Roy Goodwin
Hunting The Polar Bear - Day 3
By Roy Goodwin
Apr 4, 2006, 04:30
 

After another fitful night’s sleep, I awoke to a sunny day with minimal winds.  At breakfast the hotel manager gave me the great news that he had received a call from the airlines.  They found my bow case and it is on its way to Resolute Bay!  What a relief!  The combination of improved weather and getting my hands on my bow put a whole new spin on things.  Warren Strickland and one of the rifle hunters were also told at breakfast that their guides would be by around 9:00AM to pick up their gear, and that by 10:00 they should be heading out.  They weren’t too excited!  I was told that I and the one remaining hunter would go out around 2:00, assuming my bow arrived at the scheduled 1:00 time.

It took forever for lunch time to roll around, but it did finally come.  After lunch one of the hotel staff and I headed to the airport to see if my case had arrived.  It was almost an hour before the scheduled arrival time, but I was pacing the floor and needed to be doing “something”.  As we drove out of the parking lot we were stopped by a van.  It was another staff member just returning from the airport with a shipment of supplies for the kitchen.  The driver thought I might like to have the bow case that came in on the early cargo flight…..he hit that nail on the head!

Within forty-five minutes I had my bow unpacked, quiver on and arrows loaded.  The rest of my gear had been ready since yesterday, as I was good to go.  It took a couple more hours to round up my guide and his assistant, get suited up in the caribou skins, and get loaded up to hit the ice.  Things sure do move slower in the high north!  Finally, a little after 3:00 PM, we were on our way.  We were heading east along the southern end of Cornwallis Island.  The plan was to get as far as we could this afternoon, and make camp for the night.  The two groups were staying together until mid day tomorrow when one of us will turn north to hunt between Cornwallis and Devon Island, while the other would head east to Devon Island and then follow the southern coast of that island looking for bears.   Warren and the other hunter had headed south west from Resolute Bay and would be hunting a hundred or more miles away from where we camped tonight.  This is huge country!

Yesterday I promised information on the caribou skin suits, so here goes:  To survive in this weather you need to take a lot of precautions with clothing and gear.  The temperature in March averages minus 45 degrees and winds of 30-50 miles per hour are quite common.  Today was beautiful (minus 25 and only 10 mph winds) but it can change almost instantly and we are headed out for ten days.  For clothes I brought my coldest weather gear.  Several layers of polypropylene, under King of the Mountain wool, with additional wool over sweater, and minus 60 degree pack style boots.  I had almost as many layers on my head, and spares of everything!  All this isn’t enough, so the outfitter supplied hand made caribou skin pants and parka and special footwear.

Getting dressed is interesting!  After pulling on all your layers of heavy duty winter gear from home, you start getting serious.  The footwear is a three part system that goes over two layers of socks.  The outer layer being very heavy wool up to the knees.  Next you pull on something that is a compromise between a thermal sock and booty.  This is loose fitting and comes above the knee.  Over that goes a sheep skin slipper, and over that gets pulled the outer boot.  The soles are sheep skins and the uppers are caribou skin.  It feels funny getting ready to go out on the ice for ten days in footwear that feels more like bedroom slippers than winter boots, but you have to take faith in that fact that these people know what they are doing.

Once the boots are in place, you pull on the caribou skin pants.  Actually they are more like shorts!  They come to just below the knee and meet the top of the boots.  They are thick and loose fitting.  The caribou hair is a great insulator, and the skin is a very good wind break so the combination is pretty “toasty”, especially over all that wool!  Next you put on a heavy caribou skin parka with a fur lined hood.  The entire suit is finished off with very thick fur lined lamb skin mittens (which you wear over insulated gloves).  Before pulling over the hood you put several layers of protective clothing on your head, add ski goggles, and then a woolen muffler to protect your face from freezing.  Walking around in all this you can’t help but feel like the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and shooting a bow would be impossible.  I’ve attached a picture to give you an idea.

If only Roy had known about Insultex™ cold weather gear from IDI

We traveled about four and one half hours before making camp.  My guide, Hans, and I rode on the sled pulled by a team of eleven dogs.  His son-in-law, Travis, led the way on a snow machine pulling a large covered sled holding all our camping supplies.  Knowing we were possibly going to be gone ten days, and that we could get weathered in even longer, we had supplies for fifteen days.  It is surprising how fast the dogs pull the sled over the ice and hard packed snow, and I believe we made about sixteen miles this afternoon.

Modern transportation gets great gas mileage

Setting up a tent to spend the night on the ice, in polar bear country, and at temperatures as low as minus 45 degrees, is interesting!  Tomorrow I’ll share the details to give everyone a better feel for the experience.  For now, I’ll get undressed and pop into my sleeping bag, on the frozen Artic Ocean about five miles off shore, and at minus 35 degree temperatures.  Oh damn, I have to go outside and get rid of that tea I had with lunch…this will be fun!

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