Repulse Bay (July 26/06) - After several weeks of filling the community freezer with maktak, the annual narwhal hunt is winding down in Repulse Bay, according to residents.

The hamlet was nearing its quota of 72 of the tusked mammals last week and hunters were being drawn from a lottery for the few remaining tags, said hunting and trapping association manager Elisiusi Alakanuark.

"It is slowing down now," he said.

With the ice around Repulse receding about three weeks earlier than normal, residents were able to hunt from the flow edge in early July.

Using their harpoon-then-shoot technique (which ensures the narwhals don't sink to the bottom of Hudson Bay) hunters caught dozens of the animals in the first week.

"Sometimes it's hard and sometimes it's easy," said Alakanuark. "The narwhal sometimes dive under the water... when the see the boat.

The whales around Repulse are so bountiful, they draw hunters from the southern Kivalliq, including Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove and Coral Harbour.

"The town becomes busy," said Elizabeth Kusugak, finance director with the hamlet.

Most of the men in Repulse participate in the annual hunt, said Kusugak.

Killer whale farther out in Hudson Bay chase the narwhal and their distinctive tusks towards Repulse, which is one reason the whaling is so good, said Kusugak.