Hunting has been a part of humanity since the beginning of time, whether you agree or disagree, love it or hate it.
We have all heard arguments on both sides of caring for the animals and caring for people. Regardless of what you feel or what you believe, hunting is a huge part of the human experience. And believe it or not, it is still a way of life for many.
A cabin, a woodstove and a bottle of hooch were all that was missing from a couple of hours of stories with Calvin Walker that took me back to a time long ago. The animation, passion and emotion coming out of Walker kept me on the edge my seat and reeling between laughter and tears.
Although legally Walker’s Status is with the Sioux First Nation, he proudly calls himself a “half-breed cause we are all half-breeds in Canada.”
Born in Moose Jaw and adopted into a white family, Walker admitted that he has lived a rough, hard life and was on the streets at 13 making his own way. Discussing his children and this present generation he shook his head saying, “These kids are too protected, and they have to deal with their (expletive), but no one is teaching them that.”
He is grateful for this as it has given him the beliefs, skills and caring for others that guide his life today. Tradition, honour and respect are cornerstones in his world. Ignorance, judgement and lack of those cornerstones cause a boiling beneath the surface.
Walker shared countless hunting and guiding stories that included his brother, Bonner McArthur, who sounds like another interesting character to meet. Together, they have hunted to provide much needed meat to families on and off the reserves in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Whether families are gathering for a wake or other traditional celebration, fresh local meat is a cherished gift. Both men seem to be the type that would give you the shirt off their backs if you truly needed it, but arrogance and entitlement…not their cup of tea.
At one time, Walker recalled “We would guide hard for months. Doing all the preparations, guiding, hosting, hunting and harvesting the meat took a lot of work.” He looked at his wife and asked, “Do you remember when we did that for three and a half months straight?”
Candace smiled and nodded and said, “But tell her about the traditional hunting. That is important for people to know.”
Walker began to talk about the way they hunt and the why behind what they do. It goes back hundreds, if not thousands of years to being grateful to be able to survive off the land. A traditional hunt is different.
“You don’t go into them with quads and all this other (expletive),” he exclaimed, “you put on miles and miles. My brother and I did a lot of spot and stalk.” Walker said that where they hunt there are long lakes, big sloughs and ridges, some of the toughest terrain you could find. They are so successful because no one wants to do the work to go back in there but that is where the animals are.
“We go up in the spring and I will crawl into a heard of elk and be 15 feet from a calf.” Picture the men being camouflaged and scented up to prevent being detected but also to not be seen as a threat to a herd. “Our stuff would make some people puke,” he laughed.
Now that is a forgotten skill.
“You never shoot in the boiler room,” he said and then had to explain no gut shots. Always shooting the head or neck will make for a clean kill with no suffering and keep the meat fresh as you drain all the blood out before you begin to harvest. “There is not one part of the animal that is not used,” he continued. “We save and clean the intestines for sausage and keep all the organs for those who enjoy tripe soup. There are so many nutrients in the organ meats.”
Walker demonstrated how he field dressed and deboned the animal right where it was shot and then carried everything back wrapped in the hide leaving only the blood behind. “You use the brain for tanning the hides and you will always have people who need each part of the animal. It didn’t matter if we were miles into the bush, my brother and I would haul it all back in.” He laughed as he said, “We were young and strong back then.”
As with traditional hunting, there is much preparation that results in a kill, but Walker said, “When I go out for a hunt, I am coming back with something.”
Learning a great deal about hunting from Norman Paul, Walker said “Now there was a man who knew about hunting.” Walking for miles, tracking, bushwhacking and going back for days to figure out the animal’s patterns was all part of the hunt. Between his time with Norman and years clearing bush for cutlines with seismic crews, Walker knows the park and the entire surrounding lands like the back of his hand.
Walker is not naïve to the reality of today’s generation, both white and First Nation, who do not respect people or property and take no responsibility for their actions. He admits that every hunter at one point in their long lives has done something “illegal” depending on the situation they are faced with in the field, but these are not common practice and should never become common.
He was disgusted as he described big game tournaments where heads and racks are harvested, and animals are left to rot.
“That is just a bloody waste. I have long grown out of hunting for the biggest animal. When you have 20 families to feed, you get calves, dry cows and small spikes so the meat is delicious. The older generation just can’t chew the tough meat.”
Walker and McArthur look at the big picture whenever they are hunting big game and know the value of the hundreds of pounds of meat they have after a shoot. “How long does it take you to eat 400 pounds of meat? And if you got the balls to shoot it, you got the balls to take care of the whole animal and give it to some families who need it if you don’t want it.” Exasperated he said, “You never leave the meat, ever.”
Some funny stories included details of their guiding days where rich city folk came out for a big hunt. Picturing a gentleman from B.C. with a 416 that was taller than he was, and the look on Walker and McArthur’s faces when he admitted he had not ever shot or sighted in the gun was hilarious, as was imagining Walker picking the man up off the ground even after changing to a smaller gun.
He still scoped himself even with instruction, leaving with a kill and bruising around the eye. “We led one guy right to a bull, and he fired five shots from 50 yards and missed,” Walker marveled and shook his head as he said, “So I just left him there in the bush.” He made it out and they went back and tracked the animal again the next day with a successful shoot. So many stories like this had us in stiches.
Although he hunts mainly on reserve land at the west side of Moose Mountain Provincial Park, he was adamant that hunters actually contact landowners to get permission. Walker could not count the number of times that he and his brother had done all the work to prepare for a hunt only to have someone drive into the area, onto the land, disturb their space and drive off. When he goes up Norquay, Hudson Bay, Porcupine Plain and all those places up north, Walker buys a tag like anyone else and when he finds an area he wants to hunt he will get permission or just go deep into the forest.
Farmers have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their crops and that needs to be respected.
Unfortunately, over the years, Walker recalled some harassing situations with the Department of Natural Resources officers, but he knows the laws and his rights. He has licences for what he needs to, when and where he needs to. What set him off was the unnecessary, constant mistrust of him when there are other very important issues the conservation officers could address.
His wife nodded sadly as he recalled being stopped while fishing four times in one day. In saying that, he appreciates the conservation officers for keeping people in check who are disrespectful and unsafe to others.
“What I would like to say in all of this is that I would like things to go back to the way it was,” Walker started. “Like years ago, you could not even drive into a field. The only time you could drive in was to retrieve. It destroys your hunt when you have walked in one-half mile and are hunkered in waiting for game and someone comes driving in the field with their truck. It is pretty disheartening when you have spent so much time and effort and it is gone.”
Walker knows tonnes of other hunters who have experienced the same thing. Bartering, trading meats for the benefit of everyone and respecting all aspects of hunting are still alive and well in some people and Walker wants everyone to get back to that tradition.
Ironically, an article written by Daniel P. Modaff in 2004, states “As the traditional Sioux attempted to manage the challenges of their daily lives, they drew strength from four virtues that every member of the tribe aspired to achieve: bravery, generosity, fortitude, and wisdom.” The irony? Those virtues live in Walker today.
