Besides Hunting and Fishing, we have to get out and "Gather" as well.

Beside Fire Wood, Antlers, Horns and Fur , we gotta get out and get the raw materials that the ocean has to offer. Often its beach washed Mammoth, that are in the very shallow sands and mud slew from tahwing sloughing Permafrost that is sluiced and sorted by the waves. Storm action and a nice calm can really be productive when looking for ivory or bones for carving.
Spruce Roots, carving wood, and poles are good to get right now , washed up along the beach. Sometimes a dead Seal can have its skin salvaged or a Walrus have its head and flippers removed while it bobs in the Ocean. Dead Whales are best left alone, and followed as each tide and wind move the body. When a big blow hits with a big tide, it'll beach the Whales carcass and you take note for a later day.

Prospecting gold is a hobby too, and a few peices have hit our hands , but not enough to make it more than a hobbie. Antiques and crashed planes are cool as well, when we cros paths.




Of course I dont have photos of this comming summer, but to get a good idea, heres a few from the past, before I had reliable picture takeing capabilitys with digitals.

Staying in our own little huts is always fun.

Found all this gold as well, a nice place to work if theres gas and time, something I'm short of this year, but theres gold in those hills. This is a 1-1/2 oz nugget.

The nuggets on the bracelettt were panned mostly by the kids, as we had a friend who was a miner and well connected in the jewlrey biz, I had them make a big ol' Silver bracelett .

The second Son returning to the boat from a long hunt across the ice, while I hunted Sea Ducks and Trout fished a couple mile from their stalkings...

Mammoth Teeth

NICE tooth

A days gatherings of Mammoth bones, a Muskox skull, whale parts, ect, all from the Ocean...

Everybody enjoying the ride with the front half of lunch still in the skin to protect the meat from sand.

A washup"Stinker" that we took the head from.

Mammoth from the beachcombing.

Using your feet is a smart way to be looking for tusks in the low tide muds, it's rather productive....

One side'd score.....

Well with luck in art sales for gas $$$, a junk motor to push the boat along . If the motor quits, well rig a sail and keep on going~~LOL!!~~and with a vast open water ahead, were plowing tward a good July of beach combing. The end results are always worth the efforts, and when we return, Caribou Hunting, Berrys, Salmon Fishing, Greens Pickings and school for the kids await us here in Noorvik.

Hope you enjoy'd the pix, and as I'll yet be around for another week, Ive got lots to do, and gas to gather for this winter, when we take most of the gatherings and make arts and crafts to sell....for more gas , and all the toil it brings........~~LOL!!~~