Winkabeast
AH senior member
Well, after a year in the planning stages and a week's delay due to weather in Iceland, I finally got the arctic Greenland muskox hunt I had been looking forward to in the books last month !
Greenland is an amazing place, with only about 55,000 people in the whole territory, mostly along the eastern, western, and southern coastlines, it is a stark and icy and mostly empty continent sized island, but still beautiful in it's own almost otherworldly way.
My air itinerary was to be Newark - Reykjavik - Nuuk - Kangerlussuaq, followed by a long ATV ride up the frozen fiords to camp.
The international leg saw no issues after the first week's flight cancellation, but once in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, my travel plans became much less clear, lol.
Instead of a next morning flight to Kangerlussuaq, I was stuck in Nuuk for a day, re-routed to Sisimiut, and stuck in Sisimiut for another day, before finally getting out.
While the delays were frustrating in that they were shortening my "window" for hunting, I came to realize that weather is always going to be a player on an arctic hunt, and that the travel is all part of the adventure.
The layovers did allow me some time to walk around Nuuk and Sisimiut and see the sights, try the foods, and talk to Greenlanders. Michael and Julie at Inuit Outfitters were extremely helpful with all the changes in the flights and overnights, and in the end, when it came time to get it done on the one full day of hunting I had left, we were still able to make it happen !
The hunting itself was lots of ATV's and hiking in a landscape that can only be described as immense !
The temp never came above 5 degrees F or so, but my gear was good and I stayed comfortable.
And then an opportunity... an ancient bull at about 230 yards.... Prone over a ridgeline...
Because of my position I was not fully aware of the strength of the wind, which in hindsight I realize was every bit of a full value 20 mph.
My first shot was off the shoulder, back slightly, a double lung through and through, probably due to underestimating the wind. It still would have been a lethal shot, but the bull just stood there and took it !
Very tough animals. So I shot again, holding more wind, hit the shoulder, and put him down.
My rifle for this trip was a Mauser M12 Extreme chambered in the good old 9.3 x 62mm Mauser.
So...? Travel issues and all...
Hunting a prehistoric animal... with the native Inuit people.... on the arctic tundra... eating muskox, ptarmigan, whale, and halibut... A fantastic trip I will remember for life !
Enjoy the pics and video.
Greenland is an amazing place, with only about 55,000 people in the whole territory, mostly along the eastern, western, and southern coastlines, it is a stark and icy and mostly empty continent sized island, but still beautiful in it's own almost otherworldly way.
My air itinerary was to be Newark - Reykjavik - Nuuk - Kangerlussuaq, followed by a long ATV ride up the frozen fiords to camp.
The international leg saw no issues after the first week's flight cancellation, but once in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, my travel plans became much less clear, lol.
Instead of a next morning flight to Kangerlussuaq, I was stuck in Nuuk for a day, re-routed to Sisimiut, and stuck in Sisimiut for another day, before finally getting out.
While the delays were frustrating in that they were shortening my "window" for hunting, I came to realize that weather is always going to be a player on an arctic hunt, and that the travel is all part of the adventure.
The layovers did allow me some time to walk around Nuuk and Sisimiut and see the sights, try the foods, and talk to Greenlanders. Michael and Julie at Inuit Outfitters were extremely helpful with all the changes in the flights and overnights, and in the end, when it came time to get it done on the one full day of hunting I had left, we were still able to make it happen !
The hunting itself was lots of ATV's and hiking in a landscape that can only be described as immense !
The temp never came above 5 degrees F or so, but my gear was good and I stayed comfortable.
And then an opportunity... an ancient bull at about 230 yards.... Prone over a ridgeline...
Because of my position I was not fully aware of the strength of the wind, which in hindsight I realize was every bit of a full value 20 mph.
My first shot was off the shoulder, back slightly, a double lung through and through, probably due to underestimating the wind. It still would have been a lethal shot, but the bull just stood there and took it !
Very tough animals. So I shot again, holding more wind, hit the shoulder, and put him down.
My rifle for this trip was a Mauser M12 Extreme chambered in the good old 9.3 x 62mm Mauser.
So...? Travel issues and all...
Hunting a prehistoric animal... with the native Inuit people.... on the arctic tundra... eating muskox, ptarmigan, whale, and halibut... A fantastic trip I will remember for life !
Enjoy the pics and video.
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