Yellowknife (Dec 03/04) - Imagine spending 12 hours a day walking through the bush, carrying 50 pounds of equipment, wading through streams and shooing away mosquitoes and watching for bears.

That's what surveyors get paid to do.

"In the wintertime you're freezing your fingers and toes," said Bruce Hewlko, a Canada land surveyor based in Yellowknife. "Summertime you're sweating and walking through swamps."

Hewlko works as a surveyor with Sub-Arctic Surveys Ltd. He's been on the job for 32 years now.

In the summer, he spends about 90 per cent of his time surveying out in the bush or on the barrenlands. The busy season lasts as long as float planes can get in and out, from about June to September.

"In the winter there's still work to do in the communities," he said.

He said a surveyor has to be in good physical condition and be self-sufficient.

"Sometimes we have our own camps, so cooking skills come in handy," he said.

Most surveyors have a degree or diploma from a technical school.

Hewlko said a large part of the job is walking and looking for property markers that have often been dropped from a helicopter.

"You'll get your boots wet every day," he said. "Sometimes the only way to cross a creek is to walk through it. Sometimes it's just over your boots, sometimes it's up to your chest."

He said every year somebody on the survey crew comes across a bear, though he's never met one up close.

There are other drawbacks.

"You do spend a lot of time away from home," he said.

So why do it?

"I like being outside," Hewlko said. "The sunrises and sunsets are pretty nice. It's generally quiet. I guess you have to be a bit of a masochist."

Surveyors usually start off earning about $12 an hour. Crew chiefs make between $25 and $30 an hour. Project supervisors make even more.

"If you're out in the field working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, you're going to make serious money," he said.