Caught halibut and snappers, and shot some sea otters. Beautiful day on the water today, barely got rained on. Before anybody freaks out, tribal members can kill sea otters in AK, not sure about the rest of the world.

You're living the life.

Fantastic. I bet sea otter fur is just great.
What do they make from sea otter fur up your way?

I can taste those fish from here. I sure miss not living near a coast. People here in the mid west think walleye is the top of the list.

Looks like a great way to spend a day.

Cool fish...looks like a great day

Very neat! I always wondered if anyone harvested sea otters!

Oftentimes it’s used for regalia or other traditional native garments. It makes excellent hats, gauntlets, vests, whatever else you could think of really. And they stay prime all year (they’re slightly thicker in winter time, but it’s insignificant)

Only tribal members are allowed, doesn’t mean nobody else does it even though they shouldn’t. They can be tricky to harvest, you’re usually shooting from a boat that’s moving up and down on the swells, the otter is moving up and down on the swells, and if they don’t like how long you took, or how fast you approach, or anything they duck underwater and stay down a while

Thanks for that info.

Several mountain men in the 1830's tried their hand at sea otter hunting when they wandered over to the pacific. Big money in those furs back then.

x2 . . thanks for sharing

I agree a good day for sure. Thanks for the ride along. Lots of good eating there. Been a while since I had snapper. My dad loved red snapper in his day.

Now that is a good day! We saw so many sea otters when we were out on the boat up there. I didn't realize how prolific they are.

Since only natives can harvest, are you allowed to sell items made with the fur?

That's what I wondered, as I had once heard they were protected. Not that I'd be against harvesting them.

The first fur trading on the west coast was sea otter. The pelts were worth a fortune in Canton, China. Ships loaded with trade goods from Boston went to the west coast picked up sea otter, sailed to Canton flipped their cargo for tea/spice, sailed to England flipped the load for manufactured goods and then sailed back to Boston. Fortunes made.

AK, if you don't mind me asking, what tribe are you affiliated with?

Yes I would say a great day.

Congratulations

Haida/Tlingit

Once it’s tanned and made into something anyone can have it I think, I’m not sure, there’s a huge demand for them to make regalia and hats and such, that I usually trade them with other tribal members. My aunt does a lot of sewing, so I usually take them to her and she deals with them, and gives me finished products in exchange. Which doesn’t hurt me at all, fleshing them is a horrible chore lol

Makes sense, their fur is similar in color and texture to a land otter (river otter, whatever you call them) but is anywhere from 3 to 6 times the size, and never loses its prime. I think a lot of the reason is that a land otter is a land animal that likes to swim, and does so in waters that vary a lot in temperature, so it makes sense they wouldn’t want a winter coat all summer or vise verse. Sea otters can’t leave the water, they have essentially flippers for back feet (think beaver but with absolutely no way to use their “foot” as a foot, and no pads/sole of their feet) so they’re in the ocean 365 days a year, and even this time of year it’s probably about 44-46 degrees all the time

Thanks AK. Hope I'm not being intrusive. I just find all of the stuff surrounding our ethnicities fascinating. My kid whose mother is Mexican had his DNA tested and found that the biggest contributor to his native American side was Alaskan Athabascan! A real head scratcher, but then it turns out that Na Dene also include Navajo and Apache groups from the American Southwest. Makes it more understandable.

My kid from a few years back. You do detect all the Swedish from me right? Lol

Nice haul for sure

BP nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to those things, it’s common knowledge (to us) that people from my tribe canoed all the way to what’s now Peru and back many many many years ago. I can only imagine that journey. But that said, I wouldn’t be shocked if a lot of people in that area were carrying a very small amount of DNA that matches ours. If my ancestors made it to Peru it’s not unthinkable that athabascans could have made it to Mexico. Most Alaska native tribes are seafaring people

…. I’m gonna dress up like an Eskimo…. Ride up there club some seals .. shoot some sea otter and slap a grizzly bear around

It took me near 2 hours to fillet all that fish, and another hour to skin the otters. That biggest halibut weighed in at #122, not a monster of the deep, but about as big as I like to catch. I’d rather fill the boat with 25-60 pound fish, they’re better eating and they fillet a lot easier and faster. That one is floating the line, it’s small enough that it’ll eat good and it wasn’t horrible to work up, but anything over 150 pounds and I strongly consider cutting the line and leaving it for tourists to have a shot at, cuz I hate dealing with them

No brown bear or eskimos on this island, you might want to choose a different one lol. The seals and sea otter, I can get behind that lol. I don’t shoot many seals even though I can. They stink and they’re heavy, and I personally have no use for them. I occasionally pop one to save some fish from the water wolves

A Quinault that I went to school with had a harbor seal jacket that was beautiful. I don't think non-tribal can have them though unless it is considered art work.

I asked my aunt, since that’s kind of her thing. She said once it’s significantly modified it can be sold to anyone in the United States, but not internationally, even if it’s a completed garment. And significantly modified doesn’t mean tanned, it means made into something useful, beautiful, or more likely, both.

…. Send me a significantly modified sea otter vest with walrus foreskin trim

You’re hilarious, and therefore probably fun to drink beer with, you are welcome to come up fishing anytime. As for the vest, my aunt makes all kinds of stuff out of them, I’m sure she’d be happy to. I won’t lie, they aren’t cheap. All harvested, skinned, fleshed, tanned, and sewn by hand right here locally like it has been forever. Gonna have to rain check on the walrus foreskin, we’re a little light on walrus around these parts lol.

lol …. I’d like to make it there with yall good people sometime

…keep to the old ways and resist change

… Texas ain’t what it used to be unfortunately

Offer stands

Sure appreciate it partner…. Once I get these kids raised I may take up on a trip like that

…. Y’all are living right up there

In the meantime… keep these good post like this coming

Can’t help you with the foreskin trim but I could do you up with some walrus oosik buttons!

I'm jealous great day on the water.

thanks for posting, looks like a great day on the water, what size boat, how deep do you fish,

Years ago traditional arrow rest plates for shooting off the shelf could be bought from Three Rivers Archery. Just cut to size and stick on.

The no tanned leather seal products stopped the sale of those. They are the BEST for shooting off the shelf. I also have a seal skin tab from back then, one of the best I have.

That one is 28 foot. We were fishing in about 650-700 feet of water