Reindeer Herder Piece

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.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . … . .. . .. . .. .. .. .. . . highlights of that speaking engagement. And now, here he is, the Louisiana occasion himself, Justin Wilson. We guarantee some fun. .

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. In the early part of this century, large reindeer herds covered western Alaska. As the domesticated cousin of wild caribou, reindeer were introduced into Alaska in 1892 by Sheldon Jackson, the U.S. government's agent for education. Jackson brought 171 animals from Siberia and was also instrumental in bringing over

the world's best reindeer herders to teach the Alaskans. These are the lap people of Scandinavia, dwellers in the northernmost regions of Sweden, Norway and Finland. They came to Alaska in the last decades of the 19th century and began to take native Alaskans as apprentices to teach them all they would need to know about successful management of reindeer. Soon the natives were joined by other Alaskans who were excited about the financial aspects of supplying fresh reindeer meat to the thousands of miners who regularly flock to the state and search of gold. One of those entrepreneurs was Tim Twitchell, whose father owned a herd of 3,000 reindeer around Ididarod during the years 1916 through 1927. We had a very small herd and not too many herders. We figured about one man to 500 deer.

So the first range we had was in the Holy Cross area where we winded them. And from there then we also moved on to the Ididarod country. When we settled on the beaver range then we could go ahead and divide our areas so that we had a winter range, a fawning range, an intermediate range and a summer range. The range would vary from 3 or 4 miles to 12 or 15 miles across. In the springtime, after fawning in the dry uplands, the deer were moved down to the intermediate range. Then we got to the intermediate range. There we had our corals where we would, and these corals were divided into four or five different parts there.

The main pen held a whole herd and then a smaller part there were broken down so that when we got ready to lasso or get a hold of these little fawns, we would get them random and finally we would release them through a shoot. And when they would release through that shoot, then they were out on the open range. Then we did kept that up until all the banding was done and then we could do that in a day. And then from there we were ready to move them over to the summer range, slowly. They would stay on there and they would condition themselves with their abundance of the vegetation that they feed on and so they would build up their fat and that they'd be conditioned then to become a marketable deer coming up to the October and November. The summer range was chosen for its lush vegetation.

A rainy climate was preferred as that would keep the flies and other stinging insects to a minima. After a full summer of grazing, the deer were ready to move back to the intermediate range for the running season and for the selection of deer that would be marketed. For the butchering, we used to buy, we used to bring in anywhere from 50 to 100 head of butchering stock and we'd rather write to the towns where the market was. The old four was one, the old four mining district and flat for the added rod mining district. At first we didn't use grass, we just would shoot them there one at a time.

There we would bother some with the loose dogs and there if there was any dogs come there while we were butchering while we would shoot those dogs and kill them. Eventually we got so we put them into corals and that way we eliminated a lot of our dog trouble. So we could tend to our butchering instead of washing that no deer slipped back onto the range while we were doing the butchering. When the running season was over, then we were ready to start moving the deer to their winter range. During the winter, as well as in other seasons, the herders had to guard the deer against predators. The predators that we had in the wintertime were wolves and then at the fawning time the predators would be a wolves and your eagles. Now, this may ask about wolves just killing what they need while the highest score that I see they kill it. Then the one killing was one time that we used to watch them and then we'd drop down to our camp to have our lunch and then come back up again.

But in that interim, there was one wolf there that went for 15 fawns. He'd grab one, just shake it up, then go and grab another one and I'm about 15. So this BS about wolves just killing for just a necessary, that's a bunch of, that's a hoax. There's no truth to that at all. And the same thing with your eagles and eagles get a fawn that's too heavy for them to fly with. He's killed a fawn, but he can't pack it away, so he leaves what he wanted, but he's got nothing to bring back to the nest if he did everyone's. Two legged predators were also a problem. We were moving our reindeer on a range that was claiming as the reindeer reindeer reindeer, which was the name of hunting areas. And they disregarded the fact that these reindeer were not carryable and that they were private property. And there was a little poaching right at the start.

And of course, living year round in the Alaskan bush, the problem of the grizzly was bound to arise. I had the experience one time of going over a pass and there was a bluff on the way down to a lake. And I was taking that pass and then going over that pass, there was a grizzly bear down on the lake. He got my scent and he was getting the hell out of there. And he had to come up this bluff there and there was this room enough for one, one animal or one man to follow that path up to the top. And I was up on the top there. I watched that little grizzly and I had a red mac and on. I waved that and I was hollow and he didn't stop for anything at all. I had the mind to drop a rock down on the fella on the grizzly, but I had my guys. If I missed that grizzly now, he's going to get me right here at the top. So there was some big, big, big rocks. So they weren't bolders. They were rocks. They were probably 15 or 20 feet in diameter. If they were, if you could consider my circle. Well, then I looked at that and I said,

great, great, great, I can. And then there would be a gap. The gap of another baby is maybe another 15 or 20 feet. I was thinking, oh, I can't make that jump. Now, that's up to the grizzly bear and getting closer and closer. And you know, when I jumped, I left the jump clear all past that second rock. And it was before I got into college, before I understand what it was. A common expression is to get in the shed up your back. But anyway, it was the adrenaline glands that stimulated me to that there. I've got that in my psychology lesson. So there's time when you can make some pretty big jumps, way farther than you've seen before. Okay, I would have no order. Never to carry a gun. But I never asked my father if I could carry a gun after I run into that bear. And I just made up my mind and he saw me packing a gun. He never saw anything. He never said anything to me. That was the last incident. And he said, actually, I wanted to carry one grizzly bear in my life. Yeah.

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