An 81-year-old elder and hunter from Igloolik was found alive Thursday, after four weeks of air and ground searches.

Searchers aboard a Twin Otter airplane spotted Enoki Kunuk near a vast fjord Thursday night.

"We found his kamotiq and snowmobile first, and then we found him beside his tent," Kunuk's son, Mathusalah Kunuk, told CBC News late Thursday.

Kunuk said his father waved up at the plane, looking healthy. A helicopter with medical staff picked the elder up later that evening.

"Everybody was yelling inside the plane, crying, too," Mathusalah Kunuk said. "It was kind of emotional and at the same time, we were kind of laughing."

Enoki Kunuk left Igloolik on June 1 to embark on a caribou hunting trip about 100 kilometres north of the hamlet. When he hadn't returned home four or five days later as expected, family and friends began searching for him.

Two air searches failed to locate Kunuk, including an official search involving military aircraft that was called off last week.

But the community refused to give up, putting out a call for help from private airlines for aircraft. It was the Twin Otter plane, on loan from Air Inuit in Nunavik since Wednesday, that enabled searchers to find Kunuk.

Igloolik Mayor Paul Quassa said his community refused to give up on the search because they believed Kunuk was still alive.

"It's been a month, and for an elder to survive that long all alone, that [tells] us that's how Inuit survived without any assistance from [the] outside world," Quassa said.

Quassa said he believes Kunuk was stranded as the snow and ice melted during his trip and it was too far for him to walk home.

While he described Kunuk as an experienced hunter who always travelled with extra equipment, Quassa said the elder did not carry communications equipment.

Dreams of whereabouts

After weeks of searching, Quassa said people in the community began having dreams about the lost elder's whereabouts.

"One particular dream did tell us that he's in a valley, his snowmobile is there," he said.

"Nobody can see him, and we had flown over that area quite a few times. But this time around we went back to that same area, and sure enough, he's there."

Kunuk's family and community members were grateful for the support coming from across Nunavut and Nunavik, Quassa said.

The community will hold a celebration in the near future to mark Kunuk's safe return home.