CANADA: I Just Thought I Wanted A Polar Bear

I figured I give the muskox hunt a try first. I told the booked company I don't mind the cold. Boy was I wrong, my watch read -25 after I got off the plane in Nunavu in the later part of March. I thought to myself this ain't to bad. Little did I know the weather was about to change. After getting our licenses and tag we were off for a 5 hr snowmobile sled ride to the hunting area and to set up camp. The ride was weather bearable but ruff as hell bouncing area in the sled. Brought back Kamchatka memories. Finally made it to our camp site. Set up the tent and tried to get a good night sleep anticipating the morning hunt. Woke up to a bombing -51 without the wind chill. I put on everything I had and we were off. Finally around 1pm we spotted our first group of muskox and luckily there was a shooter bull in the bunch. After a short stock my bull was down. I don't know how on this earth these guides handle the cold skinning. I literally had frost forming on my face just the few seconds I took my mask off to take pictures. They estimate the temp with the windchill to be about -65 below. My body stayed warm by my toes and hand were cold to the point you can't even feel them. The buddy that went with me also shot a book head but he ended up with frost bite on a few of his toes. Would post a pic of his toes but it's to nasty. I can handle just about anything for a few days but when I asked about the polar bear hunt, he said it was approx 14 day hunt. I can prepare for the cold a little better but I don't know if I could handle 14 days bouncing around in that sled.

Toughed that out. Yup, that’s cold
Congratulations.

I’d have to have a youth model rifle LOP to make up for all those damn cloths!

Bullthrower338 said:

I’d have to have a youth model rifle LOP to make up for all those damn cloths!

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My LOP is so long I could probably finally shoot a normal length rifle.

Wow....I promise from now on I will not complain about being cold in the deer stand when it's 30 out....

Congrats on the hunt!

You really earned that muskox. Great story, thanks! What kind of mount are you planning?

375 Ruger Fan said:

You really earned that muskox. Great story, thanks! What kind of mount are you planning?

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I got the muskox done , hadn't had time to mount the fox yet. I'm putting it on the bottom section of the base .

Qwatali said:

View attachment 254770

I got the muskox done , hadn't had time to mount the fox yet. I'm putting it on the bottom section of the base .

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Congratulations those are quite the beasts.
Remind me of a throw back to ice age animals almost.
I'm sure a polar bear hunt would absolutely be worth the discomfort.
I recently watched a fred bear polar bear hunt from the 1960's and there snow mobiles had 12 horse power and he was on the ice for 28 days or so.

Congrats !

I will stick to Africa, I can handle the heat much better.

Congrats on the hunt and thanks for sharing!

Wow that looks frigid! I love reading writeups of hunts in Canada. It is one of the worlds last untouched wildernesses

Qwatali said:

View attachment 254770

I got the muskox done , hadn't had time to mount the fox yet. I'm putting it on the bottom section of the base .

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Looks great! If you stare at it for awhile, it sort of looks like the offspring of a cape buffalo and an American bison.

Old thread revival but - how does one avoid frostbite?

Move very slowly, never work up a sweat and wear very good clothing. A Seal skin suit over top of everything can help keep the wind out.

Nice trophy musk ox! I can see by their fur how they can survive in those temperatures, but how does the fox survive? I would think their foot pads alone would become frost bitten?