GREENLAND: Muskox & Caribou Hunting In Greenland

[nomspc]

Last September, my hunting partner Ross and I traveled to Greenland for a muskox/caribou hunt with Lings Hunting Greenland. Given the state of play in air travel, the only route from the US to Greenland went through Copenhagen, Denmark. For me, that meant Florida to JFK to Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, and the reverse on the return trip. We had overnight stays in Copenhagen on each end, and got a full day in the city on the way out. This complicated traveling with rifles, but Lings had offered to provide rifles and ammo at no charge. We’ve never done that before but decided to make life easier and try it.

We flew Delta out of JFK and arrived in Copenhagen early in the morning. We were booked into the Clarion airport hotel. In the states, Clarion is a budget brand, but there’s nothing budget about this hotel, very nice. After dumping the luggage, we took the train into the city. Copenhagen is clean, beautiful architecture and people, lots of bikes. A great walking city, Copenhagen has extensive green space, terrific restaurants and lots of cultural stuff to see. Malmo, Sweden is just across The Bridge (see the excellent Swedish TV series by that name), a quick train ride.

The next morning, we were on the Air Greenland flight to Kangerlussuaq. AG makes one round trip a day between Copenhagen and Kangerlussuaq. It takes 6 hours to fly from JFK to Copenhagen; 4 hours Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq. The route takes you over Iceland which looks mountainous and small. AG has one jet for international travel, an Airbus A330-800, which just this month replaced the A330-200 we flew on. Kangerlussuaq, with a population of just over 500, is pretty much just the airport, Greenland’s only international airport. The airport, like most of the Kangerlussuaq infrastructure, was built by the US in the WWII to Cold War era. It sits on the western edge of the Greenland ice sheet, the world’s second largest, after the Antarctic ice sheet. The ice sheet covers about 80% of Greenland, is about 1,800 miles long, north-south, and averages a mile thick. There is a gravel road between Kangerlussuaq and the ice sheet, so we hitched a ride out there with Hannah Lings. It was my first trip to big ice, and it was humbling. We walked out on the ice for about an hour, and, with the heavy overcast, there was no horizon, just white as far as you could see. You feel pretty small. People do cross the sheet with dogsleds, but this seems like crossing the Denmark Strait in a canoe.

The western edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Our hotel (five star!)

On the way to the ice sheet.

Most of Greenland not under ice looks like this in the summer; tundra, hills and lakes.

The edge of the ice.

 

[nomspc]

The next morning, we flew to the hunting camp on one of Air Greenland’s two search and rescue helicopters, an Airbus H-225. It’s a three-day hike to camp, but the flight took about 15 minutes. There are no roads in this area. ATV use is heavily restricted, so all supplies are brought to camp by dogsled or helicopter. Lings Hunting has 4 camps in the area; use is determined by season of which there are two: summer and winter. Karsten Lings is the head of the family, a Viking who worked for many years as a commercial fisherman and now runs the hunting operation full-time. Hannah, his wife, and the kids Lukas and Vivi round out the family. Lukas and Vivi are both hunting guides. The week we were there, we had Karsten and Lukas on site, with two other hunters from Texas, and an Inuit kid, Paul, who was learning to be a guide. Karsten took the Texans, we had Lukas, and Paul alternated.

The camp consisted of two shacks, a cook shack with a large dining table and a set of bunk beds, a second smaller two-man shack and tents. We scored the small shack which was spartan but comfortable with a kerosene space heater, two beds with minimalist mattresses, sleeping bags and, amazingly given the middle-of-nowhere vibe, industrial outdoor carpeting on the floor. No cell service, no WiFi, no electricity (except for a small gas generator that was on during dinner), no running water. We rented a sat phone for this trip. Worked great for checking in back home. Drinking and cooking water came from the lake. The outhouse was a tent containing a plastic bag toilet. Temperatures were highs in the low 50’s, lows in the low 30’s. The wind blew constantly and, since it was mostly coming off the ice sheet, it was cold. It rained on and off for a couple of days, only one morning of heavy rain, so it wasn’t much of an issue. We had good gear and dressed in layers. As the day went on, layers would come off and go into the pack. Late in the day, the layers would go back on.

On the way to camp.

Camp.

Our ride.

Before the tent went up.

View from camp.

 

[nomspc]

The typical day was up at 6 and into the cook hut for coffee, the daily discussion of where to go and breakfast. Breakfast was a mix of European, cold meats, cheeses, breads, and American, eggs, bacon or sausage, maybe pancakes, maybe leftovers from last night’s dinner of caribou or muskox. Whatever was on the table got assembled into sandwiches for lunch. Then, by 9, gear up and head out. If walking, we’d walk out 4 hours, have lunch, then walk back 4 hours. The terrain was mostly rolling hills 2-300 feet of elevation, rocks, tundra and low, swampy areas. The tundra was spongy and uneven, so you had to be careful about where you put your feet. Alternatively, we’d pile into a rubber boat with a small outboard and cross one of the many huge lakes in the area. There was a second boat stashed on another lake well out from camp, and it was after crossing the second lake that we got most of our opportunities. Dinner was mostly game meat, caribou which was like filet, muskox more like flank steak, and frozen fish, arctic char, from which Karsten made a great fish stew on a small propane stove. The old muskox bulls provided the meat from which these guys make dog food. They have 20 sled dogs, like giant huskies, and they eat a ton of muskox meat. The food was great, plenty of beer and wine, everyone slept like the dead. Sadly, no northern lights due to the persistent overcast.

About the rifles: Normally on a hunt like this, I’d bring a 300WM and shoot Barnes 180 TTSX. As I said earlier, we had decided to not bring our own rifles. When we got to camp, Karsten got out eight or so rifles to choose from, all scoped and equipped with suppressors. I selected a Steyr 300WM with a Zeiss scope. Zeroed at 200, very accurate. It seemed heavy, but whatever. I had an Eberlestock pack to carry the rifle. After 8 hours of carrying it the first day, however, I was ready for something a lot lighter and shorter. The can was heavy and the barrel 24”, so the whole package didn’t balance well, in or out of the pack. I talked this over with Lukas, and he suggested Ross and I share his rifle, a Tikka T3X in 6.5X55. Ammo was Sellier & Bellot 131 grain JSP, scope a Leupold VX5HD 3-15X44, zeroed at 200. I was skeptical about the cartridge, essentially a 6.5 Creedmoor, but Lukas said it was perfect for this hunt. Even with the can, it fit the pack well, balanced well, was easy to carry and had virtually no recoil. Cans are unrestricted here; everybody hunts with them.

Tikka T3X in 6.5X55; a dream to carry and shoot...worked first time, every time.

 

[nomspc]

First day was overcast, with patches of sun, intermittent wind. The morning was mostly getting used to the terrain and remembering how to walk carrying gear with lots of up and down. Also, Lukas, part mountain goat, had to get used to us old guys plodding along. The landscape was otherworldly. Even our last trip to the Far North of South Africa didn’t have this feeling of complete isolation from human habitation. A mastodon would have fit right in. About midday, we spotted a nice caribou bull, about 400 yards out, grazing. We had elevation and the wind, but he was moving in and out of our sight, so we closed the distance. We had him at 200, but then a yearling popped up between us and the bull. The bull moved behind some rocks and we couldn’t follow him with the yearling in the way. The bull reappeared at about 600, moving quickly away and that was that. On the way back to camp, we saw a few Arctic hares. This time of year, their bright white coats show up starkly against the greenery. We thought we might break out the .22’s and go after a few of them later in the week.

 

[nomspc]

The next day we were in the boat and off across the first lake. The scale of the landscape is remarkable. The lakes are miles long and the air is clear; you can see a long way. Glassing the hills revealed family groups of muskox, but a long ways out. Out of the boat, we made our way across some challenging swampy yet rocky terrain. After an hour of walking, we found the next boat and were off across another lake. We were encouraged to see a good number of muskox, even though they were quite a distance away. Like most days, it was super quiet, the only noise from ravens and, near the water, loons.

And then there they were. We crested a low rise and there were about 15 of them grazing in a meadow, about 200 yards out, mostly cows & little ones, a couple of young bulls and an older bull. We watched them for a while, prehistoric-looking things. Ross got his shot and the bull fell over. The rifle was very quiet, and the muskox seemed confused, but eventually formed up in the classic muskox defensive posture and watched us. After a while, the cows took off with the young, followed by the bulls over the next ridge. I walked up there, but they were long gone. Looking at the bull up close, you can really see them wandering around the tundra during the Ice Age. The wool is super fine and dense; stick your hand deep into it and it warms up quickly. Lukas quickly skinned and quartered the bull. This bull was better than 700 lbs on the hoof, but between Lukas and Paul, they carried all that meat, hide and head back to the boat suspended from straps across their foreheads. When I shot my muskox the next day, Lukas carried head and hide about 2 hours back to camp, and we still struggled to keep up with him.

 

[nomspc]

Couple days later, we were in the same spot, across two lakes, stalking caribou. Light rain, moderate wind. We saw some caribou grazing on the sides of the local landmark, a truncated “mountain”, and worked our way into the wind. By the time we got to where they were, they’d moved on. We were getting ready to resume the climb when Ross tapped me on the arm and pointed: Took me a moment to see the antler tips sticking up out of a gully about 150 yards away. He was bedded down out of the wind, so we bedded down and watched the antler tips as he moved his head around. We got as comfy as we could get laying there in a cold drizzle, watching the antlers. After about 30 minutes of this, we started making noise to see if we could get him to stand up. Nothing doing. We got louder and louder and finally he popped up staring right at us. I told Lukas I had the chest shot, he said wait and, when the bull turned, I took the shot.

The next day, we were back in the same area, in the same situation, a bedded bull, but at least we could see most of him. About 200 yards. Same scenario, he’s comfortable and not moving, we start making noise. Eventually, he stood up, Ross popped him, and he just stood there for about 30 seconds then laid down like he was going to take a nap, and that was that. I have to say I was surprised at how effective the 6.5X55 was.

 

[nomspc]

The last full day was dedicated to hunting Arctic hare. These are very big and very white. We could spot them bedded down on the hillsides from camp. Karsten gave us a couple of .22’s, a Ruger with a can, and an integrally suppressed Tikka, along with some 40 grain subsonic ammo. The rifles were zeroed at 40 yards, so this was a fun little hunt. First climbing up to their neighborhood, then creeping close enough.

The next morning, we were picked up in an AS350 helo, and flew back to Kangerlussuaq, which gave us a final closeup of this amazing landscape. We were able to wrangle showers before the flight back to Copenhagen. I was very happy to be landing at JFK without a rifle.

All in all, a great trip. Greenland is certainly one of the world’s wild places. The Lings are terrific people and know the land and the animals well. We enjoyed our time with them and recommend them.

 

[Safari Dave]

Great report!


Thanks for posting.



I'm going to look into hunting in Greenland....

 

[Sarg]

Another great Greenland post, thank you for your time & effort posting it for us !

It looks a little more hospitable & fun than the Winter when I was there ?

That fully suppressed .22 rifle seems to be a early Brno Model 2 or a later CZ 452 ?

 

[nomspc]

Another great Greenland post, thank you for your time & effort posting it for us !

It looks a little more hospitable & fun than the Winter when I was there ?

That fully suppressed .22 rifle seems to be an early Brno Model 2 or a later CZ 452 ?

You are right, it was a CZ.

 

[Pheroze]

Thanks for the report and those fantastic photos. This landscape makes one feel lonely just looking at the picture!

 

[Neil Molendyk]

Great report, Thanks for sharing. Just curious, what were you wearing for footwear?

 

[smokepole]

Great write up and photos My wife and I had the privilege to go last April. Wanted to do this since the 70s. Found them on bowhunt web sight. Due to things like health and age (76) next week and Covid??? The Lings got this worked out and in 6 weeks we were there. Nicest family ever. Weather not bad. Karstan and all of involved great. Karstan especially so-his father has same health concerns and he took it personal. Good for me . Warm dry cabins excellent equipment ,plenty of good food and 4x4 that can go anywhere. Would be glad to offer any question please ask Do not wait too long I almost did. Thanks for this forum. They had new seal skin boots, parka and bibs-just follow their instructions. Also good rain gear and wp boots.

 

[rinehart0050]

Great report! Quite the adventure! Congrats on your success.

 

[nomspc]

Great report, Thanks for sharing. Just curious, what were you wearing for footwear?

Arc’teryx Acrux TR GTX boots. Super light, comfortable right out of the box. A steal at the price, but you have to double knot those laces. Also KUIU scree gaiters.

https://www.amazon.com/Arcteryx-Acrux-Mens-Black-Neptune/dp/B07MPT3W6G/ref=asc_df_B07MPT3W6G?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80058307957573&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583657835679233&th=1&psc=1

 

[Fixfire]

Great report and great animals!! Those hares are huge!!!

 

[kdenn]

Congratulations. great report and pictures.

 

[CJW]

Great report and great animals!! Those hares are huge!!!

I had to do a double take on them. Surprised they don't have antlers.

Looks like a great trip.

 

[Tucketed]

Thanks for the great report. Fantastic photos

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for the great adventure and very nice trophies !