogs on runs around the perimeter of camp. My dogs are trained to growl if they smell bears. When they growl We pay attention. When they bark we grab the guns. All of my familly knows to move to the kitchen area when a bear comes.
  There is one spot where the trails cross and I have a good clear shot at the bears. I have delt with at least 100 bears over the years and have good instincts about what a bear wants. If they become a problem I give them one chance. I use a 12ga shot gun 3" mag. The first shot is about 50 yards away with #4 duck shot. They never see me until they feel the "spanking" I give them. At that range and small of shot it doesn't penetrate their hide. Stings like all bejesus. If they would happen to turn the next 3 shots are 1oz slugs. I've never had one turn on me yet. yet.
   I have 2 personal bears I deal with just about every year.   The first is a black bear that resides on the island about 1 km from camp. He comes in usualy as we are packing up camp. Now he's not an average black bear. He is about 900lbs. He is the BIGGEST black bear we have ever seen. I have a deal with him. I ran face to face with him one day, I told him if he stays out of camp I'll leave him one salmon and some moose meat. If not I was going to make a nice rug out of him. So far he's stuck to the deal.
   Now the second one is a 6 yo grizzly. I first encountered him when I had my twins at camp for the first time. I scared him pretty good the first time. I guess it had something to do with a crazy naked bushman running after him.   He is a persistant little cus. He tries to get around the dogs every year. 2 years ago he managed to get by one of my oldest dogs and directly into camp.  I found that he left me a little present right outside of my wall tent. So I decided he is going to become a nice rug. Funny thing is he never showed up last year.
   We very rarely kill a bear. They are just being bears and I can't hold that against them. Most never come back after I "spank" them.  ;D
FB
I never met a tree I didn't like!!

Stephen1

thank-you Fuzzybear for sharing your storey's, and of course your pictures.
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Burlkraft

That was awesome FuzzyBear  8)  8)  8)

Lots of history there, good to see you are trying to keep it alive.
Why not just 1 pain free day?

ellmoe

  Hey, that was great. Thanks for the effort, FB. smiley_clapping

Mark
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fishpharmer

You know how I love a fish story :)

Fuzzybear, that was one of the best!!  Thank you.

And thank you Ron Scott for bringing this thread back up.
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CX3

Thanks FB.  For the story and pictures I found it very interesting. 

I have a question, if I can ask it without stepping on toes, and I dont mean to.  Are you and your parents Native Americans?  I ask because my wife and her sister are doing research and filling out a bunch of papers to find out their heritage.  I think it is really neat. 
John 3:16
You Better Believe It!

Magicman

Thank you fuzzybear for the pictures and the story.  It is such a tribute for you to share a bit of your family's heritage with us.
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chain

What a truly wonderful and inspiring picture story, reminissant of some of our Amish folk and folklore. Some say all good things come to an end, I do not know exactly why but in some cases it has to do with people messing up the balance of nature, most times politics is the true culprit.

My dad hunted and fished with an old fellow that was raised up  by his market hunting grandfolks in the 1890's -1910 era . There was always plenty of game and fish & fur until one year the government decided to cut off the beautiful feeder streams from the foothills of the Ozarks that drained into the great swamp of the middle Mississippi river delta. The old streams became stagnant, the swamp was drained and cleared, all the fish and wildlife dwindled away and so with it a pioneer way of life gone forever.

doctorb

fuzzybear-

I just had a feeling that you were going to have to encounter bears time and again, and I also had a feeling you would deal with them kindly and humanely without risk to you and yours.  Very interesting stuff.  Thanks again for your story.  It's like real reality TV!.  Doctorb
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

Coon

No, doctorb, it's better than reality tv.... not a bunch of drama.  ;D

You live in a beautiful piece of country fuzzybear.  Great story and tradition too.  It's very sad to see things of this nature lost due to human ignorance.  Thank you for sharing this with us and opening up some eyes. 

Brad.
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fuzzybear

Quote from: CX3 on February 27, 2011, 09:41:27 PM
Thanks FB.  For the story and pictures I found it very interesting. 

I have a question, if I can ask it without stepping on toes, and I dont mean to.  Are you and your parents Native Americans?  I ask because my wife and her sister are doing research and filling out a bunch of papers to find out their heritage.  I think it is really neat. 
My mother is Northern Tutchone from Selkirk First Nation. My father is Tlingit from Carcross First Nation.  Fist nation's people here in the north are a little more fortunate than their cousins to the south and east, They have only had to deal with the Government for about 115 years as compared to 300+. It's been a hard 100 years though. The Native here are more of a family based society. They lived seperate from each other and only came together about 2-3 times a year as a community.
  War was a very uncommon event. Most time when there was a war it was because the Eskimo would come down from the north and steal a "good woman".  Even then killing was avoided as much as possible. I have lived with tribes all over North America and never have I seen a group of people more peaceful than here.
   I myself am one of the last of my people. There are a few Susquahanok people left. Most do not realize that they are of Susquahanok decent. I know nothing of our traditions. My family here found me  many years ago when I was in a VERY dark place in my life. They taught me to go back to nature and find peace within myself.
   I am the oldest of my brothers and sisters, and they look to me for wisdom, wich is kinda scary at times.  When I joined the family over 20 years ago there were 8 children, through the years we have adopted over 20 lost souls. My mother and father are the kind of people that will pick up a hitch hiker and take them home and feed them.
Quote from: chain on February 27, 2011, 10:37:24 PM
What a truly wonderful and inspiring picture story, reminissant of some of our Amish folk and folklore. Some say all good things come to an end, I do not know exactly why but in some cases it has to do with people messing up the balance of nature, most times politics is the true culprit.
The Yukon is the last of the great frontiers left on this planet. It is a hard place to live. But it is a place where NO electricity and running water are normal. To live here you either work for the government or mining. The rest of us are very much free spirits that live off the land. My wifes family said it was like taking a trip 100 years into the past.  We are still learning as a people how to live like the old ways, but incorporating modern convienance.
FB
I never met a tree I didn't like!!

fuzzybear

 


  Just found this one. My favorite time, My nephew's birthday ride to the creek for swimming. This was before their party, there was about 30 kids there for the party. Real good food.
I never met a tree I didn't like!!

thecfarm

Looks like real good company too.Thanks for the tour.Very interesting to see all this is still being done,not just a show and tell event.Things were so simple and close knit years ago.Than everyone helped out the next guy,even if they did not know them.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

CX3

Outstanding :)

Thanks for the reply.  Now you have to tell us how the fish gets smoked properly.  I would love to try it.  Thanks
John 3:16
You Better Believe It!

Patty

Very interesting Fuzzy! I am fascinated by different cultures and ways of life.
Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings....
We simply continue to fly ........
on a broomstick.....
We are flexible like that.

Samuel

Very interesting indeed...The smoked salmon makes my mouth water
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Magicman

We took a trip in Fairbanks, Ak. on the Discovery II and got a small demonstration on fishwheels, smoking salmon, and sled dogs.  I know that it was a "paid for entertainment" deal, but it was still informative.  We also got to meet the late Susan Butcher.
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It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

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Bear

What a great story, thanks for sharing

trapper

Fuzzybear
very much enjoyed your story and pictures.  I would love to experince something like that.  Many of my friends have told me I was born 100 years too late. 
Marv
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