White Whales can be hunted wherever they are likely to migrate. When hunting there should be not too much sea state and the current should be not too strong in order that the floating hunting bladder is not lost out of sight. The best hunting places are where ice fields are drifting and the water is slightly cloudy. In cloudy waters White Whales don´t hear and see very well.

If you want to hunt White Whales you have to search for and choose suitable fjords. If the fjord is deep the White Whales tend to dive to the bottom where they search for their food. In such an area hunting is bad.

If you are setting up a habitat it is important to make sure that White Whales migrate in the area. The habitat has to be set up where the view over the sea is good and the whales don´t notice it. A general requirement for habitat is that it has a good view over the sea hunting area.

Hunting White Whales may be done in different ways. The best way to hunt them, however, is with the harpoon with which seals are hunted. If you can kill a seal with it you can also outwit and kill a White Whale with it. White Whales are easily frightened away, causing the whales to disappear from the area and disappointing the hunters. Experienced White Whale hunters claim that hunting White Whales is not suitable for hunters who give up very easily. You have to be patient.

White Whales usually take a sharp look slightly above the surface of the sea before they dive again. Immediately after surfacing they tend to look to the right, to the left and backwards. After surfacing they also turn onto their sides. Therefore you always have to be careful not to come into their field of view.

Whales migrate along the coast and along the shoreline. If you are waiting for a group of migrating whales coming through, it is best to wait for them sitting in the kayak at the beach. Otherwise you are not able to reach them fast enough.

White Whales moving against the wind don´t hear very well, especially if there is a sea state. Under such circumstances it is easy to approach them unnoticed. You have, however, to be careful that the harpoon line is not blown sideways by the wind once the harpoon has been taken up.

Migrating White Whales don´t hunt their game staying close together. You have to approach them secretly and with stealth, remembering exactly the position where they move and dive and you have to be careful not to come too close to them in order that you are not noticed. You should not paddle too close to White Whales which don´t move straight or surface. Only if they dive should you approach them carefully and if they then surface you should move in extremely slowly. The best way to approach them is from the back where they are not able too hear very well whilst they do see very well close up and sideways. Usually you will be seen coming from the side and being as close as needed to use the harpoon. It is therefore necessary to move as slowly and carefully as possible and to take the harpoon in your hand as early as possible. If it is just surfaced it is not able too see well. If you are not trained in hunting White Whales you should only observe them without holding the harpoon in order to get a clear view of the situation.

If the harpoon has been thrown it is important to watch to which side the line falls. If the line falls to the side opposite to the throwing arm you should quickly get the hunting bladder ready to throw it over board. If the line, however, falls to the throwing side, throw the hunting bladder immediately over board.

If the white whale pulls quickly on the line or the hunting bladder, it is usually not far away. But if it takes a long time to start pulling it is far away.

If you want to follow the white whale you may not loose track of the oil track of the harpooned whale. If you want to try to kill the whale you should shout the "Kayaker´s warning" before the whale resurfaces. White Whales are not very shy. If they are approaching you and are diving beneath you they might drag the hunting bladder under water. If you then start searching for it and the hunting bladder surfaces, the whale, because it is not shy, will try to keep its distance or even diminish its distance. It is only possible to recognise whether the whale has been hit by the harpoon if it is moving very fast and tends to drag the hunting bladder under the surface.

A whale which has been hit by a harpoon tends to turn onto that side where it has been wounded. If it is dragging the hunting bladder along it is in front of the bladder where it was observed diving. If you get closer to that point the whale will resurface. A white whale which has been hit by a harpoon is very fast!

If you want to cut the whale open because it is not diving any more you have to be careful. It may happen that it suddenly flaps its tail which is could be rather dangerous. A clear sign that the whale is dead is, if it is not throwing itself around anymore.

Because White Whales are rather heavy, towing them is not as easy as towing seals. You have to get your towing gear in order, connect the short strap and the hunting bladder to the harpoon line and tighten it under the cross straps on the kayak in front of you. Put the hunting bladder back on its place again. Put your ice scrapper into the hole of the short strap. Take the short strap with the ice scrapper between your teeth and get your kayak knife ready. If the whale is blowing only slightly you can get ready to tow him. Make a hole with the ice scrapper between the jaw and one side of the upper lip. Than drag the short strap over the hunting bladder towards and close to the jaw of the whale. If hat has been accomplished you are almost finished.

Some White Whales are difficult to tow because they tend to turn sideways. If that happens the hunting bladder should be fixed to the opposite side. The whale is then in a good towing position.

For hunting White Whales the old Greenland hunting weapons are best suited. A rifle cannot be used because the dead animal would sink too fast. The whale tires very fast once the hunting bladder is attached to its body by the harpoon line.

If somebody wants to go out hunting White Whales it is important that they keep their hunting gear in order and that nothing is lost during hunting. If you don´t care for your equipment you cannot go hunting whales with your kayak. It´ll happen that, after you have been waiting for a long time for the whale and it is finally in sight, things are getting out of order on deck of your kayak when you have to paddle fast.

The hunting bladder and the harpoon should be of solid quality. The hunting bladder should not be too large and the line may not be fragile.

Likewise the harpoon line should be made out of a good seal skin and be rather elastic. The speciality really is the elasticity. You have to make yourself a long harpoon line. If the whale suddenly pulls on the line which is short it is dangerous and likely to break.

The harpoon or wing harpoon which has a good fit in your hand is the one best suited.

The strap which holds the harpoon head to the harpoon should be much tighter as when hunting seals. For whale hunting you need a harpoon where the head does not loosen from the harpoon as easily as when hunting seals.

The harpoon head (blade) should not bee too long but as broad as possible to penitrade better into the meat part of the whale. You should try to hit the back of the whale. If you hit the bottom of body of the whale the harpoon head will not stay securely in the body. Old harpoon heads loosen quite often. New ones with a good backside connection are well suited for White Whale hunting.

Long hunting knifes with large metal heads are best suited to kill White Whales. It happens that hunting knifes do get stuck in the whales body. Therefore one should have an extra knife available. The bird dart may also be used if the whale is prepared for towing and the towing gear is made ready.

Let us hope that we shall find lots of these big game animals in the sea around us because the life of many people depends on them. For the hunters it is a very valuable catch each time.


Remark:
The report was written in Danish in the narrative language of the hunters, exactly like it was told by the hunters. The visualising form makes it exciting and lively.

One has to put oneself into the position of the hunter: Only a few centimetres above the surface of the sea in a kayak which has a beam of only a few centimetres. Add to that some sea state, temperatures of around 5º-8º, hunting an animal that is about 40times as heavy as the hunter. These are the conditions which let you imagine the hardship of survival in that area.

Some statistical figures abut the hunting results between 1st April 1922 and 31st March 1923:
Along the whole Western Coast of Greenland a total of 1327 White Whales where caught.
During the same time 14249 large Greenland Seals and 67042 small seals where caught.
The White Whale grows up to a length of 4,50m. The kayak is usually 5-5,50m long.
The weight of the White Whale is 500-800kg.
He feeds on animals living in swarms like fishes and crayfish.
White Whales live in social communities and hunt in groups.
The white colour serves mainly as camouflage.