I just told some friends that the various eskimo tribes use the .22 long rifle to shoot just about everything in Alaska, up to, and including Polar Bear. Is there a site on-line that would have something to back me up here? He doesn't believe me.

Thanks.

while I dont know of any sight that backs this, and I dont know if a whole tribe does this, I know several native people here who do shoot everything with a 223 or 22 lr

120 where you at now? in iowa or iraq??

120mm,

What I think your referring to is some native people do use 22 LR for hunting, but mostly with caribou that are swimming. ADFG refers to caribou that are swimming are legal to hunt with a 22 LR for those folks that sustian there livelyhood and live near the migrating caribou herds. The other stuff maybe true, but I wouldn't say it's openly practiced. My $.02 IMO.

Some Native hunters used .223's and such to hunt bears, and not too long ago. I have been told that to shoot a bear with such a small gun, the bullet must hit between the eye and the ear (from the side). This could be accomplished while a "bear" dog was distracting the bear.

Around 1962, I was unloading supplies during sealift for the remote station at Resolute Bay which is in the high Canadian arctic. Got to go on a whale hunt (belugas) with the local Natives who had been relocated there from Pond Inlet. The caliber that I saw in most common use was a .222 and we were told that the 222 was also used to kill polar bears, of which the village had gotten something like 50 in a previous winter. The bears were pursued by dog team and when cornered, the dogs were turned loose to keep the bear at bay while the lead poured in. I don't think one shot kills were common.

As an aside, these guys were the strongest group of persons I had ever encountered. We were all young and accustomed to physical labor(that was a requirement for getting hired). Our group of several young guys arm wrestled their guys. There was only one person that any of us could even tie and he was around 60 and had one lung.

Some of my older Native friends in Alaska recall hunting caribou and moose with both a 22 long rifle and the old Remington 22 Special. One shot just below the ear.

I live in a Native village and the largest caliber I've seen them use is a 30-06. The most popular calibers are 223 and 243. In some of the western villages the 222 and 303 British are popular due to large stocks of ammunition in the stores.

I saw in one of the record books where a native lady had shot a large brown bear with a 22 rimfire.

I don't live up there but I've seen a couple of documentaries where the "natives" were carrying and using M38 Swedish 6.5x55s in as issued condition to shoot seals (and presumably, whatever else needed shooting).

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I forgot to mention that I once attended a class with a Native Alaskan who said they went walrus and seal hunting with whatever they had. He was, at the time, very enamoured of his new .44 Remington Magnum. I can't remember for certain what it was in but I think it was a Remington 788. He said it worked much better than his old rifle, a Savage .22 Hornet!

An AGR guy with the Alaskan Scouts, I've been wondering if he's still in service. His dad died and he was pulled from the course. He was tough. Coming from 40 degree summer weather, he was training in 100 degree Arkansas summer weather. He had a hard time running with us. He ran like he was running on ice, with that peculiar gate one uses to always keep your weight directly above the contact foot. A great guy. Any AGR guys from AK on the forum?

[ 10-07-2003, 18:06: Message edited by: Hobie ]

Hello,

A number of years ago, I watched my cousin drop a coastal brown bear at his fish camp up the Unalakleet River. The bear was getting into our fish stocks and becoming a nuisance. One shot down the ear canal and that was that! He used a scoped Winchester M9422M .22 Mag to do the deed. I think the .22 Mag is better for that sort of stuff as I’ve seen .22 LR’s not go through even a beavers skull. Of course there was a .338 Mag sitting next to him just in case and I had a .45-70 Marlin on hand.

I use a Marlin 39 Mountie for all my grouse hunting/rabbit in Fairbanks area.

Most of the locals that I went moose hunting with this year used the 30-06. 1 338 1 30/30 and 1 7mm mag. They think my 350mag is really big. The mini-14 is also reasonably popular too, but with dividend time arriving again there will be many new 30-06s and 338s in the village soon.
350mag