Guide Outfitting

Tahltan Hunting

Tahltan people have always had a deep respect for the wildlife in their territory. As a result, their people have always been broken into clans of two very important and intelligent animals – the Wolf and the Crow. Each clan was further broken into subclans, each of which had their own distinct lands, authority and responsibilities to the Tahltan Nation.

Tahltans were a nomadic people who moved around the landscape in pursuit of animals and plants for food, tools, medicines and spiritual purposes. All the subclans of the Wolf Clan and Crow Clan would come together along the Stikine River each year to harvest salmon, make governance decisions, trade and hold ceremonies. Other areas, such as the Sheslay, were known to be a gathering place where the Tahltan and Tlingit would trade and hold ceremonies for various purposes, such as a marriage between members of the two nations.

Every subclan would have members responsible for different duties. There were shamans, medicinal experts, hunting experts and those utilized for war with neighboring tribes. Tahltans were known to patrol their borders regularly, which would have been a collective effort from all the subclans.

Tahltans used a variety of hunting techniques for different animals. For mountain goats the hunters would hide in areas near well established trails and in the crevasses utilized regularly by the species. Once harvested, the hide went through a process where it could be utilized for armor, the horns for a variety of tools, and the wool for ropes and other implements. Some Elders said that mountain goats were more important than salmon given all the distinct uses from this creature. Other ungulates (animals with hooves and horns) in Tahltan Territory include deer, caribou, stones sheep and moose.

Bears could be caught in deadfall traps utilizing trees and bait, or through spearing the bears during hibernation. Bear dens could be found by utilizing Tahltan Bear Dogs, a distinct species unique to the Tahltan people prior to contact with Europeans, or simply by spotting dens prior to the winter season. Some Elders spoke of a sacred ceremony about “cutting tongue”, whereby the Tahltan warriors would do a ceremonial dance and protocol which included cutting a grizzly bear tongue before going into war. Through Tahltan knowledge, passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years, the people knew which parts of the animals could be used for medicine, ceremony or other uses. For example, the forearm bone of a grizzly bear was called a “Tagodi” and was utilized for scraping hides as part of the process to remove flesh and soften skins prior to utilizing them for clothing, bags, blankets, roofing purposes and so forth. Black bears were also utilized.

Wolves lived throughout Tahltan Territory and were carefully managed by each subclan. If the clan members felt the wolf population was getting too high within their area, they would seek out the wolf dens in the spring and kill most of the wolf pups, often only leaving one to survive. They had a special shaped tool which was utilized to grab the wolf pups from deep within the den. It is likely the Tahltan Bear Dogs would have been heavily relied upon to assist with finding unknown wolf dens when necessary. Wolves are known to utilize the same dens for many generations, so each clan would have known many of the den locations from year to year.

Fur bearing animals which were important to Tahltan culture and survival include beaver, lynx, muskrat, fisher, weasel, wolverine, marten, porcupine, fox, coyote and river otter. Many bird species were also relied upon for food and/or smaller implements, including several species of grouse, ducks and swans. The oral stories and Tahltan language also help explain how the Tahltan people may have felt about various animals in pre-contact times. For example, the word for river otter was “Kazuna”, which also refers to “spirit” in the Tahltan language. These animals were considered sacred and utilized by shamans for special purposes. On the other hand, coyotes were referred to as “tidah tli”, meaning “useless dog” in the Tahltan language. Perhaps the Tahltan people unsuccessfully tried to domesticate coyotes and/or did not like utilizing them for various reasons.

Once non-indigenous peoples made their way into Tahltan Territory in the 1800s and onward, diseases heavily wiped out their populations and changed their cultural structures and practices forever. So much knowledge was lost and the Tahltan people were forced to adapt in a changing world. They adapted quickly and began using tools made of metal, such as snares, traps, knives, guns and so forth. Some Tahltans became full-time trappers and hunting guides by the late 1800s when their population was thought to have declined from several thousand people to about 300.

In 1884, J.C. Callbreath started the first official outfitting business out of Telegraph Creek. He hired Tahltan guides to conduct hunts throughout the Cassiar District. Soon a number of other outfits sprang up. Many were owned and operated by Tahltan members as well as others who had settled in the area.

During the 1930s, most industries in North America were in severe decline. This was not so for those who provided services to hunters in the Cassiar. There were still a few families in North America who were not burdened by financial losses and could still afford to go on long and arduous adventures. Families such as the Carnegies and Melons hunted the area often and took the sport seriously enough to form the Boone and Crocket Club, which encouraged fair chase and selective hunting through its publication “North American Big Game”. It is in these pages that, over the years, many names from local Cassiar families such as Abou, Carlick, Campbell, Creyke, Day, Dennis, Gleason, Jack, Porter, and Quock appear as providing the expertise for a successful hunt.

The 1960s brought a new generation of outfitter. Now more Tahltans were becoming outfitters as well as guides. John Creyke, Fletcher Day, and Arnold Edzerza ran successful outfits out of Kinaskan, Shesley, and Atlin respectively. They were later joined by Dempsey Callison and Thomas Dennis, and many others throughout the years.

Fletcher and Doreen Day purchased “Sheslay River Outfitters” in 1963, which included many sacred areas in the Sheslay and Nahlin areas of Tahltan Territory. These two raised ten children together, all of whom were involved in the business over the years as wranglers, cooks and hunting guides. Norman Day, father of Chad Day, was the eldest of the ten children.

After the turn of the century, paved roads and improved access to what had been pure wilderness areas throughout the north and, in particular, the Cassiar, were starting to have an effect on wildlife populations and the quality of the hunting experience. There was a general consensus amongst the local outfitters that the situation was deteriorating to such a degree that they needed to form their own guides association to represent their interests and create a much needed northern voice. This was done in 2008, with Fletcher Day, Willie Williams, Vern Marion, Rick McLean, Jerry Creyke, Rudy Day, and Dempsey Callison becoming inaugural members of the Tahltan Guide & Outfitting Association (TGOA).

In 2014 when President Chad Day was originally elected as the President of the Tahltan Central Government (TCG), his knowledge of hunting was limited. By the time he became old enough to begin hunting his father, Norman, was no longer involved in the guide outfitting business and stopped hunting himself. Chad had several opportunities growing up to learn from his uncles and cousins, but always chose to pursue other work, educational or sports opportunities instead.

President Day worked alongside Chief Terri Brown of the Tahltan Band during the 2014 hunting protest when she blocked the road between Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake from resident hunters. The result was that the Province began investing more funds into wildlife management and capacity building within the Tahltan Territory. At the same time, the TCG applied for various funding opportunities for Wildlife Guardians, and eventually Jarett Quock was hired as the first Wildlife Guardian in April, 2016.

The TCG signed a Benefits Agreement with the TGOA in July 2014 with the Tahltan Band and Iskut Band leadership signing off as witnesses. This unprecedented and unique agreement paved the way for collaborative efforts and initiatives between the Tahltan people and guide outfitters which have resulted in millions of dollars raised and invested into wildlife management initiatives. This includes initiatives surrounding predator management, data gathering, studying samples from harvested wild game, wildlife collaring programs, wildlife inventory counts and much more.

The TCG created its own Wildlife Department in 2016 and quickly began collaborating with various organizations to complete more wildlife management initiatives and studies throughout Tahltan Territory. Additional funds and capacity also began flowing in from the 3Nations Society, which was a collaborative organization created in partnership amongst the Tahltan, Kaska and Tlingit communities in British Columbia.

President Day began getting increasingly passionate and involved in wildlife initiatives and advocacy following the provincial government’s decision to implement a grizzly bear hunting ban throughout BC in 2018. This decision was made without consulting the Tahltan people and had several negative impacts throughout the territory. Guide outfitting businesses suffered, grizzly bear conflicts with residents and cabin damage continued to increase, ungulate populations (particularly moose and caribou) continued to decrease, and the tension and conflicts between the Tahltan people and resident hunters would inevitably worsen as the Province continued to mismanage wildlife populations.

In September of 2020, at President Day’s insistence, the TCG Board introduced the Predator Management Policy which helped reimburse Tahltan members who successfully harvested grizzly bears, black bears and wolves. This bold step received international attention and backlash from many groups within Canada, but it served as an excellent example of strong leadership which prioritized the interests of Tahltan wildlife and culture rather than caving into the pressure of outside interests and ignorance. After one year of implementing the predator policy the TCG decided to no longer reimburse Tahltans for black bear and they doubled the incentive payments to $1000 per wolf and grizzly bear. When the grizzly harvest numbers were far less than what was expected in the second year, coupled with Chad’s eldest son wanting to learn to be a hunter, President Day began joining the Wildlife Department, Multimedia Department, guide outfitters, Tahltan community members and other TCG wildlife partners in the field to understand the wildlife issues better and to become a hunter.

In 2020 President Day went hunting at Level Mountain, Sheslay and near the communities of Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake. He harvested a moose this year and turned down the opportunity to harvest a couple of grizzly bears. The following year in 2021 he went hunting with his fourteen-year-old son, Malakai, who harvested a grizzly bear, mountain goat and moose, all in different areas of Tahltan Territory. Malakai’s moose hunt was led by his uncle, Jarett Quock, near Camp Island Lake and this would be the last time that Jarett visited the area or led such a hunt before he passed away due to cancer in 2022. He and Chad were the same age and first cousins who grew up like brothers when they attended elementary school together in Telegraph Creek. The TCG created a Jarett Quock Tribute Video and he is dearly missed by everyone who knew him.

From 2022 onward Chad and Malakai have gone on several hunting adventures each year, often with other Tahltan youth and friends. They have collectively harvested many grizzly bears since that time frame. These bears have always been hunted in areas where they often prey on ungulate populations; areas where grizzly bears commonly feed on salmon have always been avoided. Chad and his younger children, Nahlin and Nethenion, have also harvested several ungulates (ie. moose, mountain goat and stones sheep) which have fed the family and been gifted to several local Tahltan Elders and families.

Unfortunately, following Chad’s departure from the TCG, Tahltan governments have not prioritized wildlife management and are no longer incentivizing Tahltan hunters to harvest predators to assist with the dwindling caribou and moose populations. Recent studies also suggest that grizzly bears are contributing to a decline in stones sheep populations in some areas of Tahltan Territory.

Chad continues to be an avid advocate for predator management, assuming such efforts align with Indigenous knowledge, local knowledge and western science, as they do in Tahltan Territory. He will aim to incorporate predator management teachings into his ecotourism business through Thadu Adventures to help participants understand some distinct worldviews which run counter to popular beliefs in urban areas.

Thadu Consulting Corporation

Engage. Enlighten. Empower.