Rasmus Avike

Hunter

Qaanaaq, Greenland

"I am crying in my heart."

I traveled between Qaanaaq and Siorapaluk with three other people — translator Navarana Sorenson, my dog driver Lars Jeremiassen and Navarana's sled driver, Rasmus Avike. Rasmus is in his early 40's and said that Lars is his mentor. He credited Lars with teaching him most of his hunting and dog team skills. In 2005 the two men were part of the Sirius Patrol, a biannual dog sled trip across the remote northeast quadrant of Greenland with two dozen elite Danish soldiers. The Patrols are part of an international agreement that in order to retain Greenland as its territory, Denmark must ensure that the entire island is populated. No one lives in northeast Greenland. But the trip through the region by a few dozen men every two years apparently satisfies some legal definition of the word "inhabited".

The fact that Rasmus and Lars were included on the trip speaks volumes about their skill levels. At one point the patrol became disoriented in a snowstorm. They were so close to the northpole that compasses were unreliable and for some reason their GPS devices weren't working. Rasmus simply studied the wind drifts in the snow for a few minutes and then pointed north. He said it was a skill Lars had taught him. He says no matter where he is in Greenland, he can orient himself as long as there is wind and snow because he's learned to read the drifts.

Climate Change

Rasmus:  It is now very hard to live our old culture. We used to be able travel on the sea ice starting in September of each year. Now it may be as late as November or December. The later freeze and earlier thaw has cut the time when we can hunt in half.

For example, we used to hunt walruses several months each year. Now it is about one month. And we can only hunt during that one month if the weather is still.

Many animals, like polar bear, halibut and narwhale have moved. There are more of them in the Savissavik area than there are here. And sometimes the animals move together. Musk oxen, reindeer and Arctic Hare sometimes overlap in the same area these days. The same land cannot support them all. So in some places Musk Oxen have taken the place of Arctic Hare.

I am trying to live our traditional culture. I live this way because I can be my own man.  I can live from season to season. But fewer and fewer hunters are doing this; it's too hard. I am crying in my heart and trying to think what I will do.

Hunting Restrictions

Rasmus:  Home Rule government is also destroying our culture. They have limited the number of reindeer, musk oxen and polar bear we can take. I expect that next they will attack our hunting of walrus and limit them too. They do this because of pressure from Greenpeace. Greenpeace is very big and very rich.

In the late 1970's we made extra money by selling sealskins. We would use this money to buy new equipment, new guns and even boats. But then because of Greenpeace the price of sealskins became very low. Now the price is so low that we cannot make a profit from them, we just make sealskins for our own use.

This is why we are happy to drive dogsleds for scientists, journalists and visitors.  When we hunt we do not know what we will catch or how long it will take. But when we drive dogsleds, we know we will be paid.  This is also why our wives must take jobs so that we can pay our rent and electricity.  If you do not have a wife with a job, you cannot be a hunter fulltime.