HUNTING. 183

According to Petitot, a quite different treatment must be meted out to
entrapped foxes, possibly because they belong to the category of unclean
animals. The eastern Déné that would not derogate from ancestral customs,
or expose himself to the danger of failure in subsequent trapping, has to
empale his prey through the anal passage, and macerate its vitals and viscera
with a rod. It may be, however, that regard for the integrity of its robe has
something to do with this ignominious treatment.

If what was once practised in the presence of the same author may be
taken as the fulfilment of a traditional prescription, an even more miserable
fate awaits the wolverine which has been unlucky enough to fall into his
hands. His companions skinned alive one they had taken, as the Tartars do
with wolves!, after which they were so generous as to set it free, that they
might have the pleasure of pursuing it with their whips.

Game Laws and Etiquette of the Hunter.

As we shall see later on, the hunting grounds of most Déné tribes are
parcelled out, and distributed among the principal families or clans. On the
other hand, the same aborigines divide game into sedentary and nomadic
animals. The former class is composed only of the beaver, and is regarded
as the object of as strict proprietorship as the domestic animals or the per-
sonal chattels. No outsider can claim any right thereto. Yet when found along
the public highways, such as the most important rivers or the most frequented
lakes, the occasional shooting — not hunting — of beaver is not viewed in
the light of a real offence. Even there, however, no trapping is permitted to
others than the lawful owner of the grounds.

Should this law be transgressed, the proprietor has a right to all the
beaver caught by the poacher. He will appropriate it, if he so wishes, but he
must leave the trap in a conspicuous place near the spot where it was un-
lawfully set.

A wayfarer in distress may help himself to the flesh of any animal caught
outside of his own grounds; but he must dress its fur and hand it over to
the owner of the grounds on which it has been taken.

As for the nomadic animals, they belong to him whose traps or snares
have been instrumental in effecting their capture. Yet, once an individual has
cut out a trail or line in the woods along which to set his traps or snares,
no one else has a right to hunt in it. To avoid conflicts, these hunting lines
are usually traced through one’s rightful preserves.

Transient game belongs by courtesy, not to the person who shoots it,
but to him who sights it first.

As for the common venison or large fur-bearing animals, some have
written that they are the common property of the tribe. The truth is that

‘ “Pour le dénouement de la piéce, on écorche l’animal tout vif, puis on le met en
liberté”, Huc, Souvenirs d’un Voyage dans la Tartarie, vol.1, p. 123,