This is the second instalment in a four-part series on survival on the land. Next week, search and rescue personnel tell of the challenges of finding people missing on the land.
Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 7, 2008
GJOA HAVEN - Teddy Carter remembers well when he and a friend became lost on the land 34 years ago.
Gjoa Haven's Teddy Carter walked for three days without food until he was rescued following a hunting trip more than 30 years ago.photo courtesy of Teddy Carter |
One spring in the early 1970s, Carter, a Gjoa Haven resident, was caribou hunting at a camp approximately 100 kilometres from the community with a group of friends.
After a week at camp, on a day that appeared calm, Carter and a friend decided to go out on their machines in search of prey. As it was to be just an afternoon trip, Carter took only five gallons of gas, a Primus stove and hunting equipment.
"It got kind of stormy out and white out. You could see, but you couldn't see very far," he recounted.
The two men realized that they were travelling in circles and eventually ran out of gas.
The qamutiiks were too heavy to pull, so they left their equipment with the snow machines and began to walk.
For three days and two nights they were on the land, building a small shelter at night to keep them warm and walking by day.
"Our shelter was so small that we tried to keep warm ... sitting close to each other," Carter said.
They had only a rifle and a snow knife with them, but didn't see any animals.
They went without food throughout the entire ordeal.
They followed their snowmobile trails but would lose them once in awhile.
When the weather cleared for a short time, the men recognized a mountain that they knew was close to their camp, and walked towards it.
"I could hardly walk anymore because I have an artificial leg on one side. From walking I get blisters," Carter said.
His buddy walked ahead, arriving at the camp a day before him. Carter spent an extra night out on the land in a snow shelter. His friend retraced his steps to deliver a Thermos of water and a biscuit to him, which Carter said was a big help. He had spent the past three days eating only snow.
"I could hardly eat. From eating snow, my tongue was worn out. The water and the biscuit tasted kind of different," he said. "At that time I was kind of young. I probably heard elders say never to eat snow when you're thirsty, but it slipped off my mind."
When the pair hadn't returned to camp after what was to be an afternoon of hunting, the rest of the group at the camp went in search of them and then returned to the community for help.
A day after Carter and his friend arrived back at camp, a rescue plane landed close by. Some of their friends were on board to help the pilot find the camp.
"I knew I was going to make it, but my partner was kind of worried," Carter said.
Carter said one of his biggest mistakes was not having brought a piece of caribou skin with him.
His clothes were wet and frozen each day and a piece of skin to sit on would have provided some warmth, he said.
Carter still goes out on the land, but has become extremely cautious. He knows first hand that the weather can change in an instant.
More than three decades later, Carter has retained a sense of humour about the situation. "I still haven't found my Ski-Doo yet," he joked.
