ESPN Hunting

WHEN: March 24, 1996.

WHERE: Banks Island. Northwest Territories.
METHOD: Spot and Stalk.

MEASURMENT, SCORE: 99 inches. P&Y minimum is 90.

SPECIAL CHALLENGES, DANGERS: It was deathly cold — 30-degrees below zero with an awful wind.

Inuit guides gave Martin and hunter friend Richard Ernst caribou clothes when they arrived. They got parkas, hats, gloves, pants and boots. Caribou clothes are some of the warmest clothes in the world. Martin and Ernest also wore goggles and face masks.

Then the hunters climbed into sleds pulled by snowmobiles driven by the locals. After a bumpy, jostling 4-hour ride, they arrived at a plywood shack out in the middle of the tundra. (The natives are accustomed to the cold, but Martin found it interesting that the plywood shacks were heated so hot that he had to cool down by stepping out in the frigid weather.)

When it was time to hunt, Martin realized that normally hunters ride on the snowmobiles, the driver catches up to a running musk ox, and the rifleman fires at the animals. This wouldn't work for Martin's purposes because P&Y rules do not allow hunters to chase animals with motorized vehicles.

Martin tried to walk up to a herd of musk ox for a shot, but they kept running away. He devised a plan to hunker down on the tundra and have the guide push the oxen toward him.

The prehistoric-looking oxen then stampeded right at Martin, a speck in the wide-open terrain. He stood with this bow at the ready.

"They came at me head-on, like a charge," he said. He picked out the biggest in the herd, and waited to get the broadside shot. Finally it turned and Martin pegged him through the vitals.

The guides impressed Martin by quartering and skinning the ox with their bare hands despite the unearthly cold.

Ernest took a big ox later as well.