Last
night we shared a camp with Joe Cocozzo and his guides. They happened
to cross our path while zigzagging through the pressure ridges
and blowing snow looking for bears. They arrived about an hour
after we did. Joe is a huge guy. We had quite a few laughs together.
I can't figure out how he fits in the small, 8x12 tents we're
staying in. There can't be any room for his two guides. Joe said
he saw about 15 bears on his route, but they were mostly sows
and cubs. He also told me he was on a hunt with another outfitter
last year and spent 22 days out on the ice without even seeing
a bear! He is very excited about this hunt and all the bears that
he is seeing.
Found A Friend
Right away this morning
it was a pretty eventful day. When we woke up, there was frost
all over the inside of the tent. My guide Phil said that he woke
up in the middle of the night and his head was frozen to the side
of the tent. We all had a good laugh about that. I always wear
a camouflage stocking hat to bed in order to keep my head from
freezing. One of my fears was that after I fell asleep, one of
my hands might accidentally rest against the sidewall of the tent
and it would freeze solid before I woke up. So to guard against
this happening, I placed caribou skins next to the sidewall of
the tent where my arms and hands might touch.
It's A Beautiful Day
It's a beautiful day.
The sun is shining. The temperature is about -25 degrees with
no wind--almost balmy! The wind is really the "killer"
in the arctic. We're heading for a place called Garrett Island.
It's west of where we're at now. It's clear outside and I think
it's a good day to spot some bears with my Swarovski's. Hopefully
we'll do well.
We zigzagged through
the ice chunks all day working our way towards Garret Island.
I learned to balance myself on the back of the sled so that I
could stand up and see farther.
If I had done anything
different for this hunt, I would have probably bought a lot more
hand warmers and candy bars from Wal-Mart. I'm having a hard time
keeping my batteries warm. I try to keep as many of them close
to my stomach area inside my parka but I can only carry so many
of them. I was glad I talked to my friends before I came out here
-- Jack Frost, Gary Bogner, Tom Hoffman, and Chuck Adams. They
all gave me good hints on what to do and how things went on their
polar bear hunts. What sticks in my mind the most, is the way
Gary's eyes lit up and the excitement in his voice when he told
his story to Karen and me. He put us right on the ice with him.
I've been taking my
Free Flight release and putting it on over the top of a real thin
pair of polypropylene gloves and then I slip my hands inside of
my big pair of mittens and I'm able to keep my release on all
day. It's one less thing to worry about when we come up on bear.
Today we came across four sets of bear tracks but none of them
are fresh, so tomorrow we'll head closer toward Garret Island
to see if we can pick up some fresher tracks.
This cold ice out
here has a beauty all of its own. The pressure ridges that are
coming up out of the ice are all turquoise blue colored with snow
on them. The wind blown snow makes it awfully hard for the dogs
to make it through the snow. I often get off the sled to help
push it over the ice chunks. The snow covers the ice chunks--that's
what causes us to smack our sleds up. I cannot believe the awesome
power of these dogs!
A Beauty All Its Own
The other thing that
is pretty neat is watching the clouds come in and the ice fog
making rainbows around the sun. It looks like a big circle around
the sun with the colors of a rainbow. Inuit people call the rainbow
a "sun dog".
As the sun was going
down, the temperature was dropping rapidly so we set our tent
up behind a line of pressure ridges to block the wind.
My GPS coordinates
are 745003N 974327W.
While looking through
my camera bag tonight, I found a note my wife wrote to me. I could
be a million miles away and find a note like that and it makes
me feel at home. This is not the first time I've been on a hunting
trip and been humbled by one of her notes. So I called my little
tomato and thanked her for the note.
I can't believe I'm
out here in the middle of nowhere and this Emerald Isle satellite
phone works so well. It's pretty impressive. Karen also said she
hid two other little notes and I'm going to have to start searching
around for them.
I'm very optimistic
about my hunt and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
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About
Ray
