The Swan Island Murders by Victoria Lincoln

Behind the blinds, two men in canoes would quietly take the swans with multi-pronged spears. The Coast Salish would lure the birds towards brushwood blinds, by way of flickering torches and flares. The hunters would follow the swans and wait until their heads were under water for feeding, at which point the hunter would shoot an arrow at the bird’s neck. The Coast Salish also shot swans from their canoes while hidden behind blinds. Hiding behind blinds made of branches, men could approach the flock and shoot them with arrows. If the weather was not stormy enough, the moonlight would show the approaching canoe therefore Nootka hunters would use another method. The Nootka of Vancouver Island and Cape Flattery would hunt swans in April, also known as Flying Flocks Moon, when the stormy weather would draw the flocks to coves, where the birds would take shelter. With this method, hunters would quickly fill their canoes with swans. The necks of the birds were easily wrung. The approaching light would disturb the flocks and the birds would try to hide in the shadow of the canoe, where nets were waiting. A fire would be lit in the front of the canoe. Two hunters would use a canoe on a dark night, with one man to paddle and one to use the net. Swans were mostly hunted with snares, arrows and nets nets were used at the end of herring season by Northern and Central Nootka. The Eyak hunted swans mainly in August, when the birds were molting. The Han, Upper Tanana, Kutchin (Gwich’in) and Yukon cultures sought swans in spring and summer. The Chilcotin, the Han and peoples of Wood Buffalo National Park hunted swans in fall. Swans were hunted mainly during spring and fall migrations and molting period.

Swan eggs were enjoyed by some Northern cultures. Inuvialuit hunted both Tundra Swans and Trumpeter Swans, particularly in warmer months. Many in the Arctic reportedly enjoyed Tundra Swan, including the Hare (Sahtu), Tlingit and Inuit. Swans are reported to have been eaten by cultures including the Coast Salish, Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth), Kitsumkalum, Nuxalk, Gitksan (Gitxsan), Tlingit, Tahltan, Inuvialuit, Dene/Metis, Chipewyan, Hudson Bay and James Bay Cree, among others.

The Swan Island Murders by Victoria Lincoln