One swing from a hakapik will usually kill a pup right away. By law, you have to keep clubbing the seal in the forehead until you know for sure that it's dead. Sealers are supposed to "palpate" a pup's skull after they've clubbed it, to feel the caved-in bone beneath the skin and blubber. read more
We covered the seal skin with an outer bootie (iparousik) made of caribou skin, which is the best insulating material in the world. There are no synthetic materials which have the same combination of density and insulator value. Each hair is hollow, so it does not compress like down does. read more