All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S05E10.Bent.and.Broken.720p.WEB-HD.x264-KangMus_track3_eng

NARRATOR: On this episode
of Life Below Zero,

as winter nears its end,
new obstacles arise.

SUE: In the end, I'm not the
one with control out here,
Mother Nature is.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones' hunt
takes a turn for the worse.

AGNES: There's a fox
over there, I'm gonna
take a shot. Fuck!

NARRATOR: Andy stalks
a lethal predator
to protect his livelihood.

I got multiple wolf tracks
in this slough here.

NARRATOR: Erik and
Martha's plans
come to a screeching halt.

It's not gonna happen.

NARRATOR: And Sue
races to clear a path.

SUE: A plane must have
a runway to safely land.

There we go.

We're gonna cut up
this moose quarter.

It's the last one that we have
from the moose we harvested
this past fall.

It's a ham, really tasty,
prime cut piece.

I'll hack the bone
out of here.

Start taking apart
the muscle groups.

When we kill a moose
or kill a caribou,

the bones are full
of marrow and they're
really great for soup,

and then, you know,
animals like moose or caribou,

where the hide
isn't worth anything,
we use that for trapping bait.

And there's really
something to do with most
parts of any animal.

NARRATOR: Erik
and Martha Salitan
rely on the animals they hunt

to maintain a subsistence
lifestyle in the Arctic.

You wanna scrap together
a smoker and smoke
some of this meat?

Yeah, that could
be fun, different.

-Break up the cuisine
a little bit?
-Mmm-hmm.

Harvesting your own meat,
it's very fulfilling.

You feel a lot better knowing
that you butchered the animal,

it's all good quality meat,

and makes you feel
a little bit more independent
living in the bush.

Well, I'm done. Let's go out
and check out what we got
for building materials.

Sounds good. I'm done, too.

I'll go put this outside
where it'll be cold.

MARTHA: So Erik and I
just got done
butchering the moose.

We're gonna go out
to the hangar and hopefully
find the materials

that we need to put together
a, uh, usable smoker.

ERIK: The type of smoker
that we're looking to make
is a cold smoker.

It just adds a little bit
more flavour.

It doesn't add
any nutritional value.

It has nothing to do
with life or death,

it's just a little
spice of life.

Doing these small kind
of projects is fun 'cause
it's like a change of pace,

something different
than the daily chores.

It's nice to be able
to build something yourself

and to be able to also take
the meat that you've harvested

and throw it in there
and make an edible,
finished product.

ERIK: I'm gonna use
these 2 x 6s

that are left over
from building this hangar
this past summer.

We're gonna go six feet deep,
six feet wide, and put
a six-foot roof on there.

MARTHA: Now we just got
one more wall to go,

which is the wall that's gonna
have the door in it.

Then we're gonna
throw on the sheeting.

We got a lot of work
ahead of us.

ANDY: We give up a lot
to live out here

because we want a certain type
of quality of life.

And a big part
of that quality of life

is utilising the resources
that are here for us.

I'm preparing right now
to start making

a bunch of snares
for predator trapping.

And, um, we don't have
a lot of moose
per square mile here.

Part of that problem
is because of predators,
uh, namely, wolves.

Any kind of predator control
is very emotional
for a lot of people.

Most people are either
for it or against it.

There's very few people
that are middle ground.

Um, I tend to be kind of
middle ground on it, though,

because I realise,

as much as I don't
like killing animals,

um, it's absolutely necessary
if I want to be able
to eat in the future.

I'm getting older,
and so I want to make sure

that there's a good
moose population in my area

so that I don't have
to work so hard
to feed myself every year.

For me, going a year without
a moose is really bad.

That's probably the equivalent
of someone's house
burning down,

losing their job,
and their car explodes.

Your world is gone
if you don't have
moose or caribou

in the freezer for the winter.

I've now made my loop.

I like to make
my loops pretty big.

Uh, the wolves,
they don't like going
through something small,

so I tend to make
my loops fairly big.

Uh, and when
the animal goes in,

this slides very easily
in one direction, here.

And then,
once it tightens down,

it's very difficult
to get it to unlock.

It's pretty simple method
to make these.

Not too terribly expensive

and, um,
can be very efficient.

Wolves are probably
the single hardest thing
to trap or snare up here.

They're incredibly smart.

They have an incredible
sense of smell,

so they can smell steel
underneath the snow
or hanging in the woods.

This year,
when I killed my moose,
I saved the hide,

I saved the head,
but I also saved all the guts
and I put them in a tote.

They've been sitting in a tote
all fall and into the winter.

Ooh, yeah.

Smells ripe.

These wolves
are going after moose,

so I think the moose guts
is probably gonna
be my best bet.

And that'll be my main bait.

Got some moose guts for bait.

I got holes in them
so I can tie them
up to a tree.

The one thing I don't have
is I don't have
much daylight left.

It's pretty much gone
off the mountain here now,

which means I got
about an hour or so.

That's not enough time to get
out and make these sets.

It's a one-shot deal
when you do this

and we'll get an early start
tomorrow morning.

SUE: I did not choose
to leave society.

I am just living my own life.

Only with the freedom
of isolation
does my little light shine.

I've got a snow machine coming
out to help me with my chores.

(COUGHS) Snow machine won't
fit into a regular plane.

It's gotta be a bigger plane.

And, uh, there's a Caravan,

a little bit larger plane
than I usually get
during the winter.

But the key to getting
the Caravan in was getting
the runway ready for it.

NARRATOR: Sue Aikens
relies on planes to deliver
supplies into Kavik.

Maintaining her
mile-and-a-half runway

is crucial for her survival
and can take days to complete.

SUE: If a big plane tries
to land, you know,

going 200 miles an hour
and tries to land on ice,
on sheet ice, glare ice,

all's they're gonna do is be
a new storage unit
off the end of my runway.

Gonna go work on the runway,
try to get as much snow
off of it as I can.

I'm hoping if I can get
the initial layer of snow
off down to the ice,

the sun will do the rest
of the work for me.

If I can't do that,
I can't get the Caravan in.

Can't get the Caravan in,

well, then somebody
in Deadhorse gets
my snow machine

as a lawn decoration.
(CHUCKLES)

I don't take the clearing
or the maintaining
of the runway lightly at all.

Most of these bush pilots
and pilots that come out here
are people that I know.

They're cool people.

A plane must have
a decent runway

that they can count on
to safely land.

Doesn't matter how badly
I want to get
whatever's on that plane.

I will never risk
somebody's life to get it.

I take that very seriously.

I'm gonna go ahead
and drag this section.

Gonna attach my drag,
that's this thing
under the snow.

And it's gonna cut and move
the top layer of snow.

Right now it may seem light,

but this is after
10:00 at night,

so my temperatures are gonna
go down a little bit.

Um, before
everything refreezes,

I wanna knock that clear
and let the sun
work on it tomorrow.

I heard the engine knocking.

If I keep pushing it
and it breaks down
on the runway,

then I've shut down
my entire runway
to even skied landings.

I had to take a drag off this,
she's done.

I have to get her in the shop,
let it warm up,
take a look at it tomorrow.

If I can't get this thing
going tomorrow,

I don't get a snow machine
in a Caravan,
that's the way that is.

AGNES: In this harsh country,
there's nobody just gonna
appear and help you.

You have to be comfortable
and have an idea
of what you're doing

before you just decide
to just get up
and go out into the country.

Is it cold out, Chip?

CHIP: It's getting
a little breezy,

so I would dress warm
if I were you.

NARRATOR: Chip and Agnes
have set up camp in Kiwalik,

110 miles from their home
in Noorvik,

to capitalise on the region's
vast resources
of caribou and fur.

CHIP: We've had terrible winds
and terrible weather

and in the time that we've had
to wait for the weather,

the caribou have gotten
closer and closer.

Now the caribou are here.

-Whoa, bright.
-Yeah, it is bright.

There should be a small herd
of caribou roaming around,

so we're just gonna
go check out the flats
and the lower hills

and, uh, see
what we've come across.

After three, four days,
we pretty much consumed
all our extra food we brought,

so we just need camp meat.

I'll bet you the caribou
are closer
than they were yesterday.

CHIP: One thing that's nice
is the caribou are moving
closer to camp every day.

Caribou are herd animals.
They all wanna be together.
They wanna be in large groups.

So they're forming up right
now and they're forming up,

and they're following
each other,

and they're gonna be
passing through here.

Our good days are here.

CHIP: Yeah, no, let's head up
to the, to the, um, trail

-and take the hard trail.
-The trail.

And we'll save gas that way.

The best thing we can do here,
because we wanna hunt
in a short distance

and because we wanna
have an easier hunt

is to let the animals
come to us.

So when we got the animals
coming closer and closer,
it saves us gas,

it saves us parts,
it saves us time,
it saves us a lot of energy.

AGNES: Pretty much gonna stay
down low where it's not
too windy, not too cold.

We just go ride round through
the back and watch the herd

and see if there's any fur
or anything else around.

There's a fox over there!
I'm gonna get closer
and take a shot!

Fuck!

There goes my ride.

I let go of my handlebar.

I sit up, and I grab my rifle,
and it got stuck
in my handlebar.

And then it turned me.

Fuck!

Oh, God, over
a stupid fucking fox.

CHIP: Wow,
I didn't see you crash.

If I saw her standing there,
and I saw the fox running,

and I didn't see her aiming
or trying to shoot at it.

-Are you okay?
-No.

Well, the rifle went right
through the fucking, uh...

Right through the tank.

(EXHALES) Well, you know,
here on the tundra,
it's bumpy.

And if you go too fast
and you hit too big of a bump,
you can get thrown off,

you get your machine
flipped over, you can get,
um, you can just crash.

As long as you're okay,
I can fix this.

Okay?

AGNES: Fucking,
stupid fucking fox.

CHIP: You could sit here
and cry, and hoo
and ha over this shit.

It doesn't fix plastic
or metal.

We need to get it back to camp
so we can put it on a cargo
sled and take it home.

Or we need to, um, leave
it the fuck here and just
carry on with ourselves.

We need to go get
you another rifle.

AGNES: Oh, God, it's...

Fuck!

Bent.

Broken.

Not only did I break
my best rifle,

I totally broke my gas tank.

Handlebars won't even turn.

My windshield is all smashed
up into many pieces.

CHIP: There's a lot
of structural damage
to this thing.

-It's not a pretty sight.
-Sorry about that.

It's not you,
I'm glad you're okay.

Don't be sorry to me.

I've crashed snow machines,
I know just exactly
how you're feeling.

We still got one ride,
there's no reason to go back
unless my ride's totalled,

and then we've got yours
for parts and we'll still
make it home.

-Okay. Well, that's
a good way...
-So buck up.

-...to look at it.
-It'll be all good, yeah.
We're gonna be good.

-Get ready?
-Yeah, put your stuff on it

and let's just tow this thing
back to camp now.

Having two machines
has always been our premise.

When one machine's down,
we can continue on
while we fix the other one.

I think you gotta just
quit worrying about it.

We've always, always,
always figured it out.

MARTHA: As far as waste goes,
I guess that comes full circle
with everything that we have.

Whatever we can use,
we'll utilise it,
so, nothing goes to waste.

ERIK: Working on my skid here,
drilling a hole in.

I'm gonna attach a rope
between the two of them

and then I'm gonna be able
to pull the smokehouse
around with a truck,

a four-wheeler,
a snow machine,
a tractor, whatever.

NARRATOR: In Wiseman,

Erik and Martha are using
resources that surround them

as well as salvage materials
from past builds

for the construction
of a new smokehouse.

MARTHA: We're putting up
the sheet metal here,

which is not only going
to complete the smokehouse,
but make it sturdier.

Feed it up on the top there.

MARTHA: So far progress
has been real fast.

We have four walls,
we've got the roofs all ready.

We've pounded it out
and we're just gonna
keep moving.

Is it gonna fit?

We're gonna get this door
on hinges, make sure it flows
the way we want it.

Then we'll sheet
the son of a gun.

MARTHA: Between our
fishing lodge in Iliamna

and our hunting lodge up here
in the Brooks Range,

we've always got
a lot going on.

So it's nice to be able
to work on our own
little projects

at our own pace
and do what we wanna do.

ERIK: It's gotta come up
a touch more.

Yup, right there.

(DRILLING)

Nice.

-And it's solid.
-Yeah.

And the first moose we smoke
in there is the moose
that antlers it is.

I'm just pumped to drag it
out of here and, uh, fire
it up for the first time.

ANDY: Everything changes
in the wintertime up here.

Everything gets harder.

You have to be
twice as careful.

You don't take chances.

If you do have a problem,
you don't have
a lot of time to react.

(BARKING)

This is gonna be bait
for wolves.

This is moose guts,
left over from the
moose that I got this fall.

I think that's about
all we need for supplies.

I'm hoping that I can set
a bunch of bait out
and, uh, hopefully trap

a few of those wolves
in this area.

(HOWLING)

I'm really dependent
on the resources
that are around here.

The moose population,
the density is so low,

that's creating a real problem
with competition.

Good boy, Briggus!
Good boy, Berg!

And that's making it harder
and harder for me
to get out and get

what I absolutely have to have
to eat for the winter.

And it really affects
how we can even
survive out here.

NARRATOR: To survive
along the Yukon River,

Andy believes it is essential
to remove any predators

that are a threat
to his food supply.

Up and over. Up and over.

Let's go haw. Let's go haw.

Attaboys. Attaboys.
Good. You'll make it.

You'll make it. Attaboys.

That didn't look good.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Everybody, stay!

Yeah!

Good boys! Everybody, stay!

All right, all right,
we've got some
wolf tracks here.

I got multiple wolf tracks
in this slough here.

Looks like they were
chasing something

'cause they're
in a gallop here.

Attaboy! Attaboy! Let's go!

Think this spot's gonna be
a pretty good spot around here
to set some snares.

Good boys!

That's it! Get on that track.

All right!

Good job!

I'll get these up into
the woods here
in a couple of places

and then come back and start
setting some snares

and see what I can do.

These wolves have a really
good sense of smell.

So if he's walking
down the river,

I think they'll pick up
on this pretty quick.

There's one.

Go back down this way now.

Killing daylight.

I got two chunks
of moose meat in.

Now I just gotta get in here
and just set snares
all around this area.

My main emphasis for doing
all this trapping right now
is to try and knock

a few of the predators off
so that the moose populations
can come back stronger.

So, it's not gonna
go to waste.

If I had a couple of wolves,
I could make a nice parka.

So there's lots of things
I can do with the fur,

but the main reason why
I'm doing this is to try

and help the moose
in the area.

So if there's something
I can do to help the abundance

of the food
that I need to eat,

then it's worth
my effort to do that.

There we go.
That's the last one.

It's time to head out of here,
back home, where it's warm.

Right, let's go home!

Attaboys!

This lower section
of this river

is always really bad with ice,
uh, very thin ice.

It can be very deceiving
at times when you get
a snowfall over it.

So I'm always a little bit
nervous in this lower section.

That's not even hard to break
that with this pole.

I think we're just gonna
have to go fast and...
You understand that, Tope?

We're gonna go fast,
girl, right here.
Right here.

Okay. Little Gee, little Gee,
little Gee!

Attagirl, right there. Good.
Perfect. Let's go.

Hup, hup, hup, hup! All right.

Nobody hurt, but, uh, we still
got a long ways to go.

So it's time to keep moving.

CHIP: Life here
is done as it's done.

It's all
cheque-in-the-mail stuff.

It's not in your hands,
till it's in your hands.

You can talk about might
all we want,

but we don't fly
on the wings of maybe.

-AGNES: Hi.
-A snow go, I heard one.

Oh, look right there!

Hee!

NARRATOR: After Agnes
broke her rifle in
a snow machine crash...

CHIP: Hey, Jeff!
What's going on?

...Chip called on
a family friend
to bring out a new rifle.

AGNES: Whoa! I got it.
I got it.

-CHIP: You want coffee?
-I got it, mine!

Thank you!

CHIP: A friend of ours from
Noorvik's down here hunting

and he brought down a rifle
for my wife that my daughter

went over to her
aunt's and got.

Okay, Chip. Yep.
I'll see you guys at home.

AGNES: All right.
Thank you so much.

-You're welcome.
-Good luck to you!

Yep!

AGNES: Hee!

Well, I don't have
a new snow machine,

but, uh, I have a new rifle.

One hundred, right, 125?

One fifty, just set it
on 150,

give it a crank off
and see if you nail it.

It's not a rifle
she's used for hunting.

It's, um,
it's from her collection.

We're not sure where
it hits or if it even works.

But we have to test it
and make sure.

Fire at will.

You hit about two inches
to the right of the paper.

You hit about
two inches closer.

(GUNSHOT)

-Hmm.
-Real close to where you were.
Here, let me go check now.

I'll zip over there.

It's good to get familiarised
with the trigger, the, um,

the action of the bulk,
and the feel,

and see how long the, um,
how much play I have

before the bullet
actually goes off.

So this is good practice,

regardless
of if I hit or not.

You are hitting to the right.
So shoot more to the left.

-(GUNSHOT)
-Hitting high.

So I think it's
the rifle hitting high.

I really do. What does
your trigger feel like?

Does it feel
like your last rifle?

Not really.

Okay. That's a trouble, too.

-Yeah, we gotta get
used to that.
-Yep.

So we'll get up there
and give it a try

-and we'll see
what happens, all right?
-Yeah.

That rifle's not exactly
dialled in for, um, my wife.

She, uh, took a few shots.

And so she's only missing
by an inch or two
on this side,

an inch or two on this side.
So she's keeping it
within a foot by a foot.

And that's good enough
for caribou.

You can put it right
in the middle of their chest,
and it will hit within a foot,

you're gonna get
an animal really well.
No problem.

ERIK: Every day I work.
You know, out cutting
some firewood,

out hunting, trapping.

Whatever it is, I'm into being
productive every day.

MARTHA: (GIGGLES)
You ran into me.

NARRATOR: Erik and Martha
have built a smoker

to prepare meat
they harvested themselves.

But before it can be used,
it must be moved
out of the hangar.

MARTHA: Your snow machine's
gonna be able

-to pull this thing?
-I am not sure.

Try with a snow machine.
If not, we'll just hook
the truck up to it.

MARTHA: So we got
the tow hitch attached.

We're gonna see if we can
get the smoker
out of the hangar now.

(SNOW MACHINE BEEPING)

ERIK: All right.

(SNOW MACHINE REVVING)

MARTHA: No.

It's not gonna happen.

ERIK: We tried to pull
the smokehouse out
with the snow machine.

I think we can probably get it
if we kept reefing on it,

but it's not worth damaging
a snow machine over it.

So I'm just gonna pull
my truck around, hook onto it,
and drag it on out.

That's good!

Start off slow so we can get
the line taut.

Little bit more.

Okay!

Oh, oh!

I knew it was gonna
hit that lip!

It hit that lip
and busted the skid off.

We just tried pulling
the smokehouse out.

Unfortunately, we didn't have
the skids braced well,
so they came together and, uh,

in turn, pulled
the whole frame of the
smokehouse in also.

So, a little bit of a bummer.

How'd that happen?

The chain choked
the two pieces together

because there was no
crosspiece here.

I'm irritated in myself
for rushing,

not putting
a good support on it.

Gonna take this 2 x 6
and make the skids
a little bit sturdier

by putting it in between,
so next time when we pull,

at least they won't
come together.

Stand on this,
will you, Martha?

Now we got the bracing
on there,

I'm gonna go ahead
and hook it onto my truck

and hopefully it should
be secure and we'll go ahead
and we'll be able to pull it

across the yard
where we want it.

MARTHA: We just moved
the smokehouse

to where it's gonna sit
temporarily
and get it smoking.

I'm gonna put this little
wood stove in there
and fire her up.

So now Erik's
sticking the alder in there.

Alder is a highly desirable
wood to use for a smoker.

A nice flavour that comes off
of it that will be impregnated
into the meat.

There she goes.

Being able to put the
moose meat in there,
get that fire going,

get it smoking in there,
it's great, you know.

It'll be good and it'll have
that really good smoky smell
and taste to it.

Close the doors, let it smoke.

ANDY: Alaskans
are very unique people.

We're all very independent.

We're all very inventive,
tough, hardy souls

that wanna take care
of themselves.

Hey, Briggus, boy!

Let's go check some traps.

Let's go check some traps.

We gotta go see
if we got some wolves.

NARRATOR: Andy has set traps
for wolves in order to protect
the moose population,

an essential source
of food and protein
along the Yukon River.

So we'll go check
those traps today

and hopefully we'll come
home with a little bit
of fur to skin.

Pack of wolves is probably
one of the most lethal things
on the planet,

as far as hunting goes.

So, if you have
that knowledge,
and you know how to use that,

you can use it
to your advantage

to try and take advantage
of the wolves and trap them.

You guys are smoking
down the trail today!

Good boys!

Yee-haw!

So it's all luck.

You know, there's a certain
amount of skill
in everything you do,

but if the wolves
don't come through,
you're not gonna catch them.

It's just the way it works.

Gee! Gee! Gee!

Attaboys! Good! Good!
Good! Good!

Whoa.

Whoa.

Good dogs.

Everybody, stay. Good boys.

I'll just walk up there
and try and disturb
as little as possible,

check out all the snare sites.

I can see the rest
of my snares down
through the line here.

I don't see anything
that's disturbed.

I've got another bait here.
A leghold here.

There's another snare
right there in that opening.

Looks to me like I got skunked
on this spot right now.

It's just gonna
take more time.

So a little bit disappointing.

Like everything I do,
I always try
and make it multi-purpose

and so I'm not just gonna go
out and set for wolves,

I'm gonna set for marten,
because they bring
me a few bucks,

whether I sell them
to a furrier

or whether I make something
out of them myself,
it's dollars in my pocket.

So what I wanna do here
is I wanna make a marten set,

just a natural one,
using the branches.

This is one of my favourite
ways to set for them.

Trying to build a little
bit of an income from this

to help offset the cost
of dog food and other supplies
that I need.

There's one set.

I think I'll make another one
on this tree right here.

It's just a matter
of one animal finding this,
and then from that point on,

a lot of the other
animals will start
following those tracks.

Yeah, okay.

So there's two marten sets.

Okay. Let's go.

I'll just keep checking about
every four or five days

and sooner or later,
I'm gonna catch something
here, I know.

AGNES: Lots of little things
get thrown at you,

but when you're out here,
you just have to keep
moving forward

and keep on keeping on
and keep on hunting.

We're opportunists.

(CHIP SPEAKING)

AGNES: Yee!

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
are hunting for caribou,

which will provide
meat and fur

that will help them survive
the months to come.

I'm on top of a ridge top,

and, uh, the caribou
were slowly eating their
way up this way.

So any moment
they should be coming soon.

So I just keep my eyes open.

Whichever direction
they come from,

I just, pretty much,
have to be ready.

Whether it's scouting around
looking for different things,

or we're going directly
to where we know
what the conditions are

and we can hunt the area,
we're always hunting.

AGNES: They're coming
straight to us!

-I got him!
-Good one.

CHIP: We didn't get defeated
on the caribou.
We were able to ride.

We were able to, um,
come up about,
maybe 2,000 caribou here.

And we had
to pick out a good one.

Whew, we got one.

This is a good piece
of meat right here.

There was no mistake
in shooting this one.

He's fat, too.
So I can't complain.
He's a young bull.

We thought a cow,
but he's a young bull.

There's always
more caribou around,

so just have to work on meat,
and try for another one,
and keep your eyes open

'cause there's
a lot of fur around, too.

(AGNES SPEAKING)

(CHIP SPEAKING)

SUE: You have to be dead nuts
about who you are,
what you want out of life,

and how the hell
you're gonna get it.

You better have both hands
on the pistol and ready
to aim and shoot.

Yeah, it's gonna
be scattered snow,
possible rain.

So, yeah, if you can
find out whether or not
we can reschedule,

that would be awesome sauce
and a side of fries.

NARRATOR: Sue is awaiting
a plane to deliver
a snow machine,

which will increase
her mobility in Kavik.

But in the tundra,
she is always at the mercy
of Mother Nature.

The update on the flight is,
today is a scratch.

Um, plane cannot get in here
and I'm just waiting to hear

whether I can reschedule
it for tomorrow.

It cost me 500 bucks just to,
in the fuel to work the runway
the last day and a half.

But it's just part of the risk
of being here.

I can plan for it,
and I can get ready for it,
and in the end,

I'm not the one with control
out here, Mother Nature is.

Last night, I was trying
to clear the runway

and the Bobcat started having
some power issues.

I have a feeling my hydraulic,
uh, pump is going out.

I'm gonna top it off

with a little bit
of hydraulics.

It's not feeling happy.

So, I either get it done

or bust it down trying.

I mean, everything else
has been failing this year,

might as well go for broke
and get it all.

I've decided I'm gonna
go ahead and push this thing
as hard as I can today.

It may be a mistake,
I may end up
with a lawn decoration.

Even if the Caravan
can't come in,

there's other pilots
flying around.

They're gonna think it's safe,
and it's not.

So I've gotta go see
if I can't just finish
dragging it

and then let nature
do its business.

At least then,
I've given it my all.

I'm definitely risking
the equipment.

I know I have to replace
the hydraulic pump.

I know I've got
filters to replace.

I know I've got some issues.

I'm hoping that
it just holds its own.

These birds need to be
safely on the ground.

They need to know Kavik
is a place to go and be safe.

The runway is as good
as I can get it.

I am pleased that I got
a good mile, solid mile
of the runway

done nice and smooth.

Do one more check in the
morning,

verify that it's still
in good shape,

and, uh, when he calls,
I'll give him
the honest report.

Away we go.

ERIK: Day in and day out,
I wanna be out in the woods,

I want to be hunting,
I want to be trapping,

I want to be flying,
I want to be fishing.

That's why I run off
and come live
out in the woods.

MARTHA: So, uh, our meat's
been smoking in here
for a couple hours.

Should been long enough
to give it a good, smoky taste

from that alder
we put in there.

I'm gonna go and grab
a good piece
for dinner for Erik and I.

Looking good in here.

I think I'm gonna go with
this one right here.
Right on the top shelf.

Took this one
off the top shelf,

so I guess it's what you would
call a top-shelf meat.

Nice.

Gonna go cook it up.

Um, smoker was a good little
project for Erik and I.

That was a little bit
of a challenge there at the
end when it came apart,

but, uh, Erik and I
always, uh,

overcome whatever issues
we have out here,
which you gotta do anyway.

You can't rely on anybody
else but yourselves,
so you work independently.

It's really cool to think
that just not too long ago,

Erik and I were brainstorming
up this idea about this whole
smokehouse, and, uh,

built the smoker and then
smelled the fruits of our
labour.

-Do you like it?
-Mmm-hmm.

I'd say that smoker
worked out pretty good.

Mmm-hmm.

Real good.

ANDY: I really don't need
a lot to live
out in this country.

I have the skills,
and I know how
to get the resources,

and I know how
to utilise the resources.

I think living the way I live
is one of the easiest ways
in the world to live.

Burning daylight.

It's time to go
check snares and traps.

These traps and snares
have been out
for a little over a week.

I got skunked at my first set.

There you go.

Second time's a charm
is what I'm hoping for.

Let's go, yeah! All right!

There's no one thing
that a person makes
his living on out here.

You have to be multi-talented.

You have to be
kind of an opportunist.

I don't think I'll ever
stop trapping, even when
I'm 70 years old.

Attaboys. On by. Let's go.

Straight ahead. Let's go.

Well, looks like, uh,
I'm at the end
of my line here.

Go check some snares
and a few marten sets.

And I'm not seeing any
disturbances in the trees.

So there's a snare there.

There's my bait set over here.

One here.

A little bit early on,
anything big coming
through here,

but I'm gonna leave all these
snares where they're at.

The longer they're out here,
the better chance I have
of catching something.

I think I'll, I'll head on
back and go check
the rest of my traps.

And there's two more
marten sets and we'll go back

and see if I have a little
bit of luck in that area.

It kind of looks like there's
something hanging there.

Yeah, baby!

So we've got one marten here.

All right!

He's frozen solid,
so he was definitely caught
in the cold weather.

It's been a few days.

I feel good there's one,
let's go check
some more traps,

see if I have any more luck.

Yeah, buddy!

Hello, Mr Marten.

All right.

That's a nice-looking marten.

So that's two.
That makes me feel good.

I like coming home
with something in this bag.

We're good to go.

It's a pretty productive area.
We'll just keep setting,
hopefully we'll keep catching.

Good day today.

Look at that, Tope.

Didn't pick up any wolves,
but I've got two nice marten,
and, uh, so I've got some fur.

Didn't do any real predator
control to help
the moose right now,

but it's just
a matter of time.

Time and patience.

Okay, let's go home. Yeah!

Go home and skin some marten.

Marten skins peel off
pretty easily
once you get going.

And once it gets
to this point,

I usually like
to hang them up.

Go slow and easy right here
'cause I don't wanna tear it.

Trapping is probably
the only way that a person
out in the bush

can be guaranteed
making some money.

Um, you know,
I say all the time,

the only way to really live
out here is you gotta
diversify what you're doing.

Fact remains that I have
to make a living, too

and this is one
of the few ways that I can
supplement my income.

There we go.

And so now what I need
to do is I need to put it
on the board

with the flesh side out.

I'm gonna stretch it out
and that's gonna dry
in that shape,

and that gives it a certain
form that the fur buyers like.

Generally speaking,
I'd say 90 bucks
for one animal like this.

I've got one of them
skinned out.

This one's still
a little bit stiff.

He's not quite
ready to skin out,

so we'll let this guy
sit here and thaw out
a little bit more.

So this was a pretty,
pretty good day for me.
I picked up a couple marten.

I didn't pick up any wolves,
but, uh, for the amount
of time that I put into it,

it's good to get a little bit
of fur here and, um, keep
adding to my collection.

And as time goes on,
I'm hoping that I'll pick up
a wolf or two in those snares.

I'll just keep at it
all winter long,
see what I end up with.

It was a good day.

SUE: Mother Nature and I
are always kind of

playing a game of cards,
it's like poker.

Occasionally, she deals
herself a winning hand.

You know, and I just gotta
wait till we shuffle again.

You know, eventually
I'll get my, uh, full house.

Good bit of news, finally.

It's been several days
with this storm and the fog
is now finally pulling back.

Supposed to be blue bird
in the next couple of hours.

So I'm just checking
the runway with the wind
that we've had.

What kind of drifts
have built up?

What do I need to do
to make this
a perfect landing?

So I'm going up and down
and seeing, how wide can I
tell them is a good area?

How long of an area
is acceptable?

It's looking pretty good!

The eastern end of the runway
looks beautiful.

If he sticks to the centre,
he's got a good run.

But I'm gonna mark
some of these drifts
with my machine.

I mark the drifts by just
running over the drift
with the Argo.

And that's gonna leave a trail

and he'll be able to see
from the air,
stay between the lines.

Because it's not bad,
it's just I care a lot about
the safety of these guys.

It's just beautiful,
blue skies.

Uh, no obscurations at all.

I'm really happy,
yay, a new toy.

But actually, I...
Serious face, it's a new tool.
(SNORTS)

These guys live 500 miles
away from me,
but any time I need them,

bam, they're there.

-How are you doing, Sue?
-Good. How are you doing?

-Pretty good.
-Thank you.

-Good to see you.
-Yeah, you, too.

I appreciate all the help.

How was the runway?

-The runway's good, yeah.
-Okay.

Dirk got here safely
and the snow machine is here.

The Argo was a
go-slow-and-get-
there-and-back.

This is a go-fast.

Time for me to see
what I can do here.

(ENGINE STARTS)

Yay!

It seemed like Mother Nature
dealt herself a winning hand
on the old weather conditions.

Susie pulled out
a royal flush in the end.

It's a beautiful day,
he landed no problems,
and I've got my new "tool."

Yay!

Got a new tool.