Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

Let's, take care of this net right here.

Okay.

Stretch it out, in the mud.

Can't believe how hot it is today.

Today, I'm gonna try something I've never tried before.

I'm gonna grab what's called a fyke net or a hoop net.

And I'm gonna try and set it in the eddy by our property,

in hopes of catching some burbot and some grayling.

Let's go, you ready?

Normally this time of year,

the eddy would all be covered with ice

and I wouldn't be able to do this.

But over the last two days, ice has moved out.

The weather has warmed up.

We're gonna try and take advantage of that

and see if we can catch something

to help feed us in the wintertime.

Definitely got to put a lifejacket on

'cause if you go in this water right now,

it's not gonna be very pleasant.

Two things that may happen if you go in the water.

It'll be definitely a very unpleasant experience

and it might be your last experience.

One of the biggest challenges to doing anything on the river

is the amount of risk involved in it.

It's pretty unpredictable.

You never really know how safe it's gonna be.

And the potential for good things happening

can be really good

and the potential for bad things happening is even greater.

[dramatic music]

Hold the float side.

There you go.

As it goes down, just kind of let that go out

but don't let go of that rope, okay?

[Denise] Yeah. Yup.

[Andy] Okay, don't get them all tangled up

and stuff, okay?

[Denise] Yup.

Just sit down on the very bow of the boat.

Please.

Make sure that there's no nets

or anything around your feet.

It's a very difficult eddy to fish with a net

because it's super powerful.

And trying to work from a boat in this eddy

can be really challenging.

[Denise] Ugh. Ice is coming right here.

[Andy] Don't worry about it.

Keep tension on this line.

There's a lot going on with the weather today.

It's warm. It's windy.

It's gusty.

And the water, at the same time as it's warm and windy,

is forming a lot of ice coming from upriver.

All that ice flowing down the river

and increasing by the hour is a reminder

that it's important to do this while we can.

This is it for our chance to get fresh food

for the next many, many months.

[Andy] Actually, it's good like that, Denise.

I see the end of the hoop right here.

[Denise] Oh. Okay.

[Andy] So we're good.

Let me get this tied up and then call it good.

Let it fish for the night.

[gentle electronic music]

[Iriqtaq] We grew up following our parents.

My parents always took us along with them.

So, I have that mentality in my head that,

if I can't take my kid, then don't go.

[gentle electronic music]

[Chip] He's a handsome little boy.

[chuckles] So cute.

[Chip] Wow, you got green eyes, kid.

My son's name is Sabastian Orion

Anuniakti Napaugaq Hailstone.

Orion Anuniakti is Orion the hunter,

so he's my little hunter.

That baby's totally got your chin.

What's the baby's name?

Huh? Sabastian?

Sabastian.

I'm the auntie of 13, so I've had a lot of practise.

Plus I helped grow up my younger sisters.

Now, I have a lot of help with my own son.

[dramatic music]

You gonna go ride with your mom

and go set snares for rabbits?

[Wade] I get a rabbit for you.

[Agnes] Oh, you're gonna go get rabbit for me?

[Wade] Yeah.

[Narrator] Mary's daughter Rose and Ting's son Sabastian

are the latest additions to the growing Hailstone family.

To provide her niece and nephew

with furs to keep warm through winter,

Idi will head out to set snares for rabbit pelts.

The task will also pass on a native skill

to her young son Wade.

In our culture, usually when the women have a new baby,

we try to make them their own outfits.

The best material for our kind of conditions

are the materials that are locally resourced.

So we're just trying to get some rabbit skins together

or sew up a few things for baby Orion.

Oh.

Look! You see all the tracks?

[Wade] Yeah.

[Iriqtaq] Wow!

[Wade] Is that the rabbits?

[Iriqtaq] Yeah.

We'll get the willows first, huh?

So as we keep going, we'll be able to set traps.

[Wade] Look, they're coming.

They're coming to us.

The rabbits are?

Yeah.

Oh, where?

Oh. They're coming.

Wade just turned three years old,

so you could only keep his attention for so long.

He's a very active child.

Watch out, Mom.

Watch out for your head, Mom.

When we find something he's interested in,

it's entertaining and fun to watch him

because he's so involved.

There you go. Some more.

Ooh, almost.

Help me, Mom.

I remember being a being a little kid

and following my dad out, checking traps and snares.

You know, even though he's at a young age,

just watching and listening to you, just being around you,

they pick up and learn a lot.

And you explain things the best you can

and show him what's safe and what isn't.

Okay, Wade, I think we got enough willows.

You gonna pile them up for me?

[Wade grunting]

That way, they're learning how to provide

and learning the cycle of life and how things are done

and where our food comes from.

Thank you.

Okay, right there's fine.

You could dig in the backpack

and grab the snare wire, please.

[Wade] Okay.

[Iriqtaq] And the tool that's in there with it.

[Wade] Here, Mom.

[Iriqtaq] Yup. I need that one.

And where's the tool?

I need the tool, too.

[Wade] This one?

[Iriqtaq] Yup. Thank you!

[Wade] Look, Mom.

The sun's going down, and drop on us.

[Iriqtaq] The sun's dropping on us?

Yeah.

[Iriqtaq] The sun's trying to go down on us.

[Wade] Oh.

[Iriqtaq] I taught my son something

and it just, it feels good.

It feels good to be able to be that active

and be able to do such things out here

and teach my son that nothing is ever too hard

if you just set your mind to it.

We'll come back tomorrow and check our snares, okay?

[Wade] Yup.

[gentle xylophone music]

[Sue] You can't be afraid of the dark

when nature's lighting the way.

[dramatic music]

It looks like my storm is way subsided.

I got a little bit blindsided by a storm.

What happened is this windstorm came out of nowhere.

It wasn't in my weather forecast and it just roared.

Life is full of surprises

and I want to make some no-tech versions

of things that will give me an advance notice,

what kind of weather's coming at me.

I need to make a weathervane,

a barometer and there's something called

a Fitzroy storm glass.

What is a storm glass?

Lot of household chemicals and some alcohol,

put it together, and based on what's happening

with all these pressure systems,

it's gonna create a crystalline atmosphere.

You can read those little crystals and it'll tell you.

Are you gonna have a nice clear sunny day?

Are you gonna have some precipitation?

Are you gonna have snow?

Is it gonna be wind?

Is it gonna be high wind?

All right.

I need to dissolve five grammes each of ammonium chloride

and potassium nitrate.

So, we zero that out.

I need five grammes.

Because your generators can go out with regularity here,

you have to have a lifestyle this far out

that doesn't have to run on electricity.

You don't have to depend on the weather reports

from somebody else.

If you're gonna shut it down and be really remote,

you'd better be able to have some off-the-grid systems

to read what's coming at you

and how are you gonna handle it.

You may not get a lot of notice,

but every minute you get might save your home,

your life, your food supply.

Now, I'm just gonna let this sit.

I've got my first jar, but I wanna get a few of them

and set them around.

So, I'm gonna start going back to work

and seeing what I can come up with.

[Ricko] To be successful out here,

we're dependent on game.

So we have to move with the animals.

We got to follow them.

[dramatic music]

Marten boxes.

Right here.

[Narrator] With his children away at school,

Ricko DeWilde has returned to the family cabin

where he will spend time alone in the Huslia wilderness.

He will now set out to harvest furs

that can be sold or used in Athabaskan ceremonies.

To set his trap line, he will travel to unknown territory.

[snowmobile engine running]

In Alaska, when it's dark and cold,

all the cold air sinks down low into the valleys.

So a lot of the animals will move up alongside of the hills

and up in the side of the mountains

and the willow and spruce straws.

That's where the marten are most abundant.

And that's where I want to go.

Growing up out here, I always looked at that mountain.

I always wanted to go up in there and just search around.

It's just part of growing up in the wild

is what's over there at the next lake

or over that next mountain.

When I was a kid,

these mountains looked like the Himalayas.

I mean, they're majestic mountains that we couldn't touch.

So, where I'm trying to go

is kind of like a childhood dream.

I've tried a lot of times to get up on the mountain

with a snow machine, but I've never made it

because there's just too much brush,

too much trees, too much side hilling in that country,

and today I'm able to climb up this mountain

through a trail I cut over the summer.

I had to do a lot of work scouting the area,

cutting in some new trails.

And now that it's winter,

I've got to take another shot

at getting up on top of that mountain.

[suspenseful music]

Getting steep here.

Still moving forward.

This is the steep part.

There's a little bit of rocks in this area.

Woo, I'm hitting some sunshine up here.

It's a lot warmer up here too.

Seeing a bunch of animal tracks.

So far, so good.

Hard work pays off so far.

Oh.

Tipping over here.

Come on, baby!

Ugh.

Come on.

Come on.

Damn.

I'm gonna unhook my toboggan, whoa, shit.

I can get up this thing, I think.

I just got to have a little less weight back here,

and this toboggan is pulling me back.

But once I get a trail in up here,

I'll be able to climb right up, I think.

I'm so close to the top, though.

I'm not about to turn around.

Okay, let me try again.

[snow machine engine revving]

Come on, baby!

So close.

I can see the top.

I'm just getting my speed up.

[triumphant music]

Woo-hoo!

Yeah!

Beautiful, I made it to the top!

Amazing country.

I made it to the top, something I always wanted to do.

Something all my family wanted to do

is get to the top of this mountain.

It's so overwhelming,

the joy for me to be able to come up on top of here

and feel like I really like, conquered something.

But I got to check myself.

I can't get it twisted, this is deadly country

and a lot of people lost their lives

in country like this out here, so I have to stay humble.

I just broke trail up this mountain.

So now I'm gonna hook it back up now that I got a trail,

and I'm gonna go for the top with the toboggan.

[dramatic music]

I'm seeing some marten tracks up here.

Marten running thick up in this area.

I've never set traps up here,

so I want to put a few out up on the high country.

Just see how it pays off.

The marten are running all through this area.

There's tracks right here.

What he's doing is he's looking for mice.

And marten is just a little furry animal.

Right now it's colder, it's dark this time of the year.

That's when their fur is the most prime,

because they have to have good fur

in this cold, dark climate.

So this is when we trap them.

I'm just gonna put a screw in this thing.

I have the luxury of a power drill.

[power drill whirring]

The marten is gonna wanna go through the front entrance

of this box and that's where I'm gonna have

my conibear sit in there.

Growing up out here, we had hand tools,

we had hand drills and all that.

We didn't have electric stuff,

because we didn't always have a generator.

So life got a little easier,

but the game is still the same.

[gentle dramatic music]

[Denise] Challenge makes me wanna drive harder,

and I have to be able to know when I'm up against

something that is more powerful than me.

And that is the river.

[gentle dramatic music]

[Andy] Uh-oh.

[Denise] Oh.

[Andy] Uh-oh.

[Denise] Oh, no.

Oh!

Andy.

[Andy] What a difference a day makes.

You know, when the wind stopped last night.

[Denise] Yeah.

[Andy] And I was thinking, "Uh-oh.

That ice is gonna start packing into the eddy here."

It's shocking to see what happened overnight.

I know it, I hear it.

But to actually walk over and see that

is impressive how fast it changes here.

[Andy] It's gonna be a lot of work to get this out.

[Denise] Ugh.

[Narrator] For Andy and Denise,

unusually late open waters on the Yukon River

have presented a rare opportunity

to catch fish this time of year.

But a sudden shift in temperatures overnight

has created ice where they set their fyke net,

and reaching it will be dangerous.

The problem with this slush ice

is you get the boat out there and it just packs in.

And you can't move it at all.

Wherever you see that white, that's getting to be thick.

And you know, it's gonna be like this thick of slush.

Okay.

Slush ice is dangerous.

I've had some bad experiences with it.

It's basically like floating wet cement.

When you get into it, you can't push off of it.

There's nothing hard to push against.

And once it grabs you,

it holds you and it's really hard to get out of.

I might be able to actually

just push the boat through this.

I won't know until we get out

and see how thick that slush is.

But if I...

If you have ahold of line from the bow of my boat,

worst comes to worst you can tie it to the Jeep

and pull me out of the slush.

Oh, boy.

Okay? That's just a safety.

[Denise] Okay.

[Andy] Let's try and get this line across first.

[Denise] So this will be

one of our fairy-line stakes, right?

Yeah.

We're doing a lot of adapting over the last couple of days,

and that's just a part of our life here.

You just wake up and you got to adapt

to whatever the weather is bringing you.

Whatever game is available,

whatever opportunities you have for harvesting.

We've got our safety set up.

Denise will have the end of a long rope

in case I get stuck in the slush

to pull me out with the Jeep.

And, if I can make it to the buoy,

then I can ferry back and get Denise,

and then we can work on this together.

Okay, Denise.

Just kind of follow me out.

Once I clear the point,

I'm gonna try to pivot into the ball, okay?

[Denise] Okay.

[dramatic music]

Okay.

Here we go.

Enough slack.

Clear that.

Oh, crap.

Oh, my God.

Oh, I don't have much left.

It's gonna be close!

Andy!

Andy!

Whoa!

[Andy] We made it!

Victory.

[Denise] Just enough!

[Andy] I planned it that way,

just to give your heartbeat a little bit.

[laughs] Well, it's successful, then!

The river, it seems to always keep me in check,

because the consequences are real

and a mistake could be fatal.

[Andy] Let me see if I can pull myself

back through this slush.

If I can, then you can come out in the boat with me,

and then we'll deal with trying to get this net up, okay?

[Denise] Okay.

Can I help?

I don't know if I can pull myself against this slush.

[Denise] That is like pulling through cement.

Oh, be careful.

Looks like you're pulling yourself right overboard.

Man...

that is a tough pull.

The next goal is get the net up out of the water

and see if we got any fish in it.

What I love about living on this river, it's powerful.

It's intriguing.

It's never the same.

Every single day, it's a little bit different.

And the fact that it does what it wants to do,

and you adapt to it.

It doesn't ever adapt to you.

So, it's kind of like starting every day fresh

and I like that.

I'll grab the hook and see if we can hook the line.

[Denise] Hang on.

Got to push it down.

-Yeah. -Underneath.

There you go.

That's it.

[Denise] Okay, grab it.

[Andy] I got it.

I have been really looking forward

to getting fresh burbot.

It would be terrible to put all this work,

all this effort into it, and then lose the fish.

Oh, do you think there's something in it?

Oh, man.

I sure hope so.

Do you see anything?

I don't see anything.

[Andy] I'm not seeing anything in there.

[Denise] Oh, come on.

[Andy] I'm not seeing anything in there.

Oh, man.

[Andy] Well, we got skunked, girl.

No.

Yup.

Not a thing in there.

Argh.

Well.

[Andy] That really sucks.

That's disappointing as hell.

I thought for sure we'd have some fish in there.

[Denise] What do you think, Andy?

We can fish it another night.

It's just, we're taking chances on

making life hard on ourselves for a few fish

or maybe no fish.

I'm gonna let you make the call.

If you wanna fish it another night,

then we'll fish it another day.

But if we're done, we're done.

I wanna fish another night.

You know I do. It's risky, I know that.

You don't ever want to accept defeat is what you want.

There's something about pulling up that empty net that,

uh--

Kind of makes you, I know.

It makes me feel like the challenge is on.

The harder the challenge, the harder I drive.

That's who I am, that's how I've always run.

And I have to be realistic here.

I'm in a new environment.

I don't have the experience.

The environment is unforgiving if I make the wrong choices.

So, I have to always try to stand back

and look at it and make the best decision I can.

[Andy] Well, I'll drop it back down

and hit it again tomorrow morning early.

Tomorrow's it, I don't care what happens.

[Denise] Okay.

Last chance.

We'll see what overnight brings this time.

[Sue] Power goes out.

Engines fail.

You better have a backup to your backup to your backup.

[suspenseful music]

Been working on my no-tech weather stations.

And you can see, these are the little storm glasses.

And if you look,

you can see you've got some particles suspended.

When you have the suspended particles you've got overcast,

possibly even fog,

and you may get precipitation.

And outside, I've got cloud cover, some ice fog.

So, it works.

Now we're gonna be getting into the air pressure barometer.

And the theory behind the barometer,

it's gonna measure the air pressure.

[power drill whirring]

The barometer,

it's not gonna be able to tell me exact science.

What it's gonna be able to tell me is,

pull up your bootstraps,

it's gonna get rough,

or you're gonna get something,

but you can keep working and finishing your chores,

just get your job done and then get in and tuck yourself.

Winter storms are so severe.

If I'm doing something outside and not paying attention,

that's when loss of life happens.

I have to make sure that there are no air leaks.

I'm gonna also glue a little ruler here.

Super system comes in,

and that fluid just really screams up.

I'll note the millibars.

And that's what I want to catalogue.

Oh, wow, it's already raising.

We're getting a pretty low system in already.

When I first put it together,

I mean it was just barely above the meniscus.

But, it's climbing right up.

Wow.

And I mean outside, I definitely have a storm system.

Wow, my little nuggets are working right away.

It doesn't run out of batteries.

If the internet goes down,

I can still pick it up and look at it.

And that's what I need out here.

That's what helps me.

[Iriqtaq] Once all the work is done,

it never felt like hard work at all

because you had a great day.

You accomplished something.

[gentle dramatic music]

You ready?

[Wade] Uh-hmm.

I think we're gonna check our snares

and see if we find anything.

In our culture, the ladies went and checked the snares

that were close by,

but they also took their kids with them.

It's the same thing my parents did to me

and my sisters and brothers.

And I'm doing the same thing to my son.

He's got to be used to the cold weather,

being out every day.

Checking snares is a great way to do it.

Oh, man, look.

That one's empty.

Huh?

[Iriqtaq] Look, that one's empty.

You see the snare right there?

[Wade] Huh? No.

[Iriqtaq] There's no bunny rabbit in there.

[Wade] Mom, I want to go on your shoulders.

[Iriqtaq] Our local animals that we're always hunting

and trapping which usually for the skins or for the meat.

I have my son.

My sisters have their two new-born babies.

We're constantly trying to get new skins, new material.

Constantly making new things for the kids.

Ah, shucks.

[Wade] Huh?

[Iriqtaq] Our trap is empty.

[Wade] Trap is empty?

Yup.

[Wade] Aw.

Lots of tracks though, huh?

[Wade] Uh-hmm.

Cool.

The last trap.

Look, you see it?

[Wade] Yeah.

[Iriqtaq] It's empty.

[Wade] Oh.

[Iriqtaq] Come on, let's start walking back

to the snow machine.

[Wade] Yeah.

[Iriqtaq] Hopefully we have better luck tomorrow, huh?

[Wade] Yeah.

[Iriqtaq] Ready?

[Wade] Yeah.

[snow machine engine running]

[suspenseful music]

[Iriqtaq] Ooh.

[Wade] Mom, you run over tree.

That's why.

[Iriqtaq] I know.

No, don't push!

Don't push.

No, watch out.

[snow machine engine running]

Argh!

I can't believe I got stuck right here!

The fun of riding through the willows!

You gonna push a little bit?

Come on.

Okay.

Hold on.

[snow machine engine revving]

[Wade] Go, Mommy.

[snow machine engine revving]

[Iriqtaq] Argh!

Little bit more, babe.

You're gonna pull the ski while I drive?

[Wade] Yeah.

[Iriqtaq] Okay.

Ready?

Ooh.

Good job, son.

Okay, gonna pull up real quick.

Woo.

Ah.

Thank you!

Awesome job, son.

[Wade] Uh-hmm.

I'm glad you're with me to help me.

[Wade] Yeah.

My parents always took us along with them.

I remember my sister being in my mom's parky.

Like, quite a bit of a new-born baby,

and we're chasing down a bear, you know?

I try my best not to forget things like that,

because it gives me the mindset

that I'm able to take my son out

and do those kind of adventures.

Real hard.

One, two, three.

[snow machine engine running]

Woo!

For us to take him out snaring

and have him have the interest in the cycle of life,

and going out in the cold

and being able to do things like this,

it makes all happy

because he is a real boy in the Arctic.

He's a little Inupiaq.

[upbeat music]

[Sue] I'm not afraid to try things I haven't done before.

What makes you think you can do it?

What makes you think I can't?

[gentle dramatic music]

Try and get ready to make a little weathervane here.

I got a lot of ideas floating around in my brain

on how I wanna do it.

[Narrator] In Kavik, Sue Aikens is making devices

that will warn her of the weather,

but don't rely on technology.

With power outages and generator failures

a constant threat in the volatile tundra,

these tools could be the difference between life and death.

I'm always into repurposing and reusing.

I do have, this stock from a gun

that I had to change out.

I also had, I broke a handle of a broom a while back.

And my thought is,

gun's not very good if it doesn't have a barrel.

And where that sucker points is shooting dead nuts

at where your weather system's coming in from.

That's where your wind is.

That's kind of cool.

The weathervane is for wind.

So when I was deciding to do my no-technology gig,

I went, "Oh, yeah.

That's gonna tell me where the wind's coming from."

There's a storm a-brewing, and you better get going home.

The wind direction is extremely important,

for my knowledge, for the survival of camp and myself.

I get hundred-mile-an-hour windstorms.

Why does direction matter so much?

Out of the south, it's gonna carry moisture and bring snow.

Snow matters.

That's gonna tell me drifting.

It's gonna bury things that are here.

It's gonna bury me inside.

If it comes out of the north,

it's gonna be bringing super cold weather with it.

It's coming straight off the Arctic Ocean,

barreling in here.

That means a lot to me.

I wanna take this copper.

I want to start to form it into the shape of the gun.

Why is everything copper, metallic?

'Cause this finished product

is going to be 20, 22 feet up in the air.

I'm thinking I'm gonna be able to see that,

and that's the dull side.

I can take my headlamp,

I can take a flashlight.

Even low indirect light,

which at best is what I'm gonna get,

will radiate and shine back.

[laughs] This is one of the more unique things

I've ever tried to put together, that's for sure.

But, this really is starting to take shape

and look like what it's intended to be.

Pretty cool.

[Ricko] Living out here, you got to be humble.

It's like a balance

of everything providing for you out here.

And if you disrespect that balance,

it comes back to you in a bad way.

[soft music]

[Narrator] Ricko has travelled to an area

that he has never been before during the winter.

After setting traps for marten

in hopes of harvesting valuable furs,

he's now taking a moment pay his respects to the land

and to his Athabaskan roots.

Ooh, a owl over there.

That's usually a sign that you're in a good spot.

Got a little firewood here.

The elders always tell us, when you're in an area like this,

when you first get there,

try to burn food and say antla.

It's like a way of giving respect.

This is like old, old land here.

It belongs to our ancestors

and we believe there're spirits in these lands,

so I've got to respect that area.

Burn food, say antla.

Just, it's our way of giving respect

to the people that went before us

and to also say I'm only here for a little while

and then I'll leave it again, back to where it was.

[fire crackling]

Antla.

A bit of cooked meat.

Antla.

We like to do candy too,

something sweet for people that are gone.

Anaa basee.

Eena, eetah.

Sauza.

Antla.

It's just a native prayer

that was passed on generation-to-generation.

That's how the natives say, thank you

and give our respect to the people

that have gone before us.

And, just for luck, too,

it's like you don't wanna have bad luck.

This is tough country.

Just right out here, when I was 13,

me and my late dad, we found my brother Alan.

He had an accident, he died in that trapping cabin.

Just like, maybe, two or three miles down this valley.

We went to get him for Christmas.

It was December, 1988.

We had a bunch of good food for him

because I knew he'd be so happy to eat good food,

and then we came up on the cabin.

I seen his snowshoe tracks where he tried to come home.

He shot his wrist and he shot his pinky off.

And way out here, just a little accident like that,

it cost him his life and I've seen death at a young age

and in those eyes, you can just tell when they're gone.

I cried so hard coming home

and I got home and I had to tell, me and my late dad,

we had to tell the rest of the siblings.

And everybody's crying, you know.

And I had that food for him and my ma, I said, "Mom.

What do I do with this?" you know, and Mom was like,

"Burn that food and say antla."

And 'cause I had that food I was gonna give him

and that broke my heart, you know,

to have to give it to him that way.

[Ricko sobbing]

But...

it's, um...

Some death, you never really get over,

or you can't speak about it or you'll break down.

That's how I feel about my brother Alan.

That I can't say enough to how much I loved him.

It changed my life, to lose him.

By getting on that mountain and burning food

and paying my respect and looking over the land

that I lost something in my life in,

maybe helps me get over something

that's been bothering me in my life.

It's not a lonely feeling anymore, being out here.

I'm bringing life back into this country.

[dramatic music]

Ho!

Like I got lucky on this one.

Big marten.

I just had this out today,

and I already got a marten in it.

This is a real pretty marten here.

Dark fur like this.

What I'm trying to do right now is get enough fur

so I can give some away at my late sister's potlatch.

So, I'm real happy to have luck out here to have this

and real good country here.

As they say, "Anaa basee.

Denah, hatoe, sooghe.

Means like "Thank you for what you give me to the land

or the creator."

It's a blessing to have this.

I very much respect for this animal.

[gentle piano music]

It's a good feeling for me to catch marten

on the way back from setting traps.

It reassures me that I did something right.

I paid my respect, honoured the ancestors,

I put my traps out, and I have luck coming home,

so I must have did everything right

and I'm getting blessings from the land.

There's a deep purpose in life

and it's connected with love and honour

and tradition and culture.

And for me to be able to harvest an animal is an honour.

The animal's actually gifted itself to me.

[dramatic music]

[Andy] You plan, you think about things,

but sometimes, a very subtle thing that you do wrong

can be the difference between success and failure.

[soft music]

[Denise] Oh.

[Andy] That looks like it froze pretty hard.

[Denise] Oh, boy.

[Andy] Yeah, we're not gonna push any of that slush now.

[Denise] Oh, no.

Shoot.

I'm kind of thinking maybe what we ought to do

is just go get a canoe.

'Cause that'll slide like a dogsled on this ice.

Oh, this whole burbot fishing expedition,

which is what it turned into,

was a big experiment, actually.

It was something I haven't done before

and certainly haven't done at this time of the year.

And weather plays a big role this time of year

in changing conditions

and Denise and I had to do a lot of adapting

to whatever the conditions threw at us.

It sure is complicated fishing.

[Denise laughing]

I never worked so hard to catch no fish in my life.

It's gonna be the best fish you ever ate.

Ah, no kidding.

Okay.

Let's go.

My heart's been set on getting this last fish of the year.

We definitely pushed this to the limit,

and we pushed a little bit past the limit.

Today is absolutely the last day for fyke net fishing.

Okay.

What do we got here?

[Andy] We don't care anything about these.

Just grab the hoop and keep the hoop out of the water.

[Denise] Okay.

I just don't wanna

-get the wrong end. -It's gonna be full of ice

you just have to hold it there, okay?

Don't worry about

-doing anything else. -Okay.

I'm just gonna get everything freed up.

Okay, let me see if I can get the ball free now.

[Denise] Okay.

This is a little different than pulling

the salmon nets in the summer.

What happened?

[Andy] Floating now.

This end of the boat is in the water floating.

[Denise] Eeh, okay.

[Andy] You know, what might be easiest

is for me to just pull that anchor out right now.

'Cause we're gonna pull the net anyway,

and then we don't have to fight the weight of the anchor.

I'm gonna lean as far this way as we can.

Let's get the boat more in the water

and get as low as you can

-in the boat, Denise. -I will.

[Andy] Okay.

[Denise] Yeah.

[Andy] All right.

I just want all the leverage I can get

to help me hold this.

Me versus the burbot, and I'm taking this one.

Whew.

Careful.

One, two, three, go.

Ugh.

That'll make it easier.

-Okay. -All right.

[Denise] Can I look?

We're both here.

We're both above water.

[Andy] It's the moment of truth,

-do we have any fish or not? -Ho-ho!

[Denise] Oh, come on!

-Oh, we got a burbot. -Oh, we got one!

-Yay! -Okay! Okay!

-Just take a moment. -Yay!

[Denise] Take a second here.

There is a burbot in the net.

Wow.

He's a good size.

[Andy] It's not a giant one but it could be a good eater.

[Denise] Nice.

[Andy] One, two, three.

Ugh.

All right,

-burbot in the boat. -Nice.

-Yes. -All right!

-Oh! -Dinner.

I am really, really glad that we rolled that dice

and took the risk.

We worked really hard for this one burbot.

But there was something that was driving us

for a fish in the net and this one burbot

is like the grand prize and worth every minute of it.

[Andy] Let's go back to shore with our fish!

[Denise] Okay!

-Yay! -Fish in the boat!

[Denise] Burbot on board, burbot on board!

The big takeaway for me is,

it is a viable way to fish

but probably better done a little early in the season

when you're not fighting all of the ice.

But I wanna learn new skills all the time,

because you never know what's gonna happen.

And so, knowing the different seasons

and what you can do in those seasons

to get food for yourself, that's just security.

And that's what it's all about.

Security and independence for me.

Ames, you want a piece?

That's hot.

-You like that, huh? -Look it.

Good stuff, huh, Ames?

Hmm.

Tasty burbot.

That's delicious.

[Andy] Was it worth all that work?

[Denise] Absolutely.

[Sue] I don't want to have to depend on a system

that may not work.

I want to rely on Mother Nature.

Mother Nature doesn't get it wrong.

Mother Nature just is.

[gentle dramatic music]

Hurry, Sue.

Hurry.

Daylight's a-burning.

Looks pretty good, actually.

Whew.

Here we have the weathervane.

Little dab will do me over there.

Little dab will do me over there.

Here we go.

It is cold outside,

but I want to get it up.

I'm anxious to get my no-tech weather station running

and seeing if it's gonna work.

I can definitely feel a little breeze coming through,

it's gonna make it a little bit difficult actually

to get the weathervane up.

It's making it a little difficult on my hands.

Why, as I get older,

in the middle of the digital generations,

am I wanting to go back to dumbing down?

Because I can't help but think,

the interweb goes down,

this is gonna be valuable information.

Woo.

Man, that wind is making it brutal.

My glue is already starting to freeze.

Come on.

Ah.

You turn on your T.V. and you see some weatherman.

You're counting on electronics

and a person that's paid to read even more electronics.

Many times, it's incorrect.

'Cause a computer can only take a bunch of facts

and figures and conjections and make a good guess.

This is taking the conditions that actually exist in nature

and just says, "Here's the facts.

Read 'em yourself."

Looking good.

All right.

You're doing good, Susie-cusie.

This is gonna work like a charm.

Look at that.

Awesome.

It works.

Woo!

Another project under the belt.

I got my Fitzroy storm glass.

Got my barometer made.

Finally, a way to tell what kind of weather's coming in,

how severe is it gonna be

and what direction is it gonna be coming from.

Something that's gonna give me a natural, educated guess.

Well done, Susie.

Good job.

[soft electronic music]