Has anyone ever hunted Walrus?
Contributors to this thread:General Topic
From: caribou77
21-Apr-19
Just curious if any of you have gone? Looks like an incredible adventure. Not even sure if they let you use archery equipment? And I know they are not importable but some things are just about memories and experience.
From: casekiska
21-Apr-19
Of course the native indigenous people hunted walrus with bows and arrows (and spears) but the only Caucasian bowhunter from the contiguous states I have ever heard of who hunted walrus was Art LaHa from Winchester, Wisconsin. Art actually tried it a number of times but I don't think he was ever successful. He even designed and had made a dozen special arrowheads for hunting walrus. Most of them are laying at the bottom of the arctic waters but Art did save a few. A few broadhead collectors managed to add them to their collections due to Art's generosity. Somewhere around he I've got a photo of Roy Case with his example of the Art LaHa Walrus Killer broadhead. I'd have to look for it, I'll see if I can find it.
From: caribou77
21-Apr-19
Wow, never expected to hear that. Was looking at Adventures North web page and just thought it looked like a once in a lifetime adventure.
From: casekiska
21-Apr-19
This photo is of Roy Case in his basement office in his home in Racine, WI and was taken early in 1973. Roy is standing in front of his famous broadhead collection and is showing his example of the Art LaHa Walrus killer broadhead. The wide barbs folded along the ferrule but expanded inside the animal. Only a dozen of these heads were ever made and most were lost during Art's hunts. This particular broadhead disappeared in the summer of '73 when a thief broke into the Case home and stole numerous archery and sporting artifacts. He was caught and convicted but many of the items were never recovered, this broadhead was not.
From: Catscratch
21-Apr-19
That's pretty cool! I think a walrus hunt would be a lot of fun. A Euro mount would kick butt.
From: Kurt
21-Apr-19
Google the Marine Mammals Protection Act of 1972...stops Americans from importing Polar Bears, Walrus, Seals, Sea Lions, Sea Otters, etc. I believe Canadians can have them, just as they can a Polar Bear.
From: jmiller
21-Apr-19
I'm pretty sure Archie Nesbitt has bow killed a walrus
From: Woods Walker
21-Apr-19
Koo-koo-ka-choo..........
Only old people will get that!
From: Franklin
21-Apr-19
A taxidermist in Illinois has a client who just went on a Walrus hunt....they had a Polar bear pop up on the ice while dressing it at about 20 yards. There is supposed to be a video of this somewhere. It`s fairly recent and I may be off on some of the particulars….but I think I am in the ballpark. What weapon was used I`m not sure.
Maybe someone else has some info.
From: BOWUNTR
21-Apr-19
I hope Frank Noska doesn't read this... a walrus might be in trouble. Ed F
From: Medicinemann
21-Apr-19
Waterfowler and I looked into this hunt several years ago. Archie Nesbitt had reportedly killed one, but shortly thereafter, archery gear was no longer allowed. You are still allowed to hunt them with a gun. I got the impression that it was because once the animal was shot, it had to be harpooned, lest it make it into the water.....where it might be unrecoverable. Shooting them in the head with a rifle would anchor the animal....probably not possible with archery gear. However, after conducting quite a bit of research on this hunt, I learned that the "processing" of one of these animals is amazing. Look it up!!
From: Rockbass
22-Apr-19
I hunted them a few years back and I had my bow with me. Medicinemann is bang on about shooting them with archery gear and not recovering them. I had 4-5 opportunities to shoot one with my bow but ion all occasions they were either very close to the waters edge or in very shallow water with deep water nearby. I decided not to shoot one with bow as the chances of recovering it seemed slim. I ended up shooting one with the guides rifle and it still rolled down into the water. Luckily the water was only about 10' deep and we used a grappling hook to retrieve it and get it to shore for pictures. After photos on the shore, they towed the walrus with a small aluminium boat to the larger vessel (53' trawler) and fastened it with ropes to the side of the trawler. They then remained in the small boat (Walrus between small boat and trawler) and worked on the walrus as it was suspended half in and half out of the water. They made several cuts around the body of the walrus and removed the skin and meat from the guts and bones in large chunks. They then hauled the large chunks up the side of the trawler onto the deck. Once on the deck, they cut several slits in the skin at each end of the big chunks of meat and fastened the ends together with a thin piece of skin they remove and use as "thread" to insert in and out of the slits. They then tightened the "thread" and secured it so the large chunks of skin with the meat inside resembled very large "Easter Eggs". My guess is each egg weighed in excess of 200 lbs (Think of a 2' long egg). The skin is extremely dense and heavy. If I recall correctly my damp cape (not fleshed) weighed 175 lbs.
Overall it was a fantastic hunt. We left Coral Harbour just before dark and boated 40 miles south in Hudson Bay to a small black rock (Walrus Rock - maybe 1/2 mile long). We waited out bad weather in the calmer water in a small cove of the island. We were treated with watching a very good size Polar bear on this desolate rock feasting on a walrus calf 100-120 yards from us on the shore of the island for 3-4 hours. The shortest distance to the rock was a 40 mile swim for that big boar! I fished (jigged) off the back of the boat and caught many small cod for a couple of meals. When weather cleared we traveled another 5-6 hours to another island (9 miles long x 1/2 mile wide) that had a very large colony of Walrus. A friend and I both took nice walrus and the Inuit were happy as they shot 4-5 caribou from the island that had crossed the ice to the island in the winter. They said the caribou from the island were better eating as they got fat from the summer grasses. They feasted on the bone marrow of the caribou. My choice was the food they had brought for their dogs - beautiful fresh fillets of Arctic Char! We observed several polar bears on the trip, seals, a pod of beluga whale, caribou, fox, a million plus colony of seabirds on a massive cliff, etc, etc. Loved every minute of the trip.
From: wilbur
22-Apr-19
Lou,
It's actually Goo goo g' joob
From: midwest
22-Apr-19
Very cool, Rockbass!
From: midwest
22-Apr-19
WW, Paul is dead.
From: TrapperKayak
22-Apr-19
I'm old..Beatles.
From: TrapperKayak
22-Apr-19
Better do it now (hunt walrus) before Connecticut outlaws it and others follow suit.
From: Boreal
22-Apr-19
Rockbass, What an awesome experience! Not many people an claim an adventure like that!
From: Beartrack
22-Apr-19
As a taxidermist, I've had the opportunity to mount a few of them. Very heavy, stinky and greasy hides that if I see another, it'll be too soon.
From: Nick Muche
22-Apr-19
Very cool Rockbass! I see you kept the ivory, how about the Oosik?
From: Rockbass
22-Apr-19
Nick, Oh yeah - I kept it but unfortunately once my wife examined it she just laughs at me!
From: woodguy65
22-Apr-19
Cool story Rockbass, makes the elk look small.
From: Rockbass
22-Apr-19
Hi woodguy65, Sure looks like a North American Elk because it is an even 6 x 6 but it was taken in Siberia 70 miles up some very large river. They called it a Siberian Elk but I guess it would be a Maral Stag. Either way it was another great adventure.
From: relliK reeD
22-Apr-19
Rockbass I've seen that walrus on TV when I was younger! I think his name was Chumley. Very unique throphy.
From: Medicinemann
22-Apr-19
Rockbass, I sent you a PM, but wanted to add a couple more questions. Were you required to wear a survival suit? Did any of them rush the boat after your shot? I was told that some of the bulls will charge a boat if threatened or wounded. Given that they are 12+ feet long and around 3,000 pounds, they'd probably have a good chance of capsizing a small boat. Even with a survival suit, you'd only last a little while, and that is assuming that the bull doesn't tusk you and then dive....which is what they have been known to do with polar bears. I was also quite surprised with what a bright orangish-pink color they are after a deep water dive.....probably related to blood flow being shunted to specific body parts.
From: bowonly
22-Apr-19
Rockbass, great adventures, too be sure. Any chance we could get you to tell more about the Siberian elk hunt. I have dreamed of bow hunting far east Russia after it's brief opening back in the early '90s. Vast and wild country.
From: TrapperKayak
22-Apr-19
"...my wife examined it...": LOL!
From: bowonly
22-Apr-19
Catscratch, here you go
From: bowonly
22-Apr-19
From: t-roy
22-Apr-19
Very cool and unique experience, Rockbass!
From: Rockbass
24-Apr-19
Medicinemann, Sent you a PM but did not include about survival suit. We did not have survival suits. We hunted after all ice gone. The way they hunt them now getting in and out of the small boats hauled up on the edge of the ice I think a survival suit would be mandatory. You go in the water in early June with all your clothes on and oh boy you are in for an experience. I had a bet with my friend that if we had more than 15" of tusk showing on our Walrus we would jump in the water. Hudson Bay may have had no ice at that time but it sure seemed like liquid ice. I shot my walrus first and my friend witnessed my pain so I think he was hoping to shoot a smaller one! He had no such luck and shot one that had 15.25" of tusk showing. I ran off the shore into the water on my plunge. He jumped in from the roof of the 53' trawler. Funny stuff. They say we Canadians are hardy, I'm thinking just not bright!
From: South Farm
24-Apr-19
Not everyday you see a walrus head hanging next to an elk, cool!
From: Catscratch
24-Apr-19
Yep Bowonly... that is certainly as cool as I thought it would be! Thanks for posting the pics.
From: njbuck
24-Apr-19
I didn't realize that you could even hunt walrus, learn something new every day. My problem is I forget two things every day.
From: t-roy
24-Apr-19
I’ll bet there wasn’t much of anything showing after THAT PLUNGE! ;-)
From: loesshillsarcher
24-Apr-19
lol
From: Kicker Point
25-Apr-19
That Walrus mount was awesome! What'd he score? :)
From: Rockbass
25-Apr-19
To be honest. I have no idea. I never had him scored. He had just over 15" of tusk showing and do not know circumference of tusks. I know he was (if memory serves me correctly) over 11 ft. long.
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
Found a few hard copy photographs of Nunavut hunt. Had to use my cellphone to take pictures of them and then download so sorry about quality.
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
About to skin walrus between boats.
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
Back in Coral Harbour
Back in Coral Harbour
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
8' bear beside boat
8' bear beside boat
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
Preparing to skin Walrus between boats
Preparing to skin Walrus between boats
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
Preparing to skin Walrus between boats
Preparing to skin Walrus between boats
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
He earned his swim in Hudson Bay
He earned his swim in Hudson Bay
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
My friend, outfitter in yellow, three of his sons and guide.
My friend, outfitter in yellow, three of his sons and guide.
Sorry everyone...pictures were not upside down when I attached them.
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
Old bear skull, antlers found on tundra.
Old bear skull, antlers found on tundra.
From: Rockbass
27-Apr-19
Old bear skull, antlers found on tundra.
Old bear skull, antlers found on tundra.
From: Chris S
27-Apr-19
Amazing adventure thanks for sharing RB!
From: Tradman and Huntress
30-Apr-19
Awesome pics and story Rockbass! Congrats on a great trophy.
From: Fauntleroy
30-Apr-19
Amazing adventure! Sure wish more of us could bring em back.
From: iceman
01-May-19
Interesting stuff! thank you for sharing
From: kota-man
01-May-19
What a cool adventure. Thanks for sharing.
From: Treeline
01-May-19
Very cool adventure! Would be worth the adventure even though we can’t bring them back.
