Cambridge Bay (July 14/03) - When he was 18, Allen Kitigon's father took him polar bear hunting.

"I never hunted polar bear in Bathurst Inlet my life. I looked at the animal. And it was all yellow," Kitigon says. 'What kind of animal?' I asked [my dad]. 'It's a polar bear,' he said, but to Kitigon it looked just like a fox.

N/N: You thought it was a fox!

AK: It was still really big but it looked like a fox. When you see a different animal for the first time -- I didn't know what it was. And then we got closer to it, and it got bigger and bigger. And then my father shot it. And we went to it, and oh boy, it was huge.

N/N: So your father shot it. What did he use?

AK: He used a 30.30, 222. One shot only. He walked a little bit, then the polar bear died down.

After that when I was 20, I started going hunting by myself with seven dogs. My father was still alive. But I had all my memory from my father.

N/N: So you knew what you were doing.

AK: Oh yeah.

N/N: When you shot the bear the first time with your dad, tell me about...

AK: I get excited. I never saw an animal of that kind. Scary. Bigger than a grizzly bear. Some are about 11 feet.

N/N: How big was the one your father shot that day?

AK: Eight foot. That's the one he wanted.

N/N: What did you guys do with it that day?

AK: We took the skin home and left the meat, took a little bit of meat home. Sell the hide to American people.

In 1959, I got $100 a foot. The nine foot I got, I got $900. And I feel guilty, looking at that kind of money a long time ago. It's a lot of money for that skin. (Laughs). I can't make anymore now. You can't buy anything with $900 now!

N/N: What else do you hunt besides polar bears?

AK: Everything. Women, everything! (Laughs).

Everybody is always hunting for something. All their life. Women, polar bears, trees, fish, house ...

N/N: Tell me about when you started seriously hunting polar bears.

AK: In 1990, 1991-92 I had tags. And then they started getting smaller, the polar bears, and they shut it down.

N/N: How does that make you feel?

AK: It's pretty hard but, the communities own the town. We have to get permits. But it will be open in 2005.

N/N: What do think about that?

AK: There are very sad people alright. The community wanted it shut down for five years. But muskox, fishing is open alright.

N/N: Where did you grow up?

AK: Cambridge. I had school until I was 17 years old. I was born in Back River, northeast of Yellowknife. My mom spoke English. My father never spoke English. My mom used to teach me before I go in school.

N/N: What's the biggest polar bear you've killed yourself?

AK: Nine foot. I hunted for nine years and that's the biggest one I ever got.

N/N: What kind of weapons have you used over the years? What do you use now?

AK: I have nine guns and four bow and arrows. 444 is the biggest one. You could use that for an elephant.

N/N: What do you like using the best for a polar bear?

AK: If you know how to shoot an animal, you could use smaller. You don't want to spoil the skin or have too much blood. You've got to learn. It's different with a bow and arrow. If you use a big one it makes a hole the other side.

N/N: How long does it take?

AK: One hunter paid me $25,000 to use all the charters to get a polar bear. That was about 20 years ago. He was American. It took about two weeks out.

N/N: Were you ever scared? Did a polar bear ever charge you? Did you ever get injured?

AK: Not really. I get excited only -- 'What kind am I going to get?' I never wished for hunting. But for my family to get that money...

N/N: So you were never nervous?

AK: No. I would be scared of an elephant. So big! And nowhere to take it home.