The Hunt

It is early morning after a short and cool night in the tent and we set out up the mountain before 5 am. Low tide has made the boat rest on solid ground the difference between high and low tide being 4 metres in Greenland. After about an hour we’re at the top of the mountain range and we continue East in hunt for reindeer. Every now and again we sit down to search the area and suddenly a young buck is standing in front of us about 100 metres away. Simply just standing there, immovable. Jesper gets down flat on his stomach and fires. Two shots, and then he calls me over to see. By now it is about 8 in the morning and we have plenty of time to cut it up and make a nice and long rest before carrying it back down to the tent. Jesper straps on the front part to his carrying frame and I take the rear part. The walk down the mountain is strenuous with all the extra weight on my shoulders and the ground is soft and seems to hold on to my feet making each step an effort. Being exhausted is part of this deal. All along the weather is magnificent: quiet, warm and sunny and with a parhelion in the sky. Tired and sweaty we arrive at the tent at around 1 pm and I jump straight into the inlet. Refreshing, not to say freezing and the water is surprisingly salty.

And for supper we have reindeer liver with fried onions and a salad.