A Lost Bet

In December of last year, I made a bet with one of my students who has lived in Gambell all his life. Fifteen year-old Ala Apassinggok told me I would see a polar bear sometime in the near future here in Gambell.

Thinking this would be an easy bet, since very few people I know actually see the great Nanuuq out here, I bet him 20 bucks I wouldn't. Shortly after photograhing the image of the bear track posted here, I went home to grab some dinner and prepared to go back out and look for more tracks that evening. I was going to leave at 7pm to go back out to the dump but decided to make a call back home first. After the call, I headed out with camera in hand hoping to catch a few extra photos of those awesome prints on the pack-ice. As I approached a rise on the hill facing north, overlooking the dump and the pack-ice, I could see it ambling slowly out of the sea coming up the beach not ten yards from the site of the first bear earlier that day. Another Nanuuq! And not 60 yards away! I just stopped where I was, incredulous at the fact that I was actually seeing something I had long since bet against seeing! All I could do was stand there and watch thinking if I hadn't made that phone call, I would have left a half hour earlier putting me right in its path. No sooner had I caught a glimpse of him than three loud shots in quick sucession rang out sending him reeling up on his hind legs, spinning a 180 and falling to the ground. From both the east and west came two hunters on snow machines to close in on the wounded animal. One final shot and it was dead. I ran down to the kill and got the following picture withe rifles. In the attached image, the bear is being cleaned by Fred Kanningok as others look on in satisfaction. It was hard as a non-native not to sentimentalize this splendid animal, but then again I'm sure glad they were there when they were. The next morning in school I walked up to Ala Apassinggok and gave him a crisp, new twenty-dollar bill not saying anything at all. He laughed and said "You saw one?" Yep. And I hope the next one I see is in a Coke ad.