https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/...harvests-polar-bear/



Education Jun 4, 2025 – 11:30 am EDT

Unusual catch in Pangnirtung: Student angler harvests polar bear

Animal spotted frequenting area near Avataaktoo Lake ahead of group’s arrival



By Nehaa Bimal

An overnight fishing trip outside Pangnirtung took a turn May 22 when a Grade 11 student had the chance to harvest his first polar bear.

“We were going on a fishing trip, we weren’t going on a hunting trip! It was pretty unexpected,” said Elijah Gosman, a teacher at Attagoyuk Ilisavik high school who leads the outdoor education class that organized the trip.

Gosman described the experience as highly educational and, as far as he knows, a first for the school.

A total of eight students from grades 10, 11 and 12 took part in the excursion, which ran from May 22 to 23.

The group had set up camp at Avataaktoo Lake, south of Pangnirtung, when they were alerted by another group that a polar bear had been frequenting the area.

The bear had reportedly approached a nearby camp multiple times, even after warning shots were fired to scare it away.

Aware of the risks, the group stayed vigilant while fishing and setting up their site.


As evening approached, elder and guide Jaco Ishulutaq suggested the group do a perimeter check for signs of the bear before settling in for the night.

“I’m glad that Jaco decided to take the group out to look for the polar bear in the late afternoon, closer to [the bear’s] supper time, around 5 p.m.,” said Peter Kilabuk, a fellow guide and elder, in an interview after the trip.

“Otherwise, it would have disturbed the peace and quiet of the camp sometime during the night.”

Sure enough, the group spotted the bear at a higher elevation behind their camp.

A third guide stayed with the second group of students by the lake to ensure their safety while Ishulutaq supervised 15-year-old Caleb Kilabuk-Nakashuk as he shot the bear at approximately 6 p.m.

Kilabuk-Nakashuk, who had parental permission to engage in the polar bear harvest, said he was excited when the moment came and felt ready.


“[My family and friends] didn’t really expect me to come back catching a polar bear,” the teen said.

Kilabuk-Nakashuk said he learned a lot from the trip, including how to be safe when a polar bear is present, where to shoot the animal if needed, and how it is processed afterward.

He and the other students observed the guides and elders, including Ishulutaq and Kilabuk, as they cut up the bear and skinned it.

Kilabuk said the bear was not very big, on the younger side, and it appeared to be quite skinny. He said his suspicion that the bear was hungry was confirmed when they opened the stomach and found only sealskin.

“The students were all able to watch the butchering, cutting up the animal parts and also skinning the polar bear, which is an important part of the process,” said Kilabuk.


“This was a very important experience for the students to witness, to go through, and to be at the site when this happened.”


For his classmates, Kilabuk-Nakashuk was the hero of the day. The group gathered for a photo with him and the polar bear “to help him celebrate the catch,” said Kilabuk.

“The students were feeling a lot safer going to bed that night after the polar bear had been harvested,” he said.

Kilabuk-Nakashuk has reported the harvest to the local wildlife office in accordance with regulations, as the event took place during open polar bear hunting season.

Oh, and the group came home with lots of Arctic char, too, said Attagoyuk Ilisavik school principal Sara Fitzpatrick.

So they had firearms, So they could legally shoot a bear.

A bear presented itself.

The bear was shot.

A lot of story for something so simple.

Kathi, Thanks for the interesting report. That would have been a truly educational school field trip for those students. Kudos to the school and elders! Brian

very interesting and thank you. here the kids were doing bison hunting course with schools. it was dropped down and it is starting again: some vancouverites were scared of blood exposure for the kids ...

quote:

Originally posted by medved:
very interesting and thank you. here the kids were doing bison hunting course with schools. it was dropped down and it is starting again: some vancouverites were scared of blood exposure for the kids .. some vancouverites were scared of blood exposure for the kids ...

Good Lord help you canadians....we have the same problems here.

Kids harvesting and then watching the elders process a polar bear. Priceless.

Bill,
I imagine that the students got right in there with their knives and worked with the Elders.

In the early 70's I helped skin several moose in winter and summer with Slavy natives on the Nahanni River Hot Springs and on the Mackenzie River near Ft Norman and Norman Wells. They were sure handy with their knives which the kept much sharper than the skinner do in South Africa with their modern stainless steel knives. In our North Country they used $6 carbon steel Hudson Bay skinning knives that they kept razor sharp with an axe file putting the main beveled edge on one side of the blade. I used a Ruanna Knife at the time. They were not impressed with my work and would sometimes just look at me and chuckle. Good memories. ( That was 50 years ago. Yikes. I turn 80 next week. )

Great memories Brian. Thanks for sharing -- and alas, HBC is no more ...

North American First Nations trivia quiz.

Question.
What do the First Nation People of the Canadian North West (Yukon and the MacKenzie River Valley) and the Navaho People have in common?

Answer.
They both speak the same Language.

Our Apaches -- I live in Chiricahua and Mescalero country -- also speak an Athabascan language. And the distinctive upturned toe of Apache footwear, said to help turn the thorns of the desert, derives from the ancient mukluk design to turn the snow.
The Diné and Apaches hate it when you say they are related as they are traditional enemies.

Bill thanks for the post. Fascinating. I haven't heard any of that. For me, it goes hand in hand with how we are all connect, oneness. Brian

Brian, I believe I read about the footwear connection in George White's classic "Craft Manual for Native American Indian Footwear," which also happens to be very useful if you are interested in making correct moccasins for a particular place and time.

Thanks Bill, Interesting.

Just ordered another copy. Gave my last one away years ago.

Bill, you read interesting stuff, you're and independent think.

I have a pal who lives in the Yukon, a moose hunter and a retired social worker.
He says that many schools in the Yukon have an annual Bison hunt for the middle school students, both First Nations and white, in January/February.

Adults, elders and students go out in the bush for a few days, camp in wall tents and hunt Bison. They end the trip with a big feast in the bush. Awesome.