There are extraordinary places to travel to hunt and then there are mystical, magical places to travel to hunt. Too often we imagine exotic as palm trees and humidity. But quietly cruising past icebergs in a bright green fjord while glassing for a beast that looks nothing less than prehistoric is as exotic as life gets.

I’ve filmed Boddington hunting muskox in both the frosty deathtrap of Nunavut and the heavenly warmth of summertime Greenland. We all have a “big lie” we commit to for chunks of our lives. Boddington’s is: “You don’t have to practice being miserable”.  And yet he does. Choosing to go to Nunavut in the winter is something only a serious masochist agrees to do. Well, and his otherwise unemployable cameraman. Nunavut is miserable and it is unnecessary. Why? Because God made Greenland.

As a cameraman for Petersen’s Hunting TV, I was always excited about the extra things we could film when we made a TV show. When you hunt Greenland for muskox the list is long. You have to go through Reykjavik, Iceland. This means you get to see the city of Reykjavik which has a disproportionately hight number of beautiful Viking women. Even better there is the Blue Lagoon Hot Springs, so you get to see them in bikinis. Then you hop over to Greenland. Our lodging was in a Danish ghost town. But it is all well maintained and beautiful. The idea that this was once a hive of activity in such a remote place is fascinating. It’s also beautiful. All the more so because you don’t have to stay through the winter. The best site though, is the replica of Eric the Red’s settlement. Vikings were as awesome as they are portrayed and being in this village filming was one of the highlights of my 38 country career.

Let’s get back to the hunting. Bjorn Birgisson, owner of the famed Icelandic Hunting Club, guided us. When I say guided, we were all posted up on a comfortable boat lulled by the steady sound of a diesel at low RPM. We wore light jackets. We ate chocolate. We told stories. We laughed. We glassed.

When a suitable trophy was spotted, we hid the boat and stalked. Those of you that have hunted in situations where you're sedentary then have to kick into stalking mode know going from first gear to fourth immediately is tough. Thank goodness we were at sea level. Then there’s the challenge of no flora taller than lichen. If you reference the story in Petersen’s Hunting magazine or the TV episode, you’ll see Craig, Donna and their good friend Alice all overcame the challenge and harvested both muskox and reindeer.

As someone that lives in Montana and is told what a heaven it is when people visit in June, I say; “Greenland is a Dreamland” knowing I’ll never be there for a whole year. Never. I’m sure Late December feels like a nightmare.

Two pro tips: 1) If you’re a Boddington grade masochist and feel you must suffer for your muskox, just swim from the boat to shore to stalk. It’ll prove you’re tough without the true nightmare of Nunavut. 2) Get your required whale steak in Iceland not Greenland. Trust me. There is a difference.

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