esents a more intensive sit-and-wait foraging activity than mauliqpuq and one of the most intensive sit-and-wait foraging behaviours displayed by Pond Inlet Inuit today. It is interesting to note that the advent of the snowmobile led to the shift from a sit-and-wait mode of foraging to an active one in the case of mauliqpuq hunting, but not in the case of narwhal hunting.
B) Basking Seal Hunting (uuttuq)
Uuttuq commences when two changes occur in the North Baffin sea ice environment. The first is that daylight is lengthening and daytime temperatures begin to melt the snow cover. The other is that this warming collapses the ice domes that cover the seals’ agluit, exposing these openings and also widening them. As these conditions begin to be dominant, virtually any bright-hazy and near windless conditions will elicit ringed seals to come out through these exposed breathing holes onto the surface of the ice. Similarly, as pressure and tidal cracks widen, seals will use these openings to gain the ice.
By mid to late May, these physical conditions mitigate an almost complete end to mauliqpuq sealing and a shift to uuttuq. With respect to the amount of active searching as opposed to sit-and-wait foraging involved in modern breathing hole hunting, uuttuq sealing could be perceived as a perfect example of the active mode of foraging; indeed, it is only when a hunter sights a seal that the pace slows.
The most basic element in this mode of foraging, whether done by dog team or snowmobile, is near-constant movement. As seals can be seen at distances up to two kilometres, hunters are always scanning the area around them as they move. Dog team hunters frequently stood on their sleds to gain a better view as the dogs moved along, while snowmobilers will kneel on the seats of their machines as they drive. The only interruption from searching in basking seal hunting is when an animal is spotted and a stalk is begun. When dog teams were in use, the actual approach segment of the hunt required that the hunter dismount and either crawl toward the animal or carry out a slow walk while holding a white cloth screen in front of him until he was in shooting range. Approaching on dog team meant that a seal, alerted by the team’s barking, would escape before a hunter came within shooting range so hunters often walked as much as one-half kilometre, with a stalk lasting 15 to 20 minutes (Wenzel 1991).
Not surprisingly, the snowmobile has also precipitated a change in this type of sealing affecting both the search and pursuit phases of uuttuq hunting. Change is most notable in the pursuit phase, as hunters no longer try to approach seals on foot (Wenzel 1991). Instead they cover the snowmobile’s hood with either a white cloth or a white plywood board and drive directly at the seal, stopping at about 40-50 metres distance to shoot. Such a method would seem counter-intuitive, especially as it is in such contrast to the quiet, slow foot approach, but observations, and continued use, suggest that it is almost as effective. Frequently overlooked, however, is the effect that snowmobiles have had upon the search phase of this hunt. The snowmobile’s speed allows hunters to cover far more area than was previously possible with dogs. Given that the nature of basking seal hunting is to search until an animal is sighted and because dog teams were extremely slow, much of a hunter’s time in the pre-snowmobile era was consumed by the pace dictated by dog use and the need to carry out a stalk on foot. Indeed, the snowmobile has made uuttuq hunting a process of nearly constant movement in sharp contrast to floe-edge narwhal hunting.
This study of foraging mode provides a number of insights into the nature of the spring floe-edge hunt. Our analysis revealed various features of Inuit hunting behaviour that would have otherwise been excluded in an optimal foraging modeled study. For example, we were able to reveal and investigate the role of the initial phase of active search upon arrival at the floe-edge. It represented an essential process of Inuit environmental an