As some know Jason and I were recently on an arctic adventure hunting Muskox in Nunavut, Canada. I thought we would share some photo's of the expedition.
There are two basic Muskox hunts, the Arctic Island Muskox, and the Barren Ground Muskox, or Mainland Muskox. Although they are recognized by the record keepers P&Y and B&C as the same species, the mainland muskox are usually 100-200 lbs bigger in body size, and the herds contain a greater number of bigger trophy bulls. A quick look through the record books show all the top representatives come from the mainland variety.
Mainland Muskox would be our target. The hunt is a little longer, and the mainland does not harbor the same numbers of animals that the Island hunts offer, however our outfitter, Boyd Warner of Adventure Northwest, is proud that on the mainland hunt he offers, trophy bulls up to and over 120" B&C are in several of the herds. 90" being the P&Y minimum, 105" being the B&C minimum, and 129 being the tied Worlds record. Trophy aspect aside, we were just focused on Muskox, numbers have never been a big concern for me, but found it amazing that it is likely the only hunt in the world where a B&C class animal is likely present in most groups.
This is the community of Gjoa Haven where the hunt was based out of. Small, cold, but incredibly nice people.
The Local church. All the buildings had these small porches with no doors to catch some of the blowing snow.
After about 80 miles in the Komatik across the sea ice and a few lakes we reach the mainland where we would spend the night. I think Jason and I were both pleasantly surprised when home for day one was not built of snow. The guides had told us we would spend day one in a luxury cabin...Luxury hey.... The bunk you see was Jason and my ride for the hunt... We nick named it "The Thunder Box" and our driver/Guide, Jack "The Hammer" Ameralik.
Since there is nothing on the land for reference it's hard to tell if the drifts change, but these pics below, only being taken a while apart, made it apperant the landscape changes often.
We were then stormed in the cabin for the next two days. It was an odd storm as it was not snowing, but you could not tell where the horizon or sky met. Hard to even tell where the ground was when you stepped.
After the weather cleared we hit the land again in search of Muskox. About 100 miles in the komatik none were found.
The next morning we awoke to another beautiful day, and headed in a new direction. After about 50 miles we came across some frozen, blown over Muskox turds and our Guide Anthony jumped off his skidoo and proclaimed that they were about 5 miles away...How he came to that I will never know. About a half mile further they went on top of a ridge, and returned to say that there were muskox about 4 miles away. We came around the next corner, and sure as heck, he was right. We had spotted our first muskox. Two ridges further and we were within 2 miles, and stopped to look and film them. It was clear there were 3 decent looking bulls in the group, one noticeably bigger. All the stories of them being tame, and circling up at the sign of danger....were not true for us! At 2 miles they spotted us and were hauling butt for who knows where...We were very worried at this point, at how on earth we would even stalk them in the wide open.
I will save the last details for the footage, but we did not have to worry about the stalk...You could say he came to us...fast...and angry! Broadside at 8-10 yards we were able to run one of the new Muzzy Phantom MX broadheads through his lungs. He ran about 70 yardsish and tipped over. We began to approach him and he made it back up to his feet at which time we decided to take another shot for assurance. It hit him good in the heart, and he was down for good.
It took awhile to field dress and debone him and we loaded the sleds back up to go look for good Igloo snow. When we found it our inuit guides, Jack and Anthony, began building us a new home for the night.
Both Jason and I took advantage of the opportunity to help by cutting a few slabs...Most of mine broke in half.
It didn't take long until it began to take shape.
Almost done
A look at the door once inside
They turned on the coleman lantern and from the outside it looked amazing
Suppertime in the igloo, prepared by the head Guide Jack...who by the looks of it has felt the cold before!
I remember a "spot the bowhunter" pic getting a good laugh here not so long ago, so I don't feel too bad sharing this...Sorry Buddy. But anyone wonder what a TV show host looks like after a good nights sleep in an igloo???
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All in all I think it took about 4 hours to build the igloo. Very neat process. The next morning we got our first good look at in the daylight.
During the building process we were amazed the blocks would stay in place, so the next morning our guide Jack wanted us to take a picture of him showing how strong it really was.
Thank everyone for following our Arctic adventure through the spot and Globalstar Sat phone update thread. There are way to many pics/details to post here. If you ever have the oppertunity to experiance Canada's arctic, please give it thought. It will be something you can't imagine. Everything we...or at least I was expecting was not, it was so much more than a frozen chunk of ice. It was an adventure I will not soon forget.
Also thanks to Boyd Warner and Adventure Northwest Outfitting, Nunavut Tourism and to Shadowear and Northern Outfitters as we wore shadowear light fleece under the Northern Outfitters arctic system and boots...we really thank them for keeping us warm even in -54C weather. Incredible gear.
Thanks as well from me to Jason for Helping make the trip possible, absolutely insisting I shoot first (he is STUBORN) and for filming the hunt of a lifetime. We experienced a bit more bad weather than usual, and other circumstances beyond our control that made it turn out that Jason did not get an opportunity at a Muskox, but thats hunting... However if I know one thing about Jason...He will be back for his Ox, and I will there to film it for him! (it hurts already)
On a side note, Jason mentioned on the last sat phone update that he was a B&C bull, then I posted that we didnt really know. I have had him looked at but the scorer did not have the proper calipers. He was roughed out twice and will definatly surpass the B&C minimum, however I would like to get him accurately scored, not to enter, but for my own records. So if anyone knows someone in or around Saskatoon that could score him, please PM me.
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