Original subtitles

NARRATOR: On this episode of Life Below Zero,

strange weather spreads across the Arctic,

putting Alaska on thin ice.

CHIP: Two inches ice.

AGNES: Whoa! Fuck that!

NARRATOR: Arctic predators come knocking at Sue's door.

The bears, their main food source

is anything they can get their paws on.

NARRATOR: The search is on for an elusive Arctic fur.

Got a wolf right there.

And a novice to life in the bush makes a rookie mistake.

Anything can happen out there.

Whoa!

-(WIND BLOWING) -(ICE CRACKLING)

CHIP: This freeze-up is basically a month late.

We should've been already almost done fishing by now,

and now it's warming back up again after it froze.

So, I'm worried about the ice still staying thin,

the weather warming up like it has, and falling through the ice.

That's my concern.

And it's only got a couple inches of ice, which isn't very safe.

It's safe to walk over, but not to put a load on,

and if we have adults working,

and we're piling up a net

which weighs hundreds of pounds,

and on top of that piles of fish,

we're really looking to just kill ourselves.

Let's go down to the ice hole, I guess.

The weather rules everything,

and I'm not saying the weather's messing with me,

but I'm trying to roll with the weather,

and it's not doing what I want it to do. (CHUCKLES)

NARRATOR: For the Hailstones, ice fishing is a vital yet dangerous way of life.

Until the ice is safe to fish on,

the family will be without a key winter currency.

CHIP: We got a lot of fish from this summer.

We got a lot of caribou. What we don't have is extra.

And when it comes to making money or making good trade

-this would be, kind of, a financial loss to us. -(DOG BARKS)

You know, we're halfway through our lives.

We're middle-aged. We know it.

Every little instance that we have to watch out for,

we know every little instance that we have to make up for,

and we know what our monthly goals are for income,

and not only maintaining our life, but improving our life.

So, we'll see what happens.

AGNES: This is the Kobuk River. It's deep. It's wide.

We've been just watching the conditions for the last couple few days

and watching the ice conditions here.

(CRACKING)

Whoa!

I don't like that crackling sound. It's just fuckin'...

CHIP: Here's how thick it is.

AGNES: Right there.

-There's a rule about working on ice that thin. -(CLANGING)

I wouldn't want to put the weight of the fish,

and the weight of the net on this.

That's just not gonna work.

Ice is between an inch and two inches thick,

and we have a two-inch rule for walking over.

We have four-inch rule for doing any kind of work whatsoever.

And I want six inches,

because I definitely wanna be able to put a pile of fish

and do my work without worrying about the whole thing collapsing in,

people dying.

Yeah. See?

You can see how the different layers... It's like shale.

So when you're dealing with that kind of ice

you're not dealing with ice that has integrity.

Every sign we see is just danger.

So, we just have to keep waiting and play it safe.

There's no money worth dying for.

There's no trade worth dying for, so...

I ain't having no part of this.

CHIP: So ends this day of fishing.

We will return when the ice is happy and thick.

AGNES: One more day should be good, huh?

CHIP: Yeah, one more day.

(STARTS ENGINE)

SUE: Looking at the signs of nature, looking at the animals,

looking at things,

I predict this is gonna be one hell of a bad winter.

SUE: Time to do a little maintenance.

Time for me to change my oil on my generator.

This year, winter came in with a roar.

The caribou, everything migrated out a month, month and a half early,

and then all of a sudden up comes the South-Pacific air

in what's called the Pineapple Express, and I warmed right back up.

With the warm weather that's happening, I'm having to run my generator

to keep all my frozen food frozen far longer than normal.

It's not the 20, or 30, or 40 below it should be.

I don't want to waste food,

but I can't afford to keep this generator running solely to keep food frozen.

NARRATOR: Warmer temperatures are not only wreaking havoc on Sue,

but could also be upsetting the behaviour of local predators.

Animals need it to be well below zero so they can hibernate.

Without it being cold enough,

they're using up precious resources that they need.

They need to be asleep. They need to hibernate.

As crazy as it sounds, we depend on it getting cold.

Only being 15-20 miles,

you know, up to 30 miles away from the Arctic Ocean,

I've got polar bears that hang out at the coast.

I now could very well be in the sights of those polar bears.

-(GRUNTS) Piece of... -(STARTS MOTOR)

Usually this time of year I'm 20-30 below zero or more.

Garbage, frozen stuff isn't gonna give off a smell,

but this year, you know, it's 40°.

Now I'm 70° above where I normally am.

It's a fluke.

So, the garbage is gonna give off a smell.

That's like becoming a bait station.

So, another way of arming yourself with safety is get it burnt.

It's something you, kind of, want to layer.

(CLATTERING)

The bears, their main food source,

which is caribou, long gone.

So, what are they eating?

Anything they can get their paws on.

Bears smell from ten miles away.

Fifteen miles or so away I've got usually quite a few polar bears.

The sea ice, the pack ice isn't in.

So, the polar bears are starting to get a little bit upset about that.

They want their food.

I need to burn this stuff, and I need to use enough accelerant

that it's not sitting there smelling like leftover salmon or leftover food

that they might be interested in.

I don't think a person is a polar bear's natural diet,

but they can't get out and get their natural diet right now.

So, I don't want to leave myself open for some unprecedented attention.

(CLATTERING)

ANDY: You gotta be a proactive person to live this lifestyle.

If you're submissive,

if you're waiting for other people to do it for you,

you ain't gonna get it.

ANDY: What do you think, Berg?

-Wanna go to a new spot today? -(BERG BARKS)

KATE: So, you're loosening up the doghouses.

You think we can move those doghouses today?

-Yeah. It's time. -I've got a list of where to put 'em.

Yeah.

Winter lot.

-Hey, Cody! -CODY: Yeah?

-Wanna move some dog houses? -CODY: Yes, ma'am!

Today's a big day. We're gonna move our dog houses

with the help of Cody, our new student.

He's here to learn about dog mushing,

subsistence living, bush skills.

For 20 or 30 years, I've been dog mushing,

but what goes along with that is not just sitting in the sled.

It's learning how to take care of dogs.

You want to go to the winter dog lot, Iceberg?

NARRATOR: In Eagle, a lack of snowfall

has delayed the start of dog mushing season.

-ANDY: It's really late. We're already into mid-November. -(DOG SQUEAKING)

We're about two to three weeks behind where I normally would be.

Climate change is really screwing with us up here in the north.

If there's one thing you can count on,

it's that you can't ever count on the weather.

-So, it's time to start getting these dogs in shape. -(DOG SQUEAKING)

I have someone young here. He's never done it.

It's gonna be fun for me to teach him how to do it.

At the same time, it's gonna benefit me by getting more dogs out.

-The dogs are excited. They know what's going on. -(BARKING)

They know it's time to start getting serious about dog mushing.

What we usually do, Cody, is in the summertime, sled dogs love to dig.

CODY: Yeah.

We want our winter lot to be hole-free.

Because when they dig holes like this you slip and fall with a bucket of food,

or twist your ankle, whatever.

It's just an accident waiting to happen.

CODY: My intentions coming out here, mainly,

is to just try and learn as much as I can from Andy and Kate,

and a lot of that, I don't know what I'm going to be learning.

I just know I want to live out here,

and I want to know what it takes to live out here.

-So, anyway, let's get moving. -KATE: Burning daylight, guys.

ANDY: Kate's got the list.

So, you guys can just go ahead and start moving those.

I'll, kind of, work these towards the front.

KATE: Okay, Stoli's going next to Vixen, front row, second last.

(DOGS BARKING, SQUEAKING AND HOWLING)

CODY: Do you have to have them spaced out

and placed in certain areas?

Well, there's certain ones that are really good friends,

and some are like roommates that should never be living together.

ANDY: Topaz, your house is coming apart.

This is why I'm only five foot eight.

KATE: Okay, guys!

CODY: Hey, everybody!

-(DOG SQUEAKING) -(WHOOPING)

-(TIA BARKS) -Tia! Good girl.

Good, come, Ti.

Somebody...

Is this Rupee right here?

-That's Vixen right there. -(EXHALING) Okay.

CODY: As far as what's going on right now,

it, kind of, seems like a preschool.

Whole bunch of rowdy kids on

just about a 15-minute recess, and got to go play,

and now we gotta rile them up to all get back into class.

It's really fun though.

These seem like the happiest animals I've ever met.

Come here, Rupe.

CODY: These dogs are pretty much people here.

I mean, they're just really hard working people.

They probably work harder than we do half the time.

I think first thing tomorrow morning

-I want to start teaching you how to mush. -Okay.

Get a good night's sleep tonight,

and then we'll start bright and early as soon

as the sun's up tomorrow, and spend the day dog mushing,

and picking you up out of the snow.

(BOTH LAUGHING)

ANDY: Everybody's in their new house!

Oh, boy! New spots.

ERIK: I don't have a boss, so there's nobody to tell me

I need to do anything on a given day.

It's all just being self-motivated

and getting done whatever needs to get done.

The Brooks Range in Wiseman, where I live is uh...

The climate is very different and the terrain is a lot different.

Trapping is something that I do commercially,

you know, in the winter after the guiding season is over.

I'm ready to spend a little bit of time in the woods on my own.

Seen some wolf sign around and I'm just hoping,

just hoping that I'll be able to call in a wolf.

NARRATOR: Cooler temperatures herald the start of fur-trapping season,

an important source of income for Erik.

As one of Alaska's apex predators,

the coat of a wolf could be worth up to $1500 on the open market.

ERIK: I've got my AR. I've got my predator call.

I'm gonna head out and see if I can sneak up into a spot

and set up and make a good calling set.

So, we'll see what happens.

(ENGINE REVVS UP)

You know, a lot of people sit in front of a TV all winter

and, kind of, get fat. (CHUCKLES)

Hunting fur and calling fur, it's, kind of, my little winter obsession

that I beat the blues of the dark and the cold with.

Wolves are the alpha predators in the area, except for man,

and they're really intelligent animals,

and they realise that men have firearms.

And if I make any kind of noise when I make my set,

I won't have any luck.

So, I gotta park the sled, walk a good distance, wait awhile, and hopefully,

just hopefully I can get some wolves in the area.

What the...

NARRATOR: Erik has spotted a pack of wolves 1,000 yards away.

Each wolf coat is worth up to $1,500.

If he can make the shot,

this could be his most rewarding haul of the season.

(GUNSHOT FIRING)

(GUNSHOT FIRING)

(GUNSHOT FIRING)

One thousand yards, man.

Not having a whole lot of luck with the wolves, this year.

Seem to hit everything else just fine.

Wolves zero for, I'd rather not say.

I'm gonna hop back on the Snow-Go and keep on rolling.

CHIP: Where I live and how I live, the weather rules everything.

Knowing your weather and how to work around your weather

is really important here, and it's one of the skills me and my wife both have.

CHIP: This is frozen beyond belief.

AGNES: I'm just gonna try to see if we could untangle it a little bit.

Where's the end? Right here?

Oh, man!

The bottom is frozen! Look like ice-hard.

CHIP: This is iced-up from being rained on.

NARRATOR: A late freeze has delayed the Hailstones' ice-fishing harvest.

In the hope the river is safe enough to fish tomorrow,

thawing the 150-foot net is top priority.

If we take it, put it in a shed, close the outside door,

build a big fire, and thaw out the bottom,

it'll just feed right out real easy.

-You know what I mean? -AGNES: Yeah.

Well, you know, when we put these things away

we put them away in a fairly organised manner,

and we roll the tarps up and protect them as best as we can,

but when we went to get it, we come to find out

that the continuous rains that happened until freeze-up

had leaked enough in here that there's couple of inches of ice on the bottom.

And it has all the webbing froze together.

So, there's no way we can stretch this thing out without damaging it.

So, we're gonna thaw it,

and then we'll be able to stretch it out and do our thing.

You ready to work, son?

AGNES: All together. One, two, three, go!

One, two, three, go!

(CHUCKLING) Wait, we're not pulling together.

CHIP: Probably, weighs about 800-900 pounds.

Feels like we're trying to lift a snow machine.

AGNES: One, two, three.

One, two, three, roll! (GRUNTING)

It always helps to have a big family.

Cousins, sons, daughters, wives.

(SQUEAKING)

MAN: (GRUNTING) I got it. I got it.

If I needed to I could call on my neighbours around here.

They'd help me as soon as I'd help them. No problem.

-AGNES: Go help with your dad, Jon. -I got it, I'm doing good.

Okay.

You guys just try lifting this way.

-(GRUNTING) Okay. -There we go.

One, two, three, go!

-Oh, yeah. -Keep going. Keep going.

(PANTING)

-Up, up, up, up. -I'm lifting. Lifting.

There you go.

-Here it comes. -(SQUEALING)

Come on in, my blob.

-(PANTING) -(AGNES CHUCKLING)

-Oh, thank goodness. -CHIP: Is it in?

AGNES: Not enough to close the door.

CHIP: Just put an old sleeping bag up.

-(HAMMERING) -AGNES: On this side.

This work we're doing takes a lot of energy.

So, we like to eat real good food.

So, the real good food right now is under the ice,

and hopefully by morning it will be thawed out,

and we'll go throw it out there.

And by then the ice should be thick enough,

and then I'll get a sled-load of fish, couple hundred fish hopefully,

and be set for the real extreme cold with fish 'til springtime.

ANDY: It takes imagination, determination, and follow through.

Those three things usually will get you by out here.

Okay, Cody, so today we're gonna do your first dog mushing lesson.

-You ready for it? -I think so. I hope so.

-No, I know so! There you go. -I know so. I know so.

I'm gonna give you the basics today.

For a lot of people, the first time you do this it's pretty intimidating.

They don't realise how much power and speed the dogs have.

It takes about one hundred miles of mushing

to really get a good feel of what you're doing.

The most important thing to remember is just try and be relaxed.

Especially this year with no snow, the sled's gonna move a lot.

It's gonna bounce this way and that way, and you need to let it do it.

Don't go with it completely.

If it happens, it happens.

-The important thing is you don't get hurt, right? -Okay.

Well, here's to not falling off.

Well, if you've never fallen off a dog sled,

you've never driven a dog sled.

We're gonna go out and run around,

go through some woods trails, go out onto the lake, run around the lake.

Just give you your first introduction to it.

You're gonna have a four-dog team,

so you're only gonna have a sled, two wheel dogs, a swing dog.

-Okay. -And then your lead dog in front of you.

-Okay. -This is Tia. (CHUCKLES)

She's a pretty good lead dog. She's pretty steady.

It's gonna take her a little bit to get to know you.

So, we're gonna take Topaz as your swing dog.

Come here, Tope. Come, yeah.

Yeah, you can see she's really... She's really not very shy.

So, then let's go get your wheel dogs here.

Gilligan is extremely excitable.

He'll tune into you pretty quick I think.

He's kind of a soft head, but he's a really nice dog.

And then we'll take Alt, and Alt is this big fat boy over here.

Attaboy.

He's, kind of, what I call the no-nonsense dog.

Yeah, seems like everybody else is all riled up,

-and he was just chilling in his house. -Yeah.

This'll be a really nice beginner team for you,

and then as you get better and better we'll just add some more dogs

or maybe go to some little bit higher-powered dogs.

-Okay? -Okay.

I'll take care of you if you take care of me.

(DOGS BARKING AND HOWLING)

Go ahead and take the coat off first.

Undo the chain.

And then that has to come up through the neck part.

-So, on the backside or the front? -No, the front, so it's free.

There you go. I've given Cody a hell of a lot of information.

I think he'll do well. I expect to see him lose it a couple of times.

If he doesn't, all the better,

but most people do the first couple of days that they mush.

That's upside down.

Just right off the bat it's a lot to take in all at once,

and when he starts, kind of, talking about what I have to do

if I get knocked off a sled, or...

I mean, I'm, kind of, nervous.

Just because, I mean, these are Andy and Kate's babies,

and they're trusting me to go out with them.

And there's a lot that could go wrong,

but it seems, like, with everything Andy told me,

as long as I can, kind of, keep it somewhat in order, I'll be okay out there.

There you go. Just go and just walk her over there.

Or maybe she'll walk you over there.

Thank you for being so cooperative.

All your brothers and sisters are a pain-in-the-butt. You know that?

It's a mad house!

Okay, let's go. Up, up. Let's go.

It's my first time ever on a dog sled.

First time, you know, on a sled in general.

I don't know how's it's gonna go, but let's see what happens.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Easy.

Whoop.

Straight ahead.

This is my first time ever on a dog sled.

Something new to me.

Any time you're moving over 10 mph,

and you got trees all around you,

you keep it in the back of your head

that you could run into one of those very easy,

and without hospitals around small injuries can become big things.

Whoa, whoa.

-Easy, easy. -ANDY: Come on!

I got a tangle.

ANDY: Welcome to the bush.

-(CODY SNIFFING) -(DOG SQUEAKING)

No, you're doing good, buddy.

-Topaz decided to take a poop halfway. -ANDY: Yeah.

And then Gilligan decided to tangle his arm over the yellow line.

ANDY: Yeah. I know. Topaz is famous for that.

(CHUCKLES)

-ANDY: We need about a foot of snow. -Yeah.

That'd probably make everything a little bit softer.

It gets real good if you get some snow on it. This is pretty rough.

You gotta let the sled just move underneath of you.

If you go with the sled it just throws you right off.

CODY: Okay, why don't you get on your sled,

and we'll pull on out there and get back on the track. Chi-chi.

CODY: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,

and if you're sitting comfortable somewhere

you just get complacent, bored, lazy.

But when you get out to something like this,

if you're pushing yourself every day to survive and keep yourself going,

and to me it's amazing.

ANDY: Good G.

Good boy.

Ooh!

All right, good boys.

Let's see how Cody does.

(LAUGHS) Whoa, whoa, whoa. Good spot.

Go give them all a pat on the head.

-(CHUCKLES) -(HOWLING)

All right.

We did our first run today with Cody.

Everything went pretty darn good actually.

He was picking it up pretty quick.

All in all, a first good run, but you know, dog mushing,

it's one thing when you're following someone

and the dogs are just going down the trail.

It's a totally different ball game when you're out on your own.

So, I think probably the next thing for him to do is to take a little team out,

and, kind of, do the same run that we did today,

and just see how he does on his own.

-Yeah. I'm gonna put you up. -(BARKS)

SUE: There are challenges here

that there are no longer in the rest of the contiguous United States.

If you want to test yourself, no matter what your personality,

there's an area of Alaska that will do it.

BOB (OVER RADIO): Nine, five, delta, go for Sue.

Hey, Bob!

(SPEAKING OVER RADIO)

All right, I'll see you in a minute.

BOB: (OVER RADIO) Okay.

(REVERBERATING)

SUE: That's an awesome surprise.

I get a mail delivery once every few months,

and this time of year I don't expect it 'til June.

So, this is pretty cool.

(WHIRRING)

-Hey, hi there! -BOB: Sue! Hey!

-Hey, how you doing? -Good. How are you?

How's life at Kavik?

It's okay, getting cool again.

I mean, it's nowhere near as what it should be.

It's been one hell of a warm winter. Weird winter so far.

It's nice and cold today.

-It's getting there. -Arctic Coastal Plane.

-I got you a bunch of stuff. -Cool!

SUE: I wasn't expecting Bob today. So, that's pretty cool.

It's cleared up. It's pretty nice.

And while he's here I'm gonna ask him to see

if he can't get me up in the air

for doing a perimeter check on my predators.

NARRATOR: The unusual weather could be affecting

the migration patterns of predators in the area.

But the clear skies afford her the opportunity to scout dangers from above.

SUE: I'm pretty interested. It's been unseasonably warm.

It's getting cooler today,

but it'll be interesting just to get a bird's eye view

of what's going on in my neck of the tundra.

(SUE TALKING)

(BOB TALKING)

(SUE TALKING)

(BOB TALKING)

(SUE TALKING)

Oh, wow.

Bob, look down there.

What do you got?

I got, it looks like polar bears.

(BOB TALKING)

(SUE TALKING)

SUE: So, yeah, I'll have to definitely stay aware for a little while longer.

I mean, to see the polar bears that close,

I mean, that's not even thirty miles away.

I mean, hell, they can swim sixty miles a day.

That's definitely a real threat to my area.

ERIK: As somebody who's dedicated their whole life to hunting and guiding,

there really is no more exhilarating moment

than when you're reflecting on the hunt you just completed

and you have another just irreplaceable experience

that you just lived in the outdoors.

NARRATOR: At fifteen hundred dollars apiece,

wolf fur is a crucial source of income for Erik.

While he's come up empty thus far,

his luck takes a fortunate turn

when he spots a lone wolf just off his trail.

There's a wolf right there.

Sitting down on the ice right there.

I knew I heard a wolf howl down there.

It's about 700-800 yards away,

but I think I can cut the distance,

put that berm in between me and him

and get a 400-500 yard shot.

Looks like a big male. Nice, grey wolf.

I'm gonna go for it.

I've snuck up here as close as I dare go without spooking him.

It's about a 450-yard shot.

He's kinda obscured behind a little knob here.

So, all I need him to do is move just a few feet in either direction,

come out from behind that little river bank,

and then he'll be exposed for a shot.

I'm hoping I can pull this off.

Here he goes. He's moving right now.

(FIRES GUN)

(FIRES GUN)

(FIRES GUN)

He's down.

ERIK: Definitely some hard earned, uh, satisfaction here.

Really gratifying to, uh, to get a wolf down

and feel like I really got something done.

What we have here is basically the symbol of wilderness.

Even though I believe very strongly in predator control,

it's always a mixed emotion for me whenever I kill a wolf like this.

I mean, they're beautiful.

The first shot, I caught him a little far back and slowed him up.

Second shot, I hit him right here in the neck and killed him instantly.

I'm gonna load this wolf up in my sled, and head back home,

and get him skinned out.

This is the sixth wolf that I've seen since trapping season opened,

and the first one I've harvested.

So, after a lot of heartbreak over the last few days,

finally came right with this big male.

Of all the thousands of days in my life that I spend in the outdoors,

it's the days that I just get to see wolves,

let alone be fortunate enough to harvest one,

that I think I'll remember up in my later years.

CODY: Everything cycles in life

and in generation to generation.

And I'm hoping we can get back to a cycle where people try

and become a little more self-sufficient.

All right.

There's Tia.

There's Topaz.

Ah, today's a big day for me. (SNIFFLES)

I'm, uh, taking a team out by myself.

Andy's, kinda, wanting me to build the confidence

a little bit more with the dogs,

and get a little bit better relationship with them.

And, kinda, see how I do out there on my own.

With how cold it is out today compared to the last time,

I gotta kinda be on my game a little bit.

Some of the coldest temps it's been since I've been out here.

I'm excited and scared at the same time. (LAUGHS)

I just want to go get this started and see how it goes.

Good girl.

This is why you're a lead dog,

'cause all your brothers and sisters going crazy out there.

Who's next?

Hey! You're already back over here?

Tia, come on.

Tighten up. Go. Tighten up.

Stay. Stay.

Tia, stay.

You're gonna make this difficult on me, aren't you?

I'll be back.

Okay.

You are gonna stay calm and not drag me across the whole yard.

(DOGS BARKING)

Dang it.

No, no. Stay. Hey.

All right, we ready to go?

(DOGS BARKING)

Hey!

All right.

That wrestling match is over.

Give me kisses.

Thank you.

Look at you, Alt!

That's my boy.

Look at all these guys, they're going crazy.

You're just like, "Yeah, I'm going, whatever.

"I'm the man."

(DOGS WAILING)

All right. Let's go have some fun!

Mush! Mush!

The last time I went dog mushing

it was one of the greatest things I've ever done in my life,

but it was also really comforting to have Andy out there with me.

Whoa, shit.

I'm really worried. I don't want anything to go wrong.

Like, you know, I don't want to get lost out there.

And I don't want the dogs, you know,

getting scared or something just happening.

I mean, anything can happen out there.

Come on, guys! Mush! Mush!

Oh! Good dogs.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Everybody okay?

First run coming out to the lake,

I had a little bit of an issue

where I think I just had the wrong lean coming up over a hill,

and felt everything going over.

And instead of trying to save it I kinda just ditched off

into the soft snow hoping everything would be okay.

And jumped right back up

and the dogs actually kind of stopped and waited for me.

I was kinda surprised by that. I thought they were gonna be gone when I looked up.

Today's quite a bit colder than last time we were out.

I can definitely feel it on my face when we're going.

But there's no wind out.

It's just mainly that negative frostbite feeling.

Yeah, all you want to do is play.

Hopefully, I can figure out where I got in here.

I mean, there's plenty of snow so I can probably just track my trail back.

So, we're gonna try and get around the lake

and get these guys some exercise.

Yeah, we'll go from there.

Topaz, come here.

All right.

And this is not gonna be fun.

The dogs tangled themselves up here a little bit,

and I don't know if I'll be able to get them undone

without unhooking one or two here.

(SIGHS)

You guys are trying to freak me out here.

We're out here by ourselves. Don't do this to me.

Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Let's go! Come on, Tia!

Little haw! Little haw!

Little haw, Tia! Let's go!

Let's go!

Come on, Tia! Let's go!

You got it, Tia! Come on, good girl!

Tighten up, Tia! Gee, gee!

Little gee! Little gee! Little gee!

Where you go?

Mush! Mush!

Come on! Let's go!

Let's go! Let's go!

Almost home! Almost home!

Let's go!

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Well, first trip out there by myself,

and it's definitely a lot different being out by myself,

without Andy out there.

These dogs are not machines.

They don't just respond to any command

or any button push that you give them.

They each got their own individual personalities

and it's definitely gonna take some more time getting to know them

and getting to know them out on the trail a bit more

before we all, kinda, get settled in together.

That was just about the hardest freaking day I've had out here so far.

(SIGHS)

It's all part of the life.

But for sure I'm glad to be back safe and sound with them.

There you go.

CHIP: Subsistence living to me is my ability to go out

and get the materials I need to feed, eat, clothe, and make money from.

And these folks around here know how to do things to make a good living.

It's not survival, it's living.

Honda's warmed up.

-Whoa! -Whoa!

Warmed up and in first gear! (LAUGHS)

We're gonna go check out the ice and see if it's safe enough

to get out and put a net on.

I know it'll bear our weight, I know we can walk out on it.

But that doesn't mean we can make a pile of fish on it

or take 700 or 800 pounds of net on it.

And if that ain't happening, then we certainly ain't bringing our kids out on it.

So, we're just gonna make sure it's safe the way we know how.

NARRATOR: Ice fishing is crucial to the Hailstone's winter trade stock.

But a late freeze of the Kobuk River

has so far prevented the family from cashing in.

If you don't do things right, you're gonna end up dying.

If we don't know how to check the ice

and we don't know what the thickness is,

and the dangers are, we could get killed.

If you don't do it correctly, you just get removed from the gene pool.

CHIP: Even if we have to wait an extra day,

instead of running just a 50-foot net

and getting a potential of 10 or 20 fish for ourselves,

we're trying to run at least 100, 150 foot net.

And we're gonna try to get enough, enough fish that we're secure.

Then we'll be able to trade fish all winter.

So, it's gonna be more than just a personal fishery,

it's gonna have a lot to do with being able to trade.

It's gonna have a lot to be able to do with giving away.

And it's gonna have a lot to do with us eating.

AGNES: What it look like? Four inches?

This stuff's okay, but over here is worse.

Thinner, thinner, thinner.

I'm going all the way through, Agnes.

Two inches of ice.

Whoa! Fuck that.

Oh, fuck. Same deal.

The snow cover that we had here

didn't allow this ice to thicken so well.

See, it's just water.

The thing is it just gets thinner

as we head out towards the centre of the river.

This is thin ice, Agnes.

Whoa! Fuck that!

AGNES: I don't really like going on the ice,

but it's something I have to do.

And it's been 21 years and three weeks

since my mother went out fishing her last time.

We ran two nets.

We had one here and we had one further up.

And me, my dad, and my younger sister,

we were just like five miles away from each other.

And they were on their way back

from the fishing hole and this old man,

he comes cruising along the edge and he's like,

"Some people fell through the ice, and I don't know who it is."

And then I was like, "What the hell?"

And then I thought for a minute, and I turned around,

and I went back up to the house and I say, "Where's my mom?

"Where's my brother? Did they get back yet?"

And they were like, "No, they never came back, they're still out fishing."

And right there I fucking knew it.

And my brother was right under my mom

and we never did find my brother's girlfriend.

My mom taught me to be tough. My mom taught me to be strong.

Try not to show my fear to my younger girls,

but I caution them and I tell them to always know

the safety in their surrounding areas where they're working at.

And always be safe because even though you think it's safe,

and you go over it yesterday, and the day before, and the day before,

it's still not safe.

So it's just a scary fucking thing.

I don't fuck around when it comes to ice.

Yesterday, we didn't even go out this far.

We were just along the edge.

CHIP: It's safe to walk on.

It's not safe to take a lot of weight.

If we're gonna have several people here,

we're gonna have a net that weighs several hundred pounds,

and we're gonna bring out several hundred pounds of fish

along with the net all into the same place

where we're all working together, this is gonna be a disaster.

So we're not gonna put a net in.

Nothing we want to do today. That's for sure.

Sometimes, this is what nature does to you.

Sometimes these things happen. You don't get a choice.

You just roll with it.

I think we're just gonna have to wait

and hope that the good weather comes back.

It's just, kinda, like going to the store

and not being able to find lettuce when you really crave a salad.

Ice fishing this year just isn't a happening deal.

Water!

ANDY: If you spend one year in the bush up here,

you will learn more about yourself in that one year

than you will in a lifetime of living where there's distractions,

and compromises, and all these other things in life.

CODY: Okay, something smells kinda fishy over here.

KATE: You think it could be fish?

You can take one and I'll take another.

All right. Ten fish.

I remember holding up six one time and holy cow.

-Is it heavy? -Yeah, a little bit.

Of course, you're gonna take that one and make me look like a wuss, aren't you?

(KATE LAUGHS)

So, how are you connecting with the dogs do you feel?

That's one thing I really have to say is like when I was falling off

I wasn't even trying to "Whoa" the dogs.

I was just, like, "Whoa, whoa, I'm falling!"

And I was up in a heartbeat thinking I was gonna be

chasing dogs for miles down the lake, but no, she stopped right away.

That's one thing I noticed with Tia.

She's always looking back at me.

Like, it always, kind of, calms me a little bit.

It's like, as much as I feel like

I'm taking care of them out there,

they were really making sure to take care of me.

We've had a lot of clients come and go,

and there's not a lot of people that you would trust

to actually take your dogs and go alone.

Cody's been one of those that you, you know...

I got a deep down feeling in my gut that that boy's got what it takes.

Okay, guys! Who wants fish?

Sit!

Hey, good job today, buddy. Good job.

You earned that.

Who gets one? Who's still hungry?

People refer to a dog as man's best friend all the time

and I don't think they truly know what that means.

I mean, these aren't just sled dogs they're a family,

and I kinda look at them more and more as people every day.

Okay. I want you to be very quiet now, Cody.

That's the sound of a lot of happy dogs.

Right now, I don't know if words can really express how I feel.

I mean, I'm 26 years old.

I spent a good portion of the last ten years,

kinda trying to figure out (SNIFFLING) who I am, what I'm supposed to do.

Coming out here, I thought it was just gonna be

a really hard substinence lifestyle,

but I'm coming to find out it's something I feel like I was born to do.

I love this.

I mean, there is absolutely nothing else I'd rather be doing right now.

I don't think I'm ever going to be able to call anywhere else home.