Polar Bear Hunting at King Island
A man named Payenna was an excellent polar bear hunter. He was not a fast runner, but he never ran out of breath.
All hunters had backpacks for their gear. A strap across the shoulder held the pack in place. Whenever they saw a polar bear, they ran after it. Payenna would put the strap on his forehead and begin running. He set a pace and kept to it. The other runners would soon leave him behind. But he kept running at his own pace. One by one, he would catch the runners who were tired and out of breath. Then he would leave them all behind.
In those days, hunters did not have guns. They had only spears and knives. If they were hunting polar bear, they had to catch it before they could kill it.
Once the hunters were chasing a polar bear on the north side of King Island. They began running across the ice. Soon Payenna was left behind. Keeping his pace, he began to catch up with the others. Slowly he passed them all but one. Then up ahead, he saw a big ice pan with a dark spot on it. He ran up to this spot and saw it was the last hunter, Taxac. He was lying on the ice, still breathing, but too weak to move. He was foaming at the mouth. Nearby lay the polar bear they had been chasing.
Payenna urged Taxac to get up and kill the polar bear. By custom, the first one to reach a bear is the owner. No one else could kill it without the hunter’s permission. The same is true of other sea mammals. Hunters were taught to respect this custom.
So Payenna urged Taxac to get up and kill his polar bear. It was still breathing. Its eyes were wide open. It, too, was foaming at the mouth and unable to move. Payenna killed the bear with his spear.
Many times Payenna showed his skill as a polar bear hunter. He could stop a charging bear with his spear. When the bear lunged forward, the hunter aimed for the base of its throat. He set the end of his spear in the ice. Quickly, he stepped to the bear’s right, out of the way. So the bear lunged onto the spear, killing itself.
If the polar bear was in the water, a hunter could lie on the ice and act like a seal. He slapped his mittens up and down life flippers to get the bear’s attention. When the bear saw the man lying on the ice, he thought it was a seal. Then he charged, leaping out of the water.
When the bear leaped out of the water, Payenna moved quickly away. He stepped to the right of the bear. This is the safe side since bears are left-handed. The bear would leap out of the water and land where the seal had been. Then the hunter would spear it.
Sometimes a hunter would throw a mitten into the air. When the charging bear saw that mitten flying up, it would look up, too. It would stretch out its neck. Then the hunter could thrust his spear into the base of the bear’s throat, killing it.
By Frank Ellanna of King Island
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