One day in December my father in-law took out two of his sons walrus hunting by boat. The only animal they saw all day was a bearded seal.

Every hunter up here knows that bearded seals must be harpooned as they can weight up to 1000 pounds and must be harpooned ASAP as most of the time they sink like a rock when killed.

As this was the only animal they saw all day and they did not want to come back empty handed the father shot the bearded seal. As they speeded towards the animail my father in-law noticed that his younger son was holding a seal hook (a 5-6 foot long stick with a hook attached to the end) and warned him not to hook the animal as his older son was going to harpoon the animal.

In all the excitement the younger son not paying attention to his father or thinking that it would be alright, hooked the animal in the water as they passed it at 25 miles per hour and before anyone could do anything he was chest deep in the icy arctic water.

My father in-law knowing that his youngest son did not know how to smiw well and wearing full winter gear turned the boat around immediately to pluck his son from the water. As they got close enought, they noticed that he was standing on the dead bearded seal. Thank god that the one shot fatally killed the seal or my youngest brother in law would not be here today.

Submitted on 04/24/2006

Submitted by:
Reference: Personnal Account

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Neutral: Personal Account
While I'll wager this sort of thing happened to dozens of whalers and seal hunters over the past 200 or so years, I'm partial to "sea stories", and this is the first time I've seen a seal-hunting submission! Actually, it's a good thing nobody threw the harpoon, either, or son #2 might have been skewered! In the end, younger son's folly was probably the talk of the town and will probably be written into a children's book someday! :-) Thanks, I enjoyed this!

Sheryl said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Thanks for the story. I suspect this one demonstrates lack of thought due to excitement but as it's unusual, I'll vote neutral on it.

Jorge said:
Neutral: Personal Account

Jack said:
Neutral: Personal Account

Greg said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Ok - I'll mark this a keeper to get it out of the moderator's queue. Good story. Thanks!