When I was in the AK NG, I was the XO of A Company, 2/297th Inf, which consisted of natives on St Lawrence Island. One day I landed in Gambell just in time to see a native shoot a polar bear with a 220 swift. One shot, deader then a door nail, not my choice but it happends.
These people (Alaska Natives) are a strange lot, Wonderful People, but..........how do I say it?..................DIFFERANT.
They arn't the greatest rifleman people seem to think, or that they will leave you to believe. Sure there are some who can shoot, had some good ones on my rifle team, but on the whole, they believe in shooting LOTS as oppose to shooting GOOD.
Before going to St Lawarence I was the CO of C Company, I was in Brevic Mission when they brought in a Whale. I asked to boat captain, (who was one of my section sgts) how many times he shot the whale, He says "Box and a half of 458 and 2 1/2 boxes of 222". Now you need to take into account that there were 8 guys in that boat, they used more ammo then an infantry company in a firefight in SE Asia.
These guys seem to be buying up 223s, not because its the best gun for hunting, but because the can swipe ammo from the NG.
Again, they are some of the best people you can be around, but dont base your Gun Choices for hunting, on what the Alaska Natives choose.
But here is a little know fact I learned from the natives in polar bear country. They are safer to hunt then you think, Simple because a polar bear wont turn right. When you chase them on a snow machine, you stay on the right side, they will run, they will turn left, but they will never turn right, Dont ask me why, but its a fact. It took me a while to get up enough guts to try it, but I did, Stay on the right side of a polar bear and you can shoot them all day, with anything, they wont turn right. That has a lot to do with why natives, who hunt them all the time, dont get eaten', regardless of what they are hunting them with.
Its illegal for non-natives to hunt polar bears. I missed out of shooting one because I was chicken of getting caught, but a friend of mine was going to take me out, let me shoot it, then say it was his, have it made into a rug, and then he was going to do some drawings on the inside of the hide, then say he sold it to me, which would be legal for me to possess, but again, I chickened out. Though now I don't see how I could have got caught.
I've went out with these guys walrus hunting, now that was a trip. Interesting to say the least, if you ever get a chance to go hunting with these guys you are in for an experience.
Again, the Alaska Natives are some of the most wonderful people you can hang around.