 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 and campsite sampling. Furthermore, previous optimal foraging diet breadth studies have treated environments such as the floe-edge as one relatively homogenous habitat to be compared with different habitats (Smith 1991). One purpose of this study was to show how foraging theory can contribute to our understanding of hunting behaviour within one habitat by displaying the heterogeneity that exists within that habitat. For example, the use of embayments suggests that the floe-edge is anything but homogenous in terms of its campsite and narwhal hunting value.
Last, this research suggests that Inuit ecological knowledge remains an essential aspect of the spring floe-edge narwhal hunt. This knowledge includes information specific to narwhals and their behaviour under a range of physical and human-affected conditions. It is critical given the rapid manner in which the floe-edge can be adversely changed by wind and currents, and also by the rapid manner in which technologies change. This knowledge is also obviously important in terms of utilizing the various technologies now available to hunters to the greatest effect.
With regard to spring floe-edge whaling, the dynamic effect that this particular environmental situation imposes on foragers, even when they are equipped with new technologies (e.g., rifles, snowmobiles), is worthy of note. In contrast to the winter and spring seal foraging situations that have been described, these technologies appeared to offer little advantage relative to the effect they have had upon both mauliqpuq and uuttuq sealing. This is the case despite the fact that the rifle appears to be beneficial in extending a narwhal hunter’s striking range; this, however, is offset by the fact that narwhals killed or wounded even a few tens of metres from the floe-edge may be irretrievable. In fact, the data suggest that when whaling at the floe-edge, Inuit are still reliant on traditional knowledge of the habitat, on endurance in the face of difficult physical conditions, and on individual patience. As muc