KUGAARUK/PELLY BAY - With luck, perseverance and a little help from fellow hunters, Adam Krejunark caught his first narwhal late last month.The 33-year-old resident said they did not weigh the marine mammal but the adult male had a tusk about two metres in length.

Males usually average just under five metres in length and weigh about 1.6 tonnes.

"It was scary and fun at the same time but it was straightforward," he said.

On the afternoon of July 31, he and other hunters went out on Pelly Bay to hunt narwhal.

Krejunark said he doesn't recall who first spotted the whale but they chased it.

He eventually harpooned it a few times before finishing the narwhal with a rifle.

The animal did not struggle very much, slowing down from the harpooning injuries before the fatal shot.

The whole incident lasted 30 to 45 minutes, he said, and hunters in four or five other boats helped him.

They dragged the whale to shore before cutting it up, making muktuk and eating some of it, he said. Krejunark sold the tusk to the local co-op.

He would not say how much he sold it for, only saying it was hundreds of dollars.

Krejunark, who has been hunting for many years, said he will go back and try to catch more narwhal.

"It was just probably my luck. I just got lucky," he said. "I thought catching it would be a little longer but it was good."

Narwhal hunting season continues until the community's quota of 48 narwhals is filled.

Right now, they have 25 whales left to catch, which will probably occur by the end of the month.

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