| I feel like we're
a pack of gypsies because we're packing up and leaving all the
time. Then we just stop wherever we please. Every day has turned
into pretty much the same routine. It seems as though I'm on a
never-ending dog sled ride. Sometimes I'd turn my back to the
wind and just sit there as though I was in a trance. I began thinking
about back when I was in Resolute. I had watched a video of a
man who spent 16 days on the ice before he harvested his polar
bear. Joe Cocozzo told me he had spent 22 days on
the ice on his previous trip. I hope I don't have to break his
record! I'm still optimistic about my hunt. I know one of these
days my luck will change.
50 degrees below zero
This is the first
day on the ice that I haven't seen a bear. The conditions today
are just brutal; it's incredibly cold. Phil thinks it's about
50 degrees below zero. The wind has been blowing hard all day
and the visibility is only about 300 yards. Any fresh tracks have
been covered over. The only way we could possibly get on a bear
today would be by seeing one. We're almost out of seal meat and
our food supply is getting low. We've been stopping at various
places along the crack hunting for seals much like the bears do,
but we've had no luck. I don't know how much longer we can stay
out on the ice without getting fresh supplies. I really don't
want to return to town until I harvest a bear.
The
thing that has really impressed me on this hunt has been my SKB
double bow case. I've been really satisfied with it. I figure
if it made it through the abuse of a misinformed airport worker,
then it was really doing good. On a previous hunt, one of the
airport workers wrote on my bow case, "Here in……….we
like our animals alive." They had to have been jumping on
it in order to cause the damage they did to my equipment. That's
why I switched to SKB.
Out here in the elements
it's been an incredible asset. All the abuse it's taken and still
my gorilla twins are safe and sound. I take them out and shoot
them often and everything has been right on, just like the first
day in Resolute.
We set up camp early
tonight because of the weather conditions. I was helping David
with the dogs and for the first time I learned how they tie the
dogs to the ice. They take a chisel and chop two deep holes in
the ice next to each other. Next they connect the two holes several
inches below the ice and then they hook the chain around it. I
pulled on the chain as hard as I could, and the ice wouldn't give.
After talking on the
radio tonight, I found out that all the other hunters have harvested
good bears. A couple of them have been weathered in, but tomorrow
if the weather breaks, they'll be heading back into town.
I was extremely tired
today because of being battered by the wind. I'm really looking
forward to snuggling down in my sleeping bag. Tomorrow will be
a brand new day.
|
About
Ray
