| Polar Bear Hunt |
By Kurt Fetzer, Life Member #249
One of my hunting goals I have set for myself is to harvest at least one mature representative species of all
the animals in North America, commonly referred to as the North American 29. I have been pursuing this
goal on and off for the last twenty years or so while also taking several international hunting trips throughout
the world. It is this quest which let me to book a polar bear hunt with Canada North Outfitting back in 2000.
The first opening they had for a hunt in the hamlet of Arviat (located in the province of Nunavut on the
northwest edge of Hudson Bay) was in the year 2005.
After many years of anticipation, I eagerly left for my polar bear hunt in November 2005. The reason for
the unusual time of the year for this hunt in early winter as opposed to springtime is driven by the fact that
you are hunting the bears that are migrating from Churchhill, Manitoba headed north as they hunt for seals
in the frozen Canadian arctic. The bears are in and around the hamlet of Arviat for only about a three-week
window during their migration.
Unfortunately for me, my 2005 hunt was riddled with numerous problems, ranging from weather problems
(several days of white-outs), equipment problems (including breaking through the ice on our sled into the
bone chilling cold water) but, most notably, several issues and problems created by my head guide which I
will not address in this story. I had no opportunities at a bear and came home empty-handed in 2005.
With the cooperation of Canada North Outfitting and the Arviat Hunters & Trappers Association, I
arranged another hunt for this year, 2006. I departed Philadelphia Airport on November 8, 2006 and after
traveling through five airports, I arrived in Aviat, Nunavut. Much to my dismay, my duffle bad did not arrived
because the airline decided to take it off the plane in Winnipeg because they “needed the room” on the
plane. As you can imagine, this is not the type of hunt where you can just head out to camp without all your
gear. Thankfully, my gear showed up on the next flight at noontime the following day. Thereafter, I met my
guides, Andrew Parnihaniak and Noah Muckpah. After shopping for groceries and packing up the sleds with
the necessary equipment, we were off on our hunt.
That evening a blizzard hit and continued through midday the following day. Once the weather cleared,
the next several days were spent glassing, from various vantage points, the ice flow edge where the bears
prefer to travel in search of seals,. We lost another full day to a white-out where no travel or hunting is
possible because of the extreme cold and zero visibility.
On day five we decided to travel quite a distance south and saw our first bears, a sow and two cubs and
two other lone bears. One of the bears we tried to get close enough to for a better look but somehow it was
able to disappear in the barren landscape.
Late in the day on day six we found a large mature bear traveling north. We did our best to position
ourselves on the recently frozen, fragile ice in front of the bear to wait in ambush. However, the wind was not
in our favor and when he got within approximately 1000 yards he winded us, stood up, looked in our direction
and then headed for open water.
We decided on a different strategy on day seven. My two very competent, pleasant and hardworking
guides, Andrew and Noah, suggested we concentrate our efforts on the more stable ice located directly out
from our camp. We traveled by sled a very short distance at first light to an enormous boulder about the size
of a Volkswagen Beetle that was protruding through the frozen ice. While checking the stability and safety of
the surrounding ice, my guides discovered tracks of two separate bears which had recently traveled in close
proximity to the boulder we were going to use as our ambush point.
As the morning progressed, a dense ground fog developed which limited our visibility to under 40 yards.
Because of the lack of visibility, I decided for the first time on the trip to take my rifle out of the case and
keep it close at hand.
After several hours of waiting, the fog lifted enough to allow visibility out to about 125 yards. It was now
about 11:30 a.m., at which time I saw Noah react in a way which indicated he saw something coming towards
us through the fog. After reaching for and looking through my binoculars, he calmly informed me a polar
bear was headed directly at us. Despite my looking both with and without my Swarovski binoculars, I could
see nothing. After confirming with Noah a second time that he saw a bear that was headed our way, I saw
both Noah and Andrew duck down behind the boulder. I immediately reacted with them, turned back around
and peeked over the boulder and saw my dream bear come walking out of the fog right at us. The wind was
perfect, we were well hidden, I had a great rest for the shot and the bear was already well within killing
distance, approximately 100 to 125 yards.
Between the two years of hunting, I had 21 days invested in this moment. I was in no rush to end what
was without a doubt the most thrilling hunting experience I had ever enjoyed, seeing that polar bear walk
towards us on the frozen, barren ice. I knew he was a good bear and he was going to be mine. He was
quartering towards me and getting closer. Andrew, my head guide, told me to shoot whenever I was ready.
At that point the bear was about 100 yards away. Me philosophy is the closer the better.
When the bear got approximately 75 yards away, Andrew once again said, “You can take him when you’re
ready.” With a hand signal from me, I acknowledged I heard my guide. I was going to wait until the bear was
perfectly broadside, which would occur at about 40 yards distance, before shooting. However, after a few
more moments of tracking the bear through my scope, when the bear got to about 50 to 50 yards away,
Andrew said to me quite emphatically, “The bear is getting too close. You need to shoot now!”
I was shooting a .300 Weatherby with 200 grain Federal Premium Safari-Grade Trophy Bonded Bear Claw
bullets. The first shot I was presented with was a quartering shot angling through the far shoulder with no
reaction from the bear. And the second shot was behind the shoulder broadside at about 40 yards, again,
no reaction of any kind from the bear. He just kept walking at the same speed and same path of travel.
Other tan hearing the bullets clearly slap each time they hit, you would never have known I hit the bear.
Before I fired the third shot, the bear dropped down momentarily, but immediately got up and started
walking on the same path at the same speed. The bear was now going away from me and I took him through
the shoulder, but at the opposite angle from the first shot. The bear probably covered a total distance of
about 100 yards before collapsing and showing signs of his demise. I fired two more insurance shots before
approaching him.
I can honestly say after over a hundred guided trips, I was never as happy approaching my trophy. I knew
he was a good bear, but I never knew how good he really was until walking up on him. He had an enormous
head and he measured an honest 9 foot, 7 inches nose to tail and 9 foot 6 inches paw to paw.
Amazingly, because of the think, tough hides the bears possess to survive in their harsh world, only one of
the five bullets passed completely through the bear. After returning home I was contacted by the Arviat
Wildlife Officer and he informed me they aged my bear at 19 years old from the tooth they pulled from he
scull and he went on to say most polar bears in the wild do not live much longer then 20 years.
This great trophy from the far north was the 27th different North American big game species I have been
fortunate enough to come home with so far. I want to extend a sincere than you to my guides, Andrew and
Noah, the Arviat HTO and Canada North Outfitting for their efforts in making this hunt so successful and
rewarding.
Now if I could only draw that bighorn and desert sheep tag….
the animals in North America, commonly referred to as the North American 29. I have been pursuing this
goal on and off for the last twenty years or so while also taking several international hunting trips throughout
the world. It is this quest which let me to book a polar bear hunt with Canada North Outfitting back in 2000.
The first opening they had for a hunt in the hamlet of Arviat (located in the province of Nunavut on the
northwest edge of Hudson Bay) was in the year 2005.
After many years of anticipation, I eagerly left for my polar bear hunt in November 2005. The reason for
the unusual time of the year for this hunt in early winter as opposed to springtime is driven by the fact that
you are hunting the bears that are migrating from Churchhill, Manitoba headed north as they hunt for seals
in the frozen Canadian arctic. The bears are in and around the hamlet of Arviat for only about a three-week
window during their migration.
Unfortunately for me, my 2005 hunt was riddled with numerous problems, ranging from weather problems
(several days of white-outs), equipment problems (including breaking through the ice on our sled into the
bone chilling cold water) but, most notably, several issues and problems created by my head guide which I
will not address in this story. I had no opportunities at a bear and came home empty-handed in 2005.
With the cooperation of Canada North Outfitting and the Arviat Hunters & Trappers Association, I
arranged another hunt for this year, 2006. I departed Philadelphia Airport on November 8, 2006 and after
traveling through five airports, I arrived in Aviat, Nunavut. Much to my dismay, my duffle bad did not arrived
because the airline decided to take it off the plane in Winnipeg because they “needed the room” on the
plane. As you can imagine, this is not the type of hunt where you can just head out to camp without all your
gear. Thankfully, my gear showed up on the next flight at noontime the following day. Thereafter, I met my
guides, Andrew Parnihaniak and Noah Muckpah. After shopping for groceries and packing up the sleds with
the necessary equipment, we were off on our hunt.
That evening a blizzard hit and continued through midday the following day. Once the weather cleared,
the next several days were spent glassing, from various vantage points, the ice flow edge where the bears
prefer to travel in search of seals,. We lost another full day to a white-out where no travel or hunting is
possible because of the extreme cold and zero visibility.
On day five we decided to travel quite a distance south and saw our first bears, a sow and two cubs and
two other lone bears. One of the bears we tried to get close enough to for a better look but somehow it was
able to disappear in the barren landscape.
Late in the day on day six we found a large mature bear traveling north. We did our best to position
ourselves on the recently frozen, fragile ice in front of the bear to wait in ambush. However, the wind was not
in our favor and when he got within approximately 1000 yards he winded us, stood up, looked in our direction
and then headed for open water.
We decided on a different strategy on day seven. My two very competent, pleasant and hardworking
guides, Andrew and Noah, suggested we concentrate our efforts on the more stable ice located directly out
from our camp. We traveled by sled a very short distance at first light to an enormous boulder about the size
of a Volkswagen Beetle that was protruding through the frozen ice. While checking the stability and safety of
the surrounding ice, my guides discovered tracks of two separate bears which had recently traveled in close
proximity to the boulder we were going to use as our ambush point.
As the morning progressed, a dense ground fog developed which limited our visibility to under 40 yards.
Because of the lack of visibility, I decided for the first time on the trip to take my rifle out of the case and
keep it close at hand.
After several hours of waiting, the fog lifted enough to allow visibility out to about 125 yards. It was now
about 11:30 a.m., at which time I saw Noah react in a way which indicated he saw something coming towards
us through the fog. After reaching for and looking through my binoculars, he calmly informed me a polar
bear was headed directly at us. Despite my looking both with and without my Swarovski binoculars, I could
see nothing. After confirming with Noah a second time that he saw a bear that was headed our way, I saw
both Noah and Andrew duck down behind the boulder. I immediately reacted with them, turned back around
and peeked over the boulder and saw my dream bear come walking out of the fog right at us. The wind was
perfect, we were well hidden, I had a great rest for the shot and the bear was already well within killing
distance, approximately 100 to 125 yards.
Between the two years of hunting, I had 21 days invested in this moment. I was in no rush to end what
was without a doubt the most thrilling hunting experience I had ever enjoyed, seeing that polar bear walk
towards us on the frozen, barren ice. I knew he was a good bear and he was going to be mine. He was
quartering towards me and getting closer. Andrew, my head guide, told me to shoot whenever I was ready.
At that point the bear was about 100 yards away. Me philosophy is the closer the better.
When the bear got approximately 75 yards away, Andrew once again said, “You can take him when you’re
ready.” With a hand signal from me, I acknowledged I heard my guide. I was going to wait until the bear was
perfectly broadside, which would occur at about 40 yards distance, before shooting. However, after a few
more moments of tracking the bear through my scope, when the bear got to about 50 to 50 yards away,
Andrew said to me quite emphatically, “The bear is getting too close. You need to shoot now!”
I was shooting a .300 Weatherby with 200 grain Federal Premium Safari-Grade Trophy Bonded Bear Claw
bullets. The first shot I was presented with was a quartering shot angling through the far shoulder with no
reaction from the bear. And the second shot was behind the shoulder broadside at about 40 yards, again,
no reaction of any kind from the bear. He just kept walking at the same speed and same path of travel.
Other tan hearing the bullets clearly slap each time they hit, you would never have known I hit the bear.
Before I fired the third shot, the bear dropped down momentarily, but immediately got up and started
walking on the same path at the same speed. The bear was now going away from me and I took him through
the shoulder, but at the opposite angle from the first shot. The bear probably covered a total distance of
about 100 yards before collapsing and showing signs of his demise. I fired two more insurance shots before
approaching him.
I can honestly say after over a hundred guided trips, I was never as happy approaching my trophy. I knew
he was a good bear, but I never knew how good he really was until walking up on him. He had an enormous
head and he measured an honest 9 foot, 7 inches nose to tail and 9 foot 6 inches paw to paw.
Amazingly, because of the think, tough hides the bears possess to survive in their harsh world, only one of
the five bullets passed completely through the bear. After returning home I was contacted by the Arviat
Wildlife Officer and he informed me they aged my bear at 19 years old from the tooth they pulled from he
scull and he went on to say most polar bears in the wild do not live much longer then 20 years.
This great trophy from the far north was the 27th different North American big game species I have been
fortunate enough to come home with so far. I want to extend a sincere than you to my guides, Andrew and
Noah, the Arviat HTO and Canada North Outfitting for their efforts in making this hunt so successful and
rewarding.
Now if I could only draw that bighorn and desert sheep tag….
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