176 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



so close to the edge that often, when the animal 

 is shot and its head sinks abruptly, the ice gives 

 way, permitting the body to slip into the sea, 

 where it is lost for ever to the hunter. 



To approach a seal resting in the middle of 

 an extended ice-field is quite impossible. On 

 several occasions I have attempted to do so by 

 crawling on my hands and knees with the most 

 extreme caution, yet, despite all my experience 

 of stalking in this fashion, I have only on one 

 occasion succeeded in bringing down my quarry, 

 and then it was with a long shot. One can 

 never get nearer than about one thousand feet, 

 for the seal either scents the presence of an 

 enemy or hears the creaking of the ice. The head 

 of a seal at a thousand feet is a target of which 

 not even the most skilled shot can be certain. 



On the other hand, when a seal is lying on 

 the edge of a floe, it is possible, in a well-handled 

 boat, to approach to within about one hundred 

 feet of it, a distance which renders it quite a 

 simple matter to plant a bullet either in its neck 

 or head. If the sun be warm, and the seal has 

 been so long on the ice that its back is dry, 

 it waits until the last second before diving. It 

 is in such circumstances that one's chances of 

 success are greatest. In the fog, the animals 

 are even more suspicious than usual. 



