Hunting Alone(Bernard Maktar) On a beautiful spring day out on the land, Bradley is walking alone, trying to go to his camp site from his snowmobile which had broken down. He keeps thinking about why he had gone camping alone, when he should be focusing on where his foot is going, then all of a sudden he falls into a seal breathing hole. Trying to climb up is hard because the rifle he was carrying in his hands is getting in the way, so he has to let go of the rifle, causing it to sink to the bottom of the sea. He manages to climb up from the seal breathing hole, only to realize why it is that he is going camping alone on a beautiful day.

Day Before
It was a long day in the office where Bradley was planning to go camping and hunting on the weekend alone. He decided why he wanted to go alone because most of his families were busy working on the weekend or getting ready for a long camping trip later in the week. But his mother told him not to go alone because she was worried about him, if his snowmobile broke, or he was hurt badly, and because he didn’t have a lot of experience hunting or camping.

“I want to be alone for awhile Mom” said Bradley. “I have too many things on my mind, and I need at least 3 days to think about what has happened for the past month.” “Why don’t you come with us next week instead?” his mother asked. “Because I will be working alone for at least 1 month since my other co-worker is going on a holiday for 3 weeks or so” answered Bradley. “There are other people who want to go with you this weekend,” she continued to beg. “Yeah, my so called 'friends', who just want to have a toke with me, which I am trying so hard to quit” Bradley continued.

“Just say no if they ask” she says. “If I say that they will keep pushing me and pushing me until I agree to do it” Bradley argues. As they continue to argue, she hesitantly agrees that he will go alone as long as he brings necessary things, such as a radio to contact the family, survival equipments and food. He agrees to bring the necessary equipments to go out camping.

As he buys fuel for the snowmobile and Coleman Stove, he gets confronted by his brother Charlie who asks “hey bro, where are you going?" “I’m going to Ingnirtalik and hunt nattiaviniq and kanguq” Bradley answered. “But why are you going alone?” Charlie asks again. “So I can think about what has happened recently” he answers again. As he and Charlie argue about why he did not get invited to go camping and hunting, Charlie said “Ok next time ask me when you are going camping or hunting and I will not bring anything but hunting equipments”. Bradley agreed as he went home to get ready for his camping trip. “I’ll see you on Sunday” Bradley says to mom and family. After saying see you later Bradley started to go to his location which was about 90 kilometers from town.

After an hour of driving he stopped for a break and to have a cup of tea. As he looked around for a good path and seals, he saw another group of hunters in the distance and ignored it. While having a rest, he thought of how he would go hunting after setting up camp in Ingnirtalik, and taking a short rest. The location has an abundance of nattiaviniq, and is a place in which he and his family went camping before.

After he finished his tea, he put his supplies in a box, and then tied it to his kamotik. He drove on to his camping site, while looking for seals and their breathing holes. He spots a few seals, breathing holes, and later on will come back after setting up camp to see if he can catch seals before night time. After arriving at his location he sets up his dome tent, boils water for his cup of tea and puts a mattress inside his tent for the weekend. He also radios his family that he has arrived to his location safely.

After eating some food, he got ready to hunt for seals. Refueling his snowmobile, and putting some hunting equipments into his small kamotik, he then drove away to the location of where he saw the few seals and their breathing holes. As he drove, his snowmobile made a weird sound coming from the engine. He stopped to take a look at his engine and saw that it looked okay, then drove on to hunt seals. He spotted a seal and went for it, remembering what his father taught him about how to get close to the seal without disturbing its sleep. When he got close enough for a shot, he stopped and took his .223 caliber rifle and aimed for the seal. He shot the seal right on the head and quickly approached it until it dropped into its breathing hole. As he dragged the seal away from the hole, he said to himself: “alright, I got my first seal of the year.” As he puts the seal onto his kamotik, he started remembering what his father taught him about how to hunt seals and other animals, and started to cry. What he had taught him so well, and what his life had shown, had an impact of his young life. He sat on his snowmobile for awhile until he stopped crying. Then stood up and tied the seal to his kamotik and went back to his camping site.

When he arrived, he skinned the seal and put it under the kamotik for protection from the sun, so that it will not be burnt. He put the seal meat into a bag and cooked some of the meat and ate it before going to sleep, so that the next day he could go further to hunt for nattiaviniq and look for kanguq. When he woke up, he boiled some water for a cup of coffee and had some breakfast before he got ready for another hunt. When he finished eating breakfast he went outside to see if it was a good day for hunting, and when he is satisfied that the weather is good for hunting, he refuels his snowmobile and checks the oil. When he finished refueling his snowmobile, he puts some food and ammunition in his backpack, put it on kamotik, and tied it up. When he was ready, he radioed his family to tell them he would go seal hunting for the day and that he would radio again when he came back before the night.

After driving about an hour before spotting a seal breathing hole, he looked for signs of nattiaviniq, some white furs that have fallen off before getting their dark and grey seal skin, or having a few breathing holes in the same location. When he is convinced that there is nattiaviniq, he gets his niksik, picks one of the breathing holes and waits for nattiaviniq to come up to the hole where he is waiting. He waited for awhile until he heard a splash of water in the breathing hole near him, then hopes the seal comes back to the hole where he is waiting. After about 15 minutes, the seal went into the seal hole where he is waiting, he gets ready to strike until the seal is close enough to hook. When the seal came up, he hooked the seal, pulled it up to the ice and pounded its head until the seal is killed. After the seal is caught, he skins it, cleans the skin and ties it to his kamotik. When he finished harvesting the seal meat he put it into a bag and tied it to his kamotik. He cleans his hands and gets ready to look for another seal breathing hole.

After driving for awhile his snowmobile stops all of a sudden. He tries to start it up again with no luck. He sets his tools and takes the engine apart, then finds that the piston has fractured and has no other spare parts. Frustrated he left his snowmobile and started walking towards his camp site that is about 30 km away, while dragging his small kamotik. After walking 20 minutes, he gets tired of pulling his kamotik so took his .223 rifle and started walking to his camp site.

After falling in the seal breathing hole, he cleared his mind and started walking again to his camp site, with wet clothes it was hard not to think about how cold it is. He then stopped walking for a while to take his clothes off, squeeze dry them, put them back on and starts to walk. Keeping warm by jogging and having rests in between kept him alive until he reached the camp site and radioed for help. It was 4 o’clock in the morning, and he didn’t get a response from his family or anyone else. He started looking for wood or something else to burn to boil some water for a cup of tea, or to cook some seal meat. He found some wood, lit it up and started to cook some seal meat. While waiting for seal to cook, he keeps trying to contact his family or anyone in town to let them know that his snowmobile has broken near Ingnirtalik and that he needs to be picked up. After a while he gives up trying to contact them, finishes eating cooked meat and gets some sleep before he would go back and retrieve his kamotik.

When he woke up, he tried to contact anyone in town with no luck at all. When his warm clothes are dry, he started walking back to his kamotik, so that he could get his camping supplies back to his tent. It took a while before he arrived to his kamotik. He took out the stove and boiled some water for a tea break. During his break, he thought of how he would go home if no one answered him on a radio. After his break, he puts his stove back into the kamotik and gets ready to walk back to his camp.

After an hour of walking he took a rest on his kamotik, and looked around to see his camp is still at least 15 km away. While resting on his kamotik, he heard the sound of an airplane up above. The aircraft was too high for a smoke signal or any other signal, so he didn’t do anything but went back to rest. After resting for 20 minutes, he started walking towards his camp.

While walking, he sees a Polar Bear in the distance walking towards him. He stops and looks for his hook or a harpoon to defend himself. He sat on his kamotik hoping that the Polar Bear wouldn’t come to where he is. Then he remembered he has seal meat with him, so he took the meat and placed it away from his kamotik and waited. The Polar Bear smelled the seal meat and walked towards it, as Bradley watched. While the Bear is eating the seal, Bradley sits still to avoid being seen or heard. When the Bear finished all of the meat, it started to look for more to eat. The Bear sniffed the air for more meat, turned and went towards his snowmobile where he caught the seal. Bradley sits still and waits for the bear to go away, then breathes a sigh of relief that he didn’t get mauled by the Bear.

When the Polar Bear gets to a distance where he can’t see or hear him, Bradley starts walking towards his camp. Bradley keeps looking back to see if the Bear is following him. After walking for another hour, he stops and has another tea break. While looking out for the Bear, he saw his camp, quickly finishes his tea and puts the supplies back to his kamotik. He started walking again while looking back to see if the Bear is following him. It took another half an hour to finally reach his camp site. He sees his watch and its 10:34 pm Sunday. He tries to contact anyone in town or anyone who is out camping. He gets an answer from someone who is camping closer to town than him and asks them to help him contact his family, that his snowmobile is broken.

“Are you alone in Ingnirtalik?” they ask. “Yes I am alone.” Bradley answers. “Okay, I will try to contact your family and say you are okay.” “Okay thanks, I will be waiting for them to contact me”. As they contact the town for assistance from Search and Rescue, Bradley starts to cook more seal meat and waits for his family to contact him.

Bradley didn’t wait long before he heard a call from his family and answered, “I am okay here.” “We are very glad that you are okay, but why didn’t you try and contact us last night?” mother asks. “I tried to contact you last night, but I didn’t get a response” Bradley answers. “I have been trying to contact anyone in town, but I couldn’t get anyone on that night.” “We were all worried about you, when you didn’t contact us when you were suppose to” his mother said. “I also tried to contact you when I woke up” he continues. “I went to go get my kamotik, and I confronted a Polar Bear going back to Ingnirtalik.” “Really?!?” Mother said in a surprised voice. “What happened?" “Well I had to take the seal meat away from me, and the Bear took it” he answered. “After that he went to my snowmobile, and I came back to my camp.”

While waiting for Search and Rescue to arrive, Bradley started making more cooked seal so that they would have something to eat when they arrived. Bradley thought of everything his father has taught him on how to survive on the land.

It will be awhile until the Search and Rescue team arrives, so he keeps a look out for the Bear with the small binoculars that he brought. When he didn’t see the Bear, he went to go check his food to see if it was ready and he heard another snowmobile coming from the North. He took his binoculars, looks for the snowmobile, and spots it. It was only 1 snowmobile, it was not the search and rescue team. Bradley put out the fire and started running towards the snowmobile that was on its way.

When he approaches the snowmobile, he recognizes that they are friends of his parents who heard over the radio that he broke his snowmobile “Are you okay Bradley?” they ask. “Yes I am okay, just tired from walking” Bradley answered. “I cooked some seal meat at my camp, take me there and we will eat and tell stories.” Bradley hops into their kamotik, and they went on their way to Ingnirtalik.

When they arrive, Bradley welcomes them and started eating the cooked seal meat with the Kilukishak family. Bradley started telling stories about how his snowmobile broke near Saviit, and how he almost got mauled by the Polar Bear. “Where were you?” Bradley asks. “We were in Low Point, when we heard you had a broken snowmobile” Kilukishak answered. Bradley finished what he was eating and said “Thank you very much for coming here.”

Bradley then contacts his mother and says “Kilukishak came here and will take me home tomorrow afternoon, it is kind of late to try to go home right now.” “Okay, we will tell the search and rescue team not to go there” mother said. “We are glad that they went there to help you.” “So am I, just be glad I am also okay, and I will see you tomorrow.” When they finished talking, Bradley went to Kilukishak and said “thank you, my mother said thank you too. I will help you get your tent up.” “Don’t bother, you're tired, get some rest so we can go home tomorrow” Kilukishak said. “I am well rested, thanks to you. I want to help you.” Bradley said. “Okay, here take this tent and put it on a flat surface.” Kilukishak said as he gave the tent to him. Bradley then took the tent and looked for flat ground. When they finished setting up the tent, Bradley went to his tent, had a cup of tea and went to sleep.

“Tell me what you have learned today?” his father asked him. “I have learned how to make a harpoon and hook” Bradley says. “Really, will you be using it in the future to help your family?” he asked again. “Of course I will, I am going to try and make another one tomorrow before seal hunting.” He answered. “Okay, make sure they are good, so that you will have them for a long time”. Bradley nodded and went looking for long 2 by 1 stick to make his first hook. When he found one he put it beside the tent for tomorrow. He also looked for a metal rod for his harpoon and for a big nail so that he can make his hook attach to the long 2 by 1 stick. All of a sudden, he saw his father in his bed looking sick and unable to move. Looking around, he sees the family and friends gathered around him to see him for the last time. Bradley then started crying and woke up in tears. “It was only a dream” Bradley said to himself. It was 10 in the morning, so he got ready to pack up his camping equipments. When he went outside, Kilukishak and his families were also getting ready to go.

When they were all ready, Bradley said “We will go get my snowmobile later, after we get home.” “Okay, you ready?” Kilukishak asked. “Yes I am, let’s go home.” And they went on their way home. While on they way, Bradley started thinking about what he will say when he goes home, and what he will hear from his mother. He didn’t notice when the journey stopped half way to home, when he was asked “Do you want to hunt seal before going home?” Kilukishak looked at him. “Oh, okay I don’t mind, I need time to think” Bradley answered. He took his hook and went to the breathing hole and waited for seal. After couple minutes he heard “Tauva!” and he said to himself “it won’t be long until someone catches the seal.” Right away, he sees a bubble coming out from breathing hole and gets ready to strike. When the seal came up to breathe, he tried to hook the seal but missed. He said “Tauva!” to let them know that he didn’t catch the seal.

Soon after that, he sees someone pulling a seal so he started running over to help. It was Kilukishak’s grandson George who caught the seal. He was smiling from ear to ear, it was his first of the year. His grandfather said to him “I am proud of you,” smiling. Bradley congratulated him, and helped him to put it on the kamotik.

When they arrived to town, they were greeted by Bradley’s family. His mother said “Thank you very much for bringing my son home safely.” “You’re Welcome.” Kilukishak replies. Then she approaches Bradley and hugs him. “We will talk about this later at home, when we get comfortable” she said. “Okay, I want to sleep right now, I’m still tired from yesterdays walk” Bradley said. “I will get my tent tomorrow Kilukishak, thanks for taking me home.” “Okay, you’re welcome I will see you tomorrow” he said. “Okay.” Bradley said as he started walking home with family. The next day after breakfast he went to the kamotik and took his tent. When he returned home, he and his mother had a long talk about what had happened. “Next time you want to go alone, make sure you don’t go far away.” She said “okay, I will.”

A year later, Bradley and his family returned to the location where he went. Bradley started telling stories how he had survived the confrontation with the Polar Bear and how far he had to walk. And when they finished telling stories, he and his family got ready for another seal hunt, they came back with enough seal meat to last them at least a week.

The End

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