Goose Break allows Cree hunters reconnect with the past
The long, cold winter months are coming to an end. Communities across the Eeyou Istchee look like ghost towns during this important time we reverently call Goose Break, when our people live off the land traditionally, like we used to. To mark the occasion, the Nation spoke to two of the 10 Cree hunters who are the first from their respective communities to kill a goose this season.
The first goose champs are Harry Rupert (Chisasibi), Julian Edward Gilpin (Eastmain), Silas Blackned (Nemaska), Calvin Kakabat (Wemindji), Brad Wylde (Washaw Sibi), Marcel Gull (Waswanipi), Randolf Gunner (Mistissini), Bobby Capassisit (Oujé-Bougoumou), Burton Snowboy (Whapmagoostui) and Jack Katapatuk Jr. (Waskaganish).
Where non-Crees might see the Goose Break season as a type of vacation, it is, in fact, a traditional activity that brings family and friends together in a cultural movement. It’s a time to teach your children, nieces, nephews, cousins and siblings about our Cree way of life. It’s a great time to meet new people and experience new things. And, of course, the geese are delicious. Goose Break is simply a gift to our communities that keeps on giving.
“I love the excitement you get when you hear the geese from afar and when you see them as they approach,” said Silas Blackned, a 29-year-old hunter from Nemaska. “It’s important to keep our tradition alive.”
Blackned killed his first goose of 2016 when he was going home for his lunch break. There were two geese on the open water at the Narrows. He snuck up on them against the wind. He was crawling in the snow getting wet and cold because he wasn’t wearing his hunting gear. He ended up killing one, but the other one was too far.
Silas Blackned with one of his freshly shot geese
“It felt really good after I shot it down,” he said. “Grandma had the first choice of what pieces she wanted for supper and then I shared the rest with family, friends and colleagues. It was so good with red wine.”
His memories of his first goose will stay with him forever. “When I was 10 years old my grandpa took me for a boat ride on the Rupert River and we saw a lot of geese in a bay and we snuck up on them against the wind,” Blackned recounted. “He let me use his 12-gauge and we killed about eight to 10 geese. I will never forget that moment, when I killed my first goose ever. My shoulders were so bruised the day after.”
Julian Edward Gilpin, a 31-year-old hunter from Eastmain, says he loves goose hunting because of his late grandfather. “I like the beautiful landscape, waiting patiently for the geese and ducks to fly in our direction,” Gilpin explained. “Goose Break is important to the community, especially for the youth and the Elders.
Julian Edward Gilpin holds up a couple trophies
“All I have now are memories,” he added. “The last time I was on a Goose Break to hunt was 10 years ago. My aunts and uncles and I haven’t gone to our first camp for 10 years now since an accident happened to our family in 2004. My late grandparents died in an accident and since then none of us have gone back to our camp. Even this year no one is going to there.”
Gilpin said that he tries to remain positive, because the memories he has of his camp and his grandparents are good ones that he will cherish for the rest of his life. Now that he has his own skidoo, he might make the trip to the camp and build a cabin for him and his family.
“The community made people burn the cabin down because it was getting too mouldy,” he explained. “We have no cabin at our camp. I’m sitting here having tears as I remember this little story.”