Another thing to keep in mind when scheduling your hunt is that a number of people we spoke with told us that developing conditions in the Arctic in late April are causing problems with some hunts at that period. Ice in some areas begins to break up, making hunts more difficult. A number of operators have moved their hunt periods back by several weeks to compensate for the changing conditions, so some hunts may take place as early as late February/early March.
There's disagreement among operators whether this change in conditions is evidence of overall global warming or just part of a short-term cycle. But at least one operator told us he has noticed a definite warming trend. And he says there is some indication that bear body weights have begun to decline due to a shortened winter, which means a shorter period for bears to hunt seals on the ice. Other operators say there is no scientific evidence for global warming, although they don't deny that temperatures are in fact warmer. While average temperatures may have risen slightly, they question whether measurements taken over the last 100 years are a significant indicator in global trends that take eons to develop.
To give you an idea of how polar bear hunts have been going, we........(continued)
