The Last Glance

This was a special moment, but one tinged with sadness.

Last month I had the incredible opportunity to travel to the last of the Canadian northlands that had eluded me (in a life and career filled with northern travel): Nunavik. Despite having lived and spent years travelling across vast sections of Nunavut, Northwest Territories, and Yukon (travel, not lived), I had never made it to northern Quebec and its vast Arctic and sub-Arctic territory.

Nunavik had eluded me....as had what has become my favourite animal over the years: the mighty muskox.

I had spotted muskox in past travels "from afar": spotted below me while flying above tundra both by helicopter and small aircraft, and from impossibly far photographic distances: as dots on the horizon in places like Cambridge Bay and in Greenland.

September changed that. I travelled to the remarkable Wolf Lake to spend a week in a remote northern camp with owner and host, Allen Gordon, an Inuk with remarkable knowledge of the land and its creatures.

Our small group of photographers was able to spend time with muskox on 4 four different occasions. As long as we kept a healthy distance (but well within photography range) from the herds, they paid us little notice and allowed us to observe them, at times, for hours.

On our final day we encountered perhaps the most photogenic of all the scenes we were offered that week: this young, lone bull, surrounded by the full splendour of the autumn tundra.

Sitting. Alone. Posing for us.

Except he wasn't.

Several days previous, we had seen this bull interact with the larger herd (approximately 11 musk ox). There was a dominant and older bull in that herd, and this young musk ox had made the mistake of getting a little too close...looking for "companionship".

,

The young bull had been slightly limping that day, and when the older bull chased him (which we witnessed and recorded), the young bull hurt his leg further. Fast forward 3 days and he could barely move. The larger herd had moved on by this point, and this bull was now solo....without the safety and protection of the larger herd.

We shared time with him and witnessed what was likely his "last stand". Our guide that day witnessed a wolf as we approached, fleeing. No doubt when we left, after taking our last quiet photos, it would return. Circling. Moving closer and closer.

Nature. The Circle of Life.

Every opportunity to witness wildlife is a gift, and this moment and afternoon I'll forever remember.