Churchill, MB trip

[onceacop]

Went to Manitoba again gotta say that it is pretty incredible to fly 8 hours north and see Polar bears dragging around whale vertebrae under your wing. There was still visible ice out on the bay near York Factory. We sighted about 70 bears from the Hayes river to maybe 20 miles south of town. That's roughly 80 miles. Also wads of Caribou out on the tidal flats. While in town there were many more bears in the area for late July than normal. A Beluga carcass that beached near town was part of the reason. "Swimmers" (paddling bears) leaving the melting ice pack were arriving also. There were helicopters flying bears in cargo nets from town that were darted and firecracker shotgun rounds heard often throughout the day in the community. An area we had hiked on wed; Manitoba Conservation was hazing bears from the same location thur. This year I didn't bring a firearm but since I like to hike that won't happen again. We rented a truck for $80 Canadian and drove every mile of road. Checked out the cold war rocket range and snooped in the buildings which was real interesting. Had planned on walking out to the Ithaca Ship wreck at low tide but without a weapon I just didn't think that was wise. We were lazy with the camera so not the greatest shots
Stops were Red Lake, Gods Narrows, Gillam. Airstrip on Hay Island near York Factory looked to risky. There were rocks rolled up there from the ice. The D6 Dozer hasn't moved for a long time. I really wanted to land there. Nice folks all along the way. Hats off to those flying up here on a regular basis. I'd do this trip in a Cessna 150 with a few fuel jugs just watch WX. Spectacular history and flying. Manitoba's jewel.

[fish4life]

Looked like an awesome trip

[PilotDAR]

Great post Onceacop! Thanks!

[digits_]

Is that the Ithaca on the shore line? I thought it was stuck on a sand bank in the water?

[onceacop]

The Ithica is this ship, maybe 5-10 miles south of town and one can walk out there at low tide. Flying low along the coast many miles north or south of Churchill, you will see other wrecks, barges, and debris from vessels. I would love to have explored Port Graham where the rail road trestle was. Many buildings there but bears and tall brush.





https://youtu.be/rRf5MYNVstA

[JasonE]

Looks like a great trip! Thanks for sharing.

[ThatArmyGuy]

Great to see here on AvCanada. Thanks for the share! Makes me want to go polar bear spotting now.

TAG

[DanWEC]

Makes me want to get something with fabric and tundra tires and go for a trip! Amazing.

[co-joe]

You went to Gods Lake Narrows on purpose?

Cool pics, thanks for the post. What would a suitable Polar Bear gun be? 12 guage slugs?

[onceacop]

You went to Gods Lake Narrows on purpose?

Cool pics, thanks for the post. What would a suitable Polar Bear gun be? 12 guage slugs?

LOL just to add some jugs of fuel, stretch, and watch the big dogs land on gravel. Yes a 12 gauge with slugs and a few noise makers. I took a 45/70 Marlin Guide gun once but would rather a inexpensive Remington 870.

[goingnowherefast]

Some who walk around Polar Bears professionally have extra high capacity magazines on their Remington 870. First bunch of rounds are noise makers. Then a 2 or 3 non lethal rounds, really light bird shot, rubber projectiles, whatever. Something that will sting like crazy, cause lots of pain and cause the animal to run away with no real damage. After that it's a couple magnum slugs and 000 buck. Pretty sure that last step is mostly for personal comfort though. I'm not convinced a slug will stop a 1200lb bear quick enough. You'll kill it, but it will live long enough after getting shot to kill you too.

Either way, that's an incredible trip. Churchill is beautiful!

[FighterPilot]

Awesome trip report! I saw your N registered plane parked in Gillam the other week didn't really think too much of it. Thanks for sharing!

[Laser Tilt]

Is that a Carbon Cub ? Nice plane.

[Slats]

I think you mean to say the place with the train trestle is Port Nelson. It's been 10 years since I've been, but it looks like much of the wharf is gone.

Pardon the thread drift but I'm not sure why anyone would bother with "noise makers" and non-lethal rounds in a bear gun. I get not wanting to kill a bear if you don't have to, but any bear that's threatening you and is within shotgun range will, if they choose to, close the distance on you before you can empty those 4-6 nonsense rounds and get to the slugs. I'll stick with my .45-70 packed full of 325 grains. They make plenty of noise.

[onceacop]

I think you mean to say the place with the train trestle is Port Nelson. It's been 10 years since I've been, but it looks like much of the wharf is gone.

Pardon the thread drift but I'm not sure why anyone would bother with "noise makers" and non-lethal rounds in a bear gun. I get not wanting to kill a bear if you don't have to, but any bear that's threatening you and is within shotgun range will, if they choose to, close the distance on you before you can empty those 4-6 nonsense rounds and get to the slugs. I'll stick with my .45-70 packed full of 325 grains. They make plenty of noise.

Agreed,,, they are so protective of their bears up there I believe it would be a full blown investigation should you kill a bear regardless of circumstances.. I would never carry a mix of firecracker rounds, non lethal, and lethal. I would stick with all premium slugs. Skillful gun handlers can add a noise maker round into the chamber in seconds. Situational awareness is perhaps your number one defense. Only reason I would opt for a shotgun is to have other rounds available but then shooting a Buffalo Bore or Corbon hardcast into a rock next to a bear would be one helluva a firecracker round.

Yea on Port Nelson not Port Graham... Lots of cool history there. Do you think there are some old things still sitting around there?? Did you go on shore there???

Check out this video pretty damn cool,,, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkOiovv ... 226.168922

At 40:00 on the video they show Port Nelson very cool stuff

[goingnowherefast]

The idea is to use the noise makers on the curious bear. Keep it afraid of you and at a distance. If the bear is threatening you, and within shooting range, you are probably already too late. By that point, fire as much lead into it as is possible.

You want the bear's experience with humans to not be pleasant. When it is wondering if you are food, and is then subjected to a deafening noise, it starts to think you aren't worth the fight. After all, it hasn't decided if you are even food. As soon as a bear (or any wildlife) decides that humans are food, that bear is euthanized by conservation officers or otherwise.

[xchox]

This site needs a lot more of this... And a lot less bullshit.

Great pics onceacop. Jealous. This is pushing me harder to buy my own plane. Lol

[J31]

Went to Manitoba again gotta say that it is pretty incredible to fly 8 hours north and see Polar bears dragging around whale vertebrae under your wing. There was still visible ice out on the bay near York Factory. We sighted about 70 bears from the Hayes river to maybe 20 miles south of town. That's roughly 80 miles. Also wads of Caribou out on the tidal flats. While in town there were many more bears in the area for late July than normal. A Beluga carcass that beached near town was part of the reason. "Swimmers" (paddling bears) leaving the melting ice pack were arriving also. There were helicopters flying bears in cargo nets from town that were darted and firecracker shotgun rounds heard often throughout the day in the community. An area we had hiked on wed; Manitoba Conservation was hazing bears from the same location thur. This year I didn't bring a firearm but since I like to hike that won't happen again. We rented a truck for $80 Canadian and drove every mile of road. Checked out the cold war rocket range and snooped in the buildings which was real interesting. Had planned on walking out to the Ithaca Ship wreck at low tide but without a weapon I just didn't think that was wise. We were lazy with the camera so not the greatest shots
Stops were Red Lake, Gods Narrows, Gillam. Airstrip on Hay Island near York Factory looked to risky. There were rocks rolled up there from the ice. The D6 Dozer hasn't moved for a long time. I really wanted to land there. Nice folks all along the way. Hats off to those flying up here on a regular basis. I'd do this trip in a Cessna 150 with a few fuel jugs just watch WX. Spectacular history and flying. Manitoba's jewel.

Great story and great pictures!

Any one know what the name of this ship is and or the history of its grounding close to Port Nelson?

[JungianJugular]

Awesome shots man!

[RatherBeFlying]

Tyrrell on his 1912 exploration of Hudson Bay found polar bears simple to hunt.

1. Find polar bear
2. Make noise and jump up and down to attract notice of bear
3. Shoot bear as it runs to bait (you)

These folks knew where to aim.

Steffansson wrote that with a trained ground squirrel, a polar bear could be held at bay while you took pot shots with lower caliber ammunition.

The Inuit did the job with huskies and Spears.

Maybe the guy who speared a black bear might try his luck with a polar bear - and several huskies.

[Slats]

Yea on Port Nelson not Port Graham... Lots of cool history there. Do you think there are some old things still sitting around there?? Did you go on shore there???

Went there in a 185 on floats. Brought in two guys to work on the weather station. I wanted to try to get across the trestle to check out the town site, but it looked quite sketchy and the guys weren't very keen on me possibly falling into the water or getting eaten by a polar bear, which they claimed to see often there. Good thing I stuck close by as I put in on the beach by the wharf at low(ish) tide. By the time the guys were done (less than two hours) the plane was floating in the willows and a hell of a wind had come up and I had my work cut out for me trying to keep the airplane out of trouble. It was one of those steep learning curve days for a relatively inexperienced float pilot. Years later, reading about the place, I would find that the tides were a big factor in why the place never amounted to much and Churchill became the big port in the area. What little I did check out of the trestle and the wharf was really neat, as was the broken boat there. Would be neat to go there on a nice day armed with a good bear gun and knowledge of the tides and try to get to the town.

[NAT2]

Any one know what the name of this ship is and or the history of its grounding close to Port Nelson?

Awesome pics, great story!
Here is the history of that ship. Didn't want to detract from this great thread. Really enjoying it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ithaka

[Slats]

The Ithaka is much closer to Churchill and is much larger. I was never able to find much detail about the boat at Port Nelson other than that it was a dredge and was broken and pushed into it's final resting place by ice.