Original subtitles

RICKO: Perfect time of year to go moose hunting.

The moose are real fat right now.

(animal call)

My main thing is just try to walk like a moose and talk like a moose, and hopefully

get one to respond.

And, hopefully have some luck.

NARRATOR: Ricko DeWilde lives nomadically in the Huslia region,

hunting and trapping game for his family's survival.

Taking care of those who can no longer fend for themselves

is the Athabaskan way of life,

and today he'll embark on a proxy moose hunt for a respected elder and her kin.

RICKO: The term proxy hunt is basically hunting for elders.

But for me, it's more than that.

IRENE: Hi. RICKO: Hi Irene.

I'm hunting for my Auntie Irene and her daughter, Sofie.

IRENE: Good luck.

RICKO: Thank you.

They've been there for me in the past.

So, I'm more than happy to be there for them.

To get moose meat is real important, because that's what carries us through the winter.

That's how we get meat on the table.

We got to look out for each other.

This is tough country out here, a long winter ahead.

And some of the people out here, they can't go out and get moose on their own.

So, it's really important that I do my part.

(theme music plays)

(animal call)

(animal call)

It's heartbreaking in a way to see it walk away,

especially a huge one like that.

There's a lot of meat.

I just got to let it go.

Be patient, I'll have another chance.

SUE: It's the nature of life to tear down and build up.

Tear down and build up.

Tear down and build up.

It's a cycle.

It's a beautiful day today.

Ah, it has not been such a beautiful day all summer.

The weather was not with me in any way, shape, or form.

But, I also had a 6.5, 6.3 earthquake out here.

I can see from here, it pulled up some of the metal and it popped some of

the wood that keeps my arctic entryway sealed up.

At each point of entry in or out of your buildings up here,

you want to have an arctic entryway.

And, what is that?

It's a protection measure for me blocks the wind, blocks the snow, and it gives you one

area to keep the animal out of the way, to keep the weather out of the way before,

you enter your main dwelling.

The earthquake, it shook it and it's broken there,

is broken here, is broken here.

When I'm inside, when it rains it leaks like a sieve.

In the winter, it's going to leak snow like a sieve.

I have to go see exactly where the leaks are, fix them, see if there's anything else I

need to deal with, and get it done.

Winter is barking at the door.

This is a rubberized, very, sticky sealant.

Looking down here, I can start lifting this other plastic.

The forces of nature carved the Grand Canyon.

I think, I'm probably not going to win.

So, I need to protect it.

So for this portion, I'll need to really seal it up well.

I'm going to hit anything that looks like it's not tight sealed.

Paint down the corner. Paint down the corner.

Move on to the entryways down there.

Here, if you don't maintain your properties, the weather is going to eat them up.

But, um, I'm 55 going on 56, not 26 going on 27

I've got to think about my personal comfort, my personal safety.

So, things break, things snap, things need to be fixed.

I've got a lot of forces trying to knock me to my knees.

And it doesn't matter, I'll crawl.

But, I'm still going forward.

This is gonna be what's gonna hold the seam.

What it does, is it gets in there and then expands, dries, and turns into a harder foam.

This is not going to make Better Homes and Gardens,

but it might make cool tundra and arctic.

That really is pretty much all I can do here.

I've got some good goopy on there.

So, I'm pretty much done here.

The next thing that I really like to do is, I'd like to get on building an

arctic entry on the other side.

That's the side that I take my two K.W.

Generator, put it out there,

let it run, but it's exposed to the elements all of the time.

It's time to be a grown up, and build another arctic entryway.

JESSIE: I live for adventure and excitement.

What some people think is crazy is just another day in the life of Jessie Holmes.

Yeehaw

All right, this is it.

NARRATOR: Jessie Homes has spent the past several years improving the lives

of himself and his sled dogs along the Nenana River.

He's begun construction on a new home that will better withstand

the elements of the arctic.

But with winter approaching, he only has a brief window to complete it before harsh

conditions return to the land.

JESSIE: I've been busy fishing, and hunting, and all my other summer projects.

The weather is starting to come in soon, and it's time to get this project closed in.

I'm going to go ahead and go two stories.

I left it off at one story.

I got all my lumber right here ready for the rest of my framing of the second story.

Those logs are getting pretty heavy going up that high.

The rest of it, I'm going to be using conventional framing for.

I don't have enough logs to go up that high, and I don't have enough strength

or technique to get them up that high myself.

Out there, raining cats and dogs, and I'm up here dry on my second story.

Winter is coming, and it's coming fast.

You can smell it in the air.

This is the last chance to make a surge at getting a lot of stuff done.

I'm living in my trailer right next to it right now.

But I've transitioned away from that, to where I had to get this done.

You can't live in a trailer this winter.

Got to get this cabin done and move in.

This is like the biggest moment in my life, other than racing the Iditarod.

Is having my own beautiful log home to live in.

I built many log homes and worked on many projects,

building very nice homes for other people.

This is for me, and it's time to put all that knowledge I gained towards

building my own home.

All right.

Got my second story floor done.

It's going to be really nice to enjoy it once everything is capped in.

But right now, I'm going to enjoy the fact that I can work up here and safely build my

second story walls and my rafters above here.

ANDY: A lot of people probably look at the way I do things, or how I do things, and they

wonder why I work so hard.

But, it works for me, and I don't consider it work.

Let's go look at our jungle.

Man, oh, man. Oh man.

This is pretty disappointing.

DENISE: Yeah.

NARRATOR: After an injury forced Andy Bassich to seek medical aid in

the lower forty eight,

he's returned to Eagle with his girlfriend Denise.

But with Andy's lack of mobility, they must find a way to clear the land and plant

much needed crops before the growing season comes to an end.

ANDY: When Denise and I got here, the entire property was completely

overgrown with weeds.

They were basically chest high everywhere in the yard, and in our garden, and in our

greenhouse, and we manage to weed out the greenhouse a little bit,

get that to where we could plant it a little bit for this year.

So, what we're kind of thinking is maybe, heading up to Eagle and

getting a big pig.

Pigs are really good at digging up and eating everything.

They're a pretty useful animal to have out in the woods.

They eat everything.

So, you have to spend a lot of money on feed, and you can eat just about every

single part of a pig.

So, we can get some land cleared, get the garden fertilized, get the weeds up,

and when we're done with that, butcher the pig up.

And, have some meat to get us through the early part of the winter.

One of the things that I'm not really sure about is how we get a 450 pound or

a 500 pound pig from Eagle down to here.

We will probably have to build a crate.

Build a pen.

We're going to put a day or two's worth of work into building a big crate,

building a pen for the pig that we can move around.

All right, so we're gonna just cut some two by fours right now.

DENISE: Okay.

ANDY: We've got to spend the next day trying to build a crate three-foot wide,

four-foot tall, by seven-foot long.

Big enough to get this giant pig into.

The sawmill, it's kind of a two-legged operation.

It's gonna be a real advantage to have a second pair of hands right now.

DENISE: I love this.

Look at that.

Incredible.

It just slices it, it's like butter.

It just...

ANDY: Yeah.

Denise has never been around the sawmill.

So, I showed her every, every aspect of it.

Showed her where the safe places are, and where the not so safe places are.

This is the thing that cut my finger off.

DENISE: I was going to ask you.

ANDY: So, I was turning the log, and when I turned it over it came down and so,

mind your fingers.

DENISE: Uh-huh. Okay.

ANDY: They pinch them so easy on this, this thing.

DENISE: Ay-ay-ay.

DENISE: I cut a couple of boards, and that was invigorating.

ANDY: Oh, one, one, two, three, four.

That's one side.

One two, I think that we're going to have to be darn close.

Yeah, I think that we'll make it.

I think that's pretty good.

I think, I'm, I'm starting to get pretty sore.

So, why don't we just quit for tonight, and we'll hit it again

tomorrow when we're fresh.

DENISE: All right.

CHIP: This is the Kiwalik.

This river has taken care of my kids, and my kids are raising their kids, and

they're bringing their kids here.

So, it's pretty incredible.

AGNES: Look right there. My nephew is trying to go pick this one out.

So, that we can go fishing.

CHIP: Oh, there you go. Isn't that the one that you put together with Ting?

AGNES: Yeah. CHIP: Oh, excellent. AGNES: It's ah...

CHIP: Wow, that's gonna be a good one.

That'll get medium sized salmon right there.

AGNES: Yeah, I'm hoping for silvers.

This is the time of the year that we're going to be silver salmon fishing.

The silver salmon is coming in with the high tide, and we're hoping to

throw the nets out today.

Now, you got to put the wood on the sled and bring it over there to the indisack.

So, we could smoke the fish.

CHIP: This guy right here, always helpful.

AGNES: Yup, now you go help that to pull it up.

CHIP: You want to help me pull?

Grab the rope let's go.

Yes, right here.

We're going to take it all the way over here.

AGNES: Teamwork. Team Wade.

Usually with the silver salmon we catch this time of the year, we smoke and dry.

So, we're going to be building up a bigger fish rack.

Where we'll be smoking them.

CHIP: That should do, huh? AGNES: Yup. CHIP: Okay.

This is our first time this year that we have decided to smoke fish.

But before you start fishing, you need a fish rack.

I'm basically making this thing bigger.

AGNES: While you slowly working on this project, I'm just going to go

check if there's berries right over here.

CHIP: Oh, excellent!

We'll have something to munch down on and maybe a nice, cranberry drink tonight.

Oh, I'm just getting this done while the ladies are busy with other things, you know.

They keep busy by attacking berries.

It's almost a nonstop onslaught.

AGNES: Oh, you like to pick them a lot.

What did you do?

Sour?

CHIP: This is all a lot of work.

There's no doubt about it.

But, it's fun work.

So, it is not like monotonous or crazy work, but you got to have things right.

You don't want to have fish first, and then have to build the rack,

and then go get the smoking wood,

and then go get all the other little things that you want to put together.

No, it has to be ready to receive the fish.

WADE: Look. Look.

AGNES: Look what?

Yeah, geese.

Look, look, look.

Look, look, look.

CHIP: I always keep my eyes open here.

And, I mean you always look around.

You keep your head turned.

You keep looking different places.

There's always, there's something approaching you all the time.

Keeping my eyes open.

Maybe, I'll add a goose to that rack.

Look at these geese coming in towards us right now.

CHIP: Just knocked a goose down.

He fell pretty hard over there, and now I got to go get him.

I ain't got him yet.

Ain't yours until they're in your hands and home.

I see him over there.

There he is.

Oh, it's a white-front.

Sorry about that goose.

Dinner.

Oh, I got exactly what I wanted, a nice fat goose.

And, my wife and my daughter will be really happy, and

maybe my grandson would check it out too.

And, I got to go back to what we call work.

Which is going to be making my wife a nice little fish smoke.

And then, we'll go put out nets, and get the rest of this day going.

That won't take too long, we'll get there.

SUE: No matter who you are, no matter where you live, if you're still are able to get

out of bed, admire the person you see in the mirror.

You've got it licked.

Come on fatty.

There's lots of twelve gauge slugs here.

Ah, bears, wolves, wolverines.

Many times, I'm here and I'm inside when you hear,

(growling)

you come out, boom, boom, boom.

You get them critters running.

So, it's time to build something to make myself a little safer.

The first step is to go into the shop, get a four by four sheet of plywood and start

building a floor.

NARRATOR: Sue is building an arctic entryway for her living quarters.

The structure will protect her from severe weather and dangerous predators

when dark winter returns.

And, completing it before conditions worsen is vital.

SUE: It's a good day to be outside doing stuff.

Ah, I am a bit concerned.

The, all those clouds right there are bumping up onto my mountains over here.

That snow low temps, and then even some rain.

It's common sense, if you got raw wood you'll want to build it where it's at least dry.

So, I need to, time is really of the essence and no matter what you do out here,

uh, weather is king.

Got to work with it, not against it.

This is, ah, one solid chunk of wood.

Nothing is lifting.

I got enough metal in there to hold it through, ah, the next earthquake.

So, good job.

Now, I just need to start building walls.

I haven't done this kind of stuff in a while.

I do it as I need to.

But, I am not somebody who really pays that much attention to the ninety-degree

angles and the square edges of life.

I'm more like a splat the paint all over the place and finger with it a little bit,

and then go.

First wall going up.

All right so, there's one wall up.

Now, to get the next wall up.

When you're wanting to do a project, you have to figure out the price.

How much do I need this thing?

Does it mean I have one more level of added security?

Yes.

It's extremely important for me to have this.

Therefore, the cost is what it is.

So, that's just tacked in.

So today, I managed to get the base built, the framework on the walls in,

and the door just toe nailed in.

But, I do see that I've got weather starting to move in.

No way am I going to finish this today, and get it in place.

I wanted to beat the weather, don't have that opportunity.

So, I'll move this inside.

The rest of it will be done in the shop.

But, it's a hell of a good start for a single day.

JESSIE: If you wait for the weather to get better in Alaska to get things done,

you'll never get anything done.

All right, I got my second story up.

The next thing to do is start moving up some materials and tools.

Standing my second story walls up is going to be a challenge by myself.

As it's going up, I got to make sure it doesn't go too far out,

fall down, and there goes all your work.

We'll see which part is harder, the beginning or the end.

I got my back wall built.

That was a straight forward, cut every board the same length.

This is going to have a lot of different size boards in it.

This will be a lot more challenging, and it's also going to be a heavier wall.

And with these winds coming up like it is, it's going to be pretty hard to lift it up.

I'm gonna have to really make sure this beautiful wall that I build, can take more time

than any wall in the whole house doesn't end up down there.

This is several hundred pounds, this wall right here, and I'm one person having to

lift it up there.

I'm gonna have to do it safe and, ah, the only person who's gonna watch after me

out here is me.

So, I'm hoping this will work.

Only one way to find out.

Time to put it up.

Here we go.

(grunting)

JESSIE: Come on. Nice and easy, going slow.

Easy. Okay. Got it up.

Whoo!

Got to hang onto this thing, because the wind's blowing.

I don't have it anchored off too much right now.

And, the bracing is nice but, you only trust it so much.

Once I get a couple of these spikes in, I'll be feeling good.

So, I got this wall up.

I've got it braced off.

I've got it spiked in many places.

Just two more walls, and I'm going to have this tied in.

And, I'll be able to start putting a roof on my new cabin.

ANDY: The beauty of living out here is that it's sustainable,

and it's all about being self-reliant.

Let's set the sawhorses up.

Just give me a little bit of space in between these boards, maybe.

Just start the sawhorse like right here.

DENISE: Okay. ANDY: All right.

Today, Denise and I are going to work on building a pen to hold the pig.

We're trying to design a pen light enough that we can pick it up and move it around.

So, the pig can easily eat, and dig up all the ground around it and be

contained and safe.

Uh, grab another one of those.

Stick it under it.

DENISE: Yeah.

ANDY: I'll go through and I will nail them just straight on.

DENISE: The first nail.

ANDY: Hold on.

This life is really physical, every day you're doing things.

You don't really think about it, like lifting weights or whatever.

But, just walking through tall grass, pushing your way through the brush, carrying

buckets of something.

If you don't push yourself to the limit then you'll never know what your limits are.

Now, the big question is, "Can we move it?"

(laughter)

All right.

DENISE: Holy (bleep).

ANDY: This is going to be little ones.

DENISE: Okay, just a minute.

ANDY: Little movements. DENISE: Okay. ANDY: Yeah.

It's not that bad, I just, I can lift it up and everything I just can't take

steps with it every well, you know.

DENISE: Yeah, I mean we just have to go slow, and we'll figure it out.

ANDY: Yeah.

Yeah, there are some really basic things to living here that when

you're missing one leg, um, it's a problem.

It's a real problem.

Having a strong back, and having balance, and having the ability to walk and

at least carry something with one arm is essential to living out here.

When you're walking around on crutches.

(bleep).

All of those things become a major obstacle.

Okay, four nails in each one there.

DENISE: Okay.

I just really feel like Andy and I were in synch.

We just vibe off of each other well.

And I think that's what got us through, you know, the challenge, the physical

challenge of pushing through till the end.

ANDY: It's good enough for now.

DENISE: Big project done.

ANDY: Yeah. It's good.

We got a crate done and got a pen done.

I think that we're ready to go get a pig.

RICKO: You're using the land.

The land is providing for you, and that's how we're here today.

So, just respect the land, respect the animals, and respect their habitat,

and you'll keep having food every year.

There's the rain.

See a little light up ahead.

That brings my hopes up a little bit.

I don't want to be hunting in the rain.

That makes it real difficult.

NARRATOR: Ricko is hunting for bull moose to aid a village elder and her family.

After missing his chance at a bull moose yesterday, Ricko has returned to the

same place in hopes of success.

But severe weather will hinder his chances.

(animal call)

I'm starting to feel a little bit desperate you can say, which is not a good feeling.

Because it's getting close to the end of hunting season, and If I don't come through

for my auntie, I'm a failure, man.

(animal call)

(animal call)

(animal call)

(grass rustling)

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

(grass rustling)

RICKO: Hey, hey, hey, hey.

(bleep), I almost shot that cow.

(bleep) cow almost charged.

I almost shot it.

I didn't want to shoot her, but she came that close to getting it.

(bleep).

They are quiet.

They come right up on you.

My heart is like...

I heard a stick break.

And that usually means only one, two things, there is a bear or a moose.

And when I looked in there, I've seen this brown thing coming straight at me.

And then when it comes out, it's a cow moose.

So, I'm thinking, time kind of slowed down.

So, I'm thinking, this cow moose thinks I'm another bull.

I'm walking, talking, smelling like a bull moose maybe she don't want me

messing with her bull.

That's why I said, "Hey, hey, hey!"

So close. Thank God.

That thing happened just in a blink of an eye and I don't want to kill a mother

moose or a cow that's gonna have babies eventually.

♪ ♪

(saftey click)

(gunshot)

Kind of a scary dangerous moments out here tonight, but got some meat now.

So, I got to take care of it.

It is getting kind of dark on me, and these grizzlies come out at night.

I'm happy to have this.

I'm blessed to have a moose.

(speaking in native language)

That' thank you moose, real good food.

Every year, thousands of years.

So, I'm blessed again this year, and I'm really appreciative of it.

But, now the work begins.

This is a big boy.

(grunting)

Takes a lot of body strength to do that.

These moose weigh about 1500 pounds, but it takes a lot out of me when I do that.

I got to get this head lamp on, because it's starting to get dark.

And, um, not only does it make it easier to see, it can be real dangerous out here.

The grizzlies come in on you sometimes out here when you're cutting up moose.

So, I got to make sure I'm ready.

For Irene, she's going to be eating on this moose all winter long.

So, I am going to take my time and do a good job, do it nice and clean.

Not only respect the meat and respect the land in that way,

but also respect for my Auntie.

I don't want to bring her home a bunch of dirty meat.

Being out here alone allows me to really interact with the land,

interact with the animals.

I get to see the sun come up, and I get to see the sun go down.

And I want to move around with these animals.

I'm out here alone, but I'm far from alone.

It's like I got a million friends around me, because there's like a communication

there that's not even spoken.

I got what I needed done tonight.

So, I'm going to basically lay a tarp over this, throw some willows on it.

I am going to tie a couple of willows in a loop just to look like a snare.

I'm going to hang a shirt up on the antlers just to make it smell me basically.

And the best chance of a bear not coming in is to make them think you're still on a kill.

Kind of keep the ravens and the bears off this thing and come back tomorrow and

haul it back.

AGNES: Pretty nice place to raise up children and it's a real big open country

if you know what you're doing out here, and lucky us our work is play.

CHIP: Maybe we have goose.

IRIQTAQ: Come, look.

CHIP: Maybe we have fish.

We got choices.

This is my Kiwalik river right here.

We come down here every year.

We like to fish for salmon if we can.

It's later in the season.

Been doing a little bit fishing here and there but nothing really serious.

Um, we've been waiting for silvers to come.

We're going to set different sizes of nets.

We're in for the long haul.

We got the smoker made.

We got the nets taken care of.

So, they have the net all repaired.

I will put them out.

And hopefully, uh, we'll catch some fish and we'll call it good.

AGNES: This net is about ready to be set.

CHIP: Wade, were you going to help me put out the net?

IDI: Hurry up, (inaudible) is waiting for you.

CHIP: Hey, I caught a grandson.

The main runs of chum have gone by.

There's a few still trickling in.

The main runs of pinks have gone by, but there might be one or two coming in.

But right now, we have silvers and there's kings in the river.

So, we have a variety.

So, we've got three nets to put out tonight during the high tide.

Hopefully, uh, these fish will blunder into the nets and we'll have some good luck.

AGNES: Good job. Good job, Wade.

You're putting net.

Go get the other net.

I have my grandson here.

He hasn't been out setting nets before.

This is his actually first time fishing.

So, it's kind of fun and exciting.

So, we have to really, you know, make him tired.

Our plan is to make him tired.

So, he will let us rest.

Okay, Idi.

Good job, now, we need a fish.

It's good to see his expressions.

The excitement he is when he comes up with like going in the water in a boat,

throwing a net.

Even though he don't know what the net is right now, I'm sure that later on when we

start to pull in the fish he's going to be happy he's actually threw the net.

Even though he don't even know what that is.

So, it fills my heart to see him happy.

So, I just want to keep doing new things for him.

(makes noise)

Go put net.

Look, you put net.

Me and Chip had five daughters, so it's a blessing to have a little boy here.

CHIP: I finally got a guy in camp to hang out with.

My sons grew up and moved away.

This guy is a lot of fun.

Well, you know, he's a little boy.

Throwing rocks and everything.

Every bird is interesting.

Mud is interesting, and the kid is just having a ball.

In this place, he can run, and he can scream, and he can get muddy, and sandy,

and he can throw rotten fish at people, and nobody gives a rat's ass.

He's the latest. He's not the last. He's not the first.

He's the latest, but he is right now, he's the greatest.

Now, it's time to let the net soak.

Now, we just got to let the fish come with the tide.

JESSIE: I plan on making big moves.

Some people say go big or go home.

I'm going big and going home.

Oh, this is doable.

It's heavy, but it's not as heavy as I was afraid it was.

So, I'm hoping the rain will hold off today.

And we'll have a pretty decent day.

Next step, get up there and start putting my rafters up.

I got to get this roof on.

Protect what I've built from the coming winter.

Yesterday, I got my floor built.

Got all four walls framed.

That's a great day of work.

I mean, I really went hard yesterday, and now I'm moving in to building what

my roof structure is going to be on.

I just got nine more to figure out.

I'm running out of energy.

There it goes.

Not usually too scared of much, but this scares me right here.

These have got to be over 100 pounds and I got to get it all the way up there.

Not just one, all of them.

So, the next step is going to take some intense focus.

I'm going to have to be real careful.

I ain't going to down over these rafters.

It's getting snagged on something, (bleep), (bleep).

Ah, (bleep), (bleep).

(bleep).

JESSIE: Damnit.

This is going to be the job that kills me.

I would have had it, but something was snagging on this log, on the rafter.

Let's see what the hell was catching me?

This damnit.

This spike is what caught the log there.

And, I just couldn't get it to keep sliding up.

I almost had it.

This is so frustrating.

Oh, man.

But, uh, it looks like there's no real damage to the rafter other than a little bit of a

separated board.

I can fix that here really quick.

I got to get this guy back up there.

Where the mind goes, the body follows.

So, I got to keep a positive attitude and it's like being gun shy, you know.

If the gun kicks too hard, it makes you a little shy to shoot it the next time.

Right now, I'm a little bit nervous.

I need to get this one up here and have it go good.

So, I can build some confidence.

Because, I got six more of them to go.

Once I get it to this point, I can pivot it.

I got it up.

I really needed that after what happened.

I needed the confidence to know that I could get it up here.

This is the last one.

Feeling pretty beat.

The last one is going to be the hardest one to get up there.

(grunting)

Going to really have to muster up some strength.

It's really taking its toll on me.

It's been a hard couple of days.

I just got to get this one up here and oh, come on.

Thank you. Oh god. Thank you god.

Oh, god, I got it.

It's the last one.

There we go.

All right, got it up here.

It's time to get to work.

This is one of the most risky things I've had to do in a long time.

And I didn't really enjoy it, but I got it done.

And now, it's time to make this into something.

SUE: Winter is coming.

The only thing that you can troll about it is nothing.

Stay up (bleep).

All right.

NARRATOR: Sue is building an arctic entryway to protect her living quarters from severe

weather and tundra predators.

She must finish the project quickly or she'll leave herself vulnerable to the

perils of dark winter.

SUE: This is the last piece before painting, and then I got a little finish

work to do.

But, the most important finish work I can do is

getting the paint on it at this point.

I've had a few snowflakes flying.

Is it real great conditions for doing the paint right now?

Anywhere near freezing is not really where you want to be to start flopping paint

on a building.

But, it's just time is staring to be of the essence.

If you want somebody to paint your house, and make sure that you got all those nice cuts,

and there's nothing on your trim, hire somebody else.

I am not your gal.

If you noticed, I'm really trying to lay it pretty thick in the seams.

Anytime that you have a seam, the wind is going to reach up to 100 miles an hour.

The snow is going to get ground into a talcum fine powder,

and it's going to get in through any crack.

I have very little time to get this done.

So, I've got to slap on as much as I can in a short period of time,

and get past this project, and onto the next.

This is a, it's a good project.

But I've got a lot of stuff to do before winter hits.

And winter is at the door.

It's snowing today.

This weather here is exactly why it was a really good idea to bring the

whole project inside.

It's snowing.

Now, it doesn't make it the best weather to paint in, but if it's the only

weather you got, you gonna do it.

All right. We got one big brown box.

I got it on pretty, pretty thick.

It's going to take a lot to dry anyhow, but I've got to have the water

proofing on there.

It's got to dry.

So, first things first, got to start shutting doors and getting this place warmer.

RICKO: Something is going to try to take you out in Alaska,

and you have to be prepared for it.

Don't think it's a cake walk.

You come out here, you better be ready.

I'm pulling up where I got the moose last night.

So, I'm just going to try to walk in slow and make sure there's no bear on it.

That's my main concern.

NARRATOR: Ricko has successfully harvested a moose while on a proxy hunt

for a village elder.

He's returned to the kill site to haul the meat back to Huslia if nothing

else has gotten to it first.

RICKO: See, there's bears around here.

A large black bears, a small grizzly.

And definitely shows that it's in the area.

Coming in, I try to move slowly.

I mean, some people say move loud bear, bear, bear.

But if you're doing all of that and the bear decides to sneak on you a little closer

to make its first move, then you ain't gonna hear him.

If he's on a meat pile, he doesn't want to move, it's me or him.

So, it's the name of the game out here.

So, this moose has been laying out about I'd say eight hours.

It should be nice and tender, the meat is still warm.

It's a slow cooling process doing it this way.

It tenderizes the moose.

It's an old native trick I guess you could say.

Now, I'm just going to skin this side first, take some of the quarters off,

maybe pop the ribs a little bit,

and then just gonna take my time to keep this meat real clean.

Because, when we take our time.

We do it right.

We eat it for four to six months.

Having to kill an animal might seem barbaric or savage, but it's just simple

way of life, and you have to work with the animal, work with the land, and respect it.

I don't just go out and looking for antlers and feeding my ego.

I'm feeding myself, and I'm feeding my family.

That's how I came to this part in life.

So, I have to continue it.

It keeps the animals strong.

It keeps the land strong.

And, it keeps putting food on my table.

We're not rich people.

We're rich with land.

Done butchering, skinning, all that hard stuff.

One more hard job is bringing it out to the boat, getting it to Huslia, and getting it into

my Auntie's smoke house, and I'm done.

Okay, looks good.

Oh, there we go.

Hunting moose is not easy.

It's a lot of work especially when I'm by myself.

There is a lot of meat.

This moose head here makes good moose head soup.

And, also the antlers are sold like ten dollars a pound out here.

So, that will help my auntie out a lot too.

I always wanna do this without gouging myself.

So, I got to be careful.

(grunting)

All right, so, I'm done here.

It's a beautiful spot here.

I was real lucky.

Got a moose.

Now, it's time for the animals to take what's a little bit that's left.

For me to get out here and accomplish the things that I wanted to do,

it has a lot of meaning to me because,

you use this old knowledge that I learned and to put food on the

table, it makes me feel peace at mind just to be back here and be able to

thrive the way I am right now.

It's a good feeling.

ANDY: When you live out here you have to learn how to give up that fear of failure.

Even if you don't know what you're doing, do it.

You'll figure it out.

Let's get going.

DENISE: Okay.

NARRATOR: Andy and Denise are heading into town to retrieve a pig

they recently purchased.

The animal will weed their overgrown vegetation and fertilize the

soil for future crops.

After building a mobile pen to transport the pig, they must now get it back

safely to the homestead.

ANDY: Pig, pig, pig, pig, come on up.

DENISE: Who's coming to Calico?

ANDY: Come here, little girl.

Come here, double duty.

That's a lot of pig.

DENISE: Yeah. CHARLEY: That's a lot of bacon.

ANDY: That's a lot of bacon, a lot of ham.

One, two, three, go.

Right now, Denise and I are at the farm where the pig is, and we are

gonna attempt to get the pig up a trailer ramp,

into an open trailer, and then take her down river to my

homestead at Calico Bluff.

It's about a 450 pound fully grown sow pig.

So, we're not really sure how this is gonna go.

DENISE: There you go.

ANDY: Pig, pig, pig. Pig, pig, pig.

DENISE: She's pigheaded.

ANDY: I mean, she's calming down.

She's smelling that food.

I think she's just trying to make up her mind what's going on here.

You liking that anukshuk?

DENISE: She eats one at a time.

How long does it take?

She chews her food very thoroughly.

ANDY: That sniffer is pretty good. Attagirl.

Pig in the crate.

Yay.

DENISE: I know.

ANDY: Nothing like hugging a muddy, pig-stinking woman.

DENISE: She's in the crate.

ANDY: Right now, when we are gonna take her about five miles down the road, come down

to the boat landing, back my trailer up to the boat, and then the real

work's gonna begin.

I really don't know how to get a big seven-foot by four-foot crate that weighs probably

600 pounds from the trailer into the boat.

That's gonna be quite a challenge.

Put it on the other side of Mac's.

So, we have it as wide as it can.

So, the pig crate don't fall over, right?

Once we are on the front of the boat, we're gonna have to have some kind of a

jerry-rigged ramp to get it down in the boat.

All right, let's let her down, Mac.

Oh hell, that was good.

All right. Let me get a strap around this.

I always keep a tow line on my boat.

It's kind of a bridle that works off the back.

I was able to connect a come-along to it.

And, that's kind of our method of towing the crate into the boat.

All right, go ahead and crank a little bit.

There you go.

Okay, hold on a minute.

Let me put another board under here.

Pig, stay in the back.

I think we're just gonna have to keep going.

DENISE: Okay.

ANDY: And, hope that this one two by right here don't break.

CHARLEY: This thing is wanting to go down in the boat now.

ANDY: Denise!

Those two, two by fours try and get them under this right here.

There you go, right there.

Perfect. Okay. That's perfect.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop, stop!

ANDY: Whoa, wh

CHARLEY: She shifted.

ANDY: Yeah, I know she's gonna move around a lot.

DENISE: Fear of all of that weight coming at me and looking like it was going to

topple over was a very precarious spot to be in.

ANDY: Okay, here we go.

There we go. That's perfect.

Keep going forward.

Good job, Denise. Just keep going.

Little more, Denise.

See if we can get another foot here.

Perfect.

I think that's as good as we're gonna get.

That's what you call a, um, organized (bleep).

See, walking her would have been a lot easier.

There's absolutely no way that I could be doing this without Denise being here.

Absolutely no way.

I'm glad that you made it.

I was given a second chance, because I had the right person in my life.

DENISE: Look at, it's right there.

ANDY: She takes the time to notice the beauty of nature around here.

I'm really looking forward to our future together.

DENISE: Well, hi, Dickle. We brought a new friend home.

ANDY: There you go. You like that?

DENISE: That's a good piggy. That's a good piggy.

There, what's that?

That's the good stuff.

Yup, water, water, water, water.

ANDY: Close that gate.

DENISE: Andy, the gate is locked.

ANDY: Yay.

DENISE: The pig is in the pen.

I've always believed that you have to go with what you love; what feels right.

That you have to take the time to, to know that within yourself.

Where you feel good.

How you feel good.

And, for me that's here.

ANDY: What are you doing?

You think you're hiding.

We all see you.

DENISE: Yeah, I know.

ANDY: Having the accident and the situation that I had.

I mean, it almost killed me,

and when you finally realize that you're getting a second chance,

it kind of changes your perspective on things a little bit.

We got a pig here. We're in good shape.

DENISE: Mission accomplished. ANDY: Yes, ma'am.

Who knows why we get second chances.

I don't know, you know.

But, I'm not gonna give it up.

CHIP: It is like a big circle you know.

Dog eat dog, eat cat too.

Fish eat frog.

And, I eat you.

We'll go check that net, grandson.

We're in the Delta here on the Kiwalik river.

So, it's time to check the nets, and since we're targeting fish for smoking and

preserving, we wanna get them as fresh as possible.

We wanna have them stay as fresh for as long as possible.

By the time fish gets to a lot of people in the interior of the United States,

they're probably quite a few days old, but with us they're hours old.

And then, by the time we got them smoked, they're still really fresh.

So, we got that advantage on salmon.

AGNES: Wow, look.

CHIP: One zombie fish.

This time of year, there is a lot of rotten salmon.

We call them zombie fish.

They're alive, but they're spawned out and they're dying,

and they've been flushed downstream.

And, we don't use those kind.

But, they have teeth that are sticking out, because they've burned up all their

fat and a lot of their muscle.

We don't want these ladies to get injured, and then cut their fingers,

and then have to go process fish.

You see these teeth, will cut your fingers slice and dice pretty hard.

Oh, look she's blowing eggs all over.

Try again.

AGNES: Next one.

Look, grandson, fish.

CHIP: Right there. This is a very nice silver.

This is the exact targeted fish we want, right here.

AGNES: Look, we caught a silver fish, grandson,

CHIP: So, we wanna expose it to him at a young age,

develop an interest.

Later in life, you know, he can reflect on what we're up to, maybe.

If we can we'll give this kid some good memories and teach him something.

These are wonderful fish.

Someday, boy, you'll be fishing too.

This has everything I want, everything I need, everything I can work,

and enough work that I can stay busy all day every day.

And, it's also stuff I like to do.

It's fishing.

It's hunting.

It's camping.

Be with my wife, my family.

We got some daughters, a grandson here.

There's just everything you could think of.

I know I just love this place.

Think about this.

Your mom's father's father was from back here.

And, so your grandfather worked back here for about forty, forty-five years and

lived back here.

And your mom comes down here, and she's been hunting seasonally.

And, you were raised up down here, and now Wade's here.

That's an unbroken chain of five generations at least.

Yup, there is a fifth known generation right there.

Little Kiwalik kid.

Go on, Kiwalik kid.

Have fun.

SUE: The word success wouldn't be there if you didn't have failure.

You know, you don't have black if you don't have white.

In order for me to bring my whole arctic entry way this way,

I'm sitting in the machine,

and alls that I can see is a big ass piece of wood.

So, I need to mark where I have the studs, and that is where I need to be

to drill it in.

NARRATOR: With her arctic entry way completed.

Sue must now connect it to her living quarters.

She's prepped the area where the structure will attach.

But with the weather quickly worsening, failure is not an option.

SUE: All right.

I think that it is time for me to go get the building.

The weather is not improving.

So, I got to get it on there.

I'm gonna bring the forks and set it underneath as far as I can.

I'm not really too sure what I need to do to attach it.

It's just such an uneven load.

It's about a half a ton.

Maybe a little bit over that.

I do not know if this is gonna work.

My thought is to try and get ratchet straps around the building, get it high,

and then ratchet it from the other side.

Forks only go to here, and I'm still picking up 60%,

55% of the weight.

It's a lot on an old machine.

We'll see.

It feels very precarious from back here.

I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to see anything of my marks.

The weather's not getting any better, it's time to rock and roll.

Unfortunately, this ground is a little bit soft.

It's gonna be difficult to bring it dead on.

I can't see anything, not a thing.

All in all, I'm a little off.

But, I think that I need to get my pry bar, and then try to get it in place,

and shoot a few screws in.

All right.

What I need to try and do, is maybe get this two by four out of here.

So, I can release that pressure.

If I can.

Damn it.

I don't wanna move the building.

Son of a bitch.

(bleep), (bleep),(bleep).

SUE: Okay, I g

Let me see if I can jimmy it a little bit more.

Try to rock it forward.

Release the kraken.

There.

Well, for all purposes,

I have an arctic entry way.

I've still got work to do.

But, it's a start.

Swore like a son of a bitch, but I got it on.

It's not perfect yet, but (bleep) it's here.

And, all inside of the first blizzardy blizzard of the season.

There's always circumstances in our lives.

Doesn't matter who you are.

Doesn't matter where you live.

Whether it's divorce, disease, taxes, jobs, there's something.

And, there is quite a bit that happened this year that I'm dealing with.

It's not in my nature to give up.

I have a plan for how I want things to go out here, but I also started working

on a cabin and getting that set up.

And, why is that important to me?

I don't own the land here in Kavik.

Which means that I have a very precarious existence here.

But, I'm also getting older.

What I'm willing to do at twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty can't be the

same at sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety.

But, I don't worry about my future, because it's gonna be whatever it is.

Life turns out exactly how it's supposed to seldom how you think it will.

So, live each day really (bleep) well.

Because, it's all unfolding.

JESSIE: Close to the land.

Close to the water.

Close to the wild animals.

To me this is my church.

This is where I come to be spiritually fulfilled.

All right.

I've got the most important part of my project done.

I have structurally tied my whole roof in.

All the framework in my roof is done.

That's a hard job.

I've got the walls done, the second story floor in.

I got these super heavy rafters up there.

I'm done with all the heavy stuff.

Now, it's time to cap it off with my roofing.

I'm gonna have a metal roof,

and I'm gonna be able to hear the rain since there's plenty of rain,

and that's going to be a peaceful sound to me.

Love a metal roof.

This where we're gonna go pretty quick here I think.

You know, as long as I don't run into any problems.

And, that's good.

Because, I got dogs to start training.

But, I have to get this on.

I cannot be working up there in the snow and ice.

This is not something I wanna be doing in winter.

I laid this first piece out nice and square.

So, I should be able to run off of that for the rest, and now I just got to put

all the other pieces and overlap them.

And, uh, soon I'm gonna have a roof over my head.

This is the most important part of this cabin right here.

This is what protects everything form rain, and moisture, and snow, and wind.

Once I got this roof on, my structure is protected from the coming winter and it's

gonna last for years to come, because of this roof that I am putting on.

I've been waiting to have this home for a long time.

I'm going to cap it off right.

All right.

I got my last piece of metal on, man, this is a beautiful roof.

This is a huge job done right here.

Now, I got my own home that I built.

My dream home by the river.

This is a new start for me.

Here's to the first of many awesome campfires right here,

in front of my cabin by the river.

Man dreams really do come true, if you're willing to work your ass off for them.

Twenty years back in my life, I was in a pretty rough place and I didn't have much hope,

and I came to Alaska.

I don't even know that person before I came up here.

I can't believe how far that I've come, you know?

Every day, I wake up with passion and drive for something.

Winter was just so incredible.

Training my dogs better than ever, taking better care of them than ever,

and just growing as a person,

getting out and having the adventures of a lifetime.

ANNOUNCER (over PA): Folks, Jessie Holmes.

Rookie of the year.

JESSIE: I'm ready for winter.

Let's do this.

RICKO: The way we survive dates back thousands of years.

And, if we don't keep practicing it, it's gonna disappear.

Man, it feels good to be at this point.

It was a lot of work.

I mean, it's exhausting after a while.

But, I love doing it.

I love getting out there.

But, it's a journey just to get to the point to be able to harvest the moose.

Hi.

SOPHIE: Good job. RICKO: Thank you.

I really appreciate my Auntie Irene and her daughter Sophie.

Makes me feel good to be able to help them.

Because, they have helped me in the past.

SOPHIE: Huge. Good sized one.

RICKO: Yeah, big boy.

SOPHIE: I like it. I like it.

RICKO: It's a big animal. It's a lot of meat.

I mean that's the one that puts food on the table all winter.

IRENE: Perfect timing too.

Some moose are really humungous, and some are really small.

So, this is just the size I need for my freezer.

Very good.

RICKO: Okay.

We are Athabaskan Indians, and it's a family structure, and it's part of our

Athabaskan culture is to help each other out.

That's how we survived all these years.

We rely on each other.

I think Alaska is challenging, just simply, by being so remote.

But not only that, there is extreme weather and extreme animals.

I'm, kind of, am a one-man band here.

I'm on a solo mission.

So, it's a lot harder.

I got to work harder, and I got think smarter.

But in a way, that helps me to really find myself, and helps me feel independent.

This winter was challenging, but I was able to accomplish a lot.

I made it out here to my cabin by snow machine.

Get some beaver, get ptarmigan, spruce chicken, marten, a beautiful wolverine.

I was able to get my A.M. radio running,

my one-way communication out.

I did a lot of fun things with my kids.

I got out, did a lot of fishing.

Did geese hunting.

And, I was really able to bond with my children.

It's just being able to share this whole experience with my kids was the most

beautiful accomplishment of all.

I'm just real happy with this season the way it went.

I really don't think there's any other way to learn this lifestyle other than

being in it or born into it.

Alaska doesn't belong to me. I belong to Alaska. That's my identity.

Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.