All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S03E13.The.Thaw.The.Resurrection.720p.NF.WEB-DL.x264-KangMus_track3_eng

SUE:
There's the Kavik airstrip.

All right, there's home.

SUE: Roughly four months
since the date of the injury.

Boneheaded myself
on the snow machine.

Broke the collarbone, bad.

I've had some surgeries,

I'm still carrying
a bunch of stitches,

but the doctor said,
"If you behave yourself,

"I will trust you to go home."

SUE: It all looks uh, slightly
different than when I left.

It looks like it might be,

might not be quite
as nice out at Kavik.

PILOT: Why don't
we just go down here?

SUE: Yeah.

This has been
almost four months

since anybody
has set foot in Kavik.

I don't know
what I'm walking into.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

NARRATOR: Sue Aikens has spent
the past four months

in Fairbanks recovering
from surgery.

As Kavik River Camp's
sole proprietor,

her absence has left the sight
uninhabited and unprotected.

SUE: I have to visually
check everything.

Behind any corner,
any trailer,

it's the things you don't see
that bite ya in the ass.

I got injured, in the winter,

and it was very cold
and very snowy in winter.

I've been down
through the flooding.

Four months have thawed out.

It has gone through
the awakening of the bears.

There's 83 bears tagged
within so many miles of camp

that can walk through.

I can't go in unarmed in case

something decides to take me
out of the equation.

You got a scratch here.

That's been torn.

How do you know it's new?
Well it's a different colour.

It's bright yellow.

All the other wood
is weathered,

this is yellowish.

Can't say if it's a bear,
can't say what it is.

It's just that...

I don't see
where the building isn't,

it has been, uh,

the integrity has not been
compromised on the building.

But you can see
something pushed.

Okay, I don't see any breaks
in the material.

Time to go in the Twinkie.

Dark in here, man.

The door back here
is still shut.

So that's good.

All's I'm looking for,
did something open a door?

Is there a problem?

I don't care if the bears come
scratch, scratch, scratch.

I care about open, open, open.

So, everything's looking
pretty good.

And uh, (GIGGLES) silly
as it seems,

this right here,

coffee grounds
that I spread everywhere.

What it does,
a bear's nose is so sensitive,

that mild acidic scent
is just like an outhouse.

They don't like it.

It is a miracle
that I was able to be gone

and no bears came in.

They scratched
and they didn't destroy it.

Um, that is,

it's pretty amazing. I feel
proud of myself for that.

I'm one lucky bitch in camp.
Nothing ate it.

But I got a lotta
clean up to do.

CHIP:
To us, this is living rich.

This is adventure
and time with my family.

Ain't no amount of money
can ever get to hold that.

My name is Agnes Hailstone.

I am married
to Edward Hailstone.

We call him Chip.

I'm Edward Hailstone.
I'm a subsistence hunter.

I'm a subsistence gatherer,
fisherman.

I'm married to Agnes,
and I have five daughters.

I try to get 'em all involved
in everything from caribou,

to seals in the ocean,
to fish in the river,

to birds flying overhead,

to digging stuff
out of the ground.

We gotta be kind of nomadic,

and change our camps,
and go where the animals are.

Or we have to go
where the fish are,

or we have to go
where the plants

are blooming, or the berries.

And sometimes we have to go
where the weather tells us to.

So, we're spending the spring
here in the Kiwalik

'cause this, to us,
is the place to be.

-Hi, Dad.
-Hello, Bun.

NARRATOR: Warm temperatures
and long days

allow the Hailstones to live
off the land in Kiwalik.

They'll spend
the summer harvesting

the area's vast resources,

in order to survive
the harsh winter ahead.

CHIP: We've got some
important things to do.

We're gonna
have to set up the tents,

we're gonna
have to set up our kitchen.

Gonna have to go get some

willows and grasses
to make our beds.

Just generally set
things up the way we like 'em

in the summertime
and be here till August.

AGNES: Okay, we got to start
moving before
the weather come.

Towards evening
it's gonna get cold

and start getting moist.

CHIP: One, two three,
let's go.

All together.

-Should I push?
-Uh, up to you.

-I need like, uh...
-You need, you could...

CHIP: Yep, hold onto
a rope babe,

that's all you gotta do.

CHIP: Yep. It's bulky
is what it is, okay?

Okay, stop you guys.

-Oh wait, dad you see that?
-Oh, those are caribou!

Look at that.
We missed 'em!

CHIP: It's a pretty
tough sell.

I think we probably should
just stick with the job

we're doing and hope
they come a little closer.

Let's keep going,
one, two, three, go.

CHIP: If I wanted
to go after caribou,

that would
be a considerable effort

and a considerable
amount of time.

To go up there,
to run something down,

carry it back here
would be exhausting.

And then to have to put up
the tepee and the tent,
that'd be even worse.

So the whole idea is that once
we got the tepee
and the tent up,

then I can run off.

I can go get firewood,
I can go chase caribou.
I can go do all that stuff.

-Keep it going forward, love.
-Oh, it's far away.

Be careful, it's deep over
here on this side.

-(SHRIEKS) Ah!
-I warned ya.

CHIP: Getting our tents up
is the number one thing.

If we have our tents up,
then we're able to operate,
stay dry.

Without a good place to stay,
ain't no fun.

There we go, right there.

Okay.

(SIGHS) Well, it's gonna rain,
you guys.

Let's get this up
and let's make a place
to cover our stuffs.

Pull towards Mom.

CHIP: I know, we gotta,
we gotta fix em.

CHIP: It's important
to have shelter,

as fast as you can.
We've got rain coming.

And we have
tons of work to do.

But what we do
is we cover our bases first

so that if anything happens,
we got a home.

(CHIPPING)

AGNES: Pretty good job, girls.

Look like you all be, secure.

It's gonna hold for the rest
of the summer.

So we're gonna just uh,
knock off for the night

and we'll start out
in the morning
and see what we come up with.

JESSIE: I can't live
this lifestyle if I don't work
my butt off

to make it possible.

My name is Jessie Holmes.

When I was young,
things just weren't
working for me.

I was a real rambler.
I couldn't stay still,
I couldn't stay in one town.

I got myself
into a lot of trouble,

and I realised I needed
to turn that around quick

and go back to
the genuine thing in me,
that was just like calling

for like quiet,
peace, and wilderness.

So, like, I directed my life,

to correcting that and going
back to what I knew I needed
and wanted.

And you know, now,
I just strive to live

a simple lifestyle here
on the Nenana River.

Running my dogs,
trapping, hunting, fishing.

Doing whatever it takes
to maintain this lifestyle.

I'm a lucky man
to live the way I do,

and I thank God
for it every day.

JESSIE: Polar Bear.

You ready for me to cook
for you?

I'm gonna cook up
some dog food for my dogs.

I'm gonna add
a bunch of meat in here.

Now, I'll throw a couple
of these fish in here,

just to give
that good fish flavour.

This is the last
of the dry fish that I had.

This was put away last fall.

Running out and, uh,

it's time to start
catching some more fish.

NARRATOR: For Jessie Holmes,

getting his fish wheel
in the water

for the chum salmon
run is crucial.

If he's not able
to catch fish,

he won't be able
to feed his dog team.

JESSIE: It's really critical
that I do this,

because
I can't afford to, like,

feed these dogs
through the winter.

I have almost,
close to 40 dogs.

If you were feeding them
a dry commercial kibble,

it'd be, like, you know,
$45, $50 a day.

I'm gonna
close this lid tight.

It'll all steam
and cook together

and make a nice meal
for the dogs.

(DOGS BARKING)

Getting my protein,
and my fat, and my water.

How you doing, Doggy?

Sled dogs are probably what

held me to the land in Alaska.

I usually do about
four to five races a year

with the dogs, and, uh,

that's one of the ways
that I subsist

up here with my dog team.

Try to see my dogs
make me as much money back

that I spend and put into them
as they possibly can.

That's just to help me
maintain this.

Tates, what you doing, huh?

Hey, yeah. You hungry?

Oh, yeah, look at that.

I try to kill two birds
with one stone
with everything I do.

So when I'm feeding my dogs,
I want to give them that
positive attention.

Let 'em know I care
about each one of 'em.

I don't want to just do it
like it's a job, you know?

It's like going to work
and not getting

an honest day in. You know?

Like, if I'm here,
I want em to know
that it's for them.

Good boy, Copper.

If I'm having a bad day,
I come out here and feed
these dogs in the evening

and whenever it's done,
I feel like I just went
to therapy.

I love seeing my dogs
and I love feeding them

the best food
that I possibly can.

I think when
you got this many dogs,

your life needs
to revolve around them.

They need constant
care and attention,
and they deserve it.

Labour of love,
that's what this is.

GLENN: Different experience
of time, different experience
of space.

It's a very different
consciousness living out here
than it is living in town.

My name's Glenn Villeneuve.
I've always enjoyed living
out in the wilderness,

so I moved up to Alaska
15 years ago to live out
in the Brooks Range.

I was looking all over
the world for a place to live
close to nature like this,

and I ended up, up here.

What a beautiful day.
Springtime.

Lake's already starting
to thaw out.

I hear all
the little songbirds out there
singing this morning.

Heard some ducks quacking.

Birds flying into the valley.

The leaves are coming out,

what a great time of year
it is out here.

A lot of the animals aren't
available to me.

The caribou have headed
further north.

I probably won't see
any more caribou this year.

The only caribou meat I have,
I had to dry.

So I'm just eating
dry caribou meat

because I can't keep
it frozen any more.

But at this time of year,

I turn my attention
to smaller animals.

Things that
I can consume faster

so that preservation
isn't such a problem.

And that's what I'm gonna
be looking for today.

In the spring,
when the lake starts to melt,

the first ice to go
is around the edge.

A moat opens up.

That concentrates the ducks,
'cause the first ducks
coming in

are gonna have to land in this
narrow channel of water,

right along the edge
of the lake.

That's where I'm gonna
hunt today.

No ducks.

Just got to keep looking.

It's not uncommon for me
to walk a couple miles
and not see a duck.

So, it's nothing
out of the ordinary.

It's the same
with all the other game.

Way up here in the Arctic,
there's less life
that the land can support,

so you have to travel more
country in order to get it.

(WHISPERING) There's
some ducks right there.

I stay behind this spruce tree
and they won't see me,

but there's several ducks
right up here.

About 75 yards
from the ducks right now.

I got to get closer to 'em
in order to get a shot.

If I just go straight
over this hill

I think they're gonna see me
really quickly

and take off before
I can get close enough.

(GUN SHOT FIRED)

That duck's been hit.

I just got to kill him
and get him back.

My strategy is to keep
a very close eye on that duck.

Try and recover it.

Trick now is gonna
be not to lose sight of it.

(PANTING)

I got it!

Got the duck.
That one almost got away.

Nothing like sitting out here
beside the lake,
plucking a duck.

It's more than just getting
the ducks,
it's just being out here

and enjoying
this time of year.

Listen to all the new sounds.

Winter's very quiet.

The springtime,
it gets noisier,

the birds come back,

the wind just rustling
in the grass,

and the vegetation,
that's different.

Everything's moving again.

Water's moving.

It's a different pace of life.

GLENN: Oh!

There's some more shovelers
right up here.

(GUNSHOT FIRED)

Three shovelers just came in.
I got one of the drakes
right here.

It flew right in here
in front of me.

Got another northern shoveler.

Turning out to be a good day
of duck hunting out here.

SUE: You have an opportunity
to say this will define me
or I will overcome it.

NARRATOR: For Sue Aikens,

maintaining her food supply
in Kavik

is critical to keeping
her camp up and running.

Any loss of food stock
or equipment

will cost thousands of dollars
to replace and transport.

SUE: For me,
I look around camp,

and it's mind blowing
the amount of work
I have to do.

I'm back
after four months in town.

The land was frozen
when I left.

It has gone through the thaw.

I have nine freezers,
four refrigerators

that I should have been there
running electricity
as it got warmer

to keep it cold and frozen.

I wasn't.

Ugh. Fucking hell.

Yeah, this is gonna
be the travesty.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

We got one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight

freezers. Three of the fridges
are bad.

It's rotten,
I want that food out,
away from camp.

What the state wants me to do,

take all the, um,
biodegradable products.

Take it to the end
of the airstrip,

cut it out of the packaging
and dump it.

Get it in the water,
it'll dilute the scent.

For now that I've opened it,
I have to, I must, priority,
keep going.

That scent is going to alert
the animals in the area.

They can't help it,
that's what they do.
They're animals, and,

and this is a possible
food source.

This is the personally,
the most heart-breaking area.

This is the food
that I hunt for.

The total revenue probably,

probably lost
around $18,000 in food.

This is all my, all my hunting
from last year.

I'm gonna get up on the roof
and just do a visual,

I wanna know if something's
coming at me or it isn't.

That's where
the scent is being blown,

so that's
where I really wanna see.

All right, I don't see
any ominous threat.

AGNES: We've gone ahead,
we think of the next season.

We think
of the other opportunities
that are heading our way.

AGNES: Ah...

Hey. Look like a good day eh?

Long as the wind stays up

and keeps the mosquitoes away,
it's a good day.

We still got lots to do, eh?

We got to make this mess
into a home.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
have arrived at their summer
hunting grounds in Kiwalik.

It is imperative
that the family secures meat
for the days ahead.

We just got here yesterday
and, um,
there's a lot of action here.

There's caribous
crossing the rivers,
there's birds flying over.

So we just want to keep
building up camp,
try to get done.

Get all our wood and our water
and everything set up here

so we can just go
and do our hunt
and go get some food.

Everybody's excited
and wanting to hurry up
and get done,

and just, go play.

Let's go.
Help me go get water.

You too Mary.
Grab that bucket over there.

We are getting water.
We call it Imatauk.

We go get our water.
Go get it from the river.

Here we don't have sinks,
and a water system,
and all that.

So this is our water system,
it's this river.

We're gonna get water while
it's early since
we all just got up,

and then later on
like when we're cooking,

or when we want to drink
it later on,
it'll all be settled,

and it'll
all be crystal-clear.

That's enough water, let's go.

They're getting water.
They're looking for firewood.

The girls are keeping
their eyes open for

caribou, for any other game
animals around,

and, um, we just keep the day
chugging along.

Mom! Mom!

-See? Yeah there.
-AGNES: Mud creek side?

They're... They're
on the other side of,

right there.

They're like right
where their backs

meet the
willow line perfectly,

you could
just see their backs.

CHIP: We're not
shooting calves.
We're not shooting cows.

But the one in the back
is a young bull.

The young bull
is on this side.
But if you aim at him,

you'll have
to aim mid-stomach,

so that the bullet
drifts into his chest.

AGNES: Okay, goody.

CHIP: Just let out
your breath and relax.

-Ooh!
-CHIP: Just over.

Move aside.

Now?

-Down?
-Down. Down lower.

-(SHRIEKS)
-CHIP: Dang.

AGNES: I got it!
This is a good first hunt.

We don't really have any meat
in the camp right now so, um,

we'll be able to haul
this back to camp

and have some good dinner.

Heart and tongue,
and some other good stuff.

Tongue is the best part of...

Or one of the best pieces
of a kid's choice piece,

as they call it.

Every day's
a learning experience

for these girls. Even me.

I try to tell them even
though I'm old,

I still learn something
new every day.

See the ribs where I'm getting
'em on the knuckles?

-Yeah.
-Then I can open the chest up.

I can get to the heart
and stuff easier.

It hinges right open.
See that?

CHIP: I want my kids to know
how to take care
of themselves.

It's more, and more, and more
options actually for them,

through the education
we give 'em.

It's all along the lines
of not giving them the fish

but teaching them to fish.

I got to catch up the girls,
looks like they're doing
all the work.

You know,
we've got our camp up,
we've got our stuff out.

We're sorting through things,
we're putting camp together

and making
it a better place every day,

and this is part of it,
is having fresh food on hand.

JESSIE: You pretty much just
have to pay attention
all the time,

'cause it's always
the unforeseen that's gonna
catch you off guard.

Just getting
my morning started here
with a cup of coffee.

Gonna get out here,
start working on this boat.

I got some holes
in it that I need to repair.

Gonna try to get it in the
water here next couple days,

so I can get out,
and build a new fish wheel.

So I can start putting away
some fish for my dogs
this fall.

I try to live very simple,
that way I can afford

to put most of my money
into my dogs

and racing sled dogs
in the winter.

Hi Tobias. What you doing?
Ready to go to work?

This is my boat,
it's a 24-foot long,

four-foot wide,
narrow riverboat.

If I don't get this boat fixed
and in the water,

there's, like, no way
that I'm gonna be able

to afford to have these
sled dogs this winter.

The goal is to catch
about 3,500 to 4,000 fish.

I'd have to like sell at least
half of my dogs

if I had to just afford
to do this without fish.

So I have a hole here
and a hole in the side.

So I had to patch those holes,

get this thing ready
to get on the river.

One thing that's important
to me about living out here,

fixing my own boat
and building my own boat

and my own sleds,
it's just my belief system

and like
being self-sufficient.

I learned carpentry skills
when I came up to Alaska.

Just started taking every job
I could and dove right
into it.

Making progress.

I need to flip this boat up
on the other side

so I can start working
on patching my holes.

This is kind
of a challenging thing,

'cause I don't have help

and I have to figure out
how to do it by myself.

So, I'm really hoping
this'll work pretty quick.

The main thing you want to do
is not get hurt.

And the other main thing
I want to do
is not break my boat.

I mean, if I were to buy
a boat that was built,

it'd be like $3,000,
$4,000.

Built this one
out of $1,000
worth of material.

It's a subsistence boat
for me.

I use it to get logs,
build fish wheels with it,

I fish for my dogs with it.

It's very important for me
to be able to put away food

for the winter
for my dogs and myself.

I don't necessarily
know how to do this.

I don't necessarily know
how to do a lot of things.

But I'll feel pretty proud
of myself if it works out

and be pretty frustrated
if it doesn't.

My idea is to just keep

tightening this up
as I lift up,

so it can't come back down

too far on me and crush me.

Oh, shit.

I can't afford
to get the materials

to build a new one,
or to buy one.

Sometimes you're
just against it

and you got to figure it out.

I'm just gonna
have to pick this thing up.

I think I got it.

I hope this rope's gonna catch
it so it doesn't go over.

(GROANS)

(GRUNTS)

Sometimes you just
got to go for shit.
Hope it works out.

Damn.

Holy Mother.

Oh.

It's holding,
it seems like it's holding.

Oh, shit!

Yeah!

Worked!

Phew.

That was scary.

Now that I've got the boat
flipped up on this side,

I'm gonna
get to patching these holes.

Just gonna
be in the water soon, I hope.

NARRATOR: Jessie relies
on the returns
from his fish wheel

to feed his team of sled dogs.

With the summer chum salmon
run approaching, it is crucial
for Jessie to get his boat

into working condition
and into the river.

So what I'm gonna do is...
I would like to haul
my boat down with my truck,

but I don't have
a ball hitch on my truck.

I'm thinking I'm gonna
attach this bicycle to it,

so I give myself
a front-wheel steering system.

It's pretty much
the best option
I got at this moment.

I don't quite know
how I'm gonna do this yet but,

this is the challenge
about doing things
by yourself.

It's somewhat dangerous.

I gotta get this boat down

in the Nenana River
to launch it,

and it's only about 150 yards
from here,

so I just have
to make this work to there.

All right. Here goes nothing.

(GRUNTS)

(GRUNTS)

Oh!

Whoa! Ah, fuck!

All right.

Whew, this poor bike.

Okay.

It feels like I'm going
kind of.

The best feeling for me
at the end of the day is,

you know,
knowing that I worked hard,

feel tired enough
to go to sleep, you know.

It took me three days of work
to finish up this boat,

and now the reward
is a couple summers

on the river
doing what I love.

All right,
that worked just good.

Actually turned
out to be perfect

'cause I had brakes,
I had steering.

I really didn't think
it'd go that good.

Today's been a long day.
It's already late in the day.

It's been a lot of work
getting this
boat flipped over.

I had to do it all by hand.

Once this boat's in the water,
this is really the start
of summer for me.

It's time to really
get a lot done
out on the river and,

hopefully put up a lot of food
for me and the dogs.

Still got to get this boat
in the water.

AGNES: We're able
to live together,
work together,

and it just makes
us even stronger.

AGNES: Take a shovel, Mary.
Let's go, Qutan, Irene.

CHIP: The ladies here
are gonna go pick
some of a root called mushua.

And they grow all
over through here.

A little bit of something
sweet, like, kind
of like a sweet potato.

I think they call 'em
Eskimo potatoes.

NARRATOR: After harvesting
a caribou for camp meat,

the Hailstones
turn their attention

to gathering another
Kiwalik resource

mushua root.

The time to do it is now.
If we don't get 'em now,

all that good nutrients
and stuff

that's in the root,
or that's inside

these little branches
are gonna

go into building the plant,

'cause it's starting to grow.

And then it'll be really chewy
and it'll taste terrible.

And what we need is Vitamin C,
and we need to have
a change of diet.

We need to have some starches
and we need to have
some fibre in our diet.

And that's exactly
what this stuff will provide.

AGNES: There should be mushua
right above the sandbar,

so we're gonna
go target that area first.

The mushua is gonna
be all along these edges,

right along the edges.

If you start to see, like,

you see the light,
brownish peeled,

um, roots,
then those would be mushua.

Okay, kids, go on ahead
and start looking
for roots and stuff.

What's this stuff, mom?

Let me see, did you
find some already, Qutan?

Let me get out.

It's not.

Yup, that is.

See, you'll find them
like this.

This is what we're
looking for.

They have a plant like this,
and this is why we come here.

This is, uh, mushua tuk,
and this is why

we come to go pick
these mushuas here.

It's because
this bank is full of 'em.

Right now they're, um,
real good,
they're like, uh, potato

and they're really good
to eat, and they're sweet.

So, this is why we're here.

It takes some effort
but once you hit a real,

um, big patch,
usually it's easier

to start picking a whole bunch
after but you just gotta

pretty much find...

Oh, that's all right.

Oh, that's yummy,
that's a good one.

Look how big.
You got bigger than mine.

Right now, uh,
Qutan's just learning.

So she's just getting
familiarized with the plants.

We've pointed
them out for her,

but this year she's actually,
um, looking for the plants

to know where to dig, so.

It's kind of fun watching her.

Move your butt.

Oh, look,
I just chopped it off.

-Oops.
-Keep going, I see it still.

The days like this
are why I love being out here.

Just getting family time.

Looking for food that we can,
you know,

thrive on and just,
it's good to get out of camp

for a little bit
and go do something different.

This is awesome,
just being out here

watching the girls
find this root

and knowing the difference
between one root from another

and, um,
just playing in the mud.

Okay, girls, we've got quite
a bit actually,

and this is probably
what we need.

Let's get back to camp
and go have some dinner

and show your guys'
dad what we found.

Yeah.

SUE: You don't prepare
for your best day in life,

you got to prepare
for the worst.

NARRATOR: Without electricity
in Kavik for the past
four months,

Sue's food supply
has turned inedible.

To keep predators
away from her camp,

Sue has been
advised by the State

to dispose of the spoiled food
down river.

SUE: The visual says it all.

That's not a healthy
freaking product.

But the quality of what I buy

is just outstanding.

So it just hurts,
hurts, hurts, financially.

But, you know
I put a lot of me.

Kavik is me.
Ya know, I am Kavik.

Synonymous.

But I take a lot of pride
in offering people

the best of the best
when they're out here.

But I mean every single
little bit of this
is lost, lost, lost.

I mean,
besides the disgusto factor,

um, I mean

it's an incredible amount
of revenue.

How do you put a price tag
on the caribou?

Or the fish
that I bartered for.

Hard to put a value on that.

You know,
if there's anything close,

it's gonna
start getting interested.

Bears, wolves, they don't mind
eating rotten food.

And I just put up
the dinner bell.

Just gonna be continuing
the process

of getting all
of the rotten goods.

Even though we're getting
it in the water

so it distils the scent,

it's gonna go downstream.

There's no way
they won't smell it.

That's why
once I start this I gotta,

the fact that I opened 'em up

and looked at it today,
I got to finish it today.

Boom.

Boom.

SUE: I'm gonna get up on top.

It was a little chilly,
so I threw on my sweatshirt.

And we've
got a wolf on the runway.

That's the area
I got to go to,

that's the area
the wolf is at.

Looks to me maybe
a juvenile female wolf

on the runway, headed towards
where I had to dump
all that food.

Little wolfie
on the spot there.

Wolves are a pack animal.

They don't
generally travel alone.

Doesn't mean
they're not there.

Not even 30 minutes
from when I tossed
the last rotten biscuit out,

and here's a wolf.
Boom! On it.

And that's exactly
what we were hoping,

is get everything
away from camp.

Now imagine
if I had families here
with little kids and

your predator-human
interaction is,
is right there.

That's how quick
it can happen.

Nine times out of 10
the interaction with a wolf,

I'll go out there and he'll...

It'll get skid away
and then come back in.

If it were a whole pack, I'd,
I'd probably just hold off
on my activities now.

The sun doesn't set
so that works in my favour.
I'll just be tired and sore.

CHIP: You know I want
to show my kids every season.

And there's a different skill
and a different way
of doing things each time.

Just making heart
and tongue soup.

CHIP: This is the first meal
usually off of an animal.

The tongue and the heart

are organs that are small,

full of fat,
really good tasting,

different kind
of quality of meat.

Throw some potatoes
and an onion in there.

Now we can let this
all cook for quite a while.

And then for dessert,
my wife and my daughters

picked a bunch of mushua.

We've had an all-around
profitable day, I'd say.

Ladies really socked it in
with the food

and it's gonna be a big,
hearty meal.

And it's by their own hands.

The girls may not have
shot the caribou

but they helped work him,
and drag him,

and participated in everything
but pulling the trigger.

This is like food
of the season to us.

This is kind of like having
turkey for Thanksgiving,

or having a ham at Christmas.

-Pretty good, eh?
-Pretty good.

CHIP: Yep. We've got firewood,
so we've got heat.

We got our tents up.

We got uh, meat.

Now we're secure.
We've got all the basic things
we need.

The best thing is that
some day when me
and your mom aren't here,

you girls know how to do
all of this, no matter what
the job is.

And the best part
of that is that you get
all hands-on experience.

We don't just sit there
and tell 'em what we've done,

we talk about
what we've all done,
and done together.

It's adventure,
it's family time,

it's just, uh, being together.

CHIP: We're in the right spot.
We're at this spot
for a reason.

This is uh, this is home
to us.
We keep coming back here.

Nothing like Kiwalik, yeah?

Nothing like Kiwalik.

(ALL CHUCKLING)

GLENN: You have to learn
the cycles and the times
where things are happening

so that you can take advantage
of the opportunities.

In the spring when the lake
starts to melt, it's the time
of year when the ducks

are gonna be concentrated
along the shoreline because
they got no wheres else to go.

Ducks need water,
and this is where it is.

Right in this moat
along the shoreline.

But conditions
are changing fast.

With that sun beating
down on the ice today,

it'll get up in the 70s.

And the lake ice
right along the edge,

the moat's getting wider,
it's starting to break up.

Little pieces are breaking
off when the breeze blows.

It's gonna change real fast.

If a breeze comes up,
this can all disappear
in one day.

I see four so far.

Let's see if I can get close
enough to get a shot.

(SHOT FIRED)

(GUN SHOT)

I hit one.

I shot, it took off,
and I kept shooting

when they were in the air
and got one of 'em.

Thankfully a breeze
blew the duck back in,

but it got hung up in some
grass out here off the shore.

The bottom here
is really soft and muddy,

so I'm gonna make something
to throw out there
and retrieve the duck.

I don't want to walk out there
and get stuck in the mud.

Here we go.

We'll see what happens.
It might work.

I might be able
to throw it that far,

I'll see. I don't know.

No. Didn't make it.

Give it another shot.

I just missed it.

Broke a few more braches off.
Lighten it up a little bit.

See if I can get it out over
the duck.

Yes! I'm gonna
get it this time.

There it goes. Snagged it.

Got my duck.

Another shoveler.

A male. That's what I wanted.

Duck hunting's good today.

Couldn't ask for a better day.

Got my three ducks.

Looks all right for now.

(SIGHS)

Cook 'em kind
of long and slow.

Look at those beautiful ducks.

Oh, yeah those are done.

The only meat
I've had for a while has been
dried caribou meat.

This is the first fresh meat
I've eaten in some time.

Mm.

I mean what better place
to have dinner,

than right beside the lake

that I walked around
to find these ducks?

Mm, it was a beautiful day.

SUE: Well, the world is circle
and it turns around and round.

Things change,
things evolve, things rotate.

The journey of getting Kavik
back up and running.

I want to get the mass done
rather than all the tiny
little chores.

Finished getting
all the freezers out.

But now,
I've got a whole winter's
worth of garbage to burn.

This is, uh, this is just
another chore on the list.

I mean it's like anywhere,
you know,
sweetie baby honey do-list.

Take out the garbage.

Only problem is I'm my own
sweetie baby honey do.

This is the Sue-do list.
The honey-Sue list.

So these are the cigarettes.

Um, to do the work
the doctor did,

I had to quit smoking.

So, and he told me the gravity
of the situation.

And that it was, ah,

the necessity of the surgery
was life or death.

He wouldn't do it if I smoked.

Put out the cigarette before
I walked into his office,

haven't had one since.

Come on.
I'm serious about quitting.

So I'm burning
all the cigarettes that I had.

Bye, cigarettes!

You're gonna
have to smoke without me.

Ah! Who the foxy?

Who's my little foxy!

Who is that? Is that Slinky?

It took Slinky a day
to figure out that I was here.

Come on.

Slinky and Ermie
were best buddies.

Um, they would,
Slinky would beak on the side

of the tent every morning.

And Ermie would beak back
on the window.

And they would come out
and play.

Because of Ermie's
health condition,
um, she's got to stay in town.

And is now living
in town permanently.

So, I don't have
a little friend here any more .

Don't want to get emotional,
but it means
a lot to me to have the foxes.

Yuck! Come on, dummy, come on.

(WHISTLES) Come on.

Come in.

It's good to be back. I mean,
that the amount of work
I have to do is astounding.

Um, I'm gonna
have to be creative.

Uh, I have a 10-pound
weight restriction,
for the foreseeable future.

Honestly I need to take
this entire summer,

and assess how well I can do
my job.

Am I done?

And the answer is,
I don't know.

JESSIE: When you're in Alaska,
you work until the sun
goes down.

NARRATOR: After repairing
his boat and successfully
getting it to shore,

Jessie must launch his vessel
into the water

and test its durability
before he can begin
his summer fishing season.

(EXCLAIMS) Yeah!

Time to get
the summer started!

Yeah, we really
got it easy, you know?

These old timers,
they just figured
everything out.

Poling up rivers,

pulling their dogs,
boats out with dogs.

When I do this kind of stuff,
it's like I'm living
in the past.

I think I was born
100 years too late.

I hadn't been out on the river
since the ice flowed,
you know?

So, I'd been out with other
people in their boats,
but this is my boat.

And now I can go take care
of my jobs,
I gotta do out here.

I'm gonna start putting up
some food
for my dogs and myself.

I miss that taste
of that fresh fish.

I guess this is the bonus
of living right next
to the river.

All my stuff's close
for getting down here.

Get to take the pleasure
of doing
a lot of this stuff by hand.

The motor's running.
That's a good sign.

Go upriver,
see how the boat's running.

Woo!

Wow, it's absolutely
beautiful out here.

Getting on the river
is pretty much the peak point

of happiness for me
in the summer.

You just feel so free
when you're out on the river.

It's an indescribable feeling.

Words don't really
do justice to it.

Now I got a lot of work to do,
but it's all work
I want to do.

If you're out here,
it's hard for it to seem
like hard work.