The year was 1970. I got a call from Memphis, Tennessee. The man
identified himself as Lloyd Ward. His statement went something like
this, "I'm Lloyd Ward and I live in Memphis. Do you all hunt Polar Bear
and Brown Bear?". I told him we did. He went on to say he'd talked to
Barry Brooks, who had told him stories of his Alaska hunts. He said, "I
want to get one of those record Polar and Brown Bears". We made
arrangements for his hunt to start on April 10th for Polar
Bear, on the ice pack between Kotzebue,Alaska and the Eastern province
of Russia, then go with us in our super cub aircraft from Polar Bear
country to the Alaskan Peninsula. These areas are about a thousand
miles apart from Kotzebue, Alaska to Wildman Lake Lodge on the Alaskan
Peninsula, near Port Moller, Alaska.
Lloyd arrived in Kotzebue on
April 9, 1971. He was a big man, about 6'1", 225 pounds, with the
goldest blonde hair one can imagine. To top this off, he sported a grey
goatee beard. Needless to say, he looked completely out of place, all
dressed up - golden hair shining - everyone else walking around with
heavy down and fur parkas. Lloyd was a standout amongst the Eskimos of
the region. He was a good example of the Southern Gentleman. He had the
smoothest manner of action and speech. "Hi y'all, I'm Lloyd Ward from
Memphis". We headed for our cabin on the beach of the frozen ocean at
Kotzebue, Alaska. He surprised us once he started unpacking. Lloyd had
the best equipment. He was ready for the Arctic. He had good Eddie
Bauer down clothing plus all the outdoor and hunting gear needed, and
he was shooting a well worn pre-64 model 70 Winchester 375 H&H
magnum. We knew then that there was more to Lloyd than met the
eye. Little did we know what this relationship would develop into.
We winterized1 Lloyds rifle We also had a custom made pair of Mukluks2 and mittens made for him, plus the Eskimo lady who sewed for us attached a big Wolverine fur ruff3 to Lloyds down parka. We were about ready to go Polar Bear hunting.
Polar
Bear hunting was done with two Super Cub aircraft and is better
explained in one of my stories titled "I walked off the Arctic Ice
Pack". My flying partner at the time wasChris Anderson, who was also my
wife Beverly's step father. We headed out over the ice pack with two
Super Cubs, a client hunter in each plane.
About twenty miles off the Russian coast, near Cape Smidt area we spotted a huge track which we referred to as a scoop shovel4.
We tracked him for several minutes throughsome of the meanest, roughest
ice pack imaginable. Had we caught up with him in that area all we
could do was admire him. There was no place to land without
completelywrecking a plane.
After more than an hour of flying we
finally got out of the bad ice and had the scoop shovel tracks lined
out on a straight line and far as the eye could see. The client who's
turnit was to take the first bear today was a Louis Mussato of
Glendale, Arizona. Lloyd would take the second bear if we were lucky
and good enough to find two big males.
Another half hour and we
came upon a sight we never encountered before. There were two airplanes
setting on the ice ahead of us and the bear track stopped there. It was
a team of two other Polar Bear guides. They had already killed the bear
and were skinning it when we came upon them. They had beat us to the
scoop shovel track. He looked like a monster. They had a real trophy.
We later learned the bear was a new world record, which still stands
today.
The veteran team of Walker and Swiss were the guides who
took the Mexican hunter Shelby Longora to the bear. There are thousands
of square miles on the Arctic ice pack.We rarely encounter another team
of guides but we did that day and we missed the world record Polar
Bear. Nelson Walker has been dead a few years but his son, John
Walker,is carrying on the tradition of Arctic Guide.
John
Swiss, at this writing, is still alive. His son carried on with his
guiding business for GIANT Brown Bear on the Alaska Peninsula. Swiss
and Walker were one of the first teams to hunt the Polar Bear for
trophies. These two men were seasoned Arctic guides. They took hundreds
of successful hunters, many famous people know Swiss and Walker. This
team of Swiss and Walker were the best in the business.
After a
couple of circles we lined out to find another track and hopefully get
our bear that day. We finally came upon another great track and after
following him through several feeding areas and getting him mixed up
with other bear tracks, we got him lined out. He was hunting a female
and might and did many times go in a straight line for a hundred miles
or more. This one was no exception. We followed him over an hour in the
same general direction, Northwest, parallel to the Russian coast. If we
didn't find him in another hour he would run us low on gas. We'd have
to quit the track and head for home, which was at least three hours
East.
It's a sight that is hard to describe. You're flying along
two hundred feet high, following this bear track. You can see the track
at least a half mile out ahead of you. Then all of a sudden a Polar
Bear is walking at the end of the track. The great white magnificent
animal kingdom of this world, just walking along on the scent of a
female. Little does he realize that we've come to take his life. It's
times like this I'm not proud of my past profession. Those great bears
were not bothering anyone. They lived far away from man in their own
world - the Arctic ice pack.
The Government did the correct thing
when they closed the season on Polar Bear in 1972. However, the Eskimo
still are allowed to hunt them and many females are killed by them. The
Arctic Guide very rarely killed a female since all the client hunters
wanted a big one. Hence, we tracked only to big tracks which were
always males.
We landed the planes right on the female's track a
mile ahead of the big Bear and hid the planes behind some huge pressure
ridges. He would soon come along since he was following the female
track. There was no reason for us to move except to stay out of sight
and always downwind. He would come walking right by us.
Louis the
hunter shooting, was all ready. He had a good rest on a pressure ridge
and his rifle was ready. The big male came ambling by about
seventy-five yards distant. He didn't know what hit him when Louis shot
him through the neck with his 300 Weatherby Magnum. The bear dropped in
his tracks. He was another monster. It took us about forty-five minutes
to skin the bear. We loaded the skin in a big rubberized bag and loaded
up the planes and headed for Kotzebue about three hundred twenty five
miles distant.After arriving back in Kotzebue that evening, the Fish
& Game representative, Lee Miller, met us to take some samples from
the bear skull - a tooth to age him and some meat to test for
trichinosis and measure the skull and hide for their records. We
learned from Lee that the Swiss and Walker team's bear was a new world
record. We also learned that our bear, which Louis Missoto had taken,
was the new #2 world record. Both #1 and #2 world record bears taken
within a few hours of each other. Both of these bears stand today as
the existing #1 and #2 world record Polar Bear.
