David goes to Greenland

by David Binney Putnam

When we were pretty close Dad fired five bullets, four of which, I think, hit him in the head and neck. But the rifle is only a 256, not a very big bore, and it didn’t do the work. Then Dan fired a shot with his big high-powered rifle and hit him in the back of the neck and he dropped instantly. This one floated. Many of them sink the minute they are dead.

We went back to one that Doc and Kellerman had shot after we picked up the others. Two hunters in kayaks were waiting there. This was a big cow walrus. But most interesting was that beside her in the water were two young walrus. The older was a bull calf, a yearling I suppose.

We wanted to get these young ones alive so Carl went for his lasso. Dad rowed Carl out in the little boat. Carl stood up swinging his lasso all ready to throw when he [[123]]got the chance. They went right up alongside the old cow, who was floating partly out of water.

When the tusked calf came up Carl threw the rope, but the first throw slipped off. Then it was evident that the smaller calf, which had no tusks, was easier to get, seeming to be less wild. So Carl went after him and about the third throw got the rope around him, which was quite a job because his head was small and slippery and he dove quickly.

There was a great splashing and goings on. The little walrus wasn’t so very little. He weighed about 150 pounds and was as strong as a young bull. Carl hauled the rope in over the stern and finally got more of it around the walrus and sort of hogtied him. Finally they dragged him over to the Morrissey and he was hauled up on deck with a burton, which is a tackle used to raise and lower the dories. In the meantime the other young walrus had disappeared.

Hoisting a Walrus on Board.

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I suppose that perhaps this is the first time that a walrus ever has been captured with a rope. Anyway, it’s certainly the first time this particular cowboy has roped one. I know that polar bears have been roped before.

We kept the little walrus on board for two days. Dad called him Halitosis. He didn’t smell so sweet. We tried feeding him milk, and he seemed to take a little, through a hose. He would bark fiercely at everyone. But the really sad thing was to see him when he first came aboard. The bodies of the other walrus were in a great heap on deck. At once he smelled around and found his mother and the poor little fellow got right over to her and sort of snuggled up close to her, quiet as could be.