Myself and a friend just returned from a very good time hunting Musk Ox (or as the locals call it – Muskus) the last week of August. The temperature and weather in general was perfect for hunting. It was cold at night but up in the 40’s Farenheit during the day.

We hunted with Inuit Outfitting :
Inuit Outfitting ApS, Postboks 135, 3911 Sisimiut, Greenland
Tlf. : +299 86 53 67, Fax.: +299 86 63 33, E-mail: ingemann.m.m@greennet.gl

As usual for the last few years, I was hunting with Bill Yung, a local hunter and friend. Also along were three hunters from Hungary who were hunting Musk Ox and Caribou. They were interesting fellows and good hunters too.

One thing that initially looked like it was going to be a major pain was that from central USA we had to overfly Greenland by four hours and land in Copenhagen before we could turn around and fly to Greenland again. Greenland is served by Air Greenland out of Copenhagen. We literally flew right over the top of our hunting area while going to Copenhagen.

However, what we thought was going to be a negative turned out to be a great opportunity to explore one of the worlds’ most livable cities. In fact, Copenhagen ranks number one in Monocle’s Quality of life survey for 2014.

We had a little time before and after the hunt and just did some informal walking around town. I recommend anyone doing this hunt budget their time for at least a couple full days in Copenhagen.

One of the obvious attractions is the Nuhavn (New Haven or New Harbor) canal with its colorful buildings and historic wooden boats. Of course it isn’t new today, but it must have been the pride of the town in the 17th century. Interestingly, the water is clean enough to swim in. I actually saw a man dive off the wall by the library.







The world famous Little Mermaid statue which was commissioned based upon the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale has been through some rough times. Her head has been stolen twice and attempted at least one more time, her arm was cut off, she has been blown off her base with explosives, she has been defaced by all types of political activists, draped with Muslim clothing etc. but she is still there after 101 years.



One of the best opera houses in the world was given (a $500 million dollar gift) to the city by one of the two founders of Maersk.



The new Danish library has a prominent place on the canal and is a very pleasant place to rest your weary feet if you are adventurous enough to walk the length of the canal as two nitwits from Missouri did.



The baroque Stock Exchange (ca. 1640’s) with its’ crocodile spire is an amazing building. Since I am an architect and Bill is a land planner we spent a lot of time just looking at that intricate façade and speculating how long it took to draw it. It was built by King Christian IV as sort of a forerunner of a modern day shopping center and stock exchange.



In several places we ran across these huge bicycle parking lots. Approximately 40 percent of the people in Copenhagen commute by bicycle. There is a dedicated bicycle lane along each road. We still cannot imagine how one gets his bicycle out of the middle of such a mess. By the way, we noticed that most bikes were not even locked. That speaks well for the honor of the people of Copenhagen.



Another attraction we have heard of for years is Tivoli gardens and we were able to take a quick stroll through before heading to the train station.



The central train station is yet another space that just seems appropriately scaled to such a city.



I could have kept walking through this town for days but it was time to go hunting.

We checked out of the Airport Hilton and caught the Air Greenland Airbus 340 to Greenland. The airport where we landed was in a small settlement called Kangerlussuaq. The name means “Long Fjord”. Try we did but we never learned to pronounce it like the local people. There are about 500 residents of this town and apparently nearly all of them work at the airport or in service jobs related to it. Nature tours, waterway tours and hunting trips also originate here.



The airport dates from the WWII and was a US base called Sandrestrom AFB “Sondy”. After 50 years it was turned over to Greenland for the grand sum of 15 cents - not the most profitable deal we ever made but probably better than many. Hotels now fill the former army barracks.

Jytte (mej on Accurate Reloading) sent me a video before we left and that was very helpful in preparing us for the hunt. It was on a cooking show but features the same outfitter and camp that we used.

http://www.dr.dk/tv/se/nak-aed...okse-i-groenland-3-8

We departed Kangerlussuaq shortly after arrival in the oldest Sikorsky of its type still flying. It is a S61N I believe. The flight to base camp was a great introduction to the territory we would be hunting that same afternoon.



Even knowing that days are long in Greenland this time of year it was hard to believe that earlier in this same morning we were eating breakfast in Copenhagen and now in this afternoon we were on the verge of hunting Musk Ox. After landing and loading our gear in the cabin we had a quick lunch and were in the rubber boat and on the way across the lake.



We elected to rent the camps 300 WM rifles in order to avoid hassles at airports due to bringing our own rifles. Bill selected a CZ and I took the Remington. Fortunately they were exactly like our own rifles at home so we were quite familiar with them. They furnished Nosler 180 grain bullets.
Musk Ox were plentiful. Often we would see two or three at a time.

The general plan was to spot one then use whatever terrain features we could in order to close the distance. It reminded me of Brown bear hunting – using binoculars to find one, letting the guide determine whether it was an old one, then putting on a stalk.

After looking over some territory at the end of the lake, our guide Minik suggested two bulls that were together back behind us. It was to be Bill’s turn to shoot first. On the last two hunts in other countries Bill and I have shot buffalo within seconds of each other and this Musk Ox hunt was to be no different.

Since there were no trees or bushes of any size we watched them closely to see when they had their head down eating grass then we moved or crawled.

When they came out of a low spot Bill shot and seconds later I shot mine. Both were old bulls.





It was approaching darkness by the time the skins were off and we were in the boat headed back to the cabin – all in just an afternoon of hunting.



We could now either hunt another Musk Ox or we could hunt a caribou. We both had enough caribou on the wall so we decided to shoot another Musk Ox each but to take our time and look over a lot of bulls.











While looking we saw a white fox and a rabbit.



Note how hard Bill is working at looking for a great bull.



On the second day we each took one more Musk Ox and then decided to walk to the ice cap while the guides skinned out the last bull. It was about a 25 minute walk.



For the rest of the afternoon we just took pictures.







The next morning we went Arctic Char fishing. Evidently we were fishing in an old bulls’ drinking spot. He walked to within 25 yards of Bill, took a brief drink and walked slowly away, pausing frequently to look back at us as if trying to understand what we were.



In much the same way, we look back at our trip to Greenland as we have arrived home – fascinated by, but not fully understanding this beautiful country.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALLEN JOHNSON AND BILL YUNG ,GREAT EXPEDITION MY FRIENDS .
PALMER PLEASE SEND MY REGARDS TO BILL .

Allen. Let me be the first to congratulate you on an outstanding hunt with some fine trophies taken.

Your fine pictures easily convey the nature of Greenland, a mesmerizing part of the world.

I'm glad you enjoyed Copenhagen, the pictures from your short visit indicate you took it all in and from your narrative liked what you saw.

Glad I could be of some help, would have liked to meet you. Next time perhaps...

Jytte

Cool pictures!

Outstanding pictures and a great hunt report. Congratulations to you both on a great hunt!

Great report Allen and thanks for taking the time to post it. Excellent bulls and a superb adventure. I think your idea of a day or two in Copenhagen would be the icing on the cake of this trip. You definitely have me adding this as a priority to my bucket list!

I have been looking at doing this hunt for a while. Now, I have to do it. Looks like you guys had a superb trip and got great animals.

Jeremy

Congratulations. A great bull for the two of you, in a part of the world that not many visit.
Thank you for posting.
Great photos and wright up.

Awesome guy! Congrats!

Congratulations on a fantastic trip.....very interesting and scenic.

What species of caribou is there?
I have contemplated this hunt and really do not want to go to northern Canada and hunt in the snow.

dogcat,

I did not ask. However there were three shot by the Hungarian hunters. I only saw the antlers. From the antlers they looked like Barren-ground Caribou (or Reindeer).

What a great hunt report!

My Ancestors (from both sides of my family) came to the U.S, from Denmark. I know that some of them lived in Copenhagen.

My goal is to make a trip to that part of the world!

quote:

I could have kept walking through this town for days....

Cool trip Palmer!

Great report. Congratulations. The pictures are superb.

quote:

I have contemplated this hunt and really do not want to go to northern Canada and hunt in the snow.

Even though recent reports claim that numbers are down and I am not sure if any operators are still offering them, but in 2000 I did a Musk Ox hunt out of Cambridge Bay Nunavut. The hunt took place south of Cambridge Bay along the Ellice River. The hunt was done in early September and daytime temps were in the 40's/nights were in the 30's. The only snow I saw during the hunt was after the hunt was over, the day before I flew back to Edmonton, and it was just a light dusting.

The hunt was done thru Canada North Outfitting that Jerome Knapp was operating at that time. It was pleasant hunting, but as I say, I have seen reports on this site concerning reduced numbers of musk Ox in that region.

Very nice report. Would like to chase those suckers myself. Anyone gone after Muskox in April?

quote:

Anyone gone after Muskox in April?

Most of the reports about Musk Ox hunts that appear on here are ones that were taken in March or April.

Some folks just don't want to deal with the logistics of a hunt in below zero weather, or having to deal with ice and snow.

I did the same hunt as Crazy Horse and it was great. I got both Muskox and Central Canada Barren Ground Caribou.

Allen, your reports and photographs are always a treat, and this report and these wonderful photographs are no exception.

The Old World and the New, both, in one amazing trans-Atlantic excursion.

Great trip and great hunt. Those pre-historic bovines are a worthy quarry. Did you try a steak?

I'm going to have to do this some day, if I can.

Congratulations!

Thanks Michael. Yes we did eat some of the meat. It reminded me of American bison meat - very good.

Refreshing report from what looks like a beautiful country.

Beautiful Copenhagen and really nice to see the photoes from Greenland. Moskus Ox can be agressive in the rut and when protection the calves and females.

Congrats on a fine hunt gentlemen

Morten

Enchanting. Would your partner be the very same Bill Yung who wrote "The Half Fast Hunter"?

Bill - thats him.

Allen,
First of all wonderful report and pictures and the city pictures were wonderful as well. It looks like a fantastic time in a wonderful place. The thing I take away from your great narrative is how lucky you are to have a great hunting partner to share your adventures with.
Well done all around.

Absolutely brilliant and what a fantastic animal to hunt. Wonderful country.

Just found this report--great pictures and wonderful adventure as usual!