Salmon, abundant in the wild streams and rivers of the Pacific Northwest, were the most important food source for the Chinook. Men used pointed spears to impale the salmon. The women of the tribe would cut them up and dry them. The chinook also hunted for rabbitt, deer, and elk, and gathered berries, weeds, roots, and plant bulbs. They also took some marine animals such as clams and mussels. Unlike other northwest coast tribes, the Chinook rarely hunted sea mammals such as whales and seals.