Nahanni Butte Chief Steve Vital has been hunting since he was a young boy. In the earliest days, the hunting he did with his father was "an excuse to get away from school," but he quickly came to see it as an important part of his Dene culture.
Today, he believes his peoples' hunting practices are at risk of disappearing.
For starters, he worries that many young people are more interested in their phones and tablets than they are with spending time on the land.
"Some of the younger members out there, a lot of them are deterred from hunting by cell phones, I guess," he said. "They just don't like the concept of losing cell service."
Other young hunters, he said, practice "highway hunting," which is counter to the way he was taught.
"When I go hunting, I still do it the traditional way by snowmobile or boat," he said. "I see a lot of people getting lazy and doing highway hunting, which is not the way that we're taught.
"I really don't care about the highway hunters and what they think, but that's basically the lazy way of hunting."
Given the risks to Dene hunting practices, Vital is eager to share what he knows with other people.
One person who recently benefited from his teaching was his wife, Jennifer Vital. She has joined him on many moose hunting trips out on the land over the years, but recently began expressing interest in killing one of the massive animals herself.
"We go in the bush every fall and do as much hunting as we can," she said. "[Eventually] I wanted to learn and try to get a moose myself. [Steve] was like 'okay, this is what you do if you see a moose, this is how you're going to get up and this is how you're going to grab the gun, this is how you aim.'
"I was practicing getting up, grabbing a gun, aiming and then pretending I'm shooting. I was really excited and confident on getting that moose.
"We were camping last year, and there was a moose in the river. [Steve] was like 'are you ready? Do you want to do it?' I said yeah, and we waited until it got on the shore, and I shot my first moose."
Jennifer described the moment as "extremely exciting" and an "adrenaline rush" and also said it made her feel closer to her Dene culture.
She hopes it's something more young Dene will have the chance to experience.
"[I'd encourage them to try hunting] to get that culture back," she said. "The Elders say more youth should be out on the land, but nowadays they just depend on technology and all that stuff, and they don't even want to go out anymore."
While some young people would prefer to stay indoors than to head out onto the land, Steve and Jennifer Vital have made a point of taking their own children out onto the land as often as possible.
Jennifer said it's "a lot of fun," to be out on the land with her children, teaching them about their culture.
Steve agreed, but struck a more serious tone.
"I want them to understand what we do all this for," he said. "We kill to eat. I want them to understand that, and I don't want them to see it as a sport. I go hunting, I kill to eat. I kill to distribute meat. I kill for my family."
The Vitals say they have tried to take other young people out on hunting trips, but so far, haven't had much luck.
Whether Steve is teaching them himself or not, he encourages the next generation of Dene to get out on the land and learn to hunt SA国际影视传媒� at risk of missing the chance altogether.
"I'd encourage them to go out and learn more because eventually, someday, it's gonna be a practice that nobody does anymore and the people that do it now are eventually gonna pass," he said.
