Frost bite (Barrow, Point Hope, Savoonga: cost, oil, yard)

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by warptman

I shot a polar bear in the head, the bullet bounced off its head!

I shot it again in the head, it bounced off again!

No matter how many times I shot at it, all the bullets bounced off!

This is a real story!

He wouldn't die!

Should have used my .338WM, Warpt

[bortstc37]

my next-door neighbor tells me that polar bear tastes pretty good (he used to live in savoonga).

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by bortstc37

my next-door neighbor tells me that polar bear tastes pretty good (he used to live in savoonga).

Hmmm...I guess one would have to develop a taste for it. All I know is that I have tasted brown bear and almost puked after the fact
http://www.alaskanewspapers.com/article.php?article=1106limit_set_for_native_polar _bear_hunters_under (broken link)

[bortstc37]

i'd much rather have black bear any day of the week.
i hear that brown bears can get pretty fishy tasting.

[SityData]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

Hmmm...I guess one would have to develop a taste for it. All I know is that I have tasted brown bear and almost puked after the fact

Polar bear meat is jet black and grainy like gnarled wood. It is the most tender delicous meat I have ever tasted in my life. It was the ONLY time I ever asked for seconds and everyone at that table (9) said NO !!

I have only had the pleasure of eating it once!!

They sell it in Barrow on pizza's and in oriental food - !!

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

Hunting polar bear in Canada is legal. In Alaska it's illegal to hunt polar bear, but years ago it was legal for non-Natives to hunt these animals. I Don't know if this law has changed in recent years, nor do I know if Natives still can hunt them.

This is old now, and possible has changed (?):
http://alaska.fws.gov/law/pdf/polarbear.pdf

It has never been ilegal for Alaska Natives to harvest polar bears.

The Marine Mammals Protection Act, passed in October of 1972, made it illegal for non-Native and non-subsistence hunting of polar bears in the US.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by bortstc37

i'd much rather have black bear any day of the week.
i hear that brown bears can get pretty fishy tasting.

Yes, specially in Kodiak or any place where they can dig inside a whale carcass or eat rotten salmon. I have heard the same about polar bear (sort of fishy taste to it, probably from the seals they eat). The liver is supposed to be deadly if eaten too often because of the high concentration of vitamin A (?).

[SityData]

Originally Posted by Floyd_Davidson

I remember my first trips to that part of Alaska, because I talked to a guy in Wales who (before the Marine Mammals Protection Act of 1972) was at that time the last guy in Wales to shoot a polar bear! He'd shot it with a .218 Bee too, and had had the hide for 3-4 years when I was talking to him. He offered it for sale, and gave a price. A colleague of mine did not hesitate, he pulled out a check book and asked who to write the check to. We found out later that the reason the fellow had had the hide for so long was that he was an ornery cuss, up until then everyone he'd offered it to had wanted to argue the price. Apparently he wouldn't sell it to anyone who even so much as hinted at arguing with him. The price was... $300.

I came back to Wales 20 years later, well after the MM Protection Act had had an effect, and the first thing I notice when landing at Wales was a large skin drying rack right next to the runway that had something like 8 or 10 hides on it. Times had changed, and there were now polar bears near Wales again.

The same basic story was true at Cape Lisburne, the radar site 30 miles from Point Hope. In the 1960's there were no bears there. By the 1990's the place was (and is) literally crawling with them.

St. Lawerence Island was about the same way too. And along all of that part of the coast of Alaska there were legends about polar bear hunters (trophy hunters) flying supercubs that got lost in the weather and had to set down on a (where's Glitch, this'll terrorize him) Communist airstrip! Of course, the Russian fighter base directly across the Straits from Wales was the closest place to land, and they often did. The Ruskies fueled 'em up, fed 'em, told just as many tall tales as they did, and sent them on their way when the weather cleared.

it is against the law... to sell a polar bear hide in one piece.

The actual price of one skin is $15,000

300 bucks for a whole skin ?? which planet does that take place on???

[SityData]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

Yes, specially in Kodiak or any place where they can dig inside a whale carcass or eat rotten salmon. I have heard the same about polar bear (sort of fishy taste to it, probably from the seals they eat). The liver is supposed to be deadly if eaten too often because of the high concentration of vitamin A (?).

Admiral Perry and his gang on their treck to the North Pole, killed a polar bear, 3 members of that expedition died from eating the liver.

That is what admiral perry told me when he got back !!!

(see I can make up ficticious conversations with people I have never met also). I hope I get rep points -(taken off) I would be quite content with zero points.

some of you have such inflated ego's over something so unimportant and absolutely meaningless!!

[bortstc37]

Originally Posted by SityData

it is against the law... to sell a polar bear hide in one piece.

The actual price of one skin is $15,000

300 bucks for a whole skin ?? which planet does that take place on???

i've bought quite a few ivory (and other) carvings for a small fraction of what they would normally go for. there are a number of factors that affect the price, but you are probably already aware of those...