Ava Nipisar lay in the snow, watching quietly from behind a rifle outside of her home community of Whale Cove, Nunavut. Through the scope, Nipisar watched a polar bear slowly making its way over the thin sea ice.
It took more than an hour for the bear to make it to solid land, and Nipisar was able to take her shot.
In the end, it took 10 shots for the 10-year-old to down the large animal.
When she walked up to it, Nipisar started to cry. She said they were happy tears.
“Because I know my grandma’s watching me killing the bear,” Nipisar said.
Her grandmother passed away from cancer a month ago. Ava said she knows her grandmother would be proud of her.
Sean Nipisar, Ava’s father, said he has been working to make sure his children know their traditions from a young age. Sean learned the traditional skills from his father-in-law especially.
“That’s part of our culture,” Sean said. “I try and teach my kids young and that you can do anything right? Like that was my goal, right for all my kids. It was the father and daughter thing. Special.”
Ava Nipisar and her father Sean got their tags this fall and headed out on the land in late November. It took time until they spotted a bear, but once it was off the ice, then it was time to shoot.
Polar bears — called nanuq in Inuktitut — are important culturally and economically for Inuit. The bears are an important source of country food and the meat and hide are used for decoration, artwork, clothing, mattresses and blankets.
A report from the federal government in January 2024 said polar bears are a resilient and clever predator that adapts as prey and habitat change.
A limited number of tags are issued to hunters each year for polar bear management. Sean received his tag earlier in the fall.
Ava said getting the 10-foot bear home was tough.
“It was really heavy to lift up the head, the feet were heavy too,” Ava said.
Sean showed Ava the next steps of transporting and skinning the bear as well.
“It was cool,” Ava said. “Because I caught a bear and I was so happy and I thought it was a dream.”
Sean hopes one day Ava can share the traditions with her own children.
“It’s really good to take like your kids out and talk about like about hunting anything. I think it’s a really good mental health kind of thing, like take them out away from phones,” Sean said. “Just enjoy.”
Qulliq7:2310-year-old in Whale Cove hunts 1st polar bear
Sean Nipisar is starting his children in their traditional ways early because it’s important for them to understand who they are. It took ten shots, but his 10-year-old Ava successfully hunted her first polar bear.
