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Good to Eat
"[H]are flesh can be fat
and juicy. Along the back there is quite a layer
of fat, as also in the tissue connecting the
muscles. The Eskimos derive much pleasure from
sucking the marrow from the limb bones... The
ear cartilage, which is eaten like biscuits,
is very tasty. All in all, every part of the
hare is eaten except the intestines; their contents
usually are not nice to the taste and the stomach
contents have not the refreshing, pleasant taste
of those of the caribou".
- Freuchen 1935
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Traditional
Use
Clothing | Tools | Medicine | Food | Games
Food
Archaeological evidence from sites up to 1000 years old
suggests that people of the Thule culture caught large numbers
of Arctic hares (Lepus arcticus). Similar evidence and oral
history tell us that the Inuit also hunted and used hares
for food. Inuit traditionally made full use of all parts
of the animals they killed.
For residents of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and
Nunavik in Quebec, the Arctic hare has never been a primary
source of food, and historically, hunters seldom went out
specifically to hunt hares. However, the animal is still
today a welcome addition to their
diet when the opportunity
arises. In times when primary food sources such as caribou
and seals are scarce, the Arctic hare becomes more important.
Despite the dearth of historical documents that refer to
the use of Arctic hares for food in Newfoundland and Labrador
in the 20th century, we know they were commonly eaten there.
A letter written to the federal government in 1948 by an
experienced trapper ("Bush Man"), Harry Young,
protests the decrease in prices at which trappers were able
to sell Arctic hares ("Jack Rabbits") and snowshoe
hares ("Rabbits").
... lots of time we get a storm of snow and we are 2 and
3 day diging hour slips [snares] out of the snow it not paying
very good then and Jack Rabbitts [Arctic hares] $1.20 per
Brace [two hares] there very few in this cuntry he keeps
on high Cuntry and foxes is very plenty full and destry them.
We could get $2.00 per Brace for them, now $1.20 that not
good enoft for the poor Bush Man.
The official response to Harry's letter from the Chief Game
Warden expressed little sympathy for the low prices, and
also cautioned Harry that he could be prosecuted for taking
Arctic hares, as there was a closed season on them and had
been for some time.
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 Idlout, an Inuk hunter from Pond Inlet (now in Nunavut), peeling skins from Arctic hares that were shot to feed his family in 1954.
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