Reports from the land: N.W.T. hunters and trappers describe unusually warm fall

A member of the Aklavik Hunters and Trappers Committee, who describes his job as being the "eyes and ears of the land," says the late arrival of cold weather in the N.W.T. is "going to have effects, down the line." 

Allen Kogiak told CBC News a little more than a week ago that ice on the Peel Channel was taking a "long time" to form because of the mild fall temperatures — and that the river was still open in various places. 

But people were already using the "young ice" for travel by snowmobile.

"In my opinion, right now, it's kind of scary because of all that open water," he said. "In the past there's been a lot of drowning, because of people … driving right into the water. Hoping that doesn't happen this year." 

Throughout October, the daily minimum temperature in Yellowknife (reflected by the top-most line on the graph below, in red) was on average 4.2 C warmer each day than it was last year (reflected by the line that drops the lowest, in green).

The minimum temperatures were also several degrees warmer than the most recent 30-year average (the straight line, in blue) for each day, as calculated by Environment Canada, from 1981 to 2010.

The Great Slave Snowmobile Association posted its first ice thickness assessment for bodies of water around Yellowknife on Sunday. It said no body of water had reached a thickness of six inches yet — which is the measurement at which the City of Yellowknife says people can walk on it.  

By Nov. 15 last year, all those bodies of water had ice that was more than six inches thick.

The late start to the freeze up has been noticed across the territory. 

"Around here like, the water should be frozen," said Arthur Elleze, 50, from Fort Providence on Nov. 7. "It's still flowing, probably still good to go for a boat ride. And that's really, like, unusual." 

Elleze, who hunts and traps for his parents and regularly eats harvested meat, said he's noticed a change in animal behaviour too. 

"Was a lot of moose this year," he remarked. "Everybody shot a moose." 

Warmer temperatures in northern regions of Canada, brought about by climate change, mean more moose are migrating further north.

Bob Norwegian, a Fort Simpson resident who has helped the territory's environment and natural resources department with moose counts in the past, has noticed the change too. He said the presence of moose used to follow a pattern, and there would be lots of them every seven years or so.