Description
This article is from the Sea
Kayaking FAQ, by Todd Leigh with numerous contributions by
others.
55 What hunting tools were used?
A harpoon was used together with a rope and an air bladder. The
harpoon tip is attached to the air bladder with the rope. The harpoon
tip was detachable from the harpoon shaft to allow the animal to
thrash about and not break the shaft. The rope was typically made of
seal skin. The rope would be coiled on the front deck and allowed to
play out once an animal was harpooned.
A javelin was also used and is similar to the harpoon. The difference
is the tip and air bladder stay attached to the shaft with rope.
The harpoon used a larger air bladder than a javelin which allowed
larger marine animals to be hunted. The harpoons air bladders also
were used for adding floatation to the kayak in case of puncture or
water leakage. They were sometimes used in rescues.
A lance was used to kill an animal that was close by.
A knife was carried to kill a wounded animal or to prepare it to be
taken in to land.
Bird darts were spears with three or four forward slanted spikes. The
spikes allowed a bird to be brought down if the spear tip did not
penetrate the bird and instead slid along its body.
A throwing stick (sometimes referred to as a throwing board or an
atlatl) was used to boost the range of a spear or harpoon.
A white blind was used by some hunters to camouflage their upper
bodies so they could sneak up on resting seals.
All these could be carried on the deck and ready for immediate
use. The deck lines were skin with toggles and bone used to fasten
items.
Bows and arrows typically were not used. The reasons for this is the
difficulty of handling one in a kayak and water would cause the bow
string to stretch rendering the bow useless.
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