Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-12-04
The STORY Teller.
ARCTIC WALRUS HUNTING.
The Perils of Shooting the Beasts
On the Ice Pack.

On the Ice Pack.
"When the temperature was 60 de-
grees below zero, and no gale blowing
have lain upon an ice pack in the
Arctic Ocean in 20 degrees north lati'
tude, and have shot walruses for 4e
hours at stretch" said Charles E. T.
Foster, whaler from San Francisco.
"Now, I am not boasting. Walrus
shooting under the conditions named
is really fine sport, if one is prepared
for the weather. Iepjoyed it as much
as country boy does hunting quail in
Missouri in a snow-covered field in
midwinter. The first thing is to know
how to dress, with flannel and fur un-
derwear and sealskin boots and over
coat and hood and mittens. Walruses
travel in pods or herds, and are gen
orally found on an ice pack out OF
sight of land. There are some men
on every whaling vesselin in the Behring
sea who have hired out as walrus-
shooters. When a pod of walruses is
seen on an ice foe in the daytime, the
walrus-shooter starts from the vessel
in 'dinky,' which is a small skitf,
with a board painted white to look
like ice fastened in front of it to shield
the hunter from view. One must ap-
proach walrus pod with great eau
tion, for if two or three big walruses
become frightened and slide off the ice
into the water, the whole pod is liable
to follow, and then all hunting is at an
end. + was hunting walruses all the
way from Bering Strait to Point Bar
row in the summer of 1880. When l
went out in a'sdinky' after a pod of
walruses, I always carried a Sbarp's
rifle, 5O-calibre, which could be used
for both close and long range shooting.
Owing to the location of the ice pack,
one could sometimes get within 200
yards Of a walrus pod before firing the
first shot, but often I could get no
nearer than 600 yards. The first two
or three shots must be with sure aim,
and walrus must be killed each time
outright. If walrus is wounded he
fops overheard, and the rest follow.
If two or three can be killed their
bodies roll over on the ice, there is no
commotion, ard the whole pod remains
on the ice pack. After killing the first
two or three, then I worked my way
in the 'diaky' gradually toward the
ice pack, until could make landing,
and hide behiud the carcass of one OF
the walruses I had killed.
"I would then lie behind q dead
warlus, and shoot others all day long.
1t is then a mere matter of loading
the gun and shooting, for no skill is
required to kill the other walruses.
T have hidden behind dead walrus,
and poked my gun barrel against the
head of live walrus and shot it. l
have killed two thousand of these ami
mails in one day. The brain of wal
rus is not in the top of its head, but is
located in the hump on the back OF
it's neck. That hump is the taiget for
the walrus shooter, for bullet through
the brain is instant death to the ami
NAL. Some of the bulls are so old that
they have barnacles on them.
"a full-grown walrus, bull or COW,
is larger and heavier than Texas
steer. When alarmed, they whistle
like the steam launches we see in the
lakes in city parks. The walruses are
killed for the ivory obtained from
their tusk. The ivory runs from six
pounds in young cow, to seventy
FIVE or eighty pounds in the two tusks
of an old bull. In 1880, when I was
walrus hunting, walrus ivory was
worth 1925 per pound. Then wal
rus turns out from two to three bar
rels of blubber, worth six dollars a
barrel. Walrus oil is sold in the mar
ket for whale oil, and is just as good
in quality.
"Walruses never fight hunter on
the ice, but they make it lively for
him sometimes in the water. Walrus
hunting is not without its dangers.
Walruses sleep in still water among
the ice packs, with their brown heads
out of the water only two or three
inches, each head looking exactly like
the crown of brown derby hat float
ing in the water. The hunters call
them "sleepers." 1t is worth mans
life to awaken an old bull sleeper or
to run into herd of sleeping walruses
with little 'dinky.' When a sleeper
is awakened it fights, and let me tell
you a walrus in the water can fight vi
ciously. They fight with their tusks,
and an old bull or cow can drive a
tusk through a small boat at one
stroke and wreck it."
"Did you ever have hair-breadth
escape, Mr.. Foster?''
"Well, had a lively fight with a
big walrus cow once, and l thought
the Jig was all up with me. 1t was in
August, 1880, that was walrus hunt
ing in the Arctic ocean off Point Bar
row. One day I started out in a
'dinky' and h~1 a big Norwegian
sculling for me, Ind I was making for
a moving ice pack gradually, as l had
sighted a fine pod of walruses. A