The Hazardous History of Polar Bear Hunting

Many hunters and anglers prefer to problem themselves and are prepared to threat their lives seeking a uncommon or tough trophy. They go on adventures the place one false step or one tiny mistake might imply catastrophe, as each the surroundings and the wildlife can rapidly and simply finish their lives.

Goat and sheep hunters that climb into the skinny air of the excessive mountains know this hazard, as do blue water anglers that head out onto tough, shark-filled seas and African huge sport hunters who stand their floor towards charging lions, buffalo, and elephants. Nevertheless, completely none of those different actions maintain a candle to what’s thought of probably the most harmful pursuit of all of them—polar bear searching.

Polar bear searching is very regulated, with indigenous communities in Canada and Greenland taking the majority of the harvest. These hunts are monitored below strict quotas however nonetheless enable for a number of permits to be issued every year to hunters in areas that may assist the exercise. Although it’s nonetheless thought of controversial to take action, because it raises questions on searching animals thought of to be in danger, many adventurous hunters nonetheless dream of going to the Arctic in pursuit of the polar bear that they take into account to be the best of huge sport trophies.

“It’s truthfully a bit loopy in addition to the last word searching journey,” says legendary bowhunter Tom Miranda, who harvested a polar bear together with his bow on an epic hunt in 2007. “It’s like climbing Everest the place there’s hazard throughout you at each second, and for those who screw up, there’s no getting again. That’s polar bear searching.”

Miranda hunted his bear from a canine sled with an Inuit information as required by regulation, utilizing a standard technique the place contemporary bear tracks had been discovered within the snow after which adopted. As soon as the bear was noticed, the Inuit unleashed their sled canine one by one to run it down in a technique much like hound trying to find black bears and mountain lions. The canine ultimately cornered the animal in a handy spot for the hunter to make their shot.

“What’s cool about hunts like that is that you just get to do it the identical method it’s been executed for lots of of years,” Miranda advised MeatEater. “The bears are afraid of the canine and begin to run, and also you chase after it. Finally, the bear will get drained, normally after the information has turned sufficient canine unfastened to allow them to’t tow the sled anymore, which means you’re on foot. The Inuit attempt to time it to allow them to bay up the bear, and you then get off the sled and get shut. Sometimes, the bear will discover a lead (a crack within the ice in a ridge) to carry up in, which permits you and the information to rise up behind it for a shot. It’s a really environment friendly system.”

Whereas on the hunt, Miranda skilled the majesty of the Arctic. Regardless of being a really succesful and skilled outdoorsman, he was nonetheless awed by the hazards that searching in such an surroundings entailed.

“Clearly, the chilly is the most important hazard,” Miranda stated. “You exit on the ocean ice, and it’s a breathtakingly lovely place, however you’re at nature’s mercy. I went by way of one storm with 85 mph winds that froze a canine to dying. You solely dwell by staying in your tent in all of your garments in that sort of climate. It’s the kind of chilly that’s simply foolish. You’re taking your gloves off to take a leak, your fingers are going to freeze, and your urine turns into an icicle as quickly because it hits the bottom. You contact something metallic, your palms freeze to it. It’s truthfully sort of terrifying.”

Miranda relied on his native guides to maintain him protected on the hunt, but he was very conscious of what might go mistaken all through the expertise.

“You recognize the Inuit are going to handle you, they usually educate you methods to construct an igloo and present you the place all their survival gear is in case one thing occurs to them. The truth is although, that if something does occur to them, you’re most likely going to die,” Miranda stated. “I grew up trapping in South Dakota winters and have plenty of expertise with cold-weather survival. But when I had been alone within the Arctic, I’d final possibly three days.”

What actually amazes Tom and lots of different hunters who go to and hunt within the Arctic are the capabilities of the Inuit. As a individuals who each dwell with and rely upon the polar bear and polar bear searching, the tribe’s potential to outlive and thrive in such a harsh panorama is really astonishing. For the Inuit, polar bear searching within the Arctic isn’t just a few thrilling journey, however a standard, hard-earned life-style.

“The truth that they will survive out there’s wonderful,” Miranda advised MeatEater. “It’s Mars up there man, it’s desolate, but they will learn it and hunt on it like the remainder of us would learn a deer path. They may discover bears however what was extra spectacular was how they might learn the surroundings. My guides would see a single cloud over the ice and know that it meant there was open water forward and every time the guides noticed one thing like that we rotated and went the opposite method. We’d use ice results in break up the wind however typically the storm could be blowing a method after which change course however they had been fairly good weathermen and will predict it and get us out of there. They’re wonderful individuals and a part of the rationale we have to work on eradicating the taboos round searching polar bears is as a result of it should each assist the bears and the individuals who rely upon them.”

Polar bear searching is outdated, very outdated, and it’s a follow that helped to form each searching and conservation into what they’re right now. Although it’s been a documented exercise for round 8,000 years, polar bear searching might the truth is be extra historical than initially thought.

In December 1994, cave work depicting each bears and bear searching had been found in France that date again to round 32,000 BC. Whereas it’s unclear whether or not these work are of polar bears or extinct cave bears, carbon relationship reveals that the work had been made someday in direction of the top of the final Ice Age, a time when polar bears had been extraordinarily prevalent.

Additional on in historical past, there are information of Vikings searching polar bears alongside the coast of Norway way back to the eleventh Century. Spearing a hvítabiôrn or “ice bear” was thought of to a real take a look at of a warrior in Viking society and lots of tribes would even seize polar bear cubs alive to make use of as each pets and to be introduced as presents to international the Aristocracy. The bears turned an emblem of searching prowess and of standing throughout this time, separating the bears from extra widespread sport animals and elevating their standing. Nonetheless, apart from the Vikings and naturally the Inuit tribes who’ve been searching polar bears for his or her furs and skins for over 2,000 years, the polar bear remained a distinct segment and subsistence sort hunt till across the sixteenth century.

Within the 1500s and into the 1600s, when Norway and Russia’s wealth was on the rise, polar bear skins turned a valued commerce merchandise. Hunters from Greenland to Canada started pursuing the white bears with unbridled enthusiasm, taking pictures them from boats and trapping them on the ice, and by the nineteenth century, the bear inhabitants had dropped considerably.

Nevertheless, populations started to climb as soon as once more when polar bear furs started falling out of vogue within the early 1800s, and lots of hunters now not thought of the animals well worth the threat. All through the historical past of polar bear searching, those that pursued the bear had been continually placing their lives on the road. Between the intense chilly of the Arctic and the unpredictability of each the ice and the bears themselves, quite a lot of searching events had been fully misplaced. Nonetheless, there was a revenue to be made in each the hides of the adults and the dwell cubs, which may very well be bought to zoos and circuses, and in order weapons and searching strategies turned extra environment friendly, polar bears continued to be hunted, trapped, and poisoned nicely into the twentieth century.

By the late 1950’s many well-known huge sport hunters, together with Shelby Longoria and Gordon Eastman, thought of the bears to be the last word problem and the hunts themselves to be the best journey. But, these hunters additionally famous that the bears had been getting tougher and tougher to seek out.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t till the Sixties that the polar bear decline was lastly observed by scientists, and the animals lastly turned protected below The Worldwide Settlement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which was signed by Canada, Denmark, Norway, the US, and the previous USSR in 1973. On the time, the polar bear inhabitants was teetering on the point of extinction, however thanks to those united conservation efforts, the bears rapidly bounced again, and by the late Eighties, their inhabitants had practically doubled. This made many nations elevate their full restrictions on polar bear searching, opening alternatives for brand new generations to face the challenges and risks of the hunt.

At present there’s a inhabitants of round 26,000 to 31,000 polar bears worldwide. Whereas that is on no account a excessive inhabitants general, it’s nonetheless the very best inhabitants of polar bears since protections went into impact over 50 years in the past. With this rise in polar bear inhabitants, comes the opportunity of not solely saving polar bear searching but additionally saving the bears themselves.

Because the Seventies when the polar bear was formally declared endangered, many nations outlawed trophy and even native trying to find the animals, together with the US. Moreover, in 2008, it turned unlawful to import polar bear components into the US, making Tom Miranda’s 2007 bear one of many final to be introduced into the nation. Whereas this act was perceived as a constructive step for the polar bears that had been being hunted, it has additionally taken away a worthwhile supply of earnings from the Inuit and different tribes that trusted information charges.

“You must perceive the Inuit are restricted by what they will do up there,” Miranda advised MeatEater. “They’re actually taken care of by the federal government they usually all get a examine to have the ability to dwell within the Arctic and it’s nearly not possible for them to dwell off the rest as a result of they’ve permission to hunt every little thing. Guiding is without doubt one of the solely companies they’ve and when the US determined that you just couldn’t import polar bears to the US they misplaced an enormous quantity of earnings.”

Polar bear searching is dear, with tags costing upwards of $30,000. Whereas this makes it not possible for on a regular basis hunters to afford to go, the few that may afford a polar bear hunt are delivering an enormous chunk of cash into the Arctic economic system and lots of of those hunters who can afford to take action dwell within the US. By lifting sanctions and restrictions on polar bear searching in the US, American hunters might contribute funds to not solely the native economic system but additionally to polar bear conservation.

Roughly 800 to 1000 polar bears are killed by hunters per 12 months, the majority of that are taken by the unlawful pores and skin commerce. This displays that searching accounts for less than a small share of the risk to the general polar bear inhabitants. If American hunters had been capable of import their trophies, extra American {dollars} might and could be put in direction of polar bear conservation, serving to to guard the animals towards the actual hazards of world warming, air pollution, and poaching. It might additionally reduce down on harmful polar bear encounters with people, which have gotten extra frequent because the bear inhabitants grows and their habitat shrinks. Comparable packages have been launched in Africa with nice success, and this can be a mannequin that might maybe be adopted. In the case of caring about and defending nature, hunters are on the prime of the category.

Ultimately, the hazards of polar bear searching are nice, however the query stays whether or not the risks the good bears of the Arctic are at present going through may very well be rotated by hunters prepared to tackle the problem. It might be a dangerous enterprise in both case however as each hunter and angler on the market is aware of, it’s usually the best dangers that yield the best rewards.