There are a whole host of social issues in the villages, no one will deny that. The solution is not easy or palatable, but subsistence/traditional hunting and fishing is IMHO the most important part of healing and moving forward. Abuse of the resources is related to the social problems which to a large degree fall at the feet of the well intentioned government and social justice folks.
Not to be distracted by the wisdom of a certain wise elder among us and his proverbs.....
But I agree with you entire post, Paul.
I was in contact with a neighbor the day I came home, a fellow a few years more limber than me, a fellow who I’ve shared many miles of trail with, and one who would and has risked health and wealth for my own. I was wondering how the spring hunt had gone and of his freezer was full. (Waterfowl). He said, “oh, not much” and then proceeded to tell me how he had “probably” killed 30-50 geese... “not much” being what went in his freezer; the rest went to partners who don’t shoot so well and widows/elders in town. He’s the same guy who will ride 400/500 miles for caribou, at no small expense in fuel and equipment, give all or most of it away, and then want to do it all again. And that, among all the waste and abuse that is often more ‘newsworthy’, is not an unusual thing.
