Another measure of the magnitude of the waste involved in 
walrus hunting is the number of carcasses that wash ashore north of 
Bering Strait. During July 1958, a survey of the beaches from Wales 
north to Point Franklin revealed 68 walrus carcasses, most of which were 
headless or tuskless. Presumably the tusks were salvaged from many after 
they washed ashore. Ice cover along the beach prevented counts north of 
Point Franklin. The situation is not new or unusual; over a thousand 
walrus carcasses, two-thirds without tusks, were noted between Cape 
Lisburne and Wainright Inlet in 1923 by Bernard (1925). 
Observers on both St. Lawrence Island and Diomede indicate 
that there is a strong selection for adult females. Fay (1958) lists 
the order of preference as follows: (1) Large adult females with new- 
born young;.(2) any adult female with newborn young; (3) large adult 
females without young; (4) adult females without young; (5) large adult 
males; (6) any adult male; and (7) juveniles of either sex. He continues, 
"The newborn young are particularly desired for their hide and tender 
meat, but the juveniles are considered to have the least desirable hides, 
ivory, and meat and they are seldom taken except when struck by a stray 
bullet or when nothing else is available. Adult males provide an abun- 
dance of high quality meat, skin, and blubber for dogfood, but their 
great size, toughness and tendency to sink when killed are of negative 
value in the Gambell hunters' order of selection." Essentially the same 
preference is exhibited at Diomede but is most operative when large 
numbers of animals are available. When only a few are present, any 
animal is taken. 
In addition to the waste of animals that takes place by 
wounding animals or from dead walruses sinking without recovery, there is 
further waste of the animals retrieved. It is safe to say that there is 
no waste of ivory of those animals recovered. However, the desirability 
of the ivory leads to the practice of "head hunting" for ivory alone, 
and thus brings about an enormous waste of meat and hides. "Head hunting" 
has been virtually eliminated at Gambell (Fay, 1958), but is prevalent at 
King Island and Little Diomede. Fay's data indicate that 47 percent of 
the live weight of walruses taken was used and that 56 percent of what 
he considered the usable weight was used. Kenyon provides similar infor- 
mation. On the basis of 107 walruses at Diomede he found 28 percent uti- 
lization of the 75,000 pounds of meat that were available. He considered 
an animal as used if it was brought to the village, although not all of 
this meat was ultimately actually used. As to hides, he found that 30 
of the 107 hides of adults were used. 
Soviet regulations, according to Kleynenberg (1957), 
categorically forbid the killing of cows with calves, or of walruses in 
the water. Kenyon (1958b) presents evidence that hunting by Siberians is 
somewhat more directed than among Alaskan Eskimos, with a crew chief in 
each boat, who determines what walruses will be shot and who will shoot. 
Furthermore, the utilization of animals harvested is far more complete 
under Soviet direction than under the highly individual and unorganized 
mode of operation prevailing among Alaskan Eskimos. 
23 
