4-year-old Nunavummiut butchers massive moose leg

He's only four years old and already Max Jancke is proficient with a knife.

And when a big moose leg was delivered to his home in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, he couldn't wait to separate the muscles.

"I would describe him [as] extremely skilful for his age," said Max's father Mike Jancke.

Mike says Max was taught to use a knife under close supervision.

"He started cutting his own food a little before he was about two." 

Max says he "likes to use a sharp, sharp knife."

And now he's making quick work of some big pieces of meat.

"My son is extremely interested in anything I do and I butcher a lot of meat and make dry meat and jerky for people so naturally he wanted to help," Mike said.

Mike says that natural interest goes beyond just working with wild meat.

"He is a very talented boy with butchering and grinding meat and also very good at tieing knots."

All of this makes for one proud father.

"It is very important to teach him ... all these skills because it is life skills that everyone should have," Mike said.

Life skills that have been passed down for generations.

"It's also a big part of our culture and the most important part is keeping our culture alive and passing the knowledge on as it was passed to us."

Mike was so proud of his son's butchering skills that he posted a great picture of Max hard at work on CBC's Arctic Kitchen Facebook page.

"How cute! Good job!" one commenter said.

"Excellent. Teach them young so he can provide for his family one day. Smart caring father," said another.

And that's the point.

Mike loves to see his son grow, and what better way than carefully putting him to the test.

"You can see how proud he is when he is done ... he loves making us proud of him."