 the paucity of snowmobile traffic, to take narwhals at much closer range than later in the season. Presently, active hunters generally concurred with the elders’ conclusion that, by the time spring is well advanced, snowmobile and other noise sources make it increasingly difficult to hunt narwhals in close proximity to the floe-edge. Thus, the selection of the southern region of the floe-edge in early spring appears to be an attempt by hunters to select narwhal that exhibit a propensity to travel in close proximity to the floe-edge before excessive noise affects their migratory behaviour.
During the mid stage of the hunting season, distribution of hunters along the entire expanse of the floe-edge hunting area was observed. However, as the season progressed into late June, hunters did not proceed near Sannirut as the ice conditions were observed to be hazardous and elders advised avoidance of this area.
B) Physiognomic features
The physiognomy of the ice front also plays an important role in campsite selection. This is because there are indented patches along the floe-edge, essentially areas where embayments are formed, that offer certain tactical advantages to hunters. Accordingly, it was observed that most hunters establish their campsites near embayments.
Hunters explained that narwhals tend to dive toward embayments, which allows a clear view of, and shot at, the animal’s spine (dive hump). Also, narwhals take a large amount of air into their lungs when about to make a deep dive, which helps keep these animals afloat after a fatal shot. The additional float time associated with this deep dive buoyancy gives hunters critical additional time to launch a boat to effect retrieval. Therefore, hunters target the “dive hump” in order to immobilize an animal and increase the probability of retrieval. Inuit contrast this situation to times when narwhals are swimming or resting at the surface, as at these times a “dive hump” is not visible and, thus, this vital area is less likely to be struck when fired upon.
While historically, narwhals would have been harpooned while travelling along the floe-edge, (i.e. while swimming very close to and parallel to the floe-edge), harpooning was rarely observed during the trips that were accompanied for the present study. Instead, in almost every hunting event that occurred, narwhals were fired upon while making deep dives as they swam toward the floe-edge in one of these embayments. Clearly, while rifles and outboard motor-equipped boats now play a critical technological role in narwhal hunting at the floe-edge, Inuit have also had to adapt their foraging behaviour to compensate for some of the changes in narwhal behaviour precipitated by these tools.
First, we summarize our analysis of Inuit foraging mode for narwhal hunts during the floe-edge spring season. Second, we discuss foraging modes for other species with special reference to breathing hole seal hunting and basking seal hunting. Finally, we explore the dynamic effect of the floe-edge environment upon the Inuit foraging mode for narwhals and we discuss the impact of rifle and snowmobile technologies upon foraging mode.
Our observations show that Inuit foraging behaviour for narwhals in the floe-edge environment can clearly be categorized into two major foraging modes: active foraging and sit-and-wait foraging. Our observations also reveal that the sit-and-wait foraging mode was the dominant one utilized to hunt narwhals in the floe-edge environment during the spring hunting season.
The decision to engage in a sit-and-wait strategy is due to several key factors related both to the highly mobile and acoustically sensitive nature of narwhals (Cosens and Dueck 1988; Finley et al. 1990; Ford 1976) and the dynamic ice environment (Parkinson 1999, 2000). For example, the reluctance to engage in active foraging trips by snowmobile seems to indicate the importance of minimizing noise disturbance and maximizing firing opportunities. This is supported by interviews with both elders and active hunters who related their perception that narwhal