Allie Dixon - Active Voice

ILC Fall Hunt

My first hunt with the ILC was a very positive experience. I was able to see many new landscapes and animals in the Yukon wilderness, I engaged with and learned from Elders, and our school was invited to a local community feast in Beaver Creek on our last day at camp. Being out on the land for four full days was tranquil and was a good rest from modern day stressors. I found it very peaceful being immersed in nature for that long. I took many photos throughout the trip to show the true beauty of the landscape and to keep the memories alive. It was a trip that I will never forget.

Experiencing the Yukon wilderness was one of the biggest parts of the trip. Viewing swans and ducks play while we were hunting was very exciting to watch. Seeing all the diverse wildlife, which included beavers, a variety of ducks and swans, a teenage moose and small bear, made me feel so happy. As the sun set upon the land, the lake came alive with an orange glow as the last bit of daylight fell beyond the horizon. As the moon rose and the stars began to fill the night sky, I felt more at peace within myself. I've always loved watching the night sky and wanted to find a clear night to watch the stars the whole trip, but never got the chance until the last night. I was struggling to stay asleep that night because I was sad to leave the next morning. With the goal to fall back asleep, I observed the brilliant full moon shining down on me through the cabin's see-through roof, hoping it would bring enough calmness to do the trick. The more I kept staring
at the moon, the more I had the need to see the cloudless night sky without the roof in the way. Stepping out of the crowded cabin, I gazed in awe at the billions of stars and galaxies that danced overhead. Seeing the moon over the lake with the stars as a backdrop, I never felt more at peace until then. Getting back into my sleeping bag, I fell asleep with the glow of the stars burnt into my eyelids. The variety of plant species, all shapes and sizes, was something I have never seen before either. I saw a seven-foot-tall forest of towering yellow grass in the bed of a dry lake where the moose would sleep. The land ranged from dry rolling hills to flat swampy areas full of moss and thorns. From thick forests to open fields, the diversity of life there was seemingly never-ending. The Yukon wilderness amazed me and reminded me that the territory is made up of more than just hills and dense forests. There are many different landscapes across the Yukon and I was in awe witnessing this on our trip.

The camp we stayed at was along the White River, on a First Nations family's fishing and hunting camp. This allowed us the opportunity to learn and engage with the locals of Beaver Creek and their families who came all the way to Beaver Creek from as close as Alaska to as far as Whitehorse. We were asked by the elders to help with setting up the fishing nets under a bridge not far from camp. Helping the community set up the nets helped us get a hands-on learning experience. We walked down to the opposite side of where some elders held one side of the net. A man holding the other side of the net got as close to the water as he could to throw the net towards us using a stick that our end of the net was tied to. After a few throws towards us, we finally caught it and tied the end of the nets to the trees behind us and attempted to lure fish to the nets by throwing rocks as far as we could down each direction of the river to scare the fish towards our net. However, a spiteful beaver we scared off earlier made this fish harvest unsuccessful by chewing holes into the net. I still learned a lot from this process and was grateful for the experience. Throughout the trip, there were many opportunities to engage in conversation with the local First Peoples. I asked lots of questions to the elders and had meaningful conversations about our lives and experiences. One elder whom I had a great connection with told me about how she wished she was able to finish high school in Whitehorse but couldn't because she missed her family so much when she was gone that she asked her parents for her not to go back. I appreciated learning how the elders had been raised in a traditional First Nations community prior to modern times. Their connection to one another and
the land is so strong that it made me want to connect with my family and nature more than I had in the past. They also taught us a lot about local plant identification and how they use the plants, explaining which ones you can eat, how to cook them, medicinal uses, and other ways they would use plants to help their community. I am First Nation myself but I have no contact or connection with my any of my own culture due to a connection with the Indigenous side of my family being lost — the lack of knowledge my parents learned about due to struggles caused by the impact of residential schools. This made it extra special to learn from and engage the local First Nations and elders on our trip.

A final highlight of the ILC fall hunt was attending a local community feast in Beaver Creek with all the local residents and their families. Being invited to this feast allowed us to tour Beaver Creek and see the community. We met and chatted with locals we had met earlier in the hunt, learning all about their family connections, which I loved. I even got to meet the chief and learned about the chief's family, what she is doing for the community and the election process. The most meaningful part of the evening was forming a special connection with one of the elders who really opened up to me and cheered me on for my future career goals. She mentioned that she had a gift for me and left to get the gift. A while later, she came back with a paper cup with some napkins with words of encouragement written on the face of the napkin. She mentioned that the gift was a paper weight before I opened the gift. I pulled out a glass rabbit paper weight, the thought of the gift touched my heart and I hugged her as I loved her gift. As we drove back to camp with her contact details in my hand, I felt as though she deeply cared about me as I did for her. It was a very special evening.

My first hunt with the ILC was a very impactful experience. Seeing new parts of the Yukon made me realize how lucky we are to live so close to nature. I have never had the opportunity to learn and engage with First Nations people and elders in a meaningful way before and this was very special and eye-opening for me. It made me want to have more open one-on-one conversation with First Nations people, especially elders, whenever I can, and learn more from everyone around me by being curious and asking questions. They have lived through so much and I appreciate hearing their life stories even if I just got a tiny glimpse into them. They have so much to share with anyone who is willing to listen. Ending our trip on the last night with a big community feast made me feel like I was having dinner with my own family. It meant so much to me. I hope to go back and see everyone again soon. That trip will be something I will never forget.