By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Local kids got some hands-on experience in butchering venison and gathering wild foods Wednesday night, courtesy of the Sitka 4-H Club in conjunction with the Sitka Conservation Society.
“Our program is a lot of bringing youth back to the Tongass,” said Emily Pound, who works in community outreach with SCS and the 4-H Club.
“The deer series has been an annual thing,” Pound said. “It starts with deer processing, where you saw us skin it, and quarter it, and process it.”
A total of 18 children ages 5 to 13 attended the event, which included meat preparation and storytelling. It was held in the social hall at Sitka Lutheran Church.
“I was asked to come in as a guest for the 4-H program and just talk about the traditional aspects of deer and why it’s important to our people, and respect for the deer,” said Chuck Miller, a cultural programming specialist with Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
Miller said he’s hunted since he was a teenager, with respect for the animals he hunts or fishes.
Pound agreed with that attitude. She said, for her, respect “looks like being mindful of where it’s coming from and what it means.”
The deer at the Wednesday program was a spike buck provided by Tad Fujioka, who helped instruct the children in butchering the deer.
“I’ve been doing this probably five years or so,” he said as he pulled a bullet fragment from the venison. His 11-year-old daughter Alexandra was in the group of kids learning how to strip the last chunks of meat from a shoulder bone.
11-year-old Alexandra Fujioki processes venison meat Wednesday at the Lutheran Church. (Photo provided by Carolyn Rice/SCS)
Miller noted that the Tlingit people have many different words for deer. This spike buck was a “shak’unts,” a word that can also be used to describe a young person. A buck with large antlers, Miller said, is called a “shalas’aaw.”
Miller noted that the STA’s Resource Protection Department accepts donations of wild foods for distribution to tribal citizens.
“Sometimes people will give up their hunting tags to the tribe so we can hunt for them,” he said. Of the three deer Miller has bagged this season, he gave two to STA.
Jeff Feldpausch, director of the Resource Protection Department, said those interested in donating either meat or tags to Sitka Tribe should call him first at 747-7469, or STA traditional food specialist Jerry Strelow at 747-7182.
Feldpausch said the tribe takes in between 20 and 25 donated deer every season, and even received a moose last year.
Miller also had a story-telling session with the kids at the Wednesday program.
“I told them a traditional story of how Raven tricked the deer into following him, and actually ended up killing him so he could eat him,” he said.
Jill Hayden, who works in youth programming with the Conservation Society and does cross-work with Sitka 4-H, also was on hand Wednesday night.
“I personally have never partaken in any hunting,” she said, “but hunting was something that I was kind of tuned into by some family members. And I always found it so intriguing how it’s such a process from start to finish... It’s very relevant to the place, and people seem to respect that there is such an abundance.”
The deer butchering lesson was the first of a four-part series, which continues this Wednesday with a tour of the Sheldon Jackson Museum and activities at the Hames Center. Registration is closed, but in January the 4-H Club will hold sessions on rock climbing, youth court, winter berries, birding, and youth in government.
Those interested should email Emily Pound at emily@sitkawild.org, or call at 907-747-7509.
