POLAR BEAR HUNT – Final chapter

By Roy Goodwin (Tag-A-Long Consultants)

I woke this morning in a warm bed, in a warm room, in the hotel back here in Resolute Bay.  My planned ten day hunt was over in three, but I can’t say I’m real disappointed to be done early.  While the whole experience of being here, and more importantly being out there, was great, I got the full flavor of the experience in three days and didn’t feel the need to absorb several more days to completely flavor the experience.  Besides, the blizzard Hans feared might catch us followed us to town and is in a full rage today.  According to the forecast, the other guys out there will all be “tent bound” for the next three days.  I sure wouldn’t want to be spending the next three days in that small tent in that weather, out on the frozen arctic sea!

The disadvantage however is that this same storm will keep the planes from landing so I’ll be just as stranded, but much more comfortable.  I hope Warren and the other three hunters all get their bears when the weather breaks, but it is pretty certain that I’ll be well on my way home before we get any news from them.  I’m guessing that it will take three to five days to work my way home, and I don’t see the need to bore you all with those details, so this will be the last installment on this hunt.  Before I sign off I’ll share some details of the trip back yesterday and a few of today’s preparations for the return to the real world.

Just before lunch yesterday we found ourselves finally packed and ready for the return trip.  It had taken a day and a half of traveling to get about 36 miles out of Resolute Bay, and we wanted to make it back before we quit last night to beat the storm.  Failure to make it back would have doomed us to several days trapped in a small tent in the elements waiting for the visibility to improve.  None of us wanted that!  Hans decided I should ride on the snow machine with Travis to lighten the load on the dog sled.  With only Hans to pull, the dogs could go faster and hopefully make Resolute before getting too tired to continue.

Rounding up the dogs and getting them tied off to the sled was a trick.  Even though they were tied off in small groups to the ice, they didn’t seem real co-operative this morning.  Must have been the big meal with the high levels of fat, they just wanted to take the day off.  We’ve had two four month old puppies along for the trip.  They didn’t pull the sled; they just ran along with the other dogs kind of learning the ropes so to speak.  They were left loose at night because they won’t wonder from their mother, who is part of the team.  When we woke this morning however we found them both camped out at the bear carcass having a feast.  They were so full Hans couldn’t get them to come with us.  They just stayed behind with the bear.  Hans will go back for them in a few days when the weather breaks.

One of the other dogs was favoring a front leg and it was questionable how helpful he was going to be to the team on the way back. Hans hooked him up anyway and he lasted for a while.  Finally he wasn’t able to keep up and was left behind.  Hans will get him on the same trip back for the puppies.  It seems the bear bit him in the shoulder, which is what caused the soreness.  Hans believes he’ll get through it, but only time will tell.  This is harsh country, and only the very tough will survive.  That is just the way it is up here.

We made good time for the first few hours.  The temperature was dropping but still not down to the minus forty range we saw the first couple days.  The winds were increasing as the day progressed, but thankfully they were at our back which made travel bearable.  It would have been much tougher with an increasing wind in our faces for the journey.  After three to four hours we stopped and they got the stove and tea pot out of the sled.  Time to melt some snow and get something hot into our systems.  Sounded good to me!  At the same time Hans was troubled by something he saw on the snow machine.  I still don’t know what was wrong, but they spent over an hour with the tool box out taking things apart and putting them back together again.  Finally Hans was comfortable that the repair would get us back to the town, so we swallowed the last of the hot tea and soup and were on our way.

As time went on the dogs started to slow and we found our selves stopping the snow machine more often to let them catch up.  Darkness came, and still the town was not in sight.  The temperature kept dropping and the winds continued to increase their intensity.  My ski goggles froze over solid and I could no longer see.  My woolen muffler, which continued to collect ice as my breath froze, got so heavy it fell away from my face.  I had to tie up the hood of my parker tighter to protect more of my face, and also take turns with one hand and then the next blocking the wind from my face.  We kept pushing on.  For the last few hours I was sure we would quit at any time and be doomed to several days of tent bound misery, but we kept pressing forward.

Around ten thirty in the evening Travis said he could see lights and the town had to be close.  I was very thankful, because I knew if we were that close they wouldn’t quit and we would not have to be stranded out on the ice.  It was the first positive thing that had happened in hours.  I lifted the goggles to try to see, but only saw a slight glow in the darkness off in the distance.  It would still be a while!  After another half hour we stopped again.  This time I was asked to get off the machine, which they unhooked from the sled.  I couldn’t see at all by this point as the ice was about ½” thick on my goggles and it was just too cold to lift them.  The last time I lifted them I couldn’t get them seated correctly without taking off my heavy gloves and mittens.  My hands were wet and it was difficult to get them all the way back on.  I didn’t want that to happen again, as blind was better than cold at this point.  Travis stayed with me as Hans took the snow machine and rode away.  He was looking for the trail that had been totally obscured by the blowing snow on the ground and near total white out conditions.  The winds were nearing 60 miles per hour and the temperature had dropped to under minus forty.  We weren’t having fun any more!

Thankfully, sometime just before midnight, we made it back to town.  After tying up the dog team Hans had Travis run me up to the hotel.  I can’t honestly remember ever being gladder to get to a place in my life!  The manager had left a key out as promised so there was a room with a warm and soft bed waiting for me.  This was a great service offered to this stranger from the south, and much appreciated.

After a hearty breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon Hans showed up with my gear.  He also took me over to the Wildlife Conservation office so I could get the paperwork out of the way.  In NWT you pay a small tag fee at the beginning of your hunt and the trophy fee after the hunt is over only if successful.  It is a great system!  After lunch the Conservation officer picked me up and brought me and the bear skin to the airport where I was able to finalize the shipping arrangements to get the bear skin and skull shipped to the expediter.  You can’t bring your bear home with you after the hunt; it has to be shipped to one of several companies that help you with the process.  When you get back to the States there are papers to fill out and send with a check (processing fee) to Fish and Wildlife in Virginia.  They claim it will take 60-90 days for me to get the permit back from the US side of the border.  At that point I’ll ship the paperwork to Canada to get them to sign off.  When everyone has put their stamp of approval on the paperwork I’ll get it to the expediter, who can than make arrangements to ship it to this country.  That is another whole process which I’ll have to work through as time marches on.  I’ve been told to expect the whole procedure to take up to six months.  I’ll be glad when that is over and the bear skin is safely in the hands of my taxidermist back home.

It’s been quite an adventure.  In retrospect, I still wish I would have waited for a larger bear.  But, if given the choice of this bear or nothing, the decision would be an easy one!  My goal was to add a life mounted polar bear to the trophy room and another species to my “Representative Slam” of North American Big Game Animals taken with the bow.  I did that.  I also wanted to experience an expedition on the frozen arctic sea by dog sled and hunt the way these primitive people have for centuries.  I also did that.  I knew going in it would be more adventure than fun, and I was correct.  Along the way I met some good people and made a few new friends.  The memories will last a lifetime…..and that is what it is really all about.  Thanks for joining me and good hunting.

To hunt with Roy: Tag-A-Long Consultants