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Location: Big Island- Hawaii, AK, WA where the whales are!
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Thank you for incredible pictures and insights .... looking forward to more - Wish everyone well and safe and good hunting!
I don't want to get "into" the political debates however this is interesting to me to read this thread...I have no authority facts or backup to debate.
It is a new enlightenment to me in the last year... the discovery of the past years encounters of my life and ideas... please take my thoughts of good .....and forgive the ramble.
It is really easy to sit in my mainland house in Washington going to the grocery for food and watching Animal planet to make judgments of how and what other people should do. I spent the last couple of months watching the whales off WA and in Hawaii... completely amazed at the pure presence of them... sit and wait all day for a tail breech or a blow! Just to witness it! Wonder why today in this modern age why someone would want to hunt such a incredible animal.
However in my past I hunted for my food - too poor to go to that grocery 38 miles away - hunted my elk deer ducks geese grouse.... did it legally - raised my veges and who's right is it to question how I fed myself. How do I or anyone to question the right of how they do it also... whether it is just good food today- accessable or now the true question of importance culture....
I have had experiences in my life with tribes in WA - before the whale hunts came back - helping the medicine man of a certain tribe before death describe his experience bringing culture back to the land of the people - touching and seeing things from long ago - seeing a tribe bring the opposed culture back .... it just happened I had no idea where I was going - just a white person at the right time to experience. I did see something on National G this winter that also opened my eyes to why in Alaska. Watch people I know in WA in tribes and the Hawaiians try to recreate a culture that was theirs....with regualations who is to question what is correct from a distance.
Thank you again for sharing your experience and example of the truth known to you and the people on your crew. It is a true present that many of us would never see without your posting and sharing this.
To date there still have been no whales taken by Barrow crews. The wind is still from the wrong direction and the only open leads are northeast of town, past the point.
As of today, the 15th, crews will be allowed to hunt with aluminum boats and outboard motors at any point along the ice, if any leads do open. That is usually allowed late in the year when the weather warms up as the potential for affecting the migration pattern is greatly reduced.
Given the lack of favorable conditions so far this spring, it appears that next fall will be a very busy season, with the entire quota unused.
The water opened back up, I was out yesterday and the day before, the lead was pretty close to the beach, maybe less than a mile in some places. One of the other crews just got the first whale, I think it was Gordon Browers crew. I didn't hear how big it was. Anyone have any more updates on other crews?
The water opened back up, I was out yesterday and the day before, the lead was pretty close to the beach, maybe less than a mile in some places. One of the other crews just got the first whale, I think it was Gordon Browers crew. I didn't hear how big it was. Anyone have any more updates on other crews?
I heard it was the ABC crew, but no other info. That was what I heard at lunch time.
Floyd is correct it was the ABC crew. I was talking with one of the crew members this afternoon - actually got a Very small sample taste of the fresh whale blubber and cartlidge from the Baleen. After a number of washings in soap and hot water my hands still have a faint smell of whale.
A little WD40 did help.
He said it was caught last night and it took them all morning to bring it in. I think he said it was a 27 foot whale, some kind of northern - not bowhead - but my mind is a bit off this evening.
He had just finished cutting it up in his front yard as I was walking by, They were going to boil some and freeze the rest.
I can see the open water out back of my house. It looks like maybe a 1/2 mile - of course distances can be deceiving and I haven't been out there but it sure looks close.
BTW thanks - some really nice pictures in this thread.
Funny WD40 helped- I hear it is made of fish oil! And I dislike how my hands smell after using it a lot...
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.. .. Thank you so much for taking the time to post that ! 
