Hunting Gray Whales, Tribal Style

[30 cal slob]

Officials: Gray Whale Killed With Machine Gun Off Washington Coast

Sunday , September 09, 2007

AP

NEAH BAY, Wash. —

A California gray whale that was harpooned and shot with a machine gun off the western tip of Washington state has died, officials said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Kelly Parker said five people believed to be members of the Makah Tribe shot and harpooned the whale Saturday morning.

Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said the whale disappeared beneath the surface in the evening, dragging buoys that had been attached to the harpoon, and did not resurface. A biologist working for the Makah Indian tribe declared it dead, Eggert said.

Tribe members were being held by the Coast Guard but had not been charged, said Mark Oswell, a spokesman for the law enforcement arm of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

A preliminary report said the whale was shot with a .50-caliber machine gun, Oswell said.

Coast Guard officials created a 1,000-yard safety zone around the injured whale, which was shot about a mile east of Neah Bay in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The whale had begun heading to sea Saturday afternoon, Oswell said.

Although the tribe has subsistence fishing rights to kill whales, Oswell said preliminary information indicates the whale may have been shot illegally.

"We allow native hunts for cultural purposes. However, this does not appear to be of that nature so far," he said.

The Makah Tribe has more than 1,000 members and is based in Neah Bay.

A call to tribal officials was not immediately returned on Saturday. Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson told The Seattle Times that the tribe has been seeking an exemption from the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act so that it could take up to five gray whales per year. However, Johnson said the tribe had not yet secured that exemption for a new hunt.

 

[Crunker1337]

I think an autocannon would be more effective.

 

[Titan6]

Okay I'll bite. Where did they get a .50 machine gun?

 

[alucard0822]

But I thought all .50s were good for was shooting down airplanes from miles away by terrorists

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

It could have been shot with the .50 BMG cartridge, I suppose.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

a .50 cal machine gun not enough to stop a whale? I'd be willing to bet that a few well placed shots would do the trick. Doesn't sound like the report is accurate Something sounds fishy (pun intended)

 

[Flak_Jakett]

a .50 cal machine gun not enough to stop a whale? I'd be willing to bet that a few well placed shots would do the trick. Doesn't sound like the report is accurate Something sounds fishy (pun intended)

It sounds like it may have been enough. The reports say it dissappeared beneath the waves, but did not say that the whale lived. In fact the report said the tribe members believe it did die. It probably just sunk. Maybe the extra .50 lead gave the whale more balast and sent it down to Davy Jones' locker.

I remember watching a show on "native" whale hunts that are still legal to some historica whaling tribes. I don't remember seeing a .50 cal. MG being used. And in history, I think if they had .50 cal machine guns that the west would still be wild.

 

[Apple a Day]

Joking about killing an endangered species with machine guns isn't exactly taking the High Road. It is, however, the kind of thing which hands the anti's ammunition and reinforces the stereotypes that we're a bunch of rednecks who like slaughtering for sport.
Let's consider what we say.

 

[Novus Collectus]

Hunting Grey whales with .50 BMG is required believe it or not as part of the permit, but in this illegal permitless hunt the rifle used was a Weatherby.
The media got this one way wrong!! There was no machine gun and it wasn't even the .50 BMG that is recquired for the permit.

 

[Scanr]

Joking about killing an endangered species with machine guns isn't exactly taking the High Road. It is, however, the kind of thing which hands the anti's ammunition and reinforces the stereotypes that we're a bunch of rednecks who like slaughtering for sport.
Let's consider what we say.

The anti's don't need our help, if they don't see what they want, they will make it up anyway. We can't live in fear of what people will say or think all the time.

 

[Novus Collectus]

I. Introduction.
The purpose of this plan is to set forth the Makah Tribe's management intent and applicable Tribal regulations to govern the exercise of treaty ceremonial and subsistence whaling rights


VI. Whaling Vessels, Equipment and Hunting Methods.
-A whaling team must include one or more canoes and at least two chase boats.
-All canoes used in whaling must be at least 30 feet in length and manned by a harpooner, rifleman and six paddlers.
-All chase boats used in whaling must be at least 24 feet in length and powered by an engine large enough to tow an adult gray whale to port (at least 200 horsepower). Each chase boat shall be manned by a pilot, diver, backup rifleman, and at least one other crew member. Each chase boat shall be equipped with Loran or other navigation system capable of precisely fixing the vessel's position on the water.
-All whaling harpoons must be equipped with a stainless-steel toggle point, connected to one or more floats, and bear a permanent distinctive mark identifying the whaling captain who is in charge of the whaling team using the harpoon.
-The rifle used in gray whale hunts shall be a .50BMG (caliber) very high-powered rifle.
-The first strike made upon a gray whale shall be made by the harpooner on a canoe and shall affix one or more floats to the whale. Immediately after the harpooner strikes the whale, the rifleman on the canoe shall fire his rifle at the whale's central nervous system (CNS). If the whale is not immobilized by the initial shot, the chase boats will pursue the whale and the riflemen aboard the chase boats will kill the whale as expeditiously as practicable with rifle shots directed at the whale's CNS.

http://ncseonline.org/nae/docs/makahplan.html

 

[birddog]

The anti's don't need our help, if they don't see what they want, they will make it up anyway. We can't live in fear of what people will say or think all the time.

I don't live in fear about what anyone thinks about me, my guns, or the animals I hunt on a regular basis, but this still isn't THR material.

 

[Novus Collectus]

Why isn't this THR material? Hunting whale with a .50 BMG rifle is the proper way to hunt whale.

 

[Chipperman]

but in this illegal permitless hunt the rifle used was a Weatherby.

Do you have a reference for this?

 

[Novus Collectus]

Yes. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cg...ion_id=2002111777&slug=whale09m&date=20070909

 

[Novus Collectus]

Grey whales are not an endangered species anymore.

I too was initially shocked at the news story, but when I read more it turned out to be nothing but hype (except the part about breaking tribal law and federal law). I now see hunting Grey whale only different from hunting deer with an atlatl being that a mercy shot from a gun is used after being speared.
Personally, I want to see a whale shot with a .50 BMG to make it's death quicker and with less suffering. I don't like whale hunting in general, but these are aborigional people's and that is a totally different ball game and using the .50 is the more humane way.

 

[Titan6]

ohh the ironing..

If they had used the proper round and a machine gun as reported the whale would likely have not survived.

 

[Novus Collectus]

No, just the proper round in a bolt action rifle. A machine gun would be a waste after the first shot because the purpose is to hit the central nervous system for a quick kill and subsequent rounds on full auto would miss.

 

[Wes Janson]

The real problem I'd see with using a Ma Deuce would be keeping the platform steady on full auto.

What I'm really quite curious about, though, is what loads they use for hunting whale...

 

[Titan6]

The Navy and Coast Guard both use the M2 (and MK19)to great effect. It only requires training.

 

[Novus Collectus]

The Navy and Coast Guard both use the M2 (and MK19)to great effect. It only requires training.

Yeah, but can anyone do it effectively from a canoe?

 

[Wheeler44]

We still don't know what caliber they used. Does Weatherby chamber any of their rifles in .50 BMG?

 

[elrod]

....but...but whale hunting with a .50 machine gun just isn't politically correct, is it?????

 

[alucard0822]

These folks have to be skilled hunters indeed, I have enough trouble keeping dry side up in a canoe without firing a 50. I could only hope the boat would spin completely around and not just tip over

 

[carebear]

Read the story again.

Speared from a canoe, the rifleman can be in a powerboat.

The idea is the actual strike must be traditional, they have to paddle up to the whale rather than drive up. After the "traditional" aspect has been fulfilled, it goes into "humane" mode and modern tech is used to ensure the whale is killed (not escaping, wounded by the harpoon) and dies quickly and relatively painlessly.

Up here the harpoons have explosive heads for the same reason.