inuit had to be good hunters to survive. when an animal was killed in a hunt, it was thanked respectfully for offering itself to the hunter. they believed it intended to provide itself as a gift towards the survival of the hunter and his children. their gratitude was deeply sincere and is an important aspect of their belief system. in the winter, seals did not come out onto the ice. they only came up for air at holes they chewed in the ice. inuit would use their dogs to find the air holes, then wait patiently until the seal came back to breathe and kill it with a harpoon. in the summer, the seals would lie out on the ice enjoying the sun. the hunter would have to slowly creep up on a seal to kill it. the inuit would use their dogs and spears to hunt polar bears, musk ox, and caribou. sometimes they would kill caribou from their boats as the animals crossed the rivers on their migration.