Sealhook

Sealing with hooks was possible in February and March when young seals were so helpless that it was easy to catch them. When the seal pup was found the hunters made a hole in the ice, tied a long rope made of horsehair to the hook, thrust the single branch of the hook into the back of the young seal, and let it go under the ice. One of the men tied the other end of the rope firmly around his hand. The mother seal came to rescue it's young just like a human mother would do. When the female took the young into its embrace the rope was let out as much as possible. After that the hunters had to pull the rope sharply and the old seal also got caught on the hook. In some places the hook was tied on the back of the seal pup so as not to make it suffer.

Sealing

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Harpoon

The harpoon is the oldest weapon used for sealing. It was used in the winter while sealing on the ice. First a hole in ice had to be found which a seal used for coming out onto the ice. The harpoon was thrust into the head of the seal when it surfaced.

The helve of the harpoon was a small boat hook called a käks. When the seal dived with the harpoon, the boat-hook remained in the sealer's hand. With one hand he had to hold the harpoon-rope and with the other hand to make the hole in the ice bigger with the boat hook. The boat-hook helped the sealer move on the ice. It could be used for checking the strength of the ice, rowing across smaller ice cracks pulling the heavy bodies of seals, and for killing young seals. It was useful for climbing out of the water when an accident happened.

Sealing

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Seal-net

Seal-nets were made of linen or hemp yarn at home. To the upper edge of the net was attached a strong cord and two foot long wooden floats. The lower edge of the mesh was left loose.

In the spring, when all the ice was near the coast the sealers approached the ice from the open sea in their boats. The nets were cast near the ice and when half the row was in the water, a couple of gunshots were fired. The seals swam out from under the ice, some of them into the nets, some not. When the seal struggled in the net the lower edge of the net got caught on the upper wooden floats forming a sack from which the animal could no longer escape. The seals in the nets were pulled into the boats and killed with a club.

This method of sealing required that the ice was approached from the seaward side. Therefore it was only possible on the smaller islands. Sealing with nets was known mainly on Kihnu, less on Ruhnu and Vormsi.

Sealing

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Sledge and "tang"

Sledges were used for transporting killed seals to a camp place or home. The sledge was small, but so solid that it could carry two seals. Only the seals needed for food were taken back whole. The pelts and fat of the others were removed and the meat was thrown back through a hole in the ice

The tang was a 4-5 meters long ski. It was used to approach the seals when the ice was too thin or so bare that the sealer could not lurk behind the blocks of ice. The sealer lay on it hiding himself behind the white cover. He pushed himself forward with his hands and watched the seals through the hole in the cover. When he was close enough he could put his gun barrel through the hole. The tang was known on the Northern coast of Estonia but not in Western Estonia.