onemanspolarbear
onemanspolarbear is a metaphor and point of view. A collection of observations, stories and rants from a lifetime spent with polar bears.
Friday 7 March 2014
Wednesday 20 February 2013
continued..to the Cape / Whiskey and Lard
Whiskey and Lard
Continued....To the
Cape
The polar bear business
in Churchill would have taken a bit longer to evolve if not for two
key ingredients. You can argue these two things were essential for
survival in northern climes long before anyone figured out how to
make a buck hauling visitors around. Whiskey and lard were staples in
any one's grub box. The importance of the two varied according to who
you were travelling on the land with. The guy's I hung with would
overlook the fact someone forgot a pound of lard to grease up the fry
pan but you could get shunned right quick and delegated to clean up
duty if you forgot the whiskey. You never forgot twice. When Len
loaded up Buggy1 for the trip to the Cape you know there was more
than a few bottles of Canada's finest shipped aboard and no doubt
more than a few pounds of lard. Reason being, Len, like any other
northerner who has yet found Jesus, loved to drink whiskey and
Dan....well Dan was determined to sedate and stabilize the entire
polar bear population of Cape Churchill with Crisco.
Feeding or baiting,
depending on the interpretation, is not allowed under law but Cape
Churchill, although only fifty or so kilometres from civilization,
might as well be on another planet; it sure felt like it at times, so
abiding by the rules was optional.
If not for Dan's
unfettered compassion for the well being of the bears, the
distribution of lard might have been challenged. But he was
unapologetic and claimed any of the bears showing signs of being
malnourished needed to be fed...and hell might as well give the rest
a boost while I'm at it. It was Dan's rules, like 'em, live with them
or you weren't invited back.
So off they went in
Buggy1 heading for the Cape, Len at the wheel and Dan and co-harts
wedged into the two rows of seats amongst a ton of gear. Unbeknown to
the passengers, the odds were stacked against them ever reaching
their goal. Anyone other than Len who built the buggy and knew the
strengths and weaknesses would be foolish to think he could pull it
off. Others made this trip to the Cape before but not at this
difficult time of the year and not with a piece of homemade untested
machinery. Len was indeed a pioneer and no-one aboard other than Dan
knew what they were getting themselves into. Dan's complete
confidence in Lens ability was the foundation the bear business of
Churchill was built on.
The terrain Len had to
cross would cause anyone to rethink the whole thing. The first half
of the trip was done travelling east, a bit inland and parallel to
the Bay. To the west, the edge of the tree line blurred the horizon,
the last stand of Boreal forest before it gives way to Hudson Bay
Lowlands. Straight ahead nothing but an endless stretch of tundra,
covered white with snow; now and again broken by islands of stunted
black spruce and dwarf willow. The only relief was an anomalous blip
called Knights Hill, a pile of rock debris left over from the
glaciers that when seen from a distance seemed to reach the clouds
but once close barely reached thirty meters above sea level. Other
than a few shaky observation towers that disappeared with bad weather
it was the only real reference point you had.
Deep ruts embedded in
the muskeg left by military machinery during the fifties marked the
route that Len had to follow. This trail was highly visible during
summer and fall. It all but disappeared under a sheet of ice and snow
when winter set in. Buggy1 could only make it if the ground and
scattered lakes and ponds were froze and the creeks could be crossed
by an ice bridge. Len had to look well ahead to catch signs of the
trail where the wind blew it clear. No shortage of obstacles to
overcome. Blowing snow would screw you up and turn you around and
before you know it you are off the trail and in a heap of trouble.
Breaking through ice when crossing a lake was always good for the
heart as was hitting a ten foot bank of snow and burying the buggy
well past it's axles. If mother nature didn't test you well enough
you were tested with beat and busted buggy parts that had to be fixed
or jury rigged to get you going again. It would not be that much of a
stretch to say Len spent equal amounts of time under the buggy fixing
as in the buggy driving. No walk in the park at twenty below in gale
force winds, not discounting the odd polar bear cruising around.
After fighting their
way through the first part of the trip things switched up. A
different set of obstacles amongst a different landscape. The stakes
were a bit higher. From travelling over snow covered muskeg to now
travelling on the sea ice. This happened where the Cape started to
extend at a right angle into the Hudson Bay, the base of the
hitchhikers thumb.
When the north winds
started blowing and the temperature dropped a rim of ice would start
to form along the edge of the coastline. This new ice attached itself
to land and built steadily outward. The width varied, at places
barely a buggy width other places could be a few kilometres. This
band of land fast ice rose and fell with the four meter tides and the
stability was far from predictable. You didn't want to suffer any
breakdown when travelling along this stretch of the trip. Getting caught
on the sea ice in a storm with a strong north wind pushing sea water
over top and swirling around the buggy tires can cause serious
reflection as to what the hell are you doing this for. This band of ice
was the floating highway to Cape Churchill.
They made it. The
timing is such that you have to travel when winter first arrives
encasing everything in ice and snow but not enough ice and snow that
the bears at the Cape have already gone onto the ice to hunt.
Cape Churchill is a
wondrous place with polar bears so big they defy logic, with a
morning sun rising fiery red from behind the sea in the east and
setting in a burst of colour reflected on a frozen lake to the west.
To be continued.......
Next...Living with the
bears at the Cape/lets grease them up.
Thursday 31 January 2013
Len and Dan,
Len was built low to
the ground, barrel chested with hands thick from gripping wrenches.
When the work day was nearly over he liked to gulp whiskey and cola
from eight ounce red plastic cups chilled with ice chipped from the
windshield of his pick-up truck. Len played hard and worked harder.
He built big four wheel drive buggies that could handle any terrain
the rough country around Churchill had to offer.
Stately is a word that
comes to mind when thinking of Dan. Ram rod straight in stance and
very much a gentleman. Picture Mark Twain dressed for 40 below. A
biologist and photographer with a passion for Polar bears. A man with
a vision. Under any other circumstance there was no reason why these
two men should meet. Given Dans' quest it was inevitable they would.
Dan sipped scotch.
Cape Churchill juts
into Hudson Bay like a hitchhikers thumb. Follow the coast east from
town for fifty kilometres; when it drops sharply to the south there
you are. This was where Dan needed to go and was looking for someone
to take him. Len was just the guy.
Dan Guravich got a
taste of polar bears while on the SS Manhattan, an ice classed oil
tanker testing the frozen waters of the Northwest Passage, looking
for a viable route to ship crude. He was hired on as official
photographer. Seeing a polar bear in the wild is always an intense
experience so I can't help but think when Dan spotted his first polar
bear from the deck of the ship he was smitten. His concern for the
well being of these iconic animals grew and eventually led him to my
home town of Churchill, a small historic seaport on the west side of
Hudson Bay just south of the fifty ninth parallel.
Almost arctic, this
scrappy little town was first a trading post when Canada was in its
infancy. The town endured. Those that chose to live here also chose
to accept hardship and isolation in exchange for freedoms only found
on the frontier. Like the tidal waters of Hudson Bay the town's
prospects ebbed and flowed but nothing was ever secure. Still isn't.
But Dans' vision and Len's hard work and tenacity brought an era of
change and hope and a chance for a new identity, one that would be
recognized world wide.
What Dan wanted was
some kind of vehicle that could take a small group of people
including himself to a place everyone knew but few knew of its
significance. Cape Churchill was always a bit of a mystery if only
for the fact it was near impossible to get to by land during the
summer months and for every other month held no reason for anyone to
go there. We knew the Armed Forces did cold weather training around
the Cape way back when. A few military observation towers still stood
as testament to those days. But Dan had heard, through his colleagues
at Canadian Wildlife Service, come fall of the year the Cape was host
to a large contingent of Polar bears. Something he must see. This
gathering of bears at Cape Churchill would come to be called “a
celebration”.
Getting to the Cape by
land to witness the gathering was a logistical nightmare. Timing was
critical, a small window of opportunity presented itself to anyone
willing to trek over land and over ice to get there. The challenge
was given to Len. Could he build a vehicle that would be capable of
carrying the adventurers to the cape and if they got there offer a
place to sleep and eat protected from the elements but most
importantly safe from polar bears?
Len Smith was not the
kind of guy that would say “getting there is half the fun. For him
“getting there” was all the fun. He never tired of building
something to get somewhere be it an air boat to fly up the river
during the spring high water or an open deck four wheel driver buggy
to get his hunting buddies to where the birds were. He was a
scrapyard innovator with a big hammer and twenty ton jacks; a
farm-boy from the prairies who came north as a young man to ply his
trade as a mechanic. He was also a business man. No doubt Len had a
notion if he could get this guy to the Cape nothing but good would
follow. He accepted the challenge and when Dan returned the following
fall Buggy1 was ready.
Buggy1:
Frame up a metal box
just over twenty feet long about eight feet wide and seven feet high.
Wrap in white aluminium sheeting. Fit drop down windows from an old
school bus along both sides. Decide on the back, put a door in, build
a small deck. Have two rows of bus seats, five on the left, six on
the right. Behind the row on the left put a beat up old propane
heater with a stack going through the roof directly overhead. A bit
of shelving after that squaring off the sides and wall. Behind the
seats on the right, with spare pieces of plywood, box in from floor
to ceiling a space three feet by three feet with a bench across one
side just big enough to sit on. Cut a hole in the bench to sit in.
Place a five gallon bucket underneath the bench where the hole is
cut. Screw toilet paper dispenser to the wall, hang a small mirror.
Put this box on top of
an old heavy frame on top of big fat farm tractor tires. Slide in a
gas engine underneath the floor with an extra long stick shift
leading up to the drivers seat. Angle two pieces of window glass
across the front as a windshield. Install original intermittent
wipers. Build a door with a sliding window for the driver. Install a
steel ladder that tucks away underneath the frame out the back deck
that pulls out and drops down to let the customers up and in. There
you have it.
To be
continued...............
Going to the Cape.
Thursday 25 October 2012
Still watching;
Looking at polar bears for thirty years
has not diminished that welcome tremor of excitement felt when
spotting a familiar face amongst the fall gathering along our coast.
The old guy that spends a few months lounging around Brian’s dogs
is always a welcome sight. He is a gentle soul with the patience and
indifference that old warrior's carry so well, at ease with their
surroundings, knowing the skills developed after long years on the
ice will help him navigate through another winter.
Then another pleasant surprise. A few
years back a small confused and without a doubt, hungry polar bear
cub showed up at the dogs compound. The cub was worried and scared in
amongst the dogs and bigger bears that hangout but managed to dodge
the big guys and suffer the abuse a few of the dogs laid upon him if
he got to close. He watched and learnt how to get a few scraps of
food without getting a whack from the grown ups or a bite in the butt
from a husky dog. There was a determination and a will to survive
that this little guy possessed that had us who watched this drama
unfold cheering for him. He made it to freeze up that fall and
followed the big boys out onto the new ice where the biggest
challenge to his survival awaited.
This would be his first winter out on
the ice without the guidance and protection of mom so when he showed
up at the dogs compound around this time of the year last fall, still
skinny and hungry but very much alive we were overjoyed. One tough
little bear. A bit more savvy although still cautious he managed well
enough to find his place amongst the giants and his share of whatever
happened his way.
Another winter out on the ice and just
the other day he, for the third time,showed up at the compound. Not a
worried cub anymore but a strong young polar bear that showed the
intelligence and strong will to survive that these amazing animals
possess.
Over the years this group of bears that
end up here come October and November have become familiar to us that
watch them. We are encouraged by the most part of the continuing well
being of the bears. The evolving of skills needed to survive and
adaptation to a changing environment gives them what is needed to
continue on. All the shocking claims of starvation and doom that
conservation organisations and all those who benefit from a vanishing
polar bear are releasing on a gullible public, we can ignore as we
can see for ourselves the truth.
Thursday 8 March 2012
onemanspolarbear: No ordinary polar...
onemanspolarbear: No ordinary polar...: No ordinary polar bear. Dancer was a great bear friend who, other than being one of the most intelligen...
No ordinary polar bear.
Dancer was a great bear friend who, other than being one of the most intelligent beings I know, had a great sense of humour.
As far as polar bears go Dancer was a near perfect specimen. He was a lump of a bear with muscle well defined even below a thick layer of fat. His ponderous behind, the true measure of a polar bears health and stature, I'm sure was eyed with envy and caution by other males and no doubt convinced more than a few ladies, come spring courting time out on the ice, that he was the one. If the polar bears hunting prowess is directly related to the size of his rear end then Dancer took a back seat to no others.
Although I could only offer an educated guess I would say he was around eight years old when he made the trek from the Cape to visit for the first time. The scars on his broad face from battling over the ladies or protecting a kill told me he was a warrior approaching his prime, already the respect shown by other bears was evident and the many challenges to his authority were quickly dealt with. It was how he dealt with these challenges that set him apart.
Polar bears are cautious by nature and never waltz into the unknown without a lengthily analysis of the situation, no chances are taken when approaching another bear of similar size. But caution is not enough to override the innate curiosity these animals have. If something is going on they want to know about it.
The usual procedure when one male bear approaches another is a type of slow tango that sees both animals delicately circle one another, head slung low to the ground, making sure all their assets are in full display by turning broadside to each other to show the true seat of power, their rear ends. Eye contact is never broken, huge yawns displaying a full set of teeth shows everything is in working order at that end. The dance varies in length but as an observer seems to go on and on. The dance ends when one bear figures his assets didn't match up to the others and trundles off. Size is a factor but not necessarily the rule, it is not uncommon to see a large bear give ground to another of less stature. I can only think the reason for this is the degree of intimidation seen in the eyes. In some cases during the dance the bears realise that they met before and settle down if not to enjoy each others company at least tolerate each others presence.
Dancer wouldn't tango, he had his own way of dealing with intruders. The first time I seen him in action I went from shock to amazement to spasms of laughter within seconds.
The window Dancer used to visit in the old camera buggy slid open wide enough so when standing on his back legs he could shove his head through to his ears. We were having one of our early morning get togethers over a cup of coffee, one of his favourite smells, when looking over the top of his head I noticed a big male bear making his way toward us. His cautious approach brought him within a hundred feet where he stopped to collect his thoughts. He was figuring out if it was in his best interest to check out whats going on or use prudence and alter his course leaving it all well enough alone. He couldn't let this go, something was going on.
Once his mind was made up the newcomer's approach changed. Like a sailing ship beating into the wind he started tacking, changing course every so often angling his way closer, giving careful thought to every step. His progress slowed even more by long pauses to watch for any reaction from Dancer. He had worked his way close enough that any other bear would have taken notice and either high tailed it out of here or turned to meet the challenge head on and begin the tango.
Not Dancer, he knew he was there but ignored him completely and the bear kept coming. It got to a point where I thought I should break our visit short and close the window so Dancer wouldn't be caught off guard but at that moment my friend let out a big snort that dampened the air inside the buggy then pushed his big body backwards away from the window to sort things out.
Like a reluctant ballerina Dancer balanced himself on one leg and did a wobbly pirouette to face his adversary, the momentum of such a manoeuvre caused him not to drop to all four legs but to plop down on his greatest asset with such force I'm sure I felt the buggy shake. There he sat, looking like a fuzzy white Buddha waiting to dish out a bit of enlightenment to the bear now frozen in mid stride not forty feet away.
The next move was left entirely up to the uninvited visitor who I could see was giving great thought as to how he should handle this unexpected and tenuous situation. The choice of backing away should have been given more consideration. The nervous bear give a great yawn and ever so slowly lowered his front paw to take his last step forward.
In a explosion of unimaginable power and fury Dancer drew his head in close to his massive shoulders and flew at the unfortunate beast ramming him broadside with such force it lifted him off his feet and sent him tumbling through the air in a slow arc landing in a confused heap. Recovery was quick and in a heartbeat the terrified bear was upright and running flat out for his life, his back legs reaching well past his front shoulders with every stride.
No, Dancer was no ordinary bear.
Dancer was a great bear friend who, other than being one of the most intelligent beings I know, had a great sense of humour.
As far as polar bears go Dancer was a near perfect specimen. He was a lump of a bear with muscle well defined even below a thick layer of fat. His ponderous behind, the true measure of a polar bears health and stature, I'm sure was eyed with envy and caution by other males and no doubt convinced more than a few ladies, come spring courting time out on the ice, that he was the one. If the polar bears hunting prowess is directly related to the size of his rear end then Dancer took a back seat to no others.
Although I could only offer an educated guess I would say he was around eight years old when he made the trek from the Cape to visit for the first time. The scars on his broad face from battling over the ladies or protecting a kill told me he was a warrior approaching his prime, already the respect shown by other bears was evident and the many challenges to his authority were quickly dealt with. It was how he dealt with these challenges that set him apart.
Polar bears are cautious by nature and never waltz into the unknown without a lengthily analysis of the situation, no chances are taken when approaching another bear of similar size. But caution is not enough to override the innate curiosity these animals have. If something is going on they want to know about it.
The usual procedure when one male bear approaches another is a type of slow tango that sees both animals delicately circle one another, head slung low to the ground, making sure all their assets are in full display by turning broadside to each other to show the true seat of power, their rear ends. Eye contact is never broken, huge yawns displaying a full set of teeth shows everything is in working order at that end. The dance varies in length but as an observer seems to go on and on. The dance ends when one bear figures his assets didn't match up to the others and trundles off. Size is a factor but not necessarily the rule, it is not uncommon to see a large bear give ground to another of less stature. I can only think the reason for this is the degree of intimidation seen in the eyes. In some cases during the dance the bears realise that they met before and settle down if not to enjoy each others company at least tolerate each others presence.
Dancer wouldn't tango, he had his own way of dealing with intruders. The first time I seen him in action I went from shock to amazement to spasms of laughter within seconds.
The window Dancer used to visit in the old camera buggy slid open wide enough so when standing on his back legs he could shove his head through to his ears. We were having one of our early morning get togethers over a cup of coffee, one of his favourite smells, when looking over the top of his head I noticed a big male bear making his way toward us. His cautious approach brought him within a hundred feet where he stopped to collect his thoughts. He was figuring out if it was in his best interest to check out whats going on or use prudence and alter his course leaving it all well enough alone. He couldn't let this go, something was going on.
Once his mind was made up the newcomer's approach changed. Like a sailing ship beating into the wind he started tacking, changing course every so often angling his way closer, giving careful thought to every step. His progress slowed even more by long pauses to watch for any reaction from Dancer. He had worked his way close enough that any other bear would have taken notice and either high tailed it out of here or turned to meet the challenge head on and begin the tango.
Not Dancer, he knew he was there but ignored him completely and the bear kept coming. It got to a point where I thought I should break our visit short and close the window so Dancer wouldn't be caught off guard but at that moment my friend let out a big snort that dampened the air inside the buggy then pushed his big body backwards away from the window to sort things out.
Like a reluctant ballerina Dancer balanced himself on one leg and did a wobbly pirouette to face his adversary, the momentum of such a manoeuvre caused him not to drop to all four legs but to plop down on his greatest asset with such force I'm sure I felt the buggy shake. There he sat, looking like a fuzzy white Buddha waiting to dish out a bit of enlightenment to the bear now frozen in mid stride not forty feet away.
The next move was left entirely up to the uninvited visitor who I could see was giving great thought as to how he should handle this unexpected and tenuous situation. The choice of backing away should have been given more consideration. The nervous bear give a great yawn and ever so slowly lowered his front paw to take his last step forward.
In a explosion of unimaginable power and fury Dancer drew his head in close to his massive shoulders and flew at the unfortunate beast ramming him broadside with such force it lifted him off his feet and sent him tumbling through the air in a slow arc landing in a confused heap. Recovery was quick and in a heartbeat the terrified bear was upright and running flat out for his life, his back legs reaching well past his front shoulders with every stride.
No, Dancer was no ordinary bear.
|
Monday 5 March 2012
onemanspolarbear: Young mans polar bear ...
onemanspolarbear: Young mans polar bear ...: Young mans polar bear Hello friends....please check out the link...and thank you http://ww...
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