The Prep
In the far North Atlantic, on a treeless, ice-covered island, lies the town of Nuuk. Dotted with colorful buildings and snow-covered roofs, this small coastal community is the capital city of Greenland. Visiting Greenland isn’t exactly a typical getaway destination, especially not in Winter. Yet each year, hunters from across North America find themselves in the town of Nuuk, all chasing the same thing. The King Eider. Among the variety of waterfowl species North America boasts the King Eider is arguably one of the most visually stunning and sought-after. Looking out across the barren, icy landscape of Greenland’s coast, it collides with the iceberg-filled waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. It’s hard to imagine that any wildlife lives here, let alone people. But off the shores of the world’s largest island, there is an abundance of sea life, including a healthy population of sea ducks and, amongst them, the prized King Eider. This Fall, the Split Reed team joined up with Rhett Strickland, Co-Founder of Aves Hunting Gear, as he chased sea ducks across the bone-chilling waters of Greenland.
Journal Entry 02.10.24 – Rhett Strickland
“Today is the final day before my journey to chase King Eiders in Greenland begins. I have spent the entire day going over all of my gear, packing, and preparing for this experience. For the last few months, I have continuously researched the average temperatures in Greenland for the time in which I’ll be there. These “averages” gave me a little peace of mind that I would have somewhat of an understanding of what to expect. Of course, with weather, there are no constants. It was looking like every morning would either be in the negatives or single digits at most with medium to high winds. This final weather check for the trip had me confident that the gear that I had laid out was the right choice. This choice of clothing was extremely simplistic and minimal. Knowing that I’d be hunting from a boat with high winds and on the shorelines with waves crashing in, I started by packing the Bering Bib and Bering Jacket. I have hunted in this system all over the states in the worst possible conditions, but this Greenland trip would be the ultimate test. So instead of packing a ton of mid and base layers, I decided to go very light on my layering pieces to test just how little I could wear underneath the Bering Series in these conditions and still be comfortable”.
Sea Ducks themselves can be a challenge to pursue, and when you’re hunting the King, the first obstacle to tackle is getting to where they live. There are no direct flights from the U.S. to Greenland so hunters must first travel to Iceland. Here, a small commercial plane makes the jump to Greenland. After plenty of flight delays, hopping across time zones, and volcanic eruptions in Iceland cutting off hot water supplies to hotels, Rhett and the rest of the crew arrived in Nuuk–eager to explore and itching to hunt. “I had an idea of what to expect but once you start flying into Greenland whatever you thought to expect, times that by ten”, Rhett explained. “We were flying over literal rivers of ice. When you open up the window shade on the plane. As far as your eye can see is just ice and snow. Nuuk, where we flew into, is a y small town right on the bay. I’m from Georgia, so I’m used to seeing trees all over. We didn’t see a tree the entire time we were there. How can a place that looks so dead still be so beautiful? It was breathtaking. Every mountain was stark white with snow and there were icebergs floating everywhere. It’s hard to explain how such a desolate-looking area can have so much beauty”.
The Hunt
Sleepless nights and early mornings preceded the first day’s hunt. Gun cases and blind bags were loaded into the boat as the morning coffee finally started to kick in. On this hunt, Rhett was joined by two lucky Aves sweepstakes winners for this exact trip (Brad & Scott), as well as Ryan, a paying client, who, like everyone there that morning, was eager to catch their first glimpse of a King Eider. The day’s goal was simple: get everyone their first King.
Journal Entry 02.14.24 – Rhett Strickland
“The real feel this morning was –10 degrees Fahrenheit with 18 mph winds. If you haven’t experienced this kind of cold, it’s bone-chilling. As mentioned, I really wanted to push the Bering Series to its limits, and this was a great day to start. The system I picked was simple, a thin layer of sweatpants and then the Bering Bib. Note: these were not any special Merino wool or technical fabric sweatpants, just a plain ol’ thin layer that I had lying around. Up top, I wore a short-sleeved tee shirt, an AVES logo hoodie, the Drifter Vest, and the Bering Jacket. I added the vest because our upper half would be taking the majority of the wind from the boat rides.
The winds continued to pick up throughout the morning. With rough seas and large swells, making it shorelines was not an option. So, we all decided to continue to search for the kings from the boat. The number of birds that we were seeing was hard to fathom. Every bend housed hundreds of common eiders. Unfortunately, the common eiders did not like the boat, and they would pick it up and fly off as soon as we got within two hundred yards. Oftentimes, there were Kings mixed in, and they would follow suit. Once we saw this trend continue, we knew that our only shot was to find Kings that were separate from the larger groups. With all hands on deck, our team grabbed their binoculars and began to glass the frigid waters. We didn’t take long to condition our eyes to pick out the birds between white caps.
Shortly after, we saw our first solo King. Ryan was the first one up, and it was time to make a move. The Kings would hold their ground a lot longer than the commons, so we knew that we had a chance. As we slowly moved closer and closer, our target stayed put. We were all glued to the bird, reading its body language, trying to decide when to shoot or if it would fly. Our mission today is for everyone to kill a King, and when the opportunity presents itself, don’t let it pass. This was Ryan’s opportunity, and it was his call, so once we got into effective shooting range, Ryan decided he was going to take the shot. He set the bead and slowly pulled the trigger. It was a great shot, but these birds are extremely tough, can dive great distances, and hold their breath for a long time popping back up well out of shooting range. So, without hesitation, Ryan fired his second round before it could go under, and the first King of the trip was down. We all celebrated together and congratulated him on such an amazing bird, but this was just the beginning. Now we had a successful game plan and three more to go.
To my surprise, Brad and Scott looked at me and said I was up next. I honestly did not care if I was up next because I was so excited for Ryan. That being said, I didn’t turn it down! After all, this is what it was all for. All the planning, packing, and traveling came down to this moment, and I couldn’t be more excited. The nerves didn’t have time to set in because we spotted another King within 30 minutes. Here we were, all back on the front of the boat, only this time, the gun was in my hands. We made our way closer and closer to the lonesome King, trying not to spook him with the waves crashing against the boat.
Just as we got into range, he decided to throw a kink in the plan and took off. When he got up, he was directly off the front of the boat. I was on the left side, with everyone else to my right. And as luck would have it, he flew left. I stood up, shouldered my gun, positioned the bead about four feet in front of him, and squeezed off my shot. A split second seemed like an eternity as the King fell into the freezing waters below. We turned the boat, picked up the bird, and moved to the stern to check it out.
This was like nothing I’ve ever felt. I have been hunting waterfowl for a long time and have killed some amazing birds, but when I held this King for the first time, a wave of emotions fell over me. I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t a ten-man limit of mallards in the timber or a fifteen-man limit of geese in Canada. It was just one bird! But this one bird felt different in my hands. I don’t know if it was the scenery, being so far away from my wife and kids, the amount of planning and traveling to make it happen, or if it was just the fact that I was holding a bird I have only dreamed about killing. Either way, it was different. It was a feeling that I’ve never felt waterfowl hunting and one that I will never forget.
We spent the rest of the day with the same game plan in mind and were able to get Brad and Scott their Kings as well. Each one felt the same as the previous one; everyone high-fived, hugged, and congratulated. We may not have had a “duck camp” to go back to like we usually do in the States, but we all felt the same duck camp comradery feelings on the boat that day.” During the next few hunt days, with the pressure now off, this crew would experience the full gambit of what Greenland has to offer.
Journal Entry 02.15.24 – Rhett Strickland
“Twenty degrees warmer and only an 8 mph wind, we knew we would be able to get to the shorelines today. We spent the first part of the morning driving around and checking out different islands and coves for high numbers of birds. We didn’t have to drive long as it seemed everywhere we looked had birds in the hundreds. We found a point on an icy, snow-covered island that looked promising. Carefully, we moved the boat in and got everyone out on the rocks. We had to move very slowly and be sure of our footing with every step because if anyone slipped, there would be no way to recover. Once you’re at the water’s edge, there was only about two feet of ground before it dropped off about 25 feet. At 10 degrees, falling in this extremely cold and deep water, there would be no good outcome. So we all spread out along the bank’s edge as the captain put out a raft of common and king eider decoys. We stayed in the location for about two hours and were able to kill several birds, but the majority of the birds were passing by just out of range and not decoying. The ones that did decoy perfectly, well, they were safe. Not because we missed and definitely not because we didn’t want to shoot, but because they were Harlequins, and these are not legal birds to shoot in Greenland. It was heartbreaking to watch these beautiful birds taunt us, knowing that we couldn’t shoot them. The upside is that we could sit back and watch these birds work against the most beautiful backdrop we have ever seen–if you can call that an upside.
We decided to make a move, and we went about 3 miles away, where the captain had seen a lot of birds while we were on the shores hunting. The only spot that we could get the boat in made for an interesting trek to get set up. As we made land, there was only enough room for one person to hunt, so we knew we had to make a move. The only problem was how. We would either have to walk around the cliff edge that was solid ice with a 15ft drop-off to the water below OR climb straight up and over the ridge. Ryan, Scott, and I decided to slowly ease around the cliff as we helped each other pick the next steps so that none of us fell. Brad and the camera crew decided to go up and over. This was no easy task, and each of them was belly crawling up the ice. Once someone had decent footing, they would reach down and pull the next one up. Yes, it was sketchy, but we are hunting sea ducks in Greenland. What are you going to do, not go?
Once we were all safe and on solid ground, we spread out and found a nice area to hunt on the back side of the island. Before we were even set up, we had birds on us. Even though I already had my King, I was still really wanting a common eider and a Greenland old squaw. Well, we picked the right spot as birds were funneling out of these coves in all directions. I knew this would be my best opportunity at these two, but there was one problem. The captain radioed us and told us that we only had about 30 minutes because the tide was going out, and after that, he would not be able to get the boat back in. The pressure was back on. Within minutes of getting the call, I had a common and an old squaw down. What an absolute dream! By day two, I had all three of my target birds down. We finished up this set and were able to get several more Common eiders down. The captain returned to the shore to pick us up, the decoys, and the birds just in time. Luckily, this spot was much easier to return to the boat versus where he dropped us off. Back on the boat, and with the day winding down, we all grabbed a sandwich and water for the trip back in.
After an incredible second day, we decided to go out and see what Greenland had to offer to eat. We asked around and found a nice restaurant in town that offered a wide variety of traditional foods. We all got a few different appetizers, and I decided to go with a sampler for the meal. This included a whale steak, lamb, and reindeer. To my surprise, the whale steak was my favorite. I was hesitant because some others had tried seal and were not fans. I was worried that the whale would be similar, but that could not have been further from the truth. It was amazing.
Leaving the restaurant this evening, we looked up and caught a glimpse of a green haze in the sky. The Northern Lights were coming out! We rushed back to the hotel to get our cameras and warmer clothes and took off running to the bay. I ran up a snow-covered mountain to get a better view, falling several times in the dark and cutting up my legs on rocks, but getting a good picture wasn’t just for me. Before I left Georgia, I told my eleven-year-old daughter that I might get to see the northern lights, and she made it a point to tell me that I would be in trouble if I didn’t get pictures for her. My eight-year-old son wanted me to get the King Eider, and my daughter wanted me to get the lights. We were extremely fortunate this evening because the Northern Lights came to life, and they stayed out for a very long time. Greenland continued to blow my mind”.
Journal Entry 02.15.24 – Rhett Strickland
As we set off, it was a brisk 12 degrees with a 14 mph wind. I decided to ditch the Drifter Hoodie and just went with the Bering Jacket. I can not express how impressed I and the rest of the crew were in the Bering Series on this trip. This system kept us extremely warm, comfortable, and dry from the waves crashing in on us when we were on the shorelines.
We spent the early morning trying to scratch off a few more Kings before hitting the shorelines. Once the birds really started moving, we found another island and got set up for the first sit. Not surprisingly, we had the birds coming in right away, and we were able to get several commons down within minutes. Pictures and videos of these hunts do not do it justice. We watched hundreds of birds move along these shorelines every day, and it was mesmerizing. Being that I already had my three target birds down, there were several times on this last day when I didn’t even pick up my gun. I was here for the experience and not just to pull the trigger. So I sat back and just watched several flocks work. I wanted to take in as much as I could from this hunt, and watching these birds work with the snow-covered background was a sight that I’ll never forget.
With Ryan being the only one with two Kings, we decided to focus on getting everyone their second since none of them flew in range of the shores. We went back to the boat and the tactics of the first day. We spotted two kings a few hundred yards away and made a move. Scott and I both got on the front of the boat, ready to take a shot. As soon as we got within range, they both got up and took off. We should have discussed this before and decided which bird we’d shoot if this happened. Me being on the left, naturally, I’d shoot the left bird, and Scott would shoot the right. Well, once they flew off and we were on the birds, they switched up midair. The one on the right moved to the left, and the one on the left to the right. Thankfully, Scott is an experienced waterfowler and without saying a word, we both switched which bird we were on. As the shots rang out, it was almost as if only one shot was made. We were perfectly in sync, and both birds dropped out of the cold air simultaneously. It couldn’t have been planned any better. Scott was there because his friend invited him along from a sweepstakes that he entered through WTA. And here we were. He and I just doubled up on King Eiders putting an exclamation point on this trip. What a way to end it!
Looking back, it’s hard to put a trip like this into writing. Through everything I mentioned, there was so much more to it that words, pictures, and videos don’t do justice. A lot goes into a trip like this, but I promise a lot more comes out of it! I left there with memories that I will never forget. I left there seeing things that I never thought I’d see. And most importantly, I left there having met some like-minded waterfowl hunters I now consider my friends. Greenland may not have always been on your radar as a place to go and hunt, but if you ask me, it should be moved directly to the top! Contact Worldwide Trophy Adventures, and they will work with you to make this epic trip a reality”. If chasing King Eiders is on your radar, or just sea ducks in general.
