All language subtitles for Mountain Men s08e01

[ Wind gusting ]

[ Bird caws ]

♪♪

[ Gunshot ]

Get out!

Narrator: Deep in
the American wilderness...

-Yeah!
-Look out!

Ouch!

Narrator: ...a new generation
of mountain men

answers the call of the wild...

Whoo-hoo!
Come on!

There's nothing like
being out here, living free.

This is something
that I could never give up.

Narrator: ...to live by their
own hands, on their own terms.

Eustace: Surviving here means
never letting your guard down.

Narrator: But time takes a toll
on even the strongest.

Eustace: I don't know how well
I'm gonna to be able

to keep this place going.

Tom: There probably aren't many
75-year-old people

that are still out
working like I am.

I've thought a lot about it,
and that's the decision I made.

Narrator: And when one mountain
man steps away forever...

Almost there.

Narrator: ...the new breed must
stand their ground...

Kidd:
Ah-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka!

...or die trying.

Jake: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey!

[ Wolf howls ]

Captioning Provided by
A&E Networks

♪♪

Narrator:
In southwest Montana,

the king of the mountains
isn't man.

It's beast.

Mountain lions can take down big
game in a matter of seconds.

[ Roars ]

And with winter on the way,

the threat heats up
as food gets scarce,

pushing predators
down from the mountains

and closer to humans.

Hunt 'em up.
Hunt 'em up.

29-year-old Jake Herak
and his dog team

are hired by local ranchers to
protect the valley's livestock

by chasing cats
into the high country

before they have
a chance to strike.

Jake: The cat's heading straight
for the valley below,

and that's definitely
a big problem.

Narrator: It's a nonstop job
that's more than a paycheck.

It's a calling.

Jake: To me, there's really
nothing better

than running lions.

This is definitely my passion,

and I'm out here
doing what I love to do,

tracking down the baddest
predator in the woods.

Oh, hold up, hold up.

Narrator:
Today, he's tracking a cat

that's been stalking a ranch
less than two miles away.

What we got here is
elk or deer hair.

If I was a betting man,
a lion made a kill right here

and is actually
dragging this animal.

♪♪

Um...that's not a deer.
That's an elk horn right there.

That's the tip of an elk tine,
and I'm gonna guess

if we follow this draw
down a little bit,

we're gonna find
an elk kill here somewhere.

Narrator:
A full-grown elk can outweigh
an adult lion four-to-one.

Yeah, right here you can see it.

You can see that one lion
is dragging

an elk down this mountain
like it's nothing.

Pretty crazy to see how far
this sucker's going.

Here I've got some blood
in the snow, here.

This sucker's just been
dragging it and dragging it,

and it just goes to show
how badass these predators are.

Holy [bleep].
Here we are, right here.

This is actually a bull elk.

It's incredible the way
these animals do this.

That lion took around
and pawed all this snow

and dirt onto this elk,
all the way off this bank.

Narrator:
A lion will eat its fill
and try to hide the rest

until it can return
to feed again,

which means the lion
could still be in the area,

ready to defend
its hard-earned meal.

Jake: So what she's done here is
she's created her own freezer,

stored this elk,
and she's camping --

camping right here.

This chunk of horn that I found
back there

at the original kill site

actually lines up
with this spike.

So this is definitely
the same elk.

This cat has made multiple days
worth of tracks here.

If you actually look
closely here,

that cat's actually
just been sleeping right here.

There's little chunks of fur,
where you can see this lion's

been bedded
right here in this spot.

Narrator: It's unusual to find
a lion's den

this far down the mountain
and this close to humans.

Jake's job now
is to chase it off.

Uh-oh.

Son of a bitch.

I've been patrolling
a female here.

I've got a female track
right here.

I've got a second lion track
right here,

and guess what it leads to.

We got us a big tom-lion scrape
right here.

We have two cats here
instead of one.

And this is one --
how he marked his territory.

And number two --
it's how he gets a mate.

Narrator: Male lions are most
aggressive at this time of year,

the peak of mating season,
and if left unchecked,

two hungry cats
can do a lot of damage.

Jake: I guarantee that we got
a breeding pair

going on right now.

A breeding pair of two
well-established killers,

and we're only about
a mile and a half

from the closest herd of cows,
so that's a big, big problem.

I'm gonna get
the dogs caught up,

and we're gonna push
these cats up the mountain.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: High in
the Blue Ridge Mountains,

there's new blood hard
at work on Turtle Island.

19-year-old North Carolina
native Raleigh Avery

has come on-board to help
keep the preserve running.

I've always been one
to love nature,

get out in the woods,
use my hands.

Narrator: Raleigh's bringing
some mountain skills

to the table.

I know it's gonna be different
and a whole lot of work,

but I'm looking forward
to learning and growing

and having Eustace as a mentor.

Narrator:
But he's got big shoes to fill
here on Eustace Conway's turf.

Good boys.

My good friend Preston
has helped me out here

for over 30 years,
and after he died,

it's been really hard
to find good help.

I'm gonna need some help
taking care of the horses,

sawmilling,

just a million little things
always needing to be done.

Raleigh pays attention.

He's motivated,
and hopefully he can do it.

So he knows blacksmithing,

and he's helped me
do a little sawmilling.

Raleigh knows a lot of stuff,

but he's got a whole lot more
to learn,

and I'm excited
about teaching him.

Narrator: And Raleigh couldn't
have arrived at a better time.

Last winter, Eustace put a down
payment on an expansion --

90 acres of forest
right next door.

We've got a lot of land
we need to cover.

I've got a new piece
of land up here.

Now he needs Raleigh's muscle
to make the land productive

and pull enough logs
to raise the loan payment

that's due in the spring,
or risk losing the investment.

Eustace:
Right now, I need some cash,

and we're gonna go
look at some timber,

look at the new tract of land
and sort of assess

what we've got here
that we can use.

Narrator: The goal is to get
the new land to pay for itself,

and so far
the prospects are good.

It looks great.

They make good timber.
Now, see.

See how that forks
right at the base there?

-I see it.
-Now, that's leaning.

Someday, in some ice storm,
that's gonna get so heavy

it's gonna split and fall.

We harvest it now,
we harvest it on our terms.

You see what I mean?
-Yeah.

I believe we could
pay our debt

just by taking the cull trees
off of this land right here...

Raleigh: Wow.

...just the low-quality trees,
and we can harvest all this.

But at the same time,
we know we got this preserved.

We can keep it natural
and healthy.

Yeah, that's what
I'm talking about.

I'm glad
you get this stuff.

Well, let's head on up
the holler and see what we got.

There's some nice hemlocks
around.

Yeah, some of them
are dead already,

but there's a few
still living.

Hey.

What?

Look at that.

My gosh.

Is that
a moonshine still?

Yeah, I can't have this.

♪♪

♪♪

God did all right
when he built this country.

Narrator: Far north, in Alaska,
trapper Marty Meierotto

has returned
to the rugged landscape

he calls home every winter.

Marty: You see things
nobody else has ever seen.

That's why I do this.

Narrator:
He's spent three decades
in this epic wilderness...

Marty:
Every year is different.

It never gets old.

Narrator: ...building on
a trap line he began carving

from the bush as a young man.

Nature has a way of humbling
a man pretty quick.

Whenever you think you got
something figured out or made,

she comes up and gets you.

Narrator:
After two weeks, he's reopened
more than 140 miles of line,

and now there's just
10 miles of traps still to set

before he can start hauling fur.

Man, this is work.

It's tough breaking trail
that first time.

These traps sit out here
from year to year.

Sometimes they can get
pretty rusty and stiff.

So beginning of every year,

I always snap 'em
a couple times

to make sure
they're gonna work for me.

Narrator: He's got high hopes
for the season ahead.

After last year's
backbreaking work,

recutting his old line
led to record-breaking profits.

16 marten -- whew!

[ Laughs ]
This is a red-letter day.

Narrator: Now, with the longest
line he's ever blazed

clear and open for business,

there's no limit
to what he can earn,

as long as Mother Nature
cooperates.

♪♪

Marty:
Son of a...

Oh, I got a lake
I got to cross.

I got to go to the far end.

I'm gonna test it
to make sure

it doesn't have overflow on it.

Narrator:
Overflow occurs naturally
at the start of every winter.

As lakes begin to freeze, they
solidify from top and bottom.

The water sandwiched in between

creates pressure cracks
in the ice,

and the fresh blanket of snow

makes it impossible to tell
where the danger lies.

So you never know where
there's an open hole, or...

There's been too many times

I've just drove out
on this thing

and ended up out there
in knee-deep water, stuck.

I'm on overflow right now,
but it's frozen.

Well, it seems to be okay.

Only one way to find out.

♪♪

Narrator:
In Alaska, the temperature's
already well below freezing.

Ha!

Are you kidding me?

Narrator:
But in the early days of winter,

there's no way to know how thick
the ice is until it's too late.

Ah!

Narrator:
Every new crossing is risky.

Marty: Bingo!
[ Laughs ]

Narrator: But this time,
Marty's gamble pays off.

Marty: I'm okay.
I'm safe.

It's a huge relief.

Narrator: The Alaskan wilderness
is as dangerous

as it is unpredictable,

and though Marty spent decades
learning this land,

it's never the same
two seasons in a row.

Marty: So, this gully
wasn't here last year.

So what happens is the land's
always changing,

and these gullies
just show up.

Narrator: The Alaskan terrain
transforms every spring

when the snow melt comes down
the mountains as runoff.

The force of the water
can reshape the landscape

in a matter of months.

When that happens,
you just, you know --

you got to reroute your line.

I can't drive through there.

Narrator: Though Marty cleared
this path last season,

it's been reclaimed by nature.

So I'm gonna grab
the chainsaw,

and I'll reroute around this
a little bit.

I'm using this bigger saw
just 'cause

it's a little bigger sweep
on the bar.

I can reach out and carve
a little better.

I'll go right through there.

I just got to take
a few of these spruce out.

[ Chainsaw starts ]

You put in a trail,
nature's gonna take it back

and make it just the way
it used to be.

It's constant work.

In the old days, them boys --
not only were they on foot

with their dog team,
they did this by hand.

This would be all day
cutting with an axe and a saw,

and this is never-ending.

That's the way it is --

making you work for it
all the time.

There.
There's my new trail.

[ Exhales ]

I'm off.

Burning daylight,
precious little of it.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
Further north, in Alaska,

on the edge
of the Arctic Circle,

across miles
of inhospitable terrain,

the caribou are storming south.

Their annual 1,500-mile race
against the Alaskan winter

is one of nature's
greatest spectacles,

and for the seasoned hunter,

an opportunity to stock up
on meat

before the deep freeze sets in.

♪♪

With dwindling reserves
back at the homestead,

it's a prospect
that Morgan Beasley

and Margaret Stern
can't afford to pass up.

They need to secure
a fresh source of protein soon,

or else face a critical shortage

during the winter's
darkest months ahead.

Morgan: I'm hoping we can get in
there and then time it right

and take home one or two of them
for the freezer.

Narrator:
But timing is everything.

There's no way to know for sure
what the exact route of the herd

will be or when it will arrive.

To have the best chance
of finding them,

Morgan and Margaret are
working on advice and instinct.

And there's
another curveball, too --

the law.

Even if they find the herd
from the air,

they can't take a shot
until daybreak.

Morgan: You can't fly and hunt
on the same day,

which keeps things sporting

so you can't just see an animal
from the air

and land right next to it
and shoot it.

Narrator:
Make the wrong choice, and their
winter meat could pass them by.

Morgan: The plan is to try
to land as close as we can

to what looks like
the caribou trails

and to see if we can
track them down.

Narrator: But before they can
get on the hunt,

they first have to touch down
on unfamiliar ground --

a maneuver
the first-year pilot Morgan

is still learning to master.

The last time Morgan attempted
a blind touchdown...

he nearly slid off
the side of a cliff.

Margaret: You want to make
100% sure before you land

that it's a good spot
because there's no going back.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
Back in Montana...

Jake: The dogs finally took off
hauling ass.

Narrator: Jake Herak
and his three-dog team

are pushing not one,

but two rogue mountain lions
away from the valley's cattle.

Jake: It's up to me
to kick it in high gear

and get caught up
with these hounds.

Narrator: The dogs have tracked
a scent more than 10 miles up

into the mountains.

Jake: I can hear them treeing
up ahead of me here.

[ Dogs barking ]

Oh, we're about to catch
a kitty!

Holy [bleep].

[ Barking continues ]

I can see the cat in the tree
about 100 yards from me,

dead across, eye-level.

The dogs are treeing
just below it.

Now I just got to try to
pick my way off of this mess

and see if I can't
get down to the dogs.

Narrator:
Approaching a cornered cat

is the most dangerous
part of the hunt.

Jake:
These are very smart predators.

A mountain lion will jump
tree-to-tree.

They can clear 15 to 20 feet,
and they're born to kill.

That's what they do.

All right.
Here we go.

We've got a cat up the tree.

[ Barking continues ]

♪♪

Good dogs!
Good dogs!

That's definitely a young tom.

It's probably the cat
that made those scrapes.

Narrator: Jake's already pushed
this cat 10 miles,

far enough to safely buffer
the vulnerable livestock below.

But the question now is,
where's the other?

Jake: I'd say we pushed this cat
far enough,

and I'm gonna go ahead
and pull the dogs off,

and on to the next one.

Come on, dogs!
Whoo-hoo!

Leave him alone!

Let's go.

♪♪

Here it is.

I've got a fresh lion track
going up here.

Come on, dogs.

Here it is.

Let's go!

And they go on.

♪♪

[ Dogs barking ]

Wow. I can hear those dogs
just going crazy.

They definitely have a cat
in a tree.

Ah.

[ Barking continues ]

I've got the cat spotted
just through the trees here.

I'm gonna go ahead and slide
in there real stealthy-like.

Holy crap.
Look at that.

[ Barking continues ]

That cat right there is nervous.

This tree is completely dead.

It's probably 100 years old.

There's not a branch left on it.

It's almost petrified.

Oh, that cat's getting
a little nervous.

It's gonna jump.

That'd be a mistake, buddy!

Ah!

[ Frantic barking ]

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey!

Get out!

O0 C1

Stay back! Oh, let it go.
Let it go.

[ Panting ]

Now, that's what you call
[bleep] hitting the fan.

Holy [bleep].

That's, uh, not what I want
to happen.

Um, they've got this cat
way in a tree now,

and when a cat hits the ground
like that,

these dogs --
they're gonna protect me.

Ah!

That cat came right at me.

First thing the dogs did --
jumped on him,

and that's why I'll never leave
one of these guys

on the mountain,
is that right there.

That cat could have easily
jumped on me,

and I would have had
a hell of a time

scrambling around
to get my pistol out on him.

That was about a bad deal.

Good dogs!

[ Dogs barking ]

Everybody here looks all right.

Marlene got one little scratch
on her ear,

but that's not a big problem.

I'm just gonna go ahead
and pull these dogs in,

to try to make it back
to my truck before dark.

Hey, good dogs!
Let's go!

Narrator: With both cats pushed
away from the cattle ranch

and far up into the mountains,
it's time to call it a day.

Jake:
These dogs always have my back,

and no matter what,
I'll have their back.

I mean, three seconds of the
mountain lion on top of you,

and you're done.

It was a nice fast catch
and really successful,

for the amount of chaos we had.

Pretty awesome day,
to say the least.

Set out for one cat, got two,
and just heading home safely.

You know, it's gonna be
one hell of a season.

Come on, dogs.

♪♪

Narrator:
Far north, in Alaska...

...it's a bumpy touchdown...

...where Morgan and Margaret
are placing their bets

that they're within range
of a massive caribou migration.

Well, I guess we'll have
a little bit of a hike.

With just three days to spare
away from their homestead,

the clock is ticking
the moment they hit gravel.

There's that.

And by law, they can't hunt
on the same day that they fly.

The trick is to get close
to the herd by nightfall

so they're within range
to make a kill in the morning.

Margaret:
Yeah, we want to make it to camp

and be able to scout out
the territory today.

We only have a few days
that we can really hunt

before we have to get back
to the homestead

and take care
of all the animals.

So with the remaining daylight,

we're gonna go
check out the territory.

All right.

Well, first big adventure
in the plane.

Yeah, cool.

Let's go.
Bye, little plane.

Yeah,
stay safe there, buddy.

♪♪

Narrator: Back in the lower 48,
in Idaho's Rockies

stands a mountain range
so steep and jagged,

it's earned the name
the Sawtooths --

glacier-carved peaks
11,000 feet high.

Lewis and Clark once deemed
this land

too dangerous to explore,

but for the Youren brothers,

the mountains
are in their blood.

Harry: We're the sixth
generation to be in Idaho,

and our family's been here
since the 1860s.

We grew up on either
the back of a horse

or walking through the woods,
one or the other.

Those were about your only
two options,

or, well, we go to school,
but we never picked that one.

Kidd: I'm sure Harry and I
are mountain men,

but like Jim Bridger,
John Colter,

Jedediah Smith --
frontiersmen.

We like to get out and see

what's over
the next mountain ridge.

Narrator: 29-year-old
Harry is a skilled horseman...

Harry:
I cowboy all spring.

I break colts all summer.

That's my forte.

Narrator: ...while 32-year-old
Kidd is an expert farrier.

Kidd: Essentially what
we're trying to do

is make a cleat out the back
right there

so a horse's foot steps
down in the snow, it'll dig in.

It can't slide.

Narrator:
But to hold onto a true
mountain-man lifestyle

that's fast disappearing,
it takes a Jack-of-all-trades.

Kidd: The two of us together do
all kinds of different odd jobs.

It's anything from clearing
trail to delivering supplies,

running a boat,
doing a little bit of hunting,

selling some hides.

Just about anything
you can think of outdoors,

I've done it to make money.

Narrator: But today,
they're gearing up for a job

that's about more
than making a dollar.

CiCi,
put your head down.

It's about defending
their turf

against the greatest threat
to their food supply.

Kidd: Wolves are the top
of the food chain out here.

They've been killing way
too many deer, way too many elk.

That's our food source.

So if the wolves are killing
all of our food source,

it makes it harder and harder
for us to hunt,

so just protecting the resources
that we have left.

Well, let's get out of here.

Narrator:
The Yourens hunt wolves
at this time of year

to cull the population
before winter sets in.

If a pack gets too large
as food gets scarce,

they become
indiscriminate killers,

preying on anything
and everything,

including ranch animals.

Harry: Where we're going's
pretty steep and nasty.

Them icy hillsides --
they get real slick.

Come on, keep climbing.
Yeah.

Look out!

-Oh, oh.
-Hang on. Nope. Let go.

[ Laughs ]

Get right up on top of
that bluff right there, Harry.

We'll be able to see
a little bit better.

Yeah.

I'm looking for birds that might
be flying up in a bunch.

That means something's dead.

Oh, there's a couple
just flew up right there.

Oh, yeah, there might
be something

down in there.

If I can find some fresh kills,
that's the quickest way for me

to find some wolves.

Looks like a couple of
wolf tracks in there.

Yeah, look at that.

Definitely at least two
or three wolves right here.

Kidd: I think it was
made in the night

'cause they're not
sinking in super hard.

Like, they're walking on
a little bit of that crust.

Yeah, Mort found something
right down in there.

He's chewing on
whatever it is.

Holy crap, Harry.

It's a dead horse.

[Bleep]

[ Wolf howls ]

Wow.
That thing is gutted.

Definitely a wolf kill,
though.

...a grizzly discovery is a sure
sign that Kidd and Harry Youren

are on the trail
of a wolf pack.

Wouldn't be the first horse
they've killed.

But wolves rarely
prey on horses

and livestock
this early in the winter,

when wild game
is still plentiful.

I'll be damned.

The kill is a bad sign

that the pack is already
out of control.

Kidd: That's not good, to have
wolves killing horses,

especially at this time
of year.

That means they probably chased
it off from somewhere.

They kind of know
what horses taste like.

If they get used to
killing horses,

there's nothing stopping them
from coming down

and killing our horses
or our neighbors' horses.

Narrator: While the kill appears
to be a few days old,

it's hardly picked over,

which means the wolves
will be back to finish it off.

Let's ride on up
that other side,

see what we can't see.

Kidd: Yeah.

Wolves -- they don't regulate
their own population well.

So lots of times there will be
more wolves than there is food.

And once wolves start eating
livestock, they don't stop.

So we're gonna go back and see
if we can't get some found

before they cause
even a bigger problem.

♪♪

♪♪

Raleigh: Is that
a moonshine still?

Eustace: You got it --
on my land.

Narrator: Hidden in the hollers
of the Blue Ridge...

Yeah, I can't have this.

...the discovery of an illegal
still puts Eustace in a bind.

Eustace:
I don't mind a man moonshining

if he wants to do it
on his own land.

But it's pretty alarming
to have somebody, like,

working on my land
that's not invited.

Narrator: Moonshining is
an Appalachian tradition

dating back more than 200 years.

Today, it still thrives
in the mountains,

but distillers have to go deep
off the grid to evade the law.

That's not terribly old.

That hasn't even been
rained on.

Who could have been
doing this?

I have no idea.

I just need to make sure
they don't come back

and do it again,
and they need to know

they can't just come
over here and make liquor.

Raleigh: I got an idea
to send them a message.

What's that?

Blowing up
this moonshine still.

[ Laughs ]

Eustace:
My nature it to salvage it,

but I believe Raleigh's idea
of blowing up the still

will certainly send a message
to whoever brought it down here.

He's having fun with the idea
of, like,

let's just run with it.

Let's do it.

Yeah, I guess that would
send the message out.

Hey, I can't have
somebody just coming

and trespassing
like this.

The main thing is just to tell
these folks

that this is not okay.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Back in Idaho,
the fight against wolves

takes Kidd and Harry
to 3,000 feet.

Snowing hard enough.

It's kind of hard
to see very hard.

Ridgetops provide the
best vantage for glassing,

but today's low clouds make
spotting anything a challenge.

I know it's
pretty damn foggy,

but see that finger ridge
coming down?

-Yeah.
-Can you tell what that is?

It could be a wolf.

Yeah.There -- it's definitely
something.

When I'm glassing,
I look for movement,

as the first thing I look for,

but it gets really tough
with the snow blowing

and fog kind of settling in.

God. It's getting so damn
fogged up over there.

-It looks big.
-What the hell is that?

I say we go check it out
and see what it is.

I think
we're gonna have to.

♪♪

Narrator:
In Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains,

predators are on the prowl,

and mountain men
Kidd and Harry Youren

are fighting back.

Right there.

Oh, yeah, yeah.
I see where you're looking.

But the wolves they thought
they were chasing

turn out to be horses,

and 20 miles from
the nearest homestead,

they're extremely vulnerable.

Best guess is they got
chased off by wolves

from someone that had them
out here probably elk hunting

or maybe even
a neighboring ranch.

They could have been chased
all the way up here from that.

Well, where they're at
right there,

if they drop over
that back side,

that a nasty, nasty little
crick bottom over there.

I think we're best off
kind of riding around them

and making them come this way,
walk that crick off.

Now, let's get up there.
[ Smooches ]

Harry: Only thing we can do is
get these horses out of here

before they get killed
by wolves, too.

I'd hate to see good horses like
that just die for no reason.

Hopefully we can catch them.
That's gonna be the hard part.

Narrator: As an expert, Harry
knows how dangerous it can be

to rope a horse in the wild.

One wrong move
on this treacherous terrain,

and it's easy to break a leg.

Ha!
Get out of here!

Turn around, horse!

Ha!
Ah-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka!

Ha!

♪♪

Ha!

-Ooh. Ooh.
-Whoa!

Ooh, now.
Ooh, now.

They kind of act like
they've been roped before.

Oh, they've definitely been
roped before.

Maybe it's just been
a while.

Did you see where
my hat fell off?

You were behind me.Yeah, it's right there.

I stepped on it.
Don't worry.

-You squished it for me?
-I squished it good.

Yeah.
Hey, now.

-They're pretty friendly.
-Huh, buddy?

Hey, big guy.

The best thing we could do
is to make a few phone calls,

see if we know anyone
missing any horses.

Giving up on our wolf hunt
to rescue a couple horses --

it's a good thing to do,

so we'll get these horses
back home.

Harry:
Tomorrow we get back out there.

Predators, right now -- they've
been causing a lot of problems,

but we're not gonna give up.

Harry: Come on.

Kidd: We just take it
every day as it comes.

You never know what's around
the next corner,

and if it's not one thing,
it's another.

This is hard country,
and you got to be tough,

but we wouldn't give it up
for anything.

♪♪

♪♪

All right!
Looks like I got her.

Narrator: It's 12 degrees
in Alaska's White Mountains,

where Marty's just set
and baited the last trap

on his super-size
150-mile-long trap line.

All told, he's got 400 traps
ready to pull in a payday.

Marty:
I'm all finished breaking trail.

Now I just got to start
catching furs.

Narrator: He's right on schedule
because tomorrow,

Marty's heading home to pick up
an assistant who will help him

run the line this season --

his 13-year-old daughter,
Noah.

Noah's coming out,
and I'm excited to have her out.

Narrator: Noah's no stranger
to the trap line.

Did I do it?

[ Laughs ]

Let's see how
you're doing there.

You're looking good.

But this is the first winter
she's old enough

to learn the family business
hands-on.

I want it to be
a really good experience

just between me and her,
full-time trapping.

The next order of business

I want to accomplish here
is to get an antenna set up.

Narrator:
Marty's got some work to do

to make his one-man trapper's
cabin more family-friendly --

first, a critical
safety measure.

So, I just need a pole.

Narrator: The antenna will boost
the signal of his A.M. radio,

their lifeline in an emergency.

Marty:
I bet you that'll break.

[ Laughs ]

Ugh!

So, I'm just gonna lean it
like that.

I'm just gonna tie it up there.

Be enough.

Narrator: And finally,
a steady supply of firewood.

It's important to me to show
Noah this lifestyle,

and for her to feel this,
to experience this,

and me and her
to be together out here.

This is my church.

That ought to do her.

What she does with that later
in life is totally up to her.

Narrator:
In the Blue Ridge Mountains...

How's this thing work?

...Eustace and Raleigh are
protecting Turtle Island

against an invasion
of illegal moonshiners.

Well, we've got to mix
these compounds together,

and once we got it mixed up,
we're ready to place it in

and then take our shot
from up on that ridge.

And the apprentice has a new
plan of attack for the master.

Eustace:
I don't have the time to make
a whole bunch of black powder,

but Raleigh says
this ammonium nitrate

and powdered aluminum
will blow the place up.

So I'm gonna trust
this young man.

The bullet explodes it?

Right. We use a high-powered
rifle to set this thing off.

Think we'll be able
to make that shot

from the ridge up there?

You're shooting.
[ Laughs ]

What do you think?I got it.

All right.
[ Laughs ]

Oh, my goodness.

Well, let's get up there
and do it.

Goodbye, still.

There it is,
right there.

Let's grab that stump.

We can roll it
up here, too.

That's a good plan.

One, two, three, four.

Well, there you go.

Thank you.

♪♪

[ Gunshot ]

-[ Laughs ]
-How about it?

Yeah!

[ Laughing ]
Oh, my gosh.

You weren't kidding.
That's a bomb!

That's amazing.
Ah!

Well, let's hope we can
keep people away

that are just tearing up
the land or causing us trouble.

Eustace:
Raleigh had a pretty good idea,

sending out a message.

So whoever is coming back to it
is gonna get the point.

I've had so much trouble with
trespassers for so many years,

I just got to get a message
out to them --

"Stay off my land."

But some people are so bold
or crazy, it doesn't matter.

We'll see what happens.

Well, it's starting
to get dark,

and it's starting to snow,

and we've got
quite a few miles to go.

Let's head on back.

Now that we got
these trespassers

hopefully under control,
tomorrow we're gonna get back

to harvesting timber,
see if we can't pull out

a little money
off this mountainside.

Let's hit the trail.

Yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

Wow.

Narrator:
Three miles up,

in the Brooks Range
of northern Alaska...

You see any caribou
out there.

...Morgan and Margaret
are on the lookout

for any signs
of an oncoming herd.

Morgan: The caribou are
supposedly coming from the east,

so if we go to a high spot
to the east,

it's more likely
we'll something up there.

Narrator: There's no way to
be sure when they'll arrive,

but with luck,
from this vantage,

they'll get pointed
in the right direction.

Margaret:
On top of the mountain,

you can see in all sorts
of different directions,

and it actually
is more efficient.

It's a little bit better
for our scouting mission.

♪♪

Morgan:
That's great.

Morgan: Seeing some caribou --
it's a really good sign.

I'm hoping we can get in there

and take home one or two of them
for the freezer.

Narrator:
The sighting is confirmation

that Morgan and Margaret
haven't missed the herd.

Morgan: If the caribou
are migrating,

they'll be coming
through all day long.

Yeah.

Hopefully the herd will still
be here at daybreak,

when they can take
their first shot

because with just three days
to make a kill,

there's no time to spare,

and if they miss
this opportunity,

the winter ahead could become
the toughest they've ever faced.

Morgan:
Tomorrow we're gonna get up
early and hike up and get one.

That's kind of a gamble 'cause
they could easily move away,

but they're the only caribou
we've seen,

so that's what we have to do.

Hope we see
some animals tomorrow.

Narrator: This season
on "Mountain Men"...

[ Dog barks ]

Jake: Once the dogs
line out on a cat,

there's no calling them
off of that track.

Ah, [bleep].

Narrator:
...there is new blood...

If a bear crossed downwind
of where this deer is,

they'll follow it
right in like a bloodhound.

[ Dogs barking ]

Narrator:
...and new lands to conquer.

If I get hurt in a cave
like this,

it's a good place to wind up
missing for a long time.

♪♪

Narrator:
In the battle to be free,

they are ready to risk it all.

Jake: Going into winter
is a stressful time.

If you're not prepared,
you might not survive.

Narrator: And one veteran
breaks from tradition

to bid a final farewell.

Marty: Well, me --
I'm just a trapper,

and I want to get back
to doing my full-time trapping.

Eustace:
At my age, to manage the whole
of Turtle Island by myself --

[Laughs]
oh, my gosh.

There's no telling
what the future will bring.