As far back as the Iñupiaq people can remember they have always been able to live and feed off the land. This is what generations of indigenous people have watched ancestors before them do. Hunting traditions and stories are passed down through the years in hopes to keep the history of the Iñupiaq people alive. Without living off the land, the Iñupiat people had little means to survive in the harsh tundra climate. All you could count on was the wildlife of caribou, tundra plants and berries, and waterfowl that came to the slope for a short time during a season that lasts only a few months. Imagine having an outsider from somewhere down in the lower 48 states that traveled all the way to Barrow, Alaska to tell you that you cannot shoot any waterfowl during the time where they are bountiful. The Iñupiaq people depended on these creatures to feed their family and their community. All sorts of questions went through the village of Barrow; they couldn’t understand why this was happening to them. They weren’t hurting anyone by shooting the waterfowl. This is precisely what happened to this northern community in 1961 when the federal government wanted to regulate when the bird could be harvested. This came to be known as The Duck-In. During the Duck-In, it was more than the right to shoot ducks, it was the right to provide for your family, support your community, and preserve your right as a Native to live off the land.

1961 in the far northern Iñupiaq community of Barrow, Alaska was rocked with rage, emotions, disrespect, and opposition that they had to overcome and be united if they were to win the battle against the United States federal government. In 1991 the federal government was trying to regulate the hunting of migratory waterfowl.  According to Andrew Jenson of the Alaska Journal of Commerce, there was a 1915 treaty between the United States and Canada that barred anyone hunting these waterfowl during March to September – only this treaty had not made its way to the Arctic until after Alaska became a state in 1959. Jensen continues to state that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife sent their Enforcement Officer Harry Pinkham to Barrow to arrest two Iñupiat hunters for shooting ducks in May of 1961; this was the start of what we know today as the Duck In. When Officer Pinkham arrested these two men, not only did he stop them from shooting more ducks, he also prevented them from providing food to their families.

Living a subsistence lifestyle is the Iñupiaq way. It runs through the bloodstream like an addiction. It is the satisfaction of knowing that you can provide for your family for months by hunting and harvesting animals when they are bountiful, especially when paid jobs were so scarce in the early days of Barrow history. Elders taught their children and grandchildren how to prepare and care for each animal that they harvested. 1961 came time for Tommy ‘Nipik’ Pikok Sr. to fight to provide for his growing family. Nipik had already a wife and four small children with another one on the way, as stated by Nipik’s oldest daughter Ethel K. Burke. Living in the Arctic, in Barrow, Alaska, which is part of what’s called the North Slope, the news about a treaty between the United States, Mexico, and Canada banning the hunting of migrating waterfowl was slow to reach the community of Barrow. The hunters went about their hunting season without any hesitation, definitely not worrying about getting arrested for hunting a simple animal like a duck.

When you live off the land to provide food for your family, there isn’t any man or any federal or state law that can tell you that you are not allowed to do this. Living off the land to provide for your family is essential not only to keep the tradition alive, but also in 1961, paid jobs and money wasn’t readily available. Sarah Kunaknana stated that when the white man’s boats came to Barrow, Iñupiaq people would eat some of the white man’s food, but they would have to bargain with seal skins to purchase anything from the sellers from the boats. The Iñupiaq people in 1961 had not adapted to eating the white man’s food. When you don’t grow up eating that type of food, it will often make you sick, and you will crave your traditional foods. Being able to prepare and care for the harvest that is caught during the year is an honor to the animal to prepare and care for it in a way that will last and not go to wast. In the documentary The Duck In directed by Rachel Naninaaq Edwardson, she interviewed Tommy Pikok Sr for the piece and he recalls how when he was a young child, food was scarce. His mother would cook just the skin of a seal that had no fat or meat on it to feed her family. Nipik didn’t want his family to have to go through the starvation that he had experienced as a young Iñupiaq man growing up. He could, and he would provide food for his family.

Ilagiigniq (Family and Kinship) is one of the valuable Native traditions in Barrow. I believe all middle school children should be introduced to The Duck In as part of their ILT ( Iñupiat Learning ) program. They need to know the history of them and their ancestors. They need to understand how important it is as a parent, as a hunter, and as an Iñupiaq living in the world today what it is like to care and protect your family. To show how important it is for kinship.  In The Duck In, the hunters involved put their family first. They didn’t care about the outcome of being arrested. They knew that they had to provide for their families.

When the threat to the Iñupiaq people arose, they didn’t care about any laws that were made in other places. Raymond Neakok stated, “Washington D.C, makes mistakes, when they make laws and regulations, because they don’t understand the Iñupiat way of life. They don’t know when we hunt or when ducks are here.” There were two men arrested. One of them Nipik was at Kuulugruaq River (the river where he went hunting for these precious ducks) when the warden arrested him. The other hunter that was arrested was John Nusunginya. He was walking home with a duck in his hand on his way to feed his children when the warden arrested him. When these two men were arrested for providing for their families, this got Barrow residents upset. Etok Edwardsen stated that one community leader by word of mouth organized a meeting in front of the hotel where the warden was staying. He had men, women, and children attend the meeting with a duck in their hand. If they were going to arrest two men for hunting ducks, then they can arrest everyone with a duck.

Cooperation is what brought this community together and made them work as a group to help their own. Paammaagigniq (Cooperation) – another priceless Native value – helped Barrow residents in 1961. Without the cooperation of the community, the 1915 treaty between the United States, Canada, and Mexico would have made its way to the Arctic Slope and devastate the community if there weren’t able to hunt waterfowl during the peak season. It is essential that middle school children learn how to cooperate. They are at an age in life where they are learning life skills in school that will help them throughout life. They will learn how to fight for what they believe when they cooperate and come as a group when they have battles bigger than life itself, just like their elders did in 1961. Sadie Neakok stated that when the game warden ran from his hotel room to her office when he saw men, women, and children standing and waiting for him outside his hotel that he didn’t know what to do with all those people. Sadie Neakok told him that he knew what to do when someone was in possession of an illegal hunt. That is how the Barrow residents cooperated and stood up for the two men arrested for providing for their families.

When Iñupiaq people harvest any animal, they share it with the community members who were less fortunate in their hunting, or with elders or anyone who doesn’t have the means to go hunt. They also store some of the harvests for gatherings for important events around the community. The Iñupiaq people have learned over generations how to care for what they hunt. Nipik stated that his parents told him not to overhunt so that others can hunt and help the community as well, which is another tradition in the Iñupiat values: Aviktuaqatigiigniq (Sharing). Middle school students need to learn the true meaning of sharing. They need to be able to learn from their parents and their elders so that they will know how important it is to be able to share their harvest, to share their knowledge, and to share their values and beliefs.

The United States government nor the Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Officer Harry Pinkham wasn’t expecting the strong will of the Iñupiaq people of Barrow when they were facing obstacles that would come between supporting and providing for their families. When someone who isn’t familiar with the importance of the Iñupiaq dependency of survival on land and sea and tries to regulate hunting at its peak season is devastating to a culture that is rich, proud, and full of spirit that has been embedded in them for thousands of years. Knowing that they are living the way of life that their ancestors before them lived. Sarah Kunaknana stated, “Like our ancestors, the people of the North Slope will always follow our parent’s heritage. We have always lived as our forefathers lived.” As an Iñupiaq, you have the right to live off the land. Living off the land is imperative for survival. It was necessary for 1961 as well as it is today and as well as it will for the future of the Iñupiaq people. This characteristic is the pride of where you came from. Nothing can take that away from you when that is all you know, not even the United States government. The Iñupiaq people didn’t want their hunting traditions destroyed by this 1915 treaty that was made without the knowledge of their ways.

Anuniallaniq (Hunting Traditions) is the foundation of the Iñupiaq people. It is how they live. As a middle school child, knowing your traditions of your ancestors is as vital as knowing your culture. Knowing how to hunt appropriately is essential. Middle school children need to hear the hunting stories of their parents and grandparents to understand the meaning of hunting. Anyone can put a bullet in a gun and shoot at something but being able to do this in a way that is less traumatic to the animal is what makes a strong sincere hunter. When you are a hunter you use every part of the animal that gave its life to you. Nothing goes to waste. There is a skill in hunting. Being at the age of 11 or so is a great time to start learning the hunting traditions that are around them. There is a Cherokee saying that if you ask an animal to come to you for an honest hunt he will gratefully offer itself to you. I believe that is true no matter what culture or what hunting traditions a person follows. As a proud race, the Iñupiaq people hunt and survive off the land, they work together during adversity and their pride in their culture overflows when they talk about It. Or when they are on the land hunting it shines through. Pride is taught and instilled in them at an early age.

The Duck In wasn’t about shooting ducks. It was the survival of the Iñupiaq people. It was the rights to provide and support their families as well as their community. It was their right to preserve thousands of years of traditions that were passed down from generation to generation.  It is the right for the next generations of Iñupiaq people. Sam Taalak made a statement in The Duck In documentary that sums up the whole event that took place in Barrow, Alaska almost 57 years ago that was true then and still rings true today. Taalak stated, “Hunger knows no law.”

The Duck In documentary opened the eyes of not only the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Officer Harry Pinkham, but it opened the eyes of Alaska Natives. This event in Alaska history made all involved that things we live by, the things we take for granted such as hunting ducks to feed our families can be taken away from us at any moment if we don’t stand behind what we believe and if we don’t fight for our rights.

Works Cited

History of the Iñupiat People: 1961: The Duck – In. Directed by Rachel Naninaaq Edwardson, Perf. Tommy Pikok Sr., Etok Edwardsen, Sadie Neakok, Raymond Neakok, Sarah Kunaknana. 2005. Naninaaq Film Productions, 2005.

Jensen, Andrew. “ANCSA Paved Way for Alaska Natives, State to Prosper Together.” Alaska Journal of Commerce, 13 Oct. 2011.

Burke, Ethel K. Phone interview. 9 Apr. 2018.