CHAPTER I
ARCTIC HUNTING
By Arnold Pike
Arctic hunting embraces an enormous field, the extent of which is not yet realised, and I should begin by remarking that my experience, as here set forth, is limited to the seas around Spitzbergen, and that I propose to confine myself to the pursuit of the walrus and the polar bear.
Although the vast herds of walrus which formerly inhabited the Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya seas have been sadly thinned by persistent—and often wasteful—hunting, first by the English and Dutch in the early part of the seventeenth century, then by the Russians, and at the present day by the Norwegians, yet enough may still be killed in a season’s hunting to satisfy most sportsmen. The fact that the expeditions after walrus and polar bear which are made to these waters are often partially, or wholly, unsuccessful is due not to the scarcity of game but to the manner in which it is sought. The sportsman usually sails in a yacht—a vessel totally unfit for the work before her—and at Tromsö or Hammerfest picks up an ice pilot, who is also supposed to show where sport is to be obtained, at a season of the year when all the best men are engaged to, or have already sailed with, the professional walrus hunters. The consequences are that the voyage is confined to the open, and therefore easily navigated, waters of the western coast of Spitzbergen, or else that if good hunting grounds are visited much of the game is not seen; for no matter how keen a look-out a man may keep, he is sure to pass over game if he is not used to hunting, and does not know exactly what to look for and where to look for it.
The best way, therefore, in the writer’s opinion, is for the sportsman to hire one of the small vessels engaged in the trade, sailing either from Hammerfest or Tromsö (preferably from the latter port). He could hire a walrus sloop of about forty tons burden for the season, completely fitted out with all the necessary gear and boats, and a crew of nine men (seven before the mast) for about 450l. This amount would cover everything except tinned soups, meat, &c., for his own consumption; and the expenditure is not all dead loss, for if he allows one boat’s crew to regularly hunt seal, whilst he devotes himself principally to bear and walrus, he will probably realise a sum by the sale of skins and blubber, at the conclusion of the voyage, which will meet the greater portion, if not the whole, of the amount paid for the hire of the vessel. There is no difficulty in disposing of the ‘catch.’ If, however, a sportsman decides to go in his own yacht, with an English crew, he should engage during the winter, through the British vice-consul at Tromsö, a good harpooner and three men used to arctic work, and buy a hunting boat (fangstbaad), to the use of which they are accustomed, together with the necessary harpoons, lines, lances, knives, &c.
In either case he should sail from Tromsö early in May if bound for Spitzbergen, where he would in ordinary seasons be able to hunt until the middle of September. In that time, with fair luck, he may expect to kill from five to ten bears, about twenty walrus, thirty reindeer, and from three to four hundred seals. If only small attention is paid to the seals, the number of walrus and bear obtained should be considerably larger.
No especial personal outfit is necessary.
As most of the shooting will be done from a boat that is seldom stationary, the rifle to which the sportsman is most accustomed is the best. A .450 Express, with solid hardened bullet for walrus, and ‘small-holed’ for bear, is a very good weapon. A fowling-piece for geese and a small-bore rifle for practice at seals would also be useful. Whatever weapons are taken, they should be of simple construction and strongly made, for they are liable to receive hard knocks in the rough, wet work incidental to walrus hunting.
As regards clothing, a light-coloured stalking suit (the writer prefers grey), underclothing of the same weight as the sportsman is accustomed to wear during an English winter, and knee-boots, will answer every purpose. For hand covering the mittens (‘vanter’) used by the Norwegian fishermen are most suitable. The sportsman had better lay in his stock of canned provisions and tea in England, but coffee, sugar, &c., can be obtained of good quality and equally cheap at his starting point in Norway.