Paul Kahutak was born on Woody Island or “Tangirnaq”. When he was a young child, he moved to Old Harbor, where he has fond memories of his father teaching him to trap foxes and weasels. He also recalls hunting his first bear with a .30-30 shotgun when he was only seventeen. In addition to his military service with Sven Haakansan Sr., Mr. Kahutak has also worked for an undertaker, at a cannery, as a seine fisherman, and as an Alutiiq language teacher.

“After I killed it, then he came. William. Apercianga, ‘I see you hollering at me.’ He said, ‘Yeah. I wanted you to shoot it on the head, not on the body.’ ‘Qai-cali?’ ‘You’re gonna spoil the meat.’ Yeah. I told him, you know, I didn’t worry about the meat. I wanted the bear dead.”

“After I killed it, then he came. William. I asked him, ‘I see you hollering at me.’ He said, ‘Yeah. I wanted you to shoot it on the head, not on the body.’ ‘Why?’ ‘You’re gonna spoil the meat.’ Yeah. I told him, you know, I didn’t worry about the meat. I wanted the bear dead.”