The Glacier Priest

[James]

Father Bernard Hubbard "The Glacier Priest " used his registered S&W 357 given to him by Doug Wesson to take this very large bull walrus. A letter to Smith & Wesson, which included this photo, from Nome, Alaska and dated July 3, 1938 tells how Father Hubbard used his 357 to take the bull in the Bering Sea. He was sending the skull and tusks to Col. Wesson. This information was taken from page 96 of the 1938 edition of "Burning Powder" by Douglas Wesson... PS- A bull walrus of this size could have a live weight of as much as 2000 pounds.... While I am not positive, I would think that the Winchester 158gr LSW load was used....

[northerngos]

Super super cool!
I’ve gone to Nome quite a bit, every time I see a dead walrus washed up on the beach I go running to check it out, but someone has always beaten me to it 😭. How neat to take one with a handgun!

[x101airborne]

THAT would be a lifetime hunt. One of the native Alaskans on "Deadliest Catch" cut the head off a walrus and it was confiscated at the port. Those tusks would be worth WAY more than I could pay.

[northerngos]

I wonder if they actually confiscated it or if they took it to verify? What I was told by locals (non-natives) is that if you salvage a walrus mask you have to report the location and deliver to fish and game. Apparently they sit on it for a time which gives them the chance to verify the presence of a naturally dead walrus if they choose to, and maybe confirm there are no reports of somebody poaching walrus? After the allotted time has passed you can claim the mask. And this was for non-natives. There are a few guys that make it a point to fly the beaches in their supercubs after storms to look for freshly washed up walrus.

[blacktailslayer]

That is cool stuff right there.

My uncle was a visiting priest in Nome and other communities in Northern Alaska but was mostly in Juneau in the late 90's/early 2000's. He didn't do any hunting while he was there but he did do a lot of fishing and caught a lot of salmon and halibut. He did have to chase away a lot of black bears form their dumpsters though.


Don D.

[squawberryman]

Boone has masks

www.boonetrading.com/collections/walrus-masks/products/walrus-mask-skull-with-tusks-01

[northerngos]

Boone trading co has had some really cool stuff over the years. I have a gorgeous set of highly figured elephant ivory panels for a 1911 from them. They used to be a great source for elephant ivory too. Washington state has since changed the law to make the sale of pre-ban elephant ivory illegal unfortunately. I’m not sure how many of their masks are pre ban estate types and how many would be from recent salvage from naturally dead walrus.
I have a neat section of narwhal ivory from them as well, waiting for a suitable knife handle project or two. I’ve always liked dealing with them.