Hunting as a way of life, angunasukpangniq

Many Arctic peoples live in large towns and have jobs, but continue to hunt to provide food for their families. Seal, caribou, walrus and whale remain important foods for some groups. The skins, bones and ivory of these animals are still used for clothing, boots, tools and carvings.

Today, as in the past, hunting fulfils social, economic and nutritional needs. It reaffirms Arctic peoples’ cultural heritage and links them closely to the land.

Some people still use traditional hunting equipment, such as harpoons, alongside rifles, motor-powered boats and snow mobiles.

In the spring and summer, people caught geese, ducks and loons with nets, snares and darts. They ate the meat and used the feathered skins to make parkas, slippers and sewing bags.

This coiled trap has a series of nooses used to snare birds and small game. Hunters put these traps into a narrow section of a lake or river, so that a passing duck or loon would entangle itself in its coils.

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