In the early days, Shelikoff’s severe rule in Kadiak actively encouraged the hunting instinct, and the first Russian fur post was established at St. Paul, named after one of Bering’s boats, the present town of Kadiak, by far the largest village of the island, and situated on the eastern coast, opposite Wood Island.  It is said that the Russians, after a few very prosperous years of indiscriminate slaughter, recognized the great importance of carrying on the fur industry in a systematic manner, in order to prevent entire extinction of the game, and divided the lands and waters into large districts.  They made laws, with severe penalties attached, and enforced them.  Certain districts were hunted and trapped over in certain years.  Fur animals were killed only when in good pelage, and the young were spared.  In this way hunted sections always had considerable intervals in which to recover from attacks.

A solitary sea otter skin hanging up in the fur company’s store, at the end of the season, told us plainer than words that these animals, formerly so plentiful east of Kadiak Island, and along the coast of Cook’s Inlet, were almost extinct.  Two of our hunters were famous shots, and they liked to talk of the good old days, when sea otter and bear were plenty.  One of them, Ivan, it is claimed, made $3,000 in one day.  The amount paid a native is $200 or more for each sea otter pelt.  They are much larger than a land otter, a good skin measuring six feet in length and three feet in width when split and stretched.

When fishing is allowed from schooners, the natives leave Kadiak for the grounds early in May.  Each schooner carries thirty or forty baidarkas and twice as many men.  Otters are often found at some distance from shore, and can be seen only when the water is quiet.  The natives prefer the bow and arrow to the .40-65 Winchesters the company have given them, even claiming that otter are scarce because they have been driven from their old grounds by the noise of firearms.  The bows, four feet long, are very stout, and strongly reinforced with cords of sinew along the back.  The arrows, a little under a yard in length, are tipped with a well-polished piece of whalebone.  A sharp and barbed piece of whale’s tooth fits into a hole bored in the end of the bone, and a cord of considerable length is tied to the detachable arrow head, the other end of the cord being wound around and fastened to the middle of the shaft.

The advantages of this arrow are obvious.  When the game is struck, its struggles disengage the arrow head, and the shaft being dragged by the cord attached to its middle, soon tires the otter out.  The seal spears, used for the finishing coup, are made in the same way, and in addition have attached to the long shaft a bladder, which continually draws the animal to the surface.  So expert are the natives, that, after shooting several arrows, they gather them all up together in one hand as they sweep by in a baidarka.  The arrow is not sent straight to the mark, but describes a considerable curve.  Good bows are valued very highly, and on an otter expedition will not be swapped even for a rifle.