SUE: All right. We got something just
poked its head out
of the ravine there. I got a bunch of
caribou and I've got a
big ass bear coming in. I got a bear over here
and I got caribou over here. He's actually
quartering north, so I'm sure he's trying
to get around without
giving his scent trail up. He's damn close to camp,
so, that's not safe to me. My name is Susan Aikens. I am the sole resident and
owner of Kavik River Camp. It's an old oil camp 200
miles above the Arctic Circle. I'm the only refueling
station and I do it on my own. In order to run a business,
I have to cater to the people in the season that
they're roaming around. That's summer. And in that June,
July, and August, I need to make enough
revenue to support the camp and get ready
for the next year. I am working 24 hours
a day and then boom! Winter hits. I've got nine months
of some of the harshest
conditions on Earth, and for the nine
months or more that I'm
totally alone out here, I hunt for the
meat that I eat. I live by my wits and
sometimes those are lacking. The older I get,
the slower I get, but the
animals keep getting faster. But, I rise to the
challenge every day. It's the challenge
that keeps me going. Welcome to Kavik,
it's where I live. I think what
I'm gonna have to do is
try to get down there. Down the road
a little this way. If I scare all
the caribou, I'm gonna
scare the bear as well. Either way I've got caribou
to get, and there's a bear. It may be a twofer. Welcome to winter. (theme music plays) ♪ ♪ SUE: Every caribou
is staring at me. Where is my (bleep) bear? It's like he
disappeared off the planet. I've gotta get a
little elevation here. Okay, they're all
coming towards me. So, the bear must be on the
other side starting to push. All right, these are
bear tracks, but this
is a pretty big bear. He's not a
juvenile-long stride. This is just King Mamma-Jamma
slothing his way through. But, I gotta get jamming. This is a lesson in
frustration, right here. I'm trying to get the easiest
place to get at this bear in a 100% open field, without giving up 100% of
my opportunity at caribou. Whenever you're hunting
bear, the longer you take,
even seconds, they're gone. Your hunt is blown
before it's ever started,
but I gotta try though. Yeah. They're cruising now
for the river, which means
they're in migration mode. But, it's possible that
the bear is up there. I may just sit put and
just see what develops. The bear across this open
ground, there's no way
I'm gonna sneak up on him. He heard me.
He didn't smell me.
But he heard me. He probably saw the vehicle. I don't have the
tracks on the vehicle. All's I'm gonna do is end up
getting stuck somewhere and
no way to get myself out. That's not smart hunting. Bummed out about the bear. But not so bummed out that
I'm gonna put my life in
jeopardy chasing him down. That just, that's
a fool's errand. All right, Mr. Bear. Live to see you
another day, man. CHIP: Subsistence is
basically just being
able to make a living from the land with
the things around you. And we do a pretty
good job at that. And, we mix it into
a modern 21st Century. Okay.
We got one good one.
Let's get another one. What's up little guy? You rolling up on us,
seeing what we're doing? We're making you a sled. CHIP: We can make you a sled. Tata and Carol are
gonna make you a sled. I'm gonna make
a sled for Wade. It's gonna be something
that he can play
with for a few years. It'll be substantial. It'll be kind of a big sled,
but over the next few years, he'll probably
grow right on into it. And plus, just to be able
to drag him around will
be a lot of fun, too. I'm Edward Hailstone. My friends call me Chip. I'm married to
Agnes Hailstone. AGNES: I'm Inupiaq Eskimo,
and I was born and raised
here in Noorvik, Alaska. We pretty much live a
semi-nomadic lifestyle. We just go from area to
area depending on season. CHIP: We're hunters,
gatherers, fisher people. AGNES: I'm hunting in the
same areas that my parents had
hunted for hundreds of years. CHIP: We got
seven kids together. Three of them
still live with us. The four oldest have
grown up and moved off. AGNES: We pretty much try and
teach our children everything
I was taught by my parents, and my mother and father
learned from their parents. It's very important
for me to pass down my
knowledge to my children and to their children. CHIP: Okay. What we need
to do is go inside, since
the sun's heading down. And I think, actually,
what I wanna do first is
bend the boards I wanna bend. You know what I mean? CAROL: Come on.
CHIP: Come on, grandson. Let's go inside the house
and go work on your sled. CAROL: Come on, baby.
Follow us. CHIP: There you go.
Ho, ho, ho! You gotta walk on
your own, crazy boy. Open the door for Tata. Hold it open.
Hold it open.
Thank you. Okay. Carol, check this out. CAROL: Yup. CHIP: First thing that we're
gonna do is make the runners. CAROL: All right. CHIP: We're just gonna
start steaming these things, and we'll be able to put
foil over it to catch this, and as soon as these are
nice and soft right here, we just have to make
a bend up about yay far. And we can make a
sled about that big. Just perfect for Wade to do
his thing for a couple years. This will do. Basically, we're just
gonna let all this stuff cook. CAROL: Should we do
the next step now? CHIP: Yup. We'll start
shaping the different pieces. Carol. Yeah,
sitting on this so, you
would really help me a lot. CAROL: It's always good
to do activities with
my dad, 'cause, like, I get to learn faster. CHIP: Grab me the, um, small
diameter and thread it in. CAROL: Okay. My dad,
he has fun teaching me. CHIP: See what you
can do with that, love. CAROL: It's real useful
out here knowing how to build, and being with my dad and
doing the one on one work, it's pretty fun. I love it. CHIP: Yeah, these are good. Come here, bun. I'm gonna pull this off,
we're gonna take these
two ends right here, and put them in there, and I'm
gonna ease 'em down this way. If we hear any cracking,
if we see any lifting,
we stop. Okay? CAROL: Okay. CHIP: The runners have
to be bent, and it's kind
of a delicate process. Because, when you
bend them together,
they're a match pair. You can't duplicate,
uh, another bend. So, so the trick is to
just do it right the first
time as best you can and make your bends
carefully, and listen,
and feel when you do it. So, ready.
Let's give this a try. (mimics dramatic music) CAROL: Are you sure you're
gonna bend it that way? CHIP: I am sure.
I know exactly what I'm doing. CAROL: Hey, stop. CHIP: That's all
right, it's not decent. Okay. There we go, there
we go, there we go, there we go. Gently. Okay,
I don't hear any badness. Now go choke up
these two together. CAROL: Yeah.
CHIP: These two right here. Okay, right there is perfect.
Absolutely perfect. Tighten it.
Okay, that's good. Okay, that way
they have the same bend,
and the same place, and the same time,
same bat channel. We just have
to let it dry now. CAROL: All right. CHIP: That's all we can do. CAROL: So, we're
done for tonight? CHIP: We're done for tonight. This needs to dry
and tomorrow we'll, uh, we'll take it off there
when we have everything
else prepared, and this will be the
last thing that we mount and that we fit everything to. CAROL: All right. GLENN: Wherever you
are, there are dangers. If you don't wanna take
a risk, don't get out
of bed in the morning. But the reality is, that
knowledge will protect you from the dangers
in your environment. About 1,000 feet above
lake elevation here. Hey, there's the camp. I can see it.
See it, Amelia? AMELIA: Yeah. GLENN: I got my own
airplane this summer. The nearest road is a
60 mile walk from here. If you wanna get somewhere,
you're not gonna drive. You gotta fly
or you gotta walk. Those are your two choices. AMELIA: Feels good to be
back at the Brooks Range, huh? GLENN: Yeah. <i> NARRATOR: Before
dark winter hits,</i> <i> Glenn Villeneuve and
his family return to their
cabin in the Brooks Range.</i> <i> Glenn will hunt
for a bull moose,</i> <i> an important supplement
for his family's diet.</i> GLENN: Okay. Landing
gear is up for water. We got four blues. Can you check on your
side, make sure it's up? AMELIA: Confirmed on my side. GLENN: Looks good on my side. First thing I do
when I fly into camp, I always like to make
a pass over the cabin, look down,
see what's going on. Anytime I leave camp, even
like now, when it's only
for a couple of weeks, I have to check
things out when I get back, because things
happen when I'm gone. That's when bears are more
likely to come into the yard, that's when
things can get damaged, that's when things
can cause problems. I didn't see
anything from the air, but when I get
up to the cabin, I'm gonna look
for smaller details. Things can happen here
that I can't see from the air. I don't do what I
do because it's easy. I don't do what I
do because it's hard. I do what I do because I
have a lot of fun doing it. Everything is a choice. I chose to live
in the Brooks Range. I choose to
hunt for my food, and now I choose
to have an airplane. It all goes
together for me. My name is
Glenn Villeneuve. I live in Alaska. I moved up here
almost 20 years ago, 'cause this is the only
place in the world where I could live this
lifestyle I'm living. I built a cabin in Fairbanks,
I got a place in the bush, and I live half the
time in each of them. There's no other place
on this planet Earth where I could live the
way I live here. I'm in control
of my own destiny. I decide where
I'm gonna go, when I'm gonna go there,
what I'm gonna do. Nobody is telling me
what needs to be done. I just see what needs
to be done and I do it. My family is growing. I had a new baby
born last summer,
I got four kids now. It was always my
dream to have my family
in the bush with me. It took time to achieve that, and there were times when
I had to set the priority on being out here
even though I didn't have
anybody to share it with. I've spent a whole winter
out here by myself, but it gets lonesome. I mean, I'm only human. And now I got
everything I want. I got the wilderness,
plus I got my family with me. Made it back to the camp. There you go. TRISHA: Camp looks good. AMELIA: Hey, dad, it
looks like the meat
pole is knocked down. GLENN: What happened here? Our meat pole
got knocked down. This has never
happened before. There are not many
things that can reach up
there and knock that down. That's been up there
for 10 or 12 years. Wooden pegs
snapped right off. There's only one thing
that could've done that. AMELIA: Bear. GLENN: Exactly. There's not
a bear behind every bush,
but there are bears around. Look, something
walked right here. That's a bear track, headed
right up toward the meat pole. This here looks
like a sow with a cub. And they can
be very defensive. If you're out here
playing in the yard and, all of a sudden a sow with
a cub walks into the yard, you could get into
a dangerous situation. You gotta keep your eyes open. Well, I better get to work
fixing up this meat pole, because I wanna start
moose hunting tomorrow. Why don't you
go back over to the
cabin, open it up, and get a fire going. If I can get this all
fixed up this afternoon, then tomorrow morning
I'll go out and start
looking for a moose. JESSIE: Every year out
here, you know, I just grow. And I learn how to
be more prepared and
ready next season. All right. Right now, we got
an amazing time of year here. Definitely waiting for
the winter to get going. Right now, we have some pretty
strange weather going on, and it just
hasn't froze up. It's more later in
the year than ever seen. So, we got some open
water here on the slough
back behind my house, and I got a little time
where I could go out and
set some beaver traps. While I'm out there,
I'm definitely gonna
take my gun with me because I'm gonna be
covering a lot of country today. I might see some rabbits,
or grouse, or even ducks
along the river bank. So, I'm looking to
go get some traps set, but also come back
with something fresh
for my frying pan. I'm Jessie Holmes. I'm a professional
dog musher. I'm very blessed to live a
subsistence lifestyle on the
banks of the Nenana River. When I came to Alaska,
I didn't know exactly
what I was going for. I was just going for
something different
and, you know, I didn't expect to become
a competitive dog racer. <i> ANNOUNCER (over PA):
Jessie Holmes,
rookie of the year.</i> JESSIE: Now I'm here, and
it's become a huge blessing and it's allowed me
to live the lifestyle
that I envisioned. I chose to live this
way because I appreciate
simplicity and I cut wood, haul water, run dogs,
procure resources. It's just incredible to
me and I love it out here. I personally don't think
you're ever ready for winter. Whoa. I never know what winter
has in store, so I don't
try to second guess winter. All I can do is just be
in a really good mindset. Have my mind cleared
and ready for what
winter is gonna bring. Right now, this is a
transition time of year. You can't really get
out and travel because
nothing's froze up and it's not really
good boating, but really, it's a good time of year
to make the best out of
the last of fall here. Like, I'm gonna go
up the slough now that
the water is dropped and I can actually access
the slough, and I'm gonna
go see what's going on. Yeah, this looks real good. Definitely some active
beaver sign around here. That's a pretty
good-sized feed pile. There might be four,
five beaver around here,
so, once I get over there, I'll be able to find
where their main exits are. Set up all
four of these traps. The more traps I put in this
area, the better likelihood
I got of catching a beaver. And the traps that
I'm gonna use are lethal. That thing is
alive right now. They're not only
lethal to the animal, they're very dangerous
to yourself if you mess up
when you're setting them. They're designed
to crush bones. These traps
are very effective. Once they trigger
this, it kills them. It's got so much power,
but that power could be a
problem if it sets on me. I've got three traps
set over there close
to the feed house and now I'm looking for one
last spot to put this one. Okay. All right. So I'm gonna set this
one kind of right in the
edge of the water, here. I've never tried
to do this before, but trying new things
is what keeps you
learning, you know. See if maybe this works,
with some bait behind it. Catch him right
when he's coming out of the water he might
walk right into this here. All right.
I got my last trap set. It's looking good. I still got plenty of daylight
here, and what I'm gonna
do is cut across this slough and get into the woods and
see if I can come across
any rabbits, spruce grouse, anything that I can eat. For me, it's a
mission to get a beaver, but a lot of things are
out moving in a hustle getting
ready for the winter to come. Right now, this is time
where you're waiting
for freeze up to come. It's looking like
it might snow today, and it might be my
last chance to be able
to see some rabbits. The whole thing about hunting
rabbits right now is they're
white on this dark ground, and normally,
they're white in the snow. But, uh, this is kind of
a late winter this year, so the chances of
seeing them is way greater. Right there's a rabbit.
I see one. (makes rabbit call) Dammit. (makes rabbit call) JESSIE: Dammit. It's right there. Got it. Wait. Oh, I see another one. Got it.
I got two rabbits. Getting two rabbits down when
I was just trying to get one, that's called a two
for one, and that gives
me a real good feeling. I still got plenty of daylight
and the rabbits are out. It's so thick in here
I literally have to crawl
to get to the rabbits. All right, there it is. Man, that is a beauty. Oh, he's fat. I'm gonna throw this
in my pack, go over,
and get my other rabbit. I'm in kind of a
hurry right now because it looks like the rabbit
hunting is good right now and the snow could fall
tomorrow and I won't be able
to see them like I can now. Okay. I see the other
one right over here. Luckily, it's not so thick
right here that I gotta crawl. Wow, that's another
nice looking rabbit. Man, these guys are in
really great shape right now. This amount of meat's
gonna make six meals for me. So far, it's been
a really good hunt, but I'm
trying to keep my eyes out, because there's
rabbits all over right now. I still got about an hour
and a half of daylight left. I'm gonna hunt until
it's as dark as it can be. (makes animal call) It's a long shot
but, if I go in, I'll
probably scare him so. This is great. I got a third rabbit. This one's even
fatter than the other ones. This is just such a
good resource right now. I didn't get to come
away this fall with
a bear or a moose and I didn't get to put
the kind of time I wanted
to go out big game hunting. But, just knowing the
land around me and using
the resources around me, I've been able to
be successful with
lots of small game. I still got an
hour of daylight left. I'm just gonna keep moving
and make the best out of
this resource while I can. SUE: I don't have
any interest in obliterating
the species in my ecosystem, but I don't have any
interest in being obliterated. I have to get past this area. Ooh, can I even
get across this? No. I cannot
go that way. <i> NARRATOR: With bear tracks
near Kavik River Camp,</i> <i> Sue continues her perimeter
check to gain a different</i> <i> perspective and observe
the caribou migration as her</i> <i> window to hunt
is quickly closing.</i> SUE: I have a myriad of
tracks I'm looking at. The snow really
shows who's walking
around your neighborhood, much like the silt does,
but besides the tracks, I've gotta watch out
for all these drifts. I no longer have a clear line
of sight where my ditches are. So, it's a little hazardous. I'm right at the top end of
not being able to use the Argo
to go do these things right, you know, anymore. All righty. And all this is prime
territory for a, a bear. I'm not really seeing
anything that screams, "Hey, I'm over here, I'm
hiding out. Come shoot me." Since I'm not seeing
a lot of signs up here,
I think if I were a bear and I'm thinking like
my opponent, I might get
down into the river bed. Animals tend to
use the river as their
highways as do people. I always say, get in
the river if you don't see
anything get in the river. It's probably running the
southern bank, so it's time
for me to get in the river and run the southern bank. See if they're
running around. I can see from here
that there's quite a bit
of water flowing still. Little leery of
getting too far out. Well, I think if I'm
gonna surprise the
bear at this point, I've gotta do
something he doesn't expect. The last thing this bear
would expect me to do is to
be floating down the river. I got a new raft and
it's an avenue I haven't
tried and why not. I'm not gonna go
for a 30-mile trek. I have a perimeter that
I see as an area that's
viable for me to worry about what's
running around in it. Within two miles,
I definitely have
my hackles up, and then a mile to a half mile,
I've gotta be all over it. But at five miles
it's knowledge. But for me
this is simple. Get in, float
down and just see. I'll be able to see it. I'll be able to tell
what direction he's going. If I don't see any of
his tracks going this way, then he's still on my
side of the river and I'll
have to take mind of that. So the plan for
me right now is get to
Little Red, get the raft, get it together,
get in the water,
get some information. AGNES: I don't know
what the future holds
for the next generation. All we can do right now
is just teach and teach and
teach and care and love. Yeah, this pile. IRIQTAQ: Uh-hmm. AGNES: Yeah.
Yeah, that one's a good,
good seed, like two of them. <i> NARRATOR: While
Chip and Carol build
transportation for Wade,</i> <i> Agnes and daughter
Idi source materials to make</i> <i> another essential tool to
survive the Arctic winter.</i> AGNES: Today, me and Idi are
going out back and picking
out some caribou skins, and we're gonna be
turning them into a
parka for Wade Kelly. Wolverine skin, a beaver
skin, and two caribou skins. It's getting cold out
and the conditions for
traveling is coming up, and we just wanna prepare
ourselves for winter so Wade
Kelly will be just as warm as us when we're out
there with our parkas. Okay. We're gonna have to
turn these two skins into the
back, front, hood, and sleeves. TINMIAQ: Yeah. AGNES: We cannot mess up
when we start cutting because we have only these
two skins for right now. TINMIAQ: Yeah. AGNES: Ready?
Who's gonna be the marker? Where'd the pencil go? IRIQTAQ: You are.
AGNES: No mistakes. IRIQTAQ: The parka we're going
to be making is traditional. What, you know, what our
ancestors used out here. It's gonna take a lot of
stress off my mind knowing
that he's a lot warmer than he would be with
these store-bought
jackets, you know. They aren't made
for this kind of winter. Could you pass that
knife back to me, please? TINMIAQ: Be careful.
IRIQTAQ: Okay. AGNES: Be really careful. Awesome. TINMIAQ: Yay, Idi. Now you gotta open it,
then you have to. AGNES: Oh! Got a rip. AGNES: Oh.
TINMIAQ: Ripped it! AGNES: Uh, we made a
rip, and once it starts,
it just goes on. So, we have to, uh,
stitch it back up and just close it before it
becomes a real problem. We have to start being
careful until we put
all the trims around it, so it just
doesn't keep ripping. These trims are what's
gonna hold it together. Once we get thread and stuff
all around it, it'll be good. TINMIAQ: Okay. Now, let's get this
(bleep) back together. AGNES: It's important that
we all work together and, um,
of course it's a family effort to just prepare ourselves
for winter and, uh, I'm
glad the family's, uh, doing everything they
can to prepare for winter. That almost looks
like a parkie, huh? Already. TINMIAQ: Yeah! I mean we still have
a lot to sew, but dang guys,
we're already halfways done. IRIQTAQ: I love sewing. If there's one thing I
could sit down and do all day, you know,
once I start sewing, I don't like to stop until
my projects are finished. But, uh, I do have a son
running around that does
need taking care of. WADE: Yes!
AGNES: Yes, it's your parkie! TINMIAQ: Hey, adore.
WADE: Parkies? TINMIAQ: Wanna work on your
parkie so you won't be cold? AGNES: While your Tata
work on your sled. WADE: Huh?
AGNES: It's a surprise sled. WADE: Surprise sled.
TINMIAQ: Uh-huh, sled. AGNES: And it's a
surprise parkie! IRIQTAQ: I do sit down as much
as I can and I sew what I can. And, uh, a lot of times
he understands I'm busy and he
allows me to sit down and sew, but little boy like that
needs a lot of attention. AGNES: Uh, no!
IRIQTAQ: No!
AGNES: No! TINMIAQ: Here, here you go. IRIQTAQ: Go check if
your Tata needs help. WADE: Up. AGNES: So I'm just
gonna finish up, I just got one little patch
left to go for the sleeve. TINMIAQ: I'm almost done
sewing the armpits and then I
could sew on the sleeves and, uh, then I could help you
with the hood while she works
on this wolverine rough. IRIQTAQ: It's a lot of
work but work isn't work
when you're having fun. AGNES: Made with much love
for Wade Kelly by his Anna,
his mama, and his auntie. TINMIAQ: Yeah.
AGNES: Now, let's go.
We can do this. GLENN: If you don't want
your meat to get away, just go to the
store and buy it. If you want the challenge
of having to outsmart the
animal to get your meat, come out here and hunt. ♪ ♪ <i> NARRATOR:</i> <i>
At the break of dawn,</i> <i> Glenn heads out into the
Brooks Range in hopes of
harvesting a bull moose.</i> <i> A successful hunt
will provide Glenn
and his family with</i> <i> an ample source of
protein necessary to
make it through dark winter.</i> GLENN: Ice already. Couple more weeks, the
lake's gonna freeze right over. Fall's my favorite
time of the year because
there's a lot of action. Everything's going
on in the fall time. Winter's coming
soon, moose are rutting,
that's the time to hunt. This is really
when it all happens. This is the best
time of the year, and
this is when I go out and get the biggest animal
that I hunt all year long. Okay. I see a couple
of moose, looks like
they're both cows. I'm confident with those two
cows right there that there's
a bull not too far away. Bulls are a little
more wary though. There he is!
That's the bull! He's got his
antlers up towards me. He's got at
least three cows. There's no way
I'm gonna call him
away from those cows. I gotta go down there and
pretend I'm another bull that wants to fight him
in order to get to
mate with those cows. That's my only chance. You've gotta learn
how the animals behave. And as much as
you learn and as much
experience as you have, you're still often at a
disadvantage because the
animals are actually very smart and they're very well
adapted to evading predators. These moose are
getting hunted all the time. They've evolved to
escape from predators,
and I'm the predator. They're completely
adapted to evading me. I've gotta adapt to
succeeding in catching them. There's a moose
right up here ahead. I'm gonna take my antler
off now, pretend I'm a bull. That might get
the bull interested. He might come out
and try to chase me away. This antler works. I've caught a lot of
moose with this antler. When they get
close enough to see it, it
often draws them right in. It fakes them out. They see this antler,
and they think
I'm another moose. I've gotta fake
this moose out, make him
think I'm another moose. I hear a bull. He's grunting back.
He heard me raking. This could be a little tricky,
this brush is pretty high. He's gonna have to get real
close for me to get a shot. I'm gonna walk
this way slightly. I wanna get him as close
to the lake as possible. Here he comes.
I see him. (antler raking) You see him?
He's right there. ♪ ♪ (gun safety click) (gunshot) ♪ ♪ (gun safety click) (gunshot) GLENN: He's down.
Got him. Whoo. That was pretty intense. Called him right out
into this open area. I could see him, but he didn't
have a very good view of me
behind this tree right here. I was just waving that
antler around, that's
about all he could see. He thought I
was another moose. It's a good spot. Close to the lake,
not too far from camp. I'm gonna call up Trisha,
have the family come over. They've never been at
a moose kill site before. They're gonna love this. Trisha! Just got a moose. And he's not too far from
camp, you can come over. <i> TRISHA (over radio):
Where are you on the lake?</i> GLENN: Just past the outlet. <i> TRISHA (over radio):
Great, I know right
where that is.</i> GLENN: All right, see
you in a little while. I'm so glad I was able
to get this moose close
enough to camp that Trish and the kids can come over. Hey, Trisha! Right over here! You made it! Your first moose kill! This is gonna be great for
them, and we've been talking
about this for months. They're really interested
in hunting, they
wanna see how this works, and they've never been
able to come over to a
moose kill site before. Look at this moose,
it's beautiful! Got a nice-sized bull. GLENN: Agatha, look!
It's a moose! TRISHA: Want to touch it? No. GLENN: She shook her head no.
TRISHA: She said no. GLENN: It's okay, it's dead.
Animal food. Okay. I gotta get to
work on this thing. What do you think
Amelia, you wanna help
me cut this moose up? AMELIA: What I really
want is the back strap. GLENN: Okay. I do the things I
wanna do in life. But, as much as I
enjoy doing them, I enjoy it even more
when I have people
to share it with. Wanna pull on
that a little bit? AMELIA: Ooh, that's heavy. GLENN: Yeah. Amelia's been here in
Alaska now for four years and she's picked up a lot. Just by being around
me, operating out
in this environment, she notices things. Hey, Amelia? The main thing is,
by scooping the
blood out carefully I can preserve some of
the fat in there better. Keep everything cleaner. I think what's really
important for children isn't
so much the practical skills that they'll learn out
here, although they'll
be a lot of them. But it's just the
attitude and the
mentality that develops. Because living this lifestyle
you get a lot of confidence, you get a lot of
independence, and you can
take that wherever you go. AMELIA: A lot of my classmates
don't realize that, how much work it takes to
get all the food they eat. It's not like you just
go to the supermarket
and get your food. People have to grow it,
pick it, process it, before it gets to
the supermarket. GLENN: Hey, Amelia!
I'm gonna cut the tongue out! AMELIA: Hmm!
GLENN: This should
be tasty, huh? AMELIA: Uh-hmm.
GLENN: Boiled tongue. Want a little moose
tongue, Agatha? Everybody in the
family likes tongue. Got it. Tongue. It's a delicacy. So that's going
on the first load. First load down. TRISHA: Glenn, I think
we're gonna head back. GLENN: What's that? TRISHA: I think
we're gonna head back. She's getting a little fussy. GLENN: Yeah. Good idea. TRISHA: Close to bedtime. GLENN: Yeah, it's
already getting late. I gotta keep working on this,
but you can head home and. TRISHA: Good. GLENN: Get a fire
going and Agatha! You gonna go home and
get a little sleep now? Been quite a long time over
here at the kill site, huh?
Yeah? See you when I get there! TRISHA: See you later. GLENN: See you, Amelia! It's coming apart,
slowly but surely. SUE: Before somebody puts that
little thing across my body
six foot under the ground, I wanna know that I
climbed every valley and
looked over every hill. This is the, the Sue raft. The pon-Sue-n. I've got this bear
that I've been after. Found some
tracks out this way. Um, went out after
him but all's I'm
doing is pushing him. So for me, um, my thought is
I wanna get into the river. The Argo, is blam,
blam, blam, blam blam! Making a lot of noise. This will be hopefully
a lot less noise. And it's a chance
for me to try it out
and see how it works. So this is actually a
trial run and a bear run. Ready to go. Let the winter bear
sneak-a-thon start! <i> NARRATOR: With limited
time before bears
go into hibernation.</i> <i> Sue is desperate to
locate the predator and</i> <i> tries a new tactic to
gain a different perspective.</i> SUE: My objectives from this
float is, uh, I'm looking. I really wanna see if I
see signs, is there evidence
that he's still here? Every year, we lose
people on the rivers here. That is not 70 degree water,
80 degree water. That's hovering
right above freezing. If I fall in with that
icy water, I'm done for. I'm a little nervous
about getting on this ice. Come on. Okay.
Turn in. Okay. I have a perimeter
that I see as an
area for me to worry about what's
running around in it. I'm not gonna go
for a 30-mile trip. I'm gonna go
within reason of camp. I wanna see the
five miles around camp. I'm just getting
to the area where
I think the bear, you know, is kind
of his hangout zone. The caribou kind of
came through this way. And, uh, they just
thundered right past this area. I think, uh, I think I'm
gonna start seeing more sign. Oh, oh.
That's hella fast! Turn in. Come on,
get control Susie! Ugh, come on! I have a big problem.
I'm having troubles now. SUE: I got it. That was, uh, a
little intense maybe. Um, not bad. Just, I'll have to
work on maybe how I
wanna place the oars and the seat
and everything. When I'm right in the
middle of the faster water,
and I'm doing this, uh, it's
really difficult. I've seen a few
caribou tracks, there's
another set right there. It looks like they
came this way and went
"Yeah, not today." And went back. Don't
see any bear prints here, but I wanna
get out and check. There we go. Well, this is kind
of the area that I saw
the caribou tracks. And this is the first
place I can pull over,
you've got a wide shelf. It's a great spot if
you're a predator to ambush
something and eat dinner. I can see some tracks
here and here already. Looks like I got some foxies. This is very definitely
wolverine right here. I'm seeing a lot of
good activity here. What it isn't is a bear. Everything here wants to
survive and it's a tough
environment to do it in. And this right
here just says it all. You've got the fox looking,
you've got the wolverine
looking, maybe a small wolf, and caribou. And, you know,
I'm looking for bears. There's a bear pushing
everybody around earlier. So, I think what I want to do. My daylight is fading. I'm gonna get back
to the Sue-craft. I don't want to be caught
out here at night because
then the tables have turned. Doesn't matter if I'm
holding a gun if I can't
see what I'm shooting at. Do I feel safe
from the bear? I feel like I
wanna be vigilant. The moment you let yourself
go too lax out here, it's
gonna be the death of you. If he's a problem, if
he's absolutely rogue, he'll visit me and
I'll deal with it then. CHIP: Living, what
does living mean? It means I ain't dead! I'm healthy, I'm
happy, and I'm home. It's all good. Come on, Carol.
Let's have a look-see. I think these have
been drying long enough. CAROL: Looks
already bent, Dad. CHIP: They look fine to me.
CAROL: They look the same. CHIP: Yeah. That
worked out very well. <i> NARRATOR: Continuing to
prepare the youngest family
member Wade Kelly for the</i> <i> harsh winter elements,</i> <i> Agnes, Idi, and Ting
work on a caribou skin parka.</i> <i> While Chip and Carol
start to assemble the sled
after bending the runners.</i> CHIP: Well, the next thing
to do is to put this together. Then we can glue it.
We can drill it. CAROL: Okay. CHIP: Yup. Then we can start
putting our tie downs. So, if you want to get all
the small parts and bring
them up here to the table, we'll start putting
this thing together. We'll mark all these properly. CAROL: Want me
to get a pencil? CHIP: Yeah, please.
CAROL: I got it. CHIP: Carol's, uh, a very able
bodied, uh, helper right now. She's not somebody I
have to talk twice to. I don't have to watch her. She's been in, uh,
woodshop in school. She's had the basics down on
making these kinds of stuffs. She also saw me for years
doing it too, and, uh,
she'll be able to, someday, to do all this stuff herself. He's gonna love this
gift, isn't he Carol? CAROL: Uh-hmm. I'll probably get
to ride it, too. CHIP: Oh, I'm sure you will. He's gonna think we
made him the best little
toy in the world, I bet. Looking good.
Looking real good, Carol. You can see how these
are gonna go, right? CAROL: Yeah, I know
how it goes, it's easy. CHIP: Well, this is the
tune eliter, you know. What it does here really
well is that it's springy. So we can tie it really
tight, as tight as we
possibly can, and it'll, it'll give just a
little slight ever bit but
it won't let things break so energy kind of
passes with this stuff. And we'll tie this
whole thing together. We'll work from the
back forward, okay? CAROL: Yup. CHIP: People have been
making kids' toys for forever. Caveman probably had
a big ass rock he like,
beat things to death with, gave his kid a rock,
you know what I'm saying? So that's how I look at it. I wanna make the kid happy. If, uh, that sled is
beautiful in the eye of that
beholder, then I'll be glad. Wade can play with the thing,
and then they can always throw
him on it and drag him around. It ain't gonna be so
small that they'll be fragile. I'm gonna make
this sucker tough. Okay! We are done! Let's clean up. Wasn't that worth just,
the time we've put into it? CAROL: Yup.
CHIP: Good little sled. Okay, I'm gonna go
set this out there and try not to let Wade see
it so he doesn't want
to play with it yet. Making things is how we've
made a living, you know? Instead of buying sleds,
we've just been able to
obtain wood, put some work into
it and make sleds. So, if you really want to
have the best, you'll make it. If you want to have it
at all, you'll make it. If I want my grandson to
have it, I'll make it. GLENN: Whether it's a
human preying on them
or a pack of wolves, you're never going to find
a moose out here in this
country dying of old age. That's just all part
of the natural cycle. (bones cracking) (groans) There. <i> NARRATOR: Glenn
has successfully
harvested a moose,</i> <i> providing his family
with a winter's worth
of much-needed protein.</i> <i> With the meat processed, he
now begins the back-breaking</i> <i> task of transporting
each large segment home
before darkness falls.</i> GLENN: There! I got it! That's the last piece
I had to separate. Okay. I've got my
moose all cut up. Thankfully, Trisha,
Amelia, and Agatha
came over with a sled. One of the biggest
challenges of moose hunting is
just getting the animal home. After I get it down,
I've got an awful lot
of weight to move. First moose I ever moved
out here, I carried the
entire thing on my back. Eleven loads, and my back was
in such bad shape after that I laid in bed for
about five days. Couldn't move. Then I got smart. I got a sled the next year. A simple thing,
a plastic sled. But it sure can help out. There's the canoe! So far, so good. But I got hundreds
and hundreds and
pounds here to move. I need to get it to where my
family can make use of it. (Bleep). Totally broke my sled. That neck is the heaviest,
most difficult piece of meat
for me to get in the canoe. Only way I was able to get
it in there was to drag
the whole sled in, and I broke the sled. Not very nice. Hopefully this is still
gonna be adequate to get
the rest of the meat down. But that's what
I got to deal with. This sled is necessary
for me to get this
moose out of the woods. Without it, I'm gonna
have a big problem. A sled's a basic
piece of equipment. It's right up there with my
rifle, my knife, and my canoe. Basic transportation. I got eight or nine
loads to go, hopefully
this thing holds up. There. Looks like my
sled's in three pieces now. But it's still helping a lot. Broken sled's
better than no sled. Really my biggest concern
at this point is just getting it back before any
big scavenger finds it. I mean there are
definitely bears around,
and wolves, or wolverines. If any of those animals
find this meat before I
get it all back into camp, they'll destroy it. What I've got to think about
is getting the job done before
anything else gets to it. This thing is falling apart. ♪ ♪ GLENN: This thing
is falling apart. Sled came apart. Oh, boy. This sled's busted
right in half now. This is gonna be a problem. Sled broke, things happen,
you gotta find a solution. I got to make some kind of
emergency improvisation here. See what I can do. If I can just get
this the next 75 yards
down to the shore, I'll have a full canoe load. I can go home. I got another sled
there I can bring back over. Problem is
just getting this,
I can't lift it up and carry it across
this tussocky ground
down to that beach. No way. But I might be able
to do something here. This is the biggest piece. Put a hole in there. If I just shingle
it like this, I'm taking
the two biggest pieces, overlap them, try to
latch it back together. Put the heaviest part of the
meat right here in the front, have the hoof
dragging out the back. I think I might be able to
make it to the beach that way. A lot of times I've been
in difficult situations and
not had much to work with. But if you stop, think
about it, and use your head,
you can find a solution. Hey, it's sliding. It's a funny thing, I've
been doing this for years. And every year,
it's difficult. You have to wonder, like,
why am I making getting
food so complicated? But after it's all done and
you're sitting down there,
eating that tenderloin. You forget all this
pain and suffering. It all goes away so fast. When you bite into that first
juicy steak, there's nothing
that tastes the same as meat that you hunted yourself
and put the effort
into getting back home and putting on the table. There. Okay. You get attached to
your tools out here. I get attached to my
tools because I depend
on them so much. This sled right here,
I've had it for years. I've moved literally
thousands of pounds of
meat with this sled, and that's the last
load of meat this sled's
ever going to move. We shared some pretty
good times together. I've been working 18 hours. I got to grab a bite to eat
in camp, get a little rest, and get back as soon as
I can before anything
gets that meat. I've always operated
alone, so I'm used
to taking that risk. JESSIE: I enjoy the
uncertainty that winter brings
and I enjoy just stepping up to the challenge of
whatever it brings. Getting my dog food, uh,
cooker loaded up with some
wood before I head out to go check my traps and see if
I got any action out there. Set some traps a
couple of days ago. So, hopefully I got
something in those traps. The temperature has dropped,
so definitely gonna probably
be seeing a lot of changes out there and a lot more ice. Uh, definitely feels like
winter has finally got here. Get this fire going here
and, uh, that way my dog food
will be cooked this evening whenever I get home and,
uh, it's kind of the start
to every day around here. Get a good routine going,
and then you can, uh, be able
to afford some time to go out and hopefully
get some beaver right now. It's a good time of year to
be able to be out watching
what these beaver are doing. If you don't get out and
look around, you just don't
know what's out there. Opportunity is all over out
here you just got to get
out and go out and find it. I mean, when I go out there
in the woods, opportunity
tends to cross my path and I'm the type of person
that takes advantage of that. I see some movement up there. Looks like a grouse. I'm gonna try to take
a shot at it with my .22 here. (gunshot) Got it! All right, man!
Awesome! I haven't seen many
grouse around this year. Come out here to go check
my beaver traps, brought my
gun with me, found a grouse. With the snow being
on the ground, and
this bird being dark, it stuck right out
to me, you know. And I was able to see
it out of the corner
of my eye moving. Just like I was the other
day, using my surroundings
to my advantage with, uh, hunting the rabbits because
they're white on dark ground,
this is the reverse of that. Clean, organic
meat right here. This is the best. This is just a bonus
for going out here to
check my traps. This is gonna be delicious. Gonna eat this
first thing tonight. One of the things that I love
about living out here is you
just get out in the backyard and you start putting in
some effort and you can come
away with something to eat, and that's a very
pleasurable feeling. It's a valuable
use of my time. I love to just go
out and walk and hunt. Opportunity presents itself,
come away with a bird to eat. Getting closer over
here to my first trap. Hoping to get at least one
beaver would be real nice. Trap number one,
the moment of truth. No, nothing in there. We're gonna go
check the other ones. Definitely froze up overnight. Hopefully those beavers
came out for one
last snack on the bank. Before this ice froze up. Yup, nothing in
these traps here. This is trap two and
trap number three,
nothing in there. Still got one
more trap to check. I'm going over to
check my fourth trap. It's not like the
other three traps. I put this one under
the water so it's under the
ice so there's a way bigger chance that I'm gonna have
a beaver in this set than these other sets
cause these beavers, they can't come out
up on the bank anymore
with this ice, so. Oh, wow. There's
definitely some broken
up ice over here. I might have
something in this one. My trap is under
the ice right here. I can't really see
underneath this. It's frozen pretty thick. There's the trap. JESSIE: This is
definitely my highest hopes for having something in
this trap right here. There's the trap and
there's nothing in it. I thought we had warm
enough weather that this
ice wasn't gonna develop. This ice right here prevents
the beavers from coming up into my traps that
are on the bank. About in one more week,
I'll be able to walk
out on this ice and I can set some traps
underneath it that I know
are gonna be productive. I know I'm gonna get these
beavers at some point. I come out here and
I found a good location. That's a good thing to
have in my back pocket and
know that it's out here. With the way the conditions
are right now there's no point
in leaving these traps here. These traps aren't
going to do any good here
so I'm gonna spring them, take them home. Didn't come away
with any beaver, but as soon as
that ice thickens up, I'll be able to go out
there and reset those traps. Right now I got, you know,
some nice rabbits to cook up and a nice grouse
I'd picked up on the way. And I'm about to
have myself a meal. Looking forward to going
home and having a nice fire and cooking up
some of this fresh meat. This is one rabbit and
this grouse here will be a
couple days' worth of food. Putting in the effort,
come out with the reward. Now, I get to enjoy the
reward here and, uh, eat
myself some fresh rabbit. Hmm. That's good,
real good. My grandpa really
liked hunting rabbits. I feel like if he was here, he'd be real proud of
the way I'm living and
that makes me feel good. This is a real
transition time of year here. It's gonna be
winter real soon. You really just gotta
adapt to living by the
cycles of the land here, you know, and the seasons. And the, know where the
animals are, and know
when you can get them. One of my biggest beliefs out
here that's really helped me
with everything is to devote yourself to the perfection
of whatever it is you pursue. To pursue everything
with hard work, dignity,
integrity, and persistence. Maybe sometimes I'll have
a little luck but that luck
is a residue of design. Every time I go out there,
things are gonna happen. But I got to go out
there to make them happen. And I enjoy that
kind of lifestyle. That's a lifestyle
that always keeps you on your
toes, always keeps you moving. I had my trials
and my tribulations
but I kept coming at it and kept coming at
it and here I am now. Learning every year how
to thrive and survive more. GLENN: Many years ago, I had a
vision of what I wanted to do. To live off the land. Hunt for my food,
live in the wilderness. And the Brooks
Range is the place. This weighs
about 100 pounds. Pretty big head. <i> NARRATOR: After hunting a
bull moose, Glenn places the
final piece on his meat rack,</i> <i> culminating in a</i> <i> winter's
worth of protein for
himself and his family.</i> GLENN: There!
Got the meat hung up. Air can circulate around it. This is good, it's already
getting a dry crust. And that's the key
to preserving meat. So this meat's gonna be okay. That meat's not gonna spoil. As long as it's kept dry and
clean, hanging there with good
air circulation around it, it'll be just
fine until it freezes. Nice chunk of fat right there. What an awesome hunt! Walking around this lake,
looking for this moose. Unbelievable,
gorgeous country. I sure got my exercise. It was a lot of work,
but this is the payoff. AMELIA: Agatha, you're gonna
eat a tongue and tenderloin. GLENN: All right.
Let's have some dinner. TRISHA: Yum.
GLENN: Yeah, it's finger food. TRISHA: It's finger food.
GLENN: Moose tongue! AMELIA: (Inaudible) of course.
TRISHA: Oh, lucky you. GLENN: Hmm. Moose tongue,
it's been a year! Makes me think of
the first time I ever
got a moose out here. And, uh, I put so
much energy into it. Hunted for about two weeks,
got a moose and I was just
sitting here enjoying all the different tasty tidbits
for the first time. But I was all by myself. Didn't have anybody
to share it with. This is so much nicer,
having you all here. TRISHA: More?
Oh, my goodness. GLENN: Oh, she's
totally into it! More, more, more. TRISHA: Show Mommy
what you want. GLENN: Isn't that
good, Agatha? Yeah? Moose tongue! It took a while to get
it all together, but you
know this was my dream. It's what I always wanted
to do, live out in the
wilderness with my family. One of my basic philosophies
in life, know yourself,
know what makes you happy, and then pursue it. And that's what I did here. I wanted to live
in the wilderness. I wanted to have
a family out here. And I have it. I have everything that
really matters to me. SUE: No matter where you are,
home can be the coolest place
on the planet of the Earth. But it's good to get outside
and get a stretch of the legs. I've got my
ptarmigan in there. The oil, that's actually
bear fat that's rendered down. Some spices, I'm adding
some spinach from my garden. I take it and I freeze it. These are some mushrooms
I got earlier in the year. It was a good day. Did I fail at killing the
bear, taking, harvesting
the meat and the fur? Yes, 100%.
But, is it really a failure? No! I got my, my
little Sue-craft out
and got it together. Went down the river in it,
got a whole new perspective. There's definitely predators
up around and walking,
walking the riverbank. A little white wine, some
for the bird, some for me. What did I learn out
of the whole event? I better keep myself prepared. If I want to live this
lifestyle for a long time,
I've got to remember. You've got to be prepared. It's not just for the moment. You got to be
prepared for anything. Nature always wins here. CHIP: I want my kids to
take what they have got
and start their own. I don't want to run them
out of the house, but
I keep encouraging them. I want them to succeed. IRIQTAQ: Wade, come here!
Wade, Momma wants you! AGNES: Your parka's done! These last few days,
uh, we've been putting all our
attention to our, my grandson. We just put a parka together
and Chip and Caroline
built him a sled and, um, it's good just to see my
whole family help raise
up my daughter Idi's son. CHIP: Oh, wow! That
looks real fluffy too! Yeah, are you gonna
try to put it on? AGNES: Yup. No
need to worry about you. CHIP: Yup, nobody can
worry about you when
you're wearing this! TINMIAQ: And if you fall
for some reason in the water,
you'll float, hi, baby! CHIP: Oh, there he is.
Turn around, let's see! There you go.
That's really good. He can pull his arms in! And if he had to,
pull his cuffs down. Yup, he's ready to
go out, isn't he? IRIQTAQ: Come and put your
boots on, right there. TINMIAQ: Wear your boots. CHIP: Come on, I'll put
my boots on real quick. I've got a sled out
here you're gonna like. IRIQTAQ: Gonna play
outside with your parkie. IRIQTAQ: Ooh, Dada
got you a sled! (barking) CHIP: Come on, jump on board! IRIQTAQ: Wow! TINMIAQ: Wanna go like that?
One, two, three! IRIQTAQ: Whoa!
Wow, perfect! Want to try again? CHIP: Me and Carol got
together and we made him a
little sled, and then, uh, the ladies took some
skins and threw together
a nice little parkie. And when the deep cold comes,
he'll be able to travel and stay with his mom and dad no
matter what the temperature is. We don't have a
worry in the world. So, that's what you
want for your children. Give them the best, make
it yourself if you have to. IRIQTAQ: Whoa! CHIP: What more could
a little kid want? And as long as you can
give a kid a little
something, you know, let him know you
appreciate him, he'll enjoy it. I don't know if he
knows the concept, but
he'll figure it out. AGNES: He loves it! Even your parka! As an Inupiaq Eskimo, it's
very important for me to pass down my knowledge
to my children. And we all worked together on
this project and we all just
managed to put it together and made a parka that
fits the boy so perfectly. And, uh, he'll be nice
and warm, and, uh, every
stitch was made with love. TINMIAQ: Let me
slide with you. Come on, feet up. Make room for me!
Make room! AGNES: Wow, even
auntie could fit. TINMIAQ: Woo! Yeah! IRIQTAQ: It's, um, it's
always great to see your, all
your own kid's really happy. He loved the parkie, he's
gonna use it all winter. And all of our hard work came
together and it made a really
great parkie that my son will love and appreciate and will
have for a very long time. Just a perfect parkie
for the perfect boy. AGNES: Wow. CHIP: Hey, you're gonna
drag him the whole way. Well, we'll let
them play, huh? TINMIAQ: Yeah.
AGNES: Yeah. CHIP: You, guys,
wanna go inside? AGNES: Yup. CHIP: We'll be
inside making lunch! IRIQTAQ: Okay! I'm gonna
play out here for a bit. Growing up going
back and forth to camp,
you know I grew up learning a lot of
traditional and cultural
ways of doing things. I've grown up where
I've eaten the cultural
food and I grew up healthily and happily
off those kinds of things. For my mom to be able
to teach me something
like making that parkie, it's, you know,
it's touching. I love that I'm able
to do something like
that and be able to make it as beautiful as we
all made it turn out to be. So I'm really thankful
for the way that my
parents have raised me. And I'm thankful that I'm
able to pass that on to my son. Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services.
