These texts are extracted from records.

James Kawapit talks about Hunting the otter.

Someone who hunts for the during the winter, when he senses the otter swimming by in a creek. He still knows where the other will appear and that’s where he waits for him. If he comes across the tracks of an otter, he knows it’s behavior. The otter has different behaviors, some of them are out in the open very often, while others hardly appear outside. So the hunter can still tell the otter’s behavior, just by observing it’s tracks.

The otter that hardly shows up, the saying is iyaakwaamiiu APnNRNH! (he is careful or cautious). The way I heard my father saying is, when the otter makes cautious signs of his presence even on a beautiful day. It doesn’t always mean that he’s being cautious from someone, sometimes it’s because he can sense a bad weather is coming. An animal that’s a game cannot make it’s presence outside during a bad weather.

He (my father) said that at one fall season the otter’s tracks aren’t very visible, when this happens  in exchange his tracks are visible as soon as the cold weather gets mild. It goes the other way around too, when his tracks (otter) are visible in the fall. In the cold weather his tracks aren’t visible and when the weather gets mild. His tracks are visible very late and until the snow gets very wet.

They way he knew about the animals (game) behavior so well, hunting for the beaver in the winter. The meaning of ashchanuuch Q*Tu% (trapping for beaver),  when he comes to the lake where he wants to kill the beaver. Just by observing the lake, he can tell if the beaver lake looks complicating.

There is a lot to say if someone wants to tell a specific story, how to kill a wild game.

Hunting for a beaver in the winter, the ice chisel is used and something is placed at the other end. The person walks at the edge of the ground along the frozen lake, that’s how he knows where the burrows are by checking the sound of the ice as he hits it with the chisel. The beaver is the same as other animals, there are some that are very cautious and others that aren’t cautious. 

The behavior of all wild game is important to be told, so the children will know about it. Especially for those that will use it for their survival.

The other things I’ve experienced through my life concerning the wild game, I didn’t get any of these teachings from my own. I learned everything from being taught about it.