The skins are taken to the camps and piled up. Those which are not to be tanned immediately are hung over poles to dry, the flesh side turned upwards.
The meat is stripped from the bones and taken to the tents, where it is exposed to the smoke and hot air over the fire and quickly dried. Some of the Indians are so expert in stripping the flesh from the skeleton that the exact form or outlines of the animal are preserved in the process of drying. The drying flesh acquires a very dark brown color from the smoke and blood left within the tissues. Certain portions of the dry meat, especially those from the flanks and abdominal walls, are quite palatable; they are crisp, and have a rich nutty flavor. The intercostal muscles are also choice portions, while some of the flesh from the haunches is dry and nearly tasteless. The back fat is often dried and smoked, but acquires a disagreeable rancid taste.
The long bones are cracked and the marrow extracted. This substance is the most highly prized portion of the animal, and in seasons of plenty the deer are often slaughtered for the marrow alone. The fat is placed in pots or kettles and rendered over a fire. It is then poured into another vessel to cool, and forms a valuable article of trade and a necessity for food, and is also required in the process of tanning the skins.
The bones containing the marrow are cracked and placed in a kettle, hung over a slow fire, and the substance melted. The marrow brings a higher price than the tallow, and is esteemed a choice article of food. The heads are thrown to one side until the decomposing brain is wanted to be mixed with the semi-putrid liver for the purpose of tanning the skins. When the flesh has dried sufficiently it is taken down and put into packages of about thirty pounds weight each. These bundles are enveloped in the parchment like subcutaneous tissue, and stored away until they are needed for food. A species of mold attacks the flesh if it is not frequently inspected and dried, but as it is harmless, it does not injure the meat. Indians for weeks at a time subsist entirely on this dried meat. They also have a season of plenty when the female deer and the bucks of less than two years are on their way to the Cape Chidley region. Here the females bring forth their young unmolested by the old bucks and also less annoyed by the myriads of mosquitoes which throng the lower parts of the country.
The crossing place of the females and young bucks is at or near Fort Chimo at least each alternate year. About the 5th to the 10th of May the assembled Indians anxiously await the coming of the game. In the course of a few days the welcome cry of “Deer!” is heard, and the camp immediately becomes a scene of great excitement—men hurrying to get their guns and ammunition, women shouting the direction of the game, and children running to the higher eminences to watch the herds.
The men endeavor to occupy a narrow defile, where the herd will pass between the hills to the level land beyond. Some station themselves at the top of the ravine, while the swiftest runners hasten to the head of the defile to lie in ambush until the deer, urged from behind, rush past, to be met with a volley of balls from all sides. Panic seizes the animals, and wherever they turn an Indian confronts them. Until the deer recover from their paralysis, and once more obey their instinct to escape, numbers of them stand quietly waiting to be slaughtered; others walk unconcernedly about, seemingly deprived of the power of flight. The Indians hurriedly close upon them, and in a few minutes the entire herd is destroyed or dispersed in all directions.
The guns used on this occasion are the cheapest kind of muzzle-loading single-barreled shotguns. The balls used are of such size that they will drop to the bottom of the chamber. No patching is used, and a jar on the ground is deemed sufficient to settle the ball upon the powder. The employment of a ramrod would require too much time, as the Indian is actuated by the desire to kill as many as possible in the shortest time. They do not use the necessary care in loading their guns, and often the ball becomes lodged in the chamber and the gun bursts when fired. When shooting downhill the ball often rolls out. It is surprising that so few fatal accidents occur. A quantity of powder is poured directly into the gun from its receptacle, the ball dropped down, and a cap taken from between the fingers, where it was placed for convenience. Hunters often practice the motions of rapid loading and firing. They are remarkably expert, surpassing the Eskimo in this, though the Eskimo is far the better marksman.
A third method pursued is that of snaring the deer.
A plan adopted to capture deer in the winter is as follows: A herd of deer is discovered, and men and women put on their snowshoes. The deer are surrounded and driven into a snowbank many feet deep, in which the affrighted animals plunge until they nearly bury themselves. The hunters, armed with the lance, pursue them and kill them. This means of procuring deer is only adopted when the herd is near a convenient snowbank of proper depth. The snow falling in the winter collects in gullies and ravines, and only in seasons where there has been an abundance of snow will it attain sufficient depth to serve the purpose.
Smaller game, such as ducks, geese, ptarmigan, hares, rabbits, porcupines, beavers, and an occasional lynx, afford variety of food. Ptarmigan are slaughtered by thousands. Hundreds of pounds of their feathers annually purchase small trinkets for the Indian women, and during this season it is unusual to see a woman without some feathers of these birds adhering to her clothing or hair.