Baffin Island - Unique Adventure!

dukxdog

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Apr 28, 2019
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I just returned from 15 days in the Arctic. It was light 24 hours each day.

Eskimos, dog sleds, seal hunting, foxes, Ptarmigan, Narwhal, Ski-Doo's, extreme camping, icebergs and much more!

Main objective was the white bear, apex predator.

This was something I have longed to do then booking it in February made it reality.

I travelled about 1000 miles by snowmobile. Took lots of photos for documentation of memories.

We found several seal kills and blood trails made by the hunting bears. some the bears dug down 6 feet in the ice to dislodge dead seals for meals. The bears can smell food under 5+ feet of ice. They dig through ice as we can dig through beach sand. They invade the seal dens for pup and adult Ringed seals.

We camped in Alaska Arctic Oven tents with Coleman stoves for heat and cooking.

We used sled dogs to bay the bears. Caught three bears during the hunt. One sow, one smaller male I passed on then the bear I got at the end. I saw six females each having one to three cubs.

I used a Rem 700 AWR rifle in .375HH with a Bushnell 6500 1.25-8X scope. One Swift 300gr A-Frame bullet hand loaded.

Some new gear I bought for the hunt was a Rokman waterproof duffle and waterproof gun case. These were perfect.

It is truly amazing how all of the animals survive and are adapted to this harsh environment. The people who live here are also survivors. I constantly thought about how they lived before we had our mechanical inventions. Tough life. They hunt what they eat...cooked and raw. This was a real adventure.
 

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chizelhead

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Awesome!!! Congratulations and thanks for sharing! What an amazing adventure!
 
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dukxdog

dukxdog

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Apr 28, 2019
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Yes PB pants.
He says Seal are warm, Bear are intermediate (heavy weight) and Caribou are warmest. We slept on winter caribou hides for insulation.
The guys like Beaver mittens best. Some are lined with seal pup skins such as the stretched hide. They like eating seal raw and boiled. We ate frozen, shaved caribou as seen in the pictures. They eat the liver, heart and kidneys as they cut up their kills. Bearded seal leather is waterproof.
They fed the dogs every other day. Seal (very rich) and Arctic Char.
We gave the bear meat to elders in the village. They love it boiled about three hours.
Narwhal tusk is ivory which they sell for $10-20K. Their village gets 240 tags each year. The village gets 25 bear tags. Seventeen to sport hunters. Four open tags first to kill then four on a village lottery in three day hunts.
 
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dukxdog

dukxdog

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"Is the pic below the pants the baculum?"

Ha! that would be a really stud bear!
That's a Narwhal tusk. Baculum is about 9".
 

JMF

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Apr 19, 2018
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Very cool trip! I'm fascinated by these kinds of adventures. Can you tell us more about the gear and clothing you used?
 

Andyram_18

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Sep 22, 2022
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Dude, I need those Down/Polar bear pants! This might be a stupid question, but what are the photos of in Post # 3, PIC 5? Is that an ice hole?
 
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dukxdog

dukxdog

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The bear dug a 5' hole down to a dead seal frozen in the ice. Pic #8 post 2 shows standing in the hole. Bears can smell dead things through about 6' of ice. They dig through the ice very easily.
Notice the black skin on the top of my bear's paws where the hair is warn off from digging.
 

Andyram_18

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Sep 22, 2022
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The bear dug a 5' hole down to a dead seal frozen in the ice. Pic #8 post 2 shows standing in the hole. Bears can smell dead things through about 6' of ice. They dig through the ice very easily.
Notice the black skin on the top of my bear's paws where the hair is warn off from digging.
Wow. That’s so cool. Insane how those critters survive harsh conditions
 
Joined
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Great photos and story! Thanks for posting! Inuits are amazingly tough and resourceful! Fun to listen to their stories.

I bowhunted them starting Feb 12, 2018 for 11 days out of Resolute Bay. What an adventure!

We only had 7 hrs of daylight at first. Weathered a severe storm before I got the bear.

Your village gave a much higher harvest percentage to sport hunters. Was only 10% where I hunted at that time.
 
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