Original subtitles

NARRATOR: On this episode of Life Below Zero...

Unwanted predators have Sue on high alert.

Boom!

NARRATOR: Andy and Kate welcome a newcomer

with dreams of living in the bush.

I think I might have some rough days ahead of me.

NARRATOR: Erik prepares for the spoils of hunting season.

ERIC: I'm gonna head out through the woods and find a suitable meat pole.

NARRATOR: And in Noorvik, a wrong step puts Agnes on the edge.

AGNES: Jon, get off that! Get in the fucking boat.

ANDY: That a boy, Iceberg.

ANDY: There. Good job. You stay right there.

When I came here to Eagle

there was a whole network of young people in their 20s and 30s

living out here, and they're all gone.

We're a dying breed, we're an endangered species,

and we need young people to come out.

People are losing the ability to develop these skills and live this way,

and this is a fundamental way of human existence.

NARRATOR: Andy and Kate are determined to teach the next generation

how to survive in the bush,

but learning these skills doesn't come easy.

Nice clear day. Beautiful day to fly.

ANDY: We run a camp where we teach people bush skills,

and we have a client coming in today

who's here to learn about subsistence living.

-Hey, buddy! -KATE: Well, hello, Cody.

CODY: My name's Cody Allen, and I'm from Beaverton, Oregon.

When I was, uh, living in Oregon I spent a lot of time doing construction sites,

and, uh, working in restaurants,

and dealing with people and bosses all the time,

and it was not fun at all.

Oh! Gimme a hug.

I give handshakes. Hugs come later maybe.

-Yeah. You don't look like the hugging type sometimes. -(CHUCKLES)

CODY: Coming out into a place like this,

it's, uh, extremely dangerous.

And if I would've came up here without Andy and Kate's assistance

I'd die probably within a day, two maybe.

I mean, you're gonna run out of food, and I don't know how to hunt.

I don't know how to trap.

I've never really shot an animal.

KATE: The one thing you gotta always remember

is be careful where you put your feet, and your hands, and your body.

Because there's no emergency room.

So, safety first always, and think about what you're doing.

Lot to learn. Lot to do.

So let's go do it.

(HUSKIES YELPING)

CODY: I've always wanted to come out here and do this,

exactly what I'm doing now.

And it's always been this impossible mission

because you have to have so much knowledge.

ANDY: Just keep your arms inside the sled.

CODY: You have to have so many skills,

and if you try and come out here on your own...

There's people who've done it, and they're dead.

(HUSKIES BARKING)

ANDY: Gee, gee! Whoa!

KATE: I won!

(LAUGHS)

CODY: I just got here, and I find myself

just staring off into the wilderness,

and realise I'm in serious country out here.

SUE: To recognise the possibility of something bad happening

is to be prepared for it.

But if you're never prepared for it

and it happened, six feet under. Bye.

That's not me.

Kavik can be a very, um, dangerous place to be.

NARRATOR: This winter, Sue moved from a cramped space in Kavik's dining hall

to a new building.

SUE: My feeling of security is always tenuous,

but those who are prepared tend to have less damage.

When I was in the dining hall, it was very cut and dry.

When I'm in bed and laying here,

first thing my hand does is grab the pistol.

The next the thing the other hand does is grab the gun.

But this is an all-new building for me this winter.

So, one of the things I have to do

is choose which weapons that I'm gonna have in this building.

So if I'm lying in bed, this gun is always here.

This gun is the next one I grab.

I don't know when something's gonna come crawling around.

I have a history, um, was attacked by a grizzly some years back,

and, uh, while it played tonsil hockey with me a little bit, um,

I did come out okay.

NARRATOR: By moving, Sue's gained more space, but it comes at a price.

Living at the edge of camp puts her bed on the first line of attack

for incoming predators.

SUE: The predators tend to be nocturnal.

So it's very important

that I have point and click weapons close to the bed.

I need to be able to reach it, point it, shoot it,

not worry about some stupid scope.

So, this is my pistol. It's a .44.

It's gonna leave a pretty good hole.

This one I wear when I'm outside doing things,

but when I go to bed at night that's where it lives.

This is simple. This is actually my grandson's little gun.

This is a .410 for birds.

This, .30-06, if you lift it

and the caribou is only 10 feet away,

through your scope you're just gonna see a patch of fur.

When you see a scope on a weapon,

it's meant for a longer distance.

This is something that there is no scope on it.

It's called open sights.

You pull it, and I'm just looking right down the barrel.

You sight it in.

Boom.

This is a .45-70.

It's gonna leave a pretty massive hole on the other side.

But the biggest predator is my bear population.

So for several years I have done what I call, "Passive Bear Safety."

Meaning, if they cross my path I will deal with it.

But, I now own the camp.

I need to have a little bit more aggressive bear safety.

So this is a AR-10. 20 round clip.

So if I pull the trigger as fast as I pull it,

20 of his little friends are gonna make sure

that whatever I'm shooting at goes down.

This is strictly for those situations

where the final outcome is one of us is gonna die.

I would rather it not be me.

I have 20 friends that agree.

So, yeah. I've got the .30-06, AR-10,

.45-70, the .44 pistol,

and last but not least, Louisville Slugger.

Boom.

ERIK: When I lay on my deathbed, the moments that I'll reflect on

are sitting up on a ridge, watching the midnight sun come down below a mountain,

and come back up with 100 pounds of sheep meat on my back.

Just fuelling up my snow machine.

I'm gonna head out and find a suitable pole to use as a meat pole.

A meat pole is a piece of wood that you hang up in between two trees

that you're able to hang meat on and keep them up off the ground,

so nothing can chew on them and they get plenty of air flow around them.

In the fall time, there's a lot of meat coming into the camp

and I need a lot of space to hang meat.

There's a lot of independence and freedom associated with living out in the bush.

But at the same time, you need to kick your own butt up out of bed in the morning.

I don't have a boss, and it's all just being self-motivated

and getting done whatever needs to get done.

(CHAINSAW STARTS)

This tree here will, uh, work well as a meat pole.

Pretty simple tools. Just chainsaw and snow machine.

But hard part is throwing big, heavy pieces of wood around.

I'm gonna use this pole both for hanging moose in the fall

and hanging caribou meat any time of year.

AGNES: We like to be outdoors the majority of the time,

and every week there's always something different to go after.

Weather looks awesome, ah?

Clear and cold?

NARRATOR: Seal meat and oil are central

for the Hailstones during the long winters in Noorvik,

but unusually warm temperatures are forcing them to fly

to the neighbouring village of Kotzebue

just for an opportunity to hunt.

CHIP: The river is just frozen,

and it's not thick enough to walk on,

and it's driving the seals out of the river because they can't breathe

unless they bust up through the ice.

And the seals are leaving the river right now,

and it's gonna concentrate the seals down towards the Kotzebue area.

So it's actually the prime time to go get them is right now.

Good luck. I wish I could go.

I just can't legally hunt seals.

I'm not a native Alaskan that resides on the coast.

Hungry for a seal.

Hopefully the harbour's not totally frozen, or if it is, not too thick.

I can see nothing, but ice.

Ice, ice, ice. It froze overnight.

I can't believe that.

We'll go check it out at least.

I'm borrowing my cousin's boat today,

so he's gonna let me use his boat,

and I'm gonna be able to go do a little hunting,

and hopefully I'll get lucky,

and I'll be able to work and process my seal

and exchange him, seal oil, for the use of his boat.

Pull us!

Come on, Ting!

Whoo!

TING: Go ahead. You guys turn. I'm gonna push you guys that way.

AGNES: We're not turning. We're going that way.

I'm serious Ting.

When we're out there in the water

you have to have all your senses.

You have to fucking pay attention.

When I say something, don't wait,

or don't ask a question or try to correct me,

because it's gonna be kind of scary out there.

NARRATOR: Agnes is no stranger to losing family members to the ice.

It's been 21 years and three weeks

since my mother fell through the ice,

and I've never been the same since.

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

Let's go like this.

Jon, get off that! Get in the fucking boat!

Jon! Quit it!

We're not gonna do this if you're gonna act stupid.

When you pull and put your whole boat on your weight,

you're just gonna go "doing!"

No doing anything outside the boat.

-It's deep enough there. -It's deep enough. Let's go.

There's a lot of things that can happen up here.

The best way to do is have common sense and always play it safe.

(ENGINE STARTING)

Once we get going, son, it'll go. It'll bust through real easy.

Especially the farther out we go.

I'm rocking back and forth.

That gives the boat a better chance

to keep going over the ice and it won't just stop.

Then it'll also let the ice break up a little,

just so when we get back here

we'll still have a path if we need to turn back.

And we might have just about an hour, maybe two,

to actually do the seal hunting, and then come right back.

I see open water. We're almost there, mom.

AGNES: Okay. You can mostly watch that side, bun.

I'll try to keep my eyes on this side.

Oh, look!

Jon, 3:00!

(CHUCKLES) Check it out! Look in front of us! Forwards!

TING: Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

JON: Harpoon, Ting! AGNES: I got it, Jon!

Look straight, 12:00, Jon.

-(COCKS RIFLE) -12:00.

TING: Where's the seal by?

Where'd it go? Where'd it go? Where'd it go?

AGNES: It's gonna be anywhere in front of us.

It's gonna come up again. It didn't stay up that long.

TING: I know. It came up and went down?

Keep going then, mom?

Well, there's more. I'm just gonna keep ready.

Oh!

(GUNSHOT)

Aw, man! Almost!

What the heck?

It's getting too dark. We're gonna have to head back soon.

AGNES: I think you're right.

We did a lot of, uh, work today.

We did a lot of busting through the ice

and, uh, we saw quite a few seals out there.

So looking good for tomorrow. We know the seals are here.

It might be an easier hunt if the ice is a little thicker too,

with the seals being able to get on top of the ice.

ANDY: That's the thing that I've noticed about the computer age.

It's creating a large group of people

that don't have a very long attention span.

And to really learn a skill you have to dedicate time to it.

KATE: When your feet get cold your whole body's cold.

-Yeah. -So I'm glad you changed your clothes and...

-I don't think my boots... -Now you can get to work here.

NARRATOR: Carving out a life for oneself in the Alaskan bush

is tough at best.

Cody will have to master the most basic skills if he's going to survive.

-All right guys, have fun. -CODY: Thank you, Kate.

All right babe, go easy on the boy.

(BOTH CHUCKLE)

NARRATOR: Lesson one.

Master the essential tools for survival.

ANDY: With these tools, you pretty much have everything you need

to live out here.

I moved to Alaska when I was 22 years old,

uh, from Washington DC area.

I didn't know shit when I came here.

I had been doing construction.

Had a great job.

But, uh, something in my heart told me

I just had to come up to Alaska and check it out.

So basically what I had was I had a high-powered rifle.

I had a .22 rifle, for shooting squirrels, rabbits, ducks, whatever.

I had a small Hudson Bay Axe, and it also doubles as your hammer.

One thing I'd really like you to get in the habit of

is find a place on your person

where you can always have matches and some birch bark.

CODY: Okay.

'Cause if you ever get wet,

this is the one skill you're gonna have to learn to be very good at out here,

and that's building a fire.

A butane lighter will not light at thirty below zero.

Okay.

When I came out into this country,

everybody had their bowl that went everywhere with them.

-Okay. -The advantages to wood

is when it's really cold, your food doesn't get cold in them really quick.

-But it's light, too. -Yeah.

You know? And they're durable.

-They're pretty darn strong. -What kind of wood is it?

-This is birch. -Birch. Mmm-hmm.

CODY: I think I got a plastic canteen and a metal tin

that goes around it that I brought with me.

And that works fine. But you know what?

At 20 below zero, your lips stick to that metal.

(CHUCKLES) Oh, shit. I didn't even think about that.

CODY: I'm guessing his brain has gotta be like a super computer

when it comes to outdoor living.

Because just right over in that little 10 minute spiel

about the tools and everything,

I learned more than I would have in, I don't know, 10 years down in Oregon.

As you spend more time here you'll learn what the dangers are.

The sounds will become more familiar.

The alarm bells will still be there,

but you'll be able to quickly say, "Oh, that's just this."

All right. So let's get this stuff out,

and this is gonna be a little bit stiff.

The main goal is to learn fundamentals.

Build that base of experience as broad as we can build it.

First day, shelter.

Shelter and warmth, that's all he's got to figure out.

Enthusiasm, self-motivation, if he's got that, he'll do fine.

All right. So why don't you go ahead and unfold that.

CODY: This place is freaking cold.

Got off the plane here,

and I think within 30 minutes my face was already ice,

and right then and there I kind of realised this is a whole new world.

I mean, it's literally like I just landed on a different planet.

I'm just still anxious, nervous.

Getting out here and not knowing how to do something

it's like you want to take it slow no matter what.

ANDY: I'll hand the pipe in. You can run that up through.

If you're an arrogant person living out here,

and you think you can do everything,

it's gonna come back and bite you every time

and you'll get yourself in real trouble.

So you have to be humble.

You have to realise that you're gonna screw up,

and, you know, learn from it.

SUE: If you have one foot in yesterday, one foot in tomorrow,

you're not living in today.

But part of my footstep has to be in tomorrow so I can survive today.

I've got inside of my dwelling going for protection wise and security.

Now I need to secure the exterior.

NARRATOR: With nothing but wilderness surrounding her home for many miles,

Sue has to keep away the predators by any means necessary.

Bears, all your predators, keen sense of smell.

I use my leftover coffee grounds get repurposed and sprinkled out.

Even though there will be more snow,

it is such a keen, strong odour

that it is arming camp from the outside in.

I've been doing this for years, and years, and years now.

Over time, it is just, sort of, like you taking

your morning coffee, and eggs, and bacon

and going and sitting in a really ripe outhouse.

Are you gonna go, "Mmm, this is the place I wanna eat?"

My concern is the bears, they are around.

They've got, you know, well over 83 tagged

that have the possibility of walking right through my camp.

They're up. They're looking for food.

And I happen to be the only SOB that is cooking in a, in a huge radius.

What was that?

That's one of my foxies.

I forgot what I was saying.

Oh, yeah, if you have an animal

that is raging, charging, fixated,

no, it's not gonna stop them.

But for the ones that are ambling through going,

"Hey doesn't that chick live here?

"She'd make a tasty snack."

They get close and go, "Whoa!"

It burns the heck out of their noses and it smells like a sewer.

You know? No. I don't want to go there.

The next thing I do is bleach.

So, with the bleach, put my thumb over, this is what I do.

Everything.

Gonna hit it a little bit heavy here.

Now you can see, this building here,

all these marks are where I've had to repair it.

Um, a bear came through here.

That's a wolverine on the corner.

So, I just, uh, try to deter it,

try to keep that exposure to a minimum.

I'm basically ready for winter to come knocking.

If a few animals come knocking at the same time, I've got it covered.

Two-legged or four-legged.

This chick ain't going down easy.

I'm ready.

ERIK: I really enjoy running my guiding business.

You get to fly around in planes, and take people hunting,

and set up tents.

It's a great thing to do for a living.

I couldn't be more fortunate.

Skidded this green log in earlier today,

and I'm gonna fix it between these two trees, and make a meat pole.

NARRATOR: Erik Salitan is in the final phase of securing a safe place for his meat,

but to do it, he's got to work in snowy conditions,

12 feet off the ground.

ERIK: A meat pole is a pole that hangs between two trees that you hang meat off of.

Keeps little animals and stuff from chewing on the meat,

and keeps nice airflow, and meat hanging nice and clean.

Got my pole lifted up.

Now I'm just gonna attach it here to the tree,

just with tension and some simple knots on this chain.

I need this pole to be able to withstand,

at least 1,000 pounds of meat.

That side should be good.

Sure beats lifting it by hand.

Looks pretty level.

Test her out for strength.

Seems pretty solid to me.

I'm happy with it.

Should be able to hang quite a bit of meat up there.

Didn't take long to cut this pole and hang it.

I should be able to use this pole for a few years.

When it gets kinda brittle, I'll take it down,

cut it up for firewood, and make a new one.

Looks good.

I got the meat, I got some ropes up there in the bucket.

I'm gonna climb up there, and tie it up,

and see how this new meat pole works.

The lifestyle that I get to live up here as a hunting guide

and a subsistence hunter and trapper is pretty unique

and, you know, there's a lot of work associated with it,

but I think there's more pros than cons.

It's a really beautiful place to live,

and I really enjoy what I do for a living, and it's a great life.

It's pretty wholesome and, uh, it's what I choose.

This is a moose shoulder.

This is a rack of moose ribs.

And this is also a rack of moose ribs.

Now that this meat is hung on the pole,

I can bring in each piece individually,

and thaw it out, and butcher it,

and, kind of, spread the work out

rather than having it just be a whole ton of cutting all at once.

So, got a several hundred pounds of meat right here.

I have a lot of meat already.

I'm sitting pretty for the winter.

Should have plenty of meat to make it through till next hunting season.

Life is good. I'm living fat on the hog

and plenty to keep my belly full.

AGNES: You really have to know what you're doing...

When you want to go do something in extreme weather

and extreme cold, because sometimes it can get pretty dangerous.

Nice weather, all right.

Warmer than yesterday.

Less ice.

NARRATOR: After yesterday's failed hunt,

the Hailstone's have to make today count

or go home to Noorvik empty handed.

-JON: All set? -Let the hunt begin.

I just hope we can get a real good shot

and score a seal or two.

If I catch at least one seal, that'll carry us all the way until the frozen winter.

And then, then we can have another opportunity to go hunting again.

Just be ready to follow my shot.

9:00.

-Did you get it? -Nope. No blood.

Come on.

(SIGHS DEEPLY)

-JON: Did you get it? -Nope.

JON: Right there.

Ah, damn.

(AGNES SIGHS)

(COCKS RIFLE)

AGNES: Three o'clock.

I see three of them.

JON: All right, mom, birdshot them seals.

Son, I got it!

JON: Harpoon him, Ting! AGNES: Harpoon, Ting!

-It's right there! -TING: Where?

You got it, bun!

You were supposed to let go.

JON: Harpoon! AGNES: Here, Jon!

JON: I can't see.

Ugh, I missed. I missed.

AGNES: It's real deep.

It should come right back up.

Man, we ran over it.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

There's blood. It was a sure hit.

JON: I think we have a sinker.

Ting, you can't be scared to throw a harpoon.

You have to have your mind set.

AGNES: When Ting was doing her first harpooning,

instead of throwing it and let it go,

she threw it and held it, and tried to just poke it and pull it back in.

But, uh, she's just... She's just learning.

Show her how to position her hand.

The first step is your fingers.

Make sure your tip is straight.

JON: Don't just try to go up to it and do that.

You have to lift it as high as you could,

arc it, and then just right into it anywhere.

Right through the middle, dead centre, anywhere.

She's still got quite a bit of practising to do.

Uh, she still has to figure out

how hard she should throw, or how to hold her hand.

Let it go even. Throw it.

You see how when I throw it, it came back up? This'll float.

Yup, and once this one gets stuck, it'll come off.

And it'll, this one will let it come back up.

-TING: Okay. -Okay. You got it Ting?

TING: Yeah. AGNES: We know what we're doing now.

We're in the game. Let's go play.

Where'd they all just go?

All hunts aren't successful.

Sometimes you have to take it for what it is.

If we don't get anything,

hey, at least the kids got a chance to come out here

and get some experience, and come back and try again.

ANDY: When you live alone for a little while,

you learn a lot about yourself.

There's only a few basic things I need in life,

and actually life is really good.

(HUSKIES HOWLING AND BARKING)

CODY: That looks like it'll be some good firewood.

NARRATOR: As the sun falls and temperatures dip

far below what Cody is used to in Oregon,

he scours the forest for the timber that will keep him warm tonight.

CODY: It's mixed emotions.

I'm nervous, scared, and really excited at the same time.

Using that saw, it's almost kind of more refreshing than a chainsaw

'cause you're not so worried about cutting your leg off.

I don't know how much wood I'm gonna need,

but I figure 12 foot sections are kind of easy to carry and manoeuvre through here.

Although I think after about 20 pieces of log

I'm really gonna wish I had a chainsaw.

Little haw. Little haw.

Ho, ho.

-How goes it? -Good boy.

-Hey, Blitzen. -Hi, buddy.

-I have a present for you. -Oh, yay.

(CHUCKLES)

Couple of birch, pieces of birch here.

You can just get them out and throw them on your pile for right now.

CODY: All right.

ANDY: Birch trees are probably one of the best resources out here

for a lot of different things.

Build sleds, axe handles, and birch bark on the outside is really flammable.

Birch bark when it's wet will burn.

CODY: That's amazing.

Oh, come on.

There we go.

ANDY: Keep holding it straight vertical.

-Hold that heat up. -Oh.

ANDY: You gotta watch that wind.

It's challenging to build a fire in the wind out here.

It doesn't take much wind to lose it.

CODY: Yeah.

Back in Oregon starting a fire is no problem,

but out here, you know, might not have a lighter on you,

and how you gonna start a fire when everything's frozen?

ANDY: Cup your hand around it. Yup.

All these things are just really subtle techniques.

There you go. You got it.

You got it going now, and then keep that birch vertical.

There you go, and then just move it around.

CODY: That's amazing. Ooh! (CHUCKLES)

He's gotta learn not to be afraid of fire when he strikes a match.

It's pretty hard to burn skin at 50 below zero.

(ANDY LAUGHS)

CODY: I can already tell how frustrating it can be.

ANDY: (LAUGHS) Working outside in zero degrees,

or below zero temperatures, is never easy to begin with.

You're doing this in some of the tougher conditions right?

It's not nearly as hard when you got a stove going and you're inside a place.

It's just outside, but I just wanted you to get a feel.

There you go. Grab another piece of birch bark,

put this pile of birch bark on top of it now.

It's a waterproof kind of a bark

and that's why they were able to use it for canoes.

Okay. Now what I want you to do is grab some of that,

I call that squaw wood.

Grab a big handful of it and break it in half,

and then break it in half again.

Okay. Now lay that whole pile right on this.

Okay. Then just wait.

What you're gonna see is, this is gonna flair up really big

and then it's gonna go to coals really quick.

So you have to be ready to then put the next size piece of wood on it.

And while you got it going good like that...

That's all right. Just throw it on like that. They'll catch.

And it's always a progression. You know, smaller to bigger.

And the other thing that helps is keep them fairly close,

so once they start they create heat in between each other.

CODY: Okay.

-Yeah. -But that's the one skill

that you really wanna know well up here.

When you come out into this environment with this kind of cold,

if you do the wrong thing, it can take your life.

Why don't you go on inside, get your stove going.

-Use the same principle. -Yeah.

And then when you come back just keep cutting wood,

'cause tonight I'd say you're probably gonna burn at least half of this tonight.

-Okay. -The idea is not to survive out here,

the idea is to thrive out here.

You know, you can come into this situation with all the knowledge in the world,

but it kinda seems like you're gonna have stuff thrown at you, you'd never expect.

And I think that's one of the reasons I'm happy to come out

and learn from Andy, is 'cause he's probably

been through just about everything you can imagine.

I'll see you in a bit.

-Thank you much, Andy. -Yup. You're doing great.

I got a good teacher.

ANDY: Sometimes I try and instruct too much.

If I try and tell him everything to look out for, he'll never retain it.

So there's really no point.

You know, make a mistake, you learn from it.

Just don't get hurt making the mistake.

Well, right here is the first official fire

out here in Eagle, Calico Camp.

This kinda feels, uh, ceremonial I guess.

I might have put myself in over my head a little bit.

I think I might have some rough days ahead of me.

SUE: Yeah, I hear some people say, you know, "Life's just knocking me down."

No it's not. It's just having fun with you.

Ermie?

(WHISTLES)

You wanna go for a walk?

NARRATOR: With her camp secured inside and out,

Sue turns her attention to the safety to her sole winter companion.

A retired sled dog.

Big storm's coming, chickie.

So you're gonna be on the leash today.

I've got horrible storms coming, horrible conditions.

She'll die if she doesn't listen.

You will learn.

If you don't learn to come when I call,

you're gonna end up dead little one.

And this is no place for naughtiness.

One day this leash won't be here if you behave,

but I gotta know you understand.

There's things that are gonna hurt you out here.

A big old black wolf tried to come in,

and whether mating or eating her, was his interest.

Yeah, you were scared. You went under the house.

Guess what? There is no under the house this winter.

It's gonna be covered in snow, man.

I want you for my friend.

Not to be somebody's breakfast.

If I wanted you just to be food for something,

I'd call you Elsie and put a cowbell on you.

AGNES: I enjoy teaching my girls.

Being real young, my mother passed away,

so I try to teach them as much as I know,

before anything happens to me.

JON: It's such a beautiful day.

AGNES: One seal, it took us a few days, but, uh...

Because it's got to cost a bit much to fly down this way to Kotzebue,

and get in a boat, and go out hunting.

We need to at least get one seal to make up for the money

that it costs me to fly down here.

Something on top the ice.

We're way far. Half ways to land.

That's like six miles and two bends away.

AGNES: Oh, son.

(GUNSHOT)

JON: Where'd it go?

Harpoon, harpoon, harpoon!

AGNES: Harpoon, Ting.

You gotta be ready. It's still swimming.

JON: Gotta be ready, Ting.

AGNES: It's wounded. JON: Coming right back up.

It has no air.

AGNES: Oh, son, I got it!

(GUNSHOT)

Ooh!

JON: Harpoon it! Harpoon it!

Oh!

I see him. He's floating. He's floating.

Didn't go far though. Looks like a young one.

Mom, harpoon it!

Harpoon.

There we go.

Now let's go and grab him.

AGNES: Hurry up before it sink. It got a hole in it.

JON: Ting that was a little bit early when you tried to harpoon it.

A little bit early.

AGNES: Where's that hook?

You gotta go below, below.

JON: There we go.

AGNES: Up this way. Up front. Up front.

-JON: There you go. -(AGNES GRUNTS)

JON: Ready? AGNES: One, two, three, go. (STRAINS)

JON: Whoa.

AGNES: We did it.

JON: Friggin' awesome.

AGNES: I'm real grateful for this seal.

I'm glad it gave itself to us.

I paid it my respects and gave it a last drink of water,

and so, uh, hopefully I'll have some more good luck.

Okay, kids ready? Shall we head home?

Yep.

AGNES: Well, I managed to pull off a successful hunt.

I got one seal in the boat,

and I managed to keep everybody safe and alive, and we're all still happy.

Not too small.

Not too big.

Just perfect.

One seal. Took us a few days,

but, uh, Chip's gonna be real happy.

A bloody mess.

The mess of success.

One, two, three, go!

Yee!

CODY: The number one concern for me out here is gonna be hurting myself.

I think the idea of 9-1-1 back in the city

or having an ambulance being able to come and get you,

people don't realise how comforting that can be.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

ANDY: See you got your stove going.

So why don't we go out and collect some spruce boughs.

-Get a bed made. -Okay.

And we'll go back in the woods a little away from the house

so we're not deforesting the area around the house right now.

What you're gonna wanna do is just come in here

and just start going down the tree.

-Take the boughs off. -Yeah.

Sometimes you can even just take down a whole tree like this.

Right? When I was out trapping that was my base.

-That would get laid down like that. -Mmm-hmm.

As I laid down on it, it just kind of scrunched all those down.

And then you take these smaller, finer ones

and you start building a good bed.

Build it up in a mound.

'Cause as you sleep in it...

-It's gonna sag down. -It's gonna sag down.

It creates a nice little nest for you.

-Okay. -Just go through.

You can just start taking stuff down wherever it's convenient.

I would suggest try and get as much snow off of it,

because as soon as you bring it inside...

-It's gonna melt. -It's gonna melt,

and then everything will be wet.

So just make it as comfortable as you can tonight,

and we'll see how you are in the morning.

-Sounds good. -All right.

-Thank you, Andy. -Yeah.

You're doing good.

ANDY: So what's gonna be interesting for me to see in the next couple of days

as we get into more challenging things is, what's his gut instinct?

You know, is he the kind of guy

that goes charging up to the edge of the river and looks over?

Or is he the kind of guy that, kind of, walks up and kind of tests the ice?

And those are the little subtle things that I'm gonna look for,

and that'll tell me a lot about him

and, uh, where his headspace is at.

Definitely did not think I'd be sleeping on a tree

when I, uh, got off that plane today.

But I don't think I can assume anything out here.

Guess we can call this part of the woods the mattress store.

Definitely gonna be a change from the Tempur-Pedic.

I think people have gotten really content with living in the lower 48

and don't really take into consideration

how much you can appreciate the stuff you have around you.

Kind of takes coming out somewhere like this,

and realising that, uh, a computer game isn't that important.

Basically the idea of it is, if you're gonna be taking the dogs out somewhere,

and spending somewhere out away from the cabin for a night,

you would make a bed like this

in order to keep yourself from laying just on snow.

Because that would be the equivalent of laying on an ice cube,

and nobody wants to lay on ice.

Throw a tarp up over it.

I think this is nature's way of making memory foam.

Let's give it a try.

Oh, yeah. (EXHALES)

This is probably the most uncomfortable bed I've ever made,

but it's definitely better than sleeping on a plank of wood or on snow.

(HOWLING)