Tales of Spring Subsistence Hunting in the Arctic: Bot Fly Larva, Caribou Fetus, and Boiled Eiders

Tales of Spring Subsistence Hunting in the Arctic: Bot Fly Larva, Caribou Fetus, and Boiled Eiders

Springtime in Alaska’s high Arctic reveals itself in unique ways. Migrating bowhead whales swim past tiny coastal villages. White-fronted geese paint the skies across the still-white tundra, and waves of eiders wing their way over the open leads in the Arctic Ocean. Caribou begin their ritual trek north to reach calving grounds. Insects emerge from seemingly every cubic inch of water.  For a few years in the early 90s, my wife Tiffany and I work…