SANIRAJAK/HALL BEACH
Hall Beach is famous for its walrus and igunaq (fermented walrus meat).

Legislative Assembly Speaker George Qulaut, left, and Ron Pialaq butcher a walrus on an ice pan outside Hall Beach in July. - photo courtesy of Paul Okalik

It's with this in mind that legislative assembly Speaker George Qulaut, who is the MLA for Amittuq (Hall Beach and part of Iglulik), invited Health and Justice Minister Paul Okalik out walrus hunting on a perfect mid-July day once their work was done.

"I said, alright. I've only seen one walrus in my lifetime. If I get a chance I will be honoured to get my first walrus," said Okalik. "I grew up caribou hunting every summer, seal hunting on the side."

While Okalik tells the story, he's laughing at times and in awe at others, because getting his first walrus was easier said than done.

Out they went in two boats.

"There was lots of ice around. We focused on getting a further distance out, where walrus are hauled out on ice here and there. I've never seen one up close. They're huge."

How huge?

"Huge!"

Okalik laughed.

"They're lying down and they might be this high," he said, indicating at least five feet. "Huge."

"And they weren't scared," he adds, incredulous. "We were boating around, close by, and taking pictures and they weren't scared. 'What do I do,' I asked."

Qulaut told Okalik to aim for the side of the head so that it dies right away. But the high-powered rifle, which is the only type of rifle that could penetrate a walrus skin, didn't have a scope. Okalik was a bit at a loss - he couldn't see the walrus clearly.

"The Speaker said, 'Just aim and shoot." Okaaaaaay... 'Go for the one in the middle.' Because there were three, the one in the middle was blocked off from going into the water from the small pan of ice they were on. 'In case you just wound it, it won't be able to go in the water.' OK. Alright. I aim for the one in the middle. But somehow I hit the one in front of it. And that one went into the water."

Qulaut continued to encourage Okalik to go for the one in the middle.

"'Go for the head.' Alright, I'm trying. So I shoot the high-powered rifle again and the bullet goes way out there. I missed the head."

Remembering those moments, Okalik says, "I'm just really trying to figure out how to do this."

The next shot got the walrus in the body.

"The Speaker just grabbed the big rifle and just shot it, shot it on the neck, and it went down. So that was my first walrus hunt and it was just ... scary," said Okalik, laughing.

"The third one was still on the ice. It wasn't scared. It was trying to scare us, actually. It was trying to scare us with its tusks, and making noises."

Okalik describes blowing and grunting.

"The Speaker, with all his experience, just spread his arms and scared it off into the water so we could start working on the dead walrus."

The wounded walrus was hanging out in the ocean, and Qulaut harpooned it while Okalik shot it. But it sunk, harpoon and buoy included.

"A nice harpoon, walrus ... gone."

Walruses can weigh from 600 to 1,500 kgs (1,320 to 3,300 lbs).

The hunters parked their boat along the edge of the ice pan, which was about the size of an average room. Butchering took about two hours. The front, with the meat and the fat, without bones, would be aged for igunaq, the fermented meat that is considered a delicacy.

"I struggled just to pull the skin or a quarter of it, with the hook, just trying to drag it along the ice, just the arm and the shoulder. It took two of us to lift that big chunk of skin, meat and fat."

Meanwhile, in the other boat was an elder named Solomon Qanatsiaq.

"He really knew his stuff. He wanted some meat, too. And that third walrus never really went away. It was hovering around the next pan of ice. Qanatsiaq just waited for his body to emerge, but he waited for the kidney to show up. He shot it right in the kidney. He said, 'Once you shoot it in the kidney, it won't go under. It will have to go on top of the ice right here.' And sure enough, he just climbed right onto the ice right in front of us. From there he just shot it in the head.

"He just did it so calmly. He was an elder, and he butchered his before we were done."

Okalik brought a chunk of walrus home "so my family could share in the bounty."

Of his experience, Okalik says, "It was surreal. There was walrus where I'm from (Pangnirtung) but it was far away. We were focused on caribou. We never really hunted walrus. Wow."

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