Original subtitles

NARRATOR: On this episode of Life Below Zero, it's every man for himself.

Here in nature, it's kill or be killed.

NARRATOR: Sue confronts her darkest fears.

SUE: It's a man killer.

It's gonna defend its life with everything it's got and it's got an arsenal.

NARRATOR: While Andy and Kate spill blood for guts.

ANDY: We basically have nothing stored for the winter.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones battle the coming freeze.

The ice can just form and you lose your whole net.

NARRATOR: And Erik ventures to the edge of Alaska in search of food.

In a few short weeks, Alaska will be held in winter's deathly grip.

For the men and women who choose to live here, it's an urgent race

to get prepared before the freeze takes hold.

But in Kavik, the bears are still weeks away from hibernation.

My name is Susan Aikens and I live on the north slope of Alaska.

I'm the owner of Kavik River Camp.

It's a remote fuelling station.

For nine months out of the year, I'm 100% alone.

The closest neighbours that I do have on a consistent basis

are the 83 grizzlies that live within 10 miles from my camp.

Welcome to Kavik.

NARRATOR: This year the grizzlies are getting too close for comfort.

SUE: The bears are awake.

I've had a couple of them harassing camp.

There was a bear headed towards camp last night.

He got close.

We're talking an inland grizzly.

This is a top predator. It's a man killer.

It's gonna defend its life with everything it's got, and it's got an arsenal.

I've been attacked. I don't wanna be attacked again.

One of the biggest things that I want to do right now

is go out there, do some target practise.

Take a few shots and make sure that I'm on target.

I want the safety of knowing if I point it, and I shoot, it will go down.

And it's a challenge for me.

NARRATOR: Taking down a 1,000-pound grizzly

at 400 yards requires a perfect shot.

Nope.

SUE: About five, six years ago,

a smart bear who was hiding, reached out and snatched me

and drug me up into the tundra just a few yards from the tent.

The hips were torn out of the socket, you know, discs spit out.

I mean, you can still feel here and here where his teeth went into my head.

(RIFLE SHOTS)

Imagine the sound it makes when a bear's crunching on your own head

and has his jaws on your throat.

You don't know if that's your last minute.

And it took 10 days for somebody to find me,

but has it changed me? Yeah, some.

I'm not gonna say I'm more of a pussy now,

but I accepted that I may be bear crap any day.

You cannot live here and do this without accepting

your place in the food chain.

There's the bottom. There's the top. And I'm somewhere around here.

Well, let's go look at it.

We got one here, one there. It's good, it's good.

I'm in the kill zone. You got to remember, I mean,

the can is this big, the bear is gonna be this big

with a kill zone like that.

No, I'm pleased with it.

It is a mind pooch for me to go and actively hunt a bear.

I mean, I need... I want the meat.

I want the hide. I want the fat.

I'd like to find the one that's harassing camp.

So, it's time to get a little bit more aggressive.

But in the back of my mind, I've got a lot of memories that are getting away.

So, it's a good thing.

Get back in the saddle and see what happens.

CHIP: Subsistence is basically, do-it-yourself.

When you're subsistence fishing, you're fishing for your own needs, your own food.

You're not buying it from a store, it wasn't raised in a factory.

This is the way to go.

We're not at the end of the road,

we're 300 miles away from the end of the road.

We fish, we trap, we hunt.

I like being self-sufficient.

I do what I do because it doesn't matter who or where you are.

If you're a man, you can hunt.

So I came up here in 1988 and I've decided not to go anywhere.

NARRATOR: With seven mouths to feed at home

and elders to support in their isolated village,

Chip and Agnes Hailstone depend on the land to provide most of the food they eat.

I've been waiting to do some fishing, but I was expecting to do it under the ice.

I don't know if there's going to be any whitefish at all, but I might have a hope.

CHIP: We're gonna use our boat,

we're gonna go put the nets out until it starts to freeze.

Once it starts to freeze, we'll take the nets out.

But the thing is, that the fish are going by,

regardless of it freezing over or not.

It doesn't matter if the water's hard or the water's soft.

-AGNES: Wait! One, two... -Same time. Ready? One, two, three!

CHIP: My wife has a tradition of fishing here all winter.

Her dad grew up doing that and her grandparents did that

and the people before them did that.

NARRATOR: Unusual weather is disrupting Chip and Agnes's ability

to find resources.

Waiting is not an option.

AGNES: This year is totally different.

I guess it has to do with global warming or something, but our river's not frozen.

It's like three weeks late and it's still running.

Usually we've come put our nets out under the ice.

But we didn't get a chance to do that.

It's sun shining and the river's flowing

when it should be cold and dark and clear. (CHUCKLES)

But the fish ain't waiting for the ice to freeze.

It's just like freaking me out a little.

AGNES: Okay, just about ready?

CHIP: Mmm-hmm. So are you ready to feed?

-I'm gonna go out. -Yup!

When you have your nets out and it's not totally frozen, the ice can just form

and just come take your net away and then you lose your whole net.

Yeah, it's a little bit risky, but it's worth it. The whitefish are worth it.

Hopefully I'm not out here wasting my time.

-CHIP: Yeah, I'm just going as slow as I can. -Yup.

Hold on!

CHIP: You got time.

Yee-hee! I don't want it to rip my net.

There! Go ahead!

Okay!

I think that's at the drop-off.

-I can't hear you. -That's good!

-Should I go park the boat? -AGNES: Yup!

-Thank you! -Yup!

Well, we're just gonna have to leave it there for a little bit

and just come back later and see how it's doing. I hope I catch some fish.

Sure wouldn't mind a real good load of fish.

ERIK: My choice in life to live out in the bush

and do the things that I do.

All it is, is a choice.

It's an unbelievable life I get to live. I feel very fortunate every day.

My name is Erik Salitan, I'm a registered guide outfitter.

I live in the Arctic of Alaska in the village of Wiseman.

Right now I'm in Iliamna, Alaska, just finishing up my coastal brown bear season.

NARRATOR: With his guiding season over,

Erik plans to make the most of his remaining time

in the southern part of the state to stock up for winter.

ERIK: The guiding season is over,

and I'm happy just to unwind here, and look forward

to just doing a little personal hunting of my own

and get ready for winter trapping season, which is my passion.

Alaska has more brown bear, grizzly bears than ever in recorded history.

There's an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 bears in the state of Alaska.

Here on the Alaska peninsula, is one bear every square mile.

Whereas up in the Brooks Range where I live year round,

it's up to one every 50 square miles.

So there's a lot more bears here.

While I was out stretching my legs, I discovered here a bear-killed bear.

So right at the base of this big mound you can see the carcass

of the smaller brown bear that the larger bear killed.

The bottom line is, here in nature, it's kill or be killed.

That's a more than respectably sized paw.

You wouldn't want that to tear into you.

That was probably a 7.5 to 8' bear.

And this was the loser.

The big bear, he weighed more than twice what this bear did.

There's a pelvis right here and the spine of the bear.

That bear, he entirely consumed him.

He's actually cracked open the skull to get the brains, he's ate the tongue out of it.

I mean, he's really just chewed it all to heck.

I mean, this is freaking awesome.

Nothing gets me more excited than to come out

and to see this kind of things in the natural world.

I mean, a true 10' bear.

He killed this, you know, 4 or 500 pound bear, and he ate him.

And that's awesome!

ANDY: No matter how much you prepare,

it seems like you're never prepared for winter.

And when it comes, it comes with vengeance.

And it comes fast. And it comes hard.

My name is Andy Bassich, I live about 15 miles downriver from Eagle, Alaska.

I like being as independent as I can.

Everything you see around here, I did pretty much solo or with the help from Kate.

I'm gonna pull the bulldozer up, I want to hook the bridle onto the chain there.

These days are jam-packed full of work, work, work.

We're only two people, but we can get it done.

Living out in remote areas, you rely on the natural resources.

And for us fishing for chum salmon is probably

the most important thing we do every year.

It feeds our dogs for 365 days.

I depend on them for safe transportation, companionship, and to protect us.

A day or two ago we just fed out the last stick of fish to the dogs.

Right now the total focus in my mind is getting that fish wheel in the river

and starting to turn it and getting slimy with fish.

It's kind of an automatic fishing machine.

It's an ancient design, brought over to North America during the Gold Rush of 1896.

It's relentless.

There's no motors, it's all by the power of the river.

I could stick this fish wheel in and I'll catch 500 fish a day.

I've built a lot of fish wheels over the years.

This wheel here was the result of 30 years of building them

and seeing what works, what holds up, and what doesn't hold up.

Pushing this fish wheel in is a bit of a challenge.

It's not really designed to be twisted or turned at all.

We're going down over a pretty steep bank,

so there's gonna be a lot of weight, a lot of momentum.

If it gives out as I'm trying to pull it down into the river, I'm screwed.

So we have to go slow and Kate will be my second pair of eyes here

to kind of listen and watch, and hopefully we'll get it in the water.

Without any damage.

Damn it! Fuckin' eh!

NARRATOR: Andy and Kate must successfully launch their fish wheel

into the Yukon to catch a year's supply of food for their dogs.

They cannot risk damaging it.

ANDY: This isn't working worth a shit.

There's a lot on my shoulders right now.

I've got to start fishing.

We basically have nothing stored for the winter.

Andy's taking the bracing off the fish wheel now

and pretty soon we'll see those baskets turn.

Without this fish wheel, I don't think that we could afford to live down here.

Twenty-five dogs is a lot of mouths to feed.

So it saves us thousands of dollars a year in dog food alone.

A year's supply of salmon for 25 dogs and two adults, you do the math.

Are we ready to roll?

-ANDY: I think so. -All right!

Fish! Fish! Fish!

Here we go!

Yoo-hoo!

(KATE LAUGHS)

Feeling pretty good!

So right now, the current of the river is pushing this thing, making it turn.

Basically like a giant water wheel with scoops.

Fish are gonna swim upstream and the scoop will pick them up.

And they'll come up in the air and the fish come sliding out into the box.

And then they're dog food.

I think the most important thing in my life is independence and freedom.

There's very few places left in the world where you can go live

and carve out a life for yourself and do it on your own terms.

And that's why I work the way I do to live here.

That it for the night?

-I want to go get my tape measure. -Fish!

We got fish! (LAUGHS)

It's a good thing.

I think the run's happening right now, we're kind of missing out on it.

So it's good we're getting the wheel in now.

This girl's got a lot of buddies out there.

CHIP: Our deal is to be out here and to get what we can.

We don't survive here, we live.

AGNES: We're just about to check our net down the river.

We set our net yesterday.

Knowing if, when the ice gets a little thicker,

then it just could take my net away, but it's just now starting to freeze

so hopefully there's still whitefish.

And hopefully there's still fish with eggs in them.

Hee! I'm so excited about what's in the net.

-Start it? -CHIP: Yeah.

(ENGINE SPUTTERS)

AGNES: Hee, frozen?

CHIP: Frozen.

AGNES: We could... (SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE)

CHIP: Yup.

AGNES: Let us go that way until it starts thawing out.

CHIP: This time of year, everything's freezing.

My lower unit there, I ran it clear of water

as best I could when I ran it last.

But now it's full of ice, and it won't turn.

And we could make it turn, but our biggest problem is that

the impeller in the pump will strip.

So I don't feel like damaging it.

That's why we didn't fire up the motor.

We should just start breaking all this.

CHIP: Catch it! Catch it! You got the hook?

(GRUNTS)

AGNES: Oh, look a whitefish!

I think that's a whitefish. Yay!

-One, and it has eggs! -Oh! It's full of eggs, too!

-(AGNES LAUGHS) -CHIP: Yeah, right!

Another one with eggs!

I'm so happy I could keep fishing!

CHIP: According to some folks, the animal spirit will return, so folks up here say catch.

They say catch 'cause they're utilising it, not 'cause they're killing it.

Death is a permanent thing.

Death is like if you wasted it, if you killed it, threw it away.

This was well worth our time.

We got the egg-laden whitefish that we wanted.

We don't got a whole bunch of them, but we didn't put out a big net.

We're opportunists, but we also know what to look for.

This wasn't like something that came up unexpectedly,

this is something we've anticipated and waited for.

AGNES: Good to know, there's still whitefish with eggs in the river.

Look at that!

Oh!

That's beyond kissing a goddamn fish.

-Check it out, look how much there is! -I see! I see you're just...

Man, I want to eat those, just not like that, but...

AGNES: Mmm.

CHIP: My crazy Inupiaq wife.

AGNES: Fish eggs, fish eggs, eat them up, yum!

ERIK: When I go out into the woods, I'm confident to know

that I'm gonna be prepared and ready to do battle with nature.

NARRATOR: Erik is on the search for a delicacy impossible to find

at his home in Wiseman, black-tailed deer.

But to get one, he'll have to fly to a remote area of Kodiak Island.

-Hey! What's going on, Taj? Good to see you man. -Hey, Erik, how's it going?

-Ready to go out hunting? -Let's do it.

Where you fixing on going?

Well, we're gonna go to the south end of the island.

There's a couple beaches down there. Tide is low, and we'll get in.

Should be a good spot for you.

Cool. Let's go have a look around.

Kodiak Island is very similar to the Alaska peninsula

where I do my guiding for coastal brown bears.

The weather here is awful in general and you need to be

really careful about what days you chose to fly.

We better get out of here 'cause the weather's gonna be coming in.

Let's roll.

In this country here, if the weather is good, you better go.

'Cause you never know when it's gonna get bad again.

(ENGINE STARTS)

(TAJ SPEAKING)

NARRATOR: If the pilot misjudges the terrain, the plane could hit

hidden boulders and holes or get stuck in the mud.

ERIK: Another good one, man!

TAJ: Easy money!

ERIK: Easy money.

All right, buddy. Hey, thanks a lot for the ride.

-No problem. -Are you sure you dropped me off in a real spot?

-Well, we'll find out. -Is this the camping spot or the hunting spot?

-We'll find out. How good of a hunter are you? -Okay.

Uh-oh! Uh-oh!

I'm out here on a beach in Kodiak, and I got a pile of stuff.

I'm gonna hike around and find a good camping spot away from the tide,

protected from the wind and the weather,

and then I'm gonna pack my gear over there

and get my camp set up.

This is gonna be my home away from home for a while.

We're just throwing up our bomb shelter here,

you always want to set up your tent as soon as you get to your camp.

I mean, it was pretty good weather when we got here but already

you can see on the horizon there's some... Something ugly coming.

Setting my tent up here, I really can't help it

'cause I had to get out of the wind, but there's a bear trail.

So when I tie down my flaps I'll have a little alarm system with my...

With my tie downs if a bear comes through.

Trip on my tent.

It's known to happen.

Comfort is subjective. It's a matter of perception.

I think excessive comfort is detrimental to one's character.

Here in Alaska, they have the same day airborne law,

but you may hunt deer the same day you fly,

so if a deer comes out onto the tidal flat or something,

we'll be eating venison tonight.

It's raining pretty good here, but,

just more in the interest of stretching the legs than anything,

I'm gonna go and do a little walk around and see if I can't spot a deer.

NARRATOR: Erik's hunt starts on the beach, where the tracks of the deer he is hunting

and the many bears on the island are most easily spotted.

(SOFTLY) There's a track, a deer track along the beach.

Just working my way along the shore here, really quiet.

Walking on the beach where I can keep a pretty low profile.

I'm hoping here about dark,

I'll be able to walk up on Sitka black-tailed buck.

But we'll see what happens.

I'm gonna have to pull the plug here for the night.

Tide's coming in, it's making my beach really small and it's getting dark.

The tide comes in too much on me, I won't be able to walk the beach home

and I'd have to deal with quite a few miles of brush and cliffs here in the dark,

so I'm gonna start moving back towards camp and get down that beach before,

before the tide gets all the way back in.

ANDY: There's very few places left in the world where you can go live on your own terms.

This is one place that you can still do that.

My goal in my life is to die here.

You have to want to live this way.

ANDY: It's a shitty day on the Yukon, second day of fishing and

it's not a very pleasant day to be cutting fish.

It's not a very good day for drying fish,

but it's a day that has to be done.

I've got a lot of fish to hang in the next five or 10 days

and no matter what Mother Nature throws at you, you've got to get out there

and do it when it's time to do it.

Well, it looks like the boxes are overflowing. Fish are flopping out.

(LAUGHS)

Welcome to my world.

The fish wheels are really wet all the time because of the splashing.

The snow is very wet and very slippery,

so I've got to be extra careful today

walking around on the wheel. When you're by yourself you can't take chances.

And there's nobody out there to help me if I fall in or smack my head.

There's no 911 out here.

Fish wheels are not incredibly efficient,

but they're absolutely relentless.

They run 24/7, they catch everything that swims underneath of them.

And my life here would be a lot harder if I had to catch all these fish with a net.

So how's this for putting fish on ice right out of the water, huh?

(LAUGHS)

The Seattle fish market's got nothing on me.

I'm totally self-taught. I've never gone to school for anything.

I've never really had any close mentors to teach me things.

I just kind of figure it out as I go.

You kind of become a Jack of all trades living this lifestyle.

But I enjoy that. I love inventing things.

This lifestyle allows me to do that,

pretty much unencumbered by anybody or any other thing.

It's a very satisfying way of living for me.

So there's 360 fish in the boat, probably another 80 in the box here.

I'll go cut these and hang them,

come back, finish out this evening.

Probably about 400, 450 fish by the end of the day.

That'll be a good start. It's time to go cut fish.

SUE: Bear hunting is intense.

You can't go with half your head, you've got to go fully in the game.

Bears hibernate. That's what they do during the winter.

However, right now, we have this unusual,

really high temperature warm-up.

Well, they're still awake. It's too warm for them to go to bed.

But their food source is gone.

If a bear decides that I look like a Scooby Snack, I need to protect myself.

As long as it is within the season, I will actively pursue that bear.

I know there's one somewhere real close to camp,

I need to be a little proactive.

(STARTS ENGINE)

So...

Bear, zero. Sue, zero. We'll see where we stand at the end of the day.

Little bit worried. I haven't gone out

and actively gone after a bear in a lot of years. Not since I got munched.

If I'm gonna be effective at doing this,

I need to get over my thought process on the attack,

and get back on the attack myself.

It'll be good therapy. Sue's tundra therapy.

How to survive a bear attack and then go back on the attack.

Cool, cool.

Well, this is, this is a good sign. I mean, good and bad.

This is definitely bear poopy. This might be the one that's been hassling camp.

Cool. Well, got something to keep our eyes out for, that's for darn sure.

We'll go see if I can find him.

Oh, look at that.

It's not huge, but I... And it's not defined.

But you've got, toes... One, two, claws. A 6 to 8" paw.

It's definitely a bear track. Definitely going that way.

I've had that bear, caught her running through camp.

You can't be staying too far away.

When you're actively hunting a predator, this is one of the things,

if I can't see them walking around,

I've been here long enough, I know they are around.

So I can go from stalking to being stalked in a heartbeat.

It lets you know there are animals

that by for no other reason, just, it's their nature,

can take you out.

You gotta keep on your toes.

I think I see something.

The bear is somewhere over here.

He's going away from us.

I need to get closer.

(BREATHES DEEPLY)

When you see a bear, you run. You don't walk.

You gain ground as fast as you can.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

He's behind that knoll. 726 yards.

I'd like to try and close the distance.

See that dark lump on the next dry patch?

I'd like to get there.

It's a little spooky, you know,

because you're really pushing a situation where

you are trying to sneak up on the apex predator.

You don't have anywhere to hide.

The minute you're seen, it's game on.

(WHISPERING)

ANDY: It's nothing for the faint of heart.

It's a dirty job, it's a slimy job, it's a bloody job.

KATE: We're gonna be up to our eyeballs in blood, guts and gore.

ANDY: But we love it.

KATE: Oh, yeah. It's a real blast of a way to spend a day.

I can't feel my fingers any more.

ANDY: I'm doing what we call whole fish.

I'm basically just sticking the knife in

right at the lateral line on the fish.

There's a line right here on them.

That's right about where their backbone is.

I go right below the backbone, and then we just hang them on a pole like that.

So they'll just hang on a pole like this. It opens them up,

they dehydrate a little bit in the winter, but not a lot.

The advantage to that is that this fish won't dry out a lot,

so it'll have a lot of moisture in it, lot of water.

One of the biggest challenges with the dogs is

keeping them hydrated when it's real cold out.

So feeding them this does two things.

It gives them something like a giant popsicle to chew on,

and two, it puts a lot of water into them.

When we're cutting fish, all this is costing me is 10 gallons of fuel,

and a bunch of labour and a bunch of calories.

Right now we're gonna be doing about 360 fish.

I have to handle them once from the fish wheel into the boat,

and once from the boat into the tractor, and one more time onto the rack.

So for every fish I pick up or catch out of the wheel,

I've got to handle it a minimum of three times.

You start doing the math, it's a lot of work.

It's a lot of handling.

And I will say one thing about fishing season, it definitely gets you into shape.

I don't have to pay anything to go to a gym and work out.

My workout's every day here with these fish.

I don't mind doing this. It's kind of meditative.

A lot of times, you can just kinda... I just tend to go into daydreams,

or I start creating blueprints of my next project in my head while I'm working.

It's the best job of the whole year for me.

I love cutting fish. I love utilising the resource.

I love providing for myself and for Kate and my dogs.

And that's a really satisfying thing for me.

ERIK: What sends people packing out of Alaska is their mind.

There's isolation, there's darkness,

there's inclement weather, extreme temperatures.

That's what eliminates people.

I'm down here on Kodiak Island,

hunting Sitka black-tailed deer.

Live here in this maritime environment on the ocean, great eating animal,

lot of fun to hunt.

We don't have much snow yet here in Kodiak, so most of the deer are up high, but,

I'm hoping I'm gonna be able to glass one up

and put a stalk on here before evening.

The tide's gone out, and feeling good.

The weather's a little bit better than it's been in the last couple days,

and hopefully we'll have some success to avenge yesterday's failure.

(WHISPERS) I just spotted a deer.

It's really far away though.

It's gonna be a real push if I can get him before dark, but,

I've never been afraid of a challenge, so let's let her rip, huh?

I'm trying to run a little bit over a mile here up this hill to intercept him.

I just see one deer up there.

(EXHALES DEEPLY)

It's the only deer I saw today.

I'm taking a lot of chances crossing the open, but,

if I'm not aggressive, I don't have a chance.

Hopefully he's still there.

If he's still there, we'll be able to see him

right over the top here.

Sounded like a hit.

Yeah, I got him.

I do have visual confirmation. I can see the white belly of the deer.

The deer is down. The deer is dead.

I'm gonna need to rush over here.

I'm fighting darkness, I'm fighting tide,

and I've already seen a couple bears on this hillside tonight.

So I'm not gonna slap myself on the back too much.

I'm gonna get over there, cut this deer up, and get home.

I was able to take this nice young Sitka black-tailed buck.

He's got a spike there. Young buck.

We got a hole right where it counts.

A lot of people ask me why I hunt, why I do this

and why I'm running up the side of the hill in the dark here,

tides screwing around, and bears screwing around and the weather.

How could you not love this place? I mean, look out on the ocean here,

look up in the mountains.

What's better than this?

I'm just gonna go ahead and leave the skin on here.

It's a natural game bag and I can skin this out later.

But for right now, I'm just gonna get off this mountain in a hurry,

'cause I got to beat any bears that are gonna come around.

They're not that fun to play with in the dark

when you're out on the hillside by yourself using a headlamp,

trying to butcher a deer.

I grew up hunting deer, and just being out here

and smelling this deer as I butcher it, it takes me right back to my childhood.

I've butchered a lot of white tails

in a lot darker conditions than this. (CHUCKLES)

Well...

That's one Sitka black-tailed buck

in a backpack,

on the side of a mountain,

above a beach,

a long ways from camp.

There we go. (CHEERS EXCITEDLY)

We got to... (WHOOSHES) Go down through all this brush,

down the side of the hill

and then about 5, 6 miles down the beach.

So there's only one way to get there,

that's one foot in front of the other.

Tally Ho! Waidmannsheil.

CHIP: There's killers and there's accomplices.

That's really what this world boils down to.

It all leads to death. We have to kill to eat. That's how it goes.

AGNES: It's real important for me to teach my girls all the stuff that I know,

or what I've learned from my parents, or my aunts,

or my brothers and sisters.

I really like this cutting board for fish 'cause I can cut

anywhere on the board, and all the gunk flows that way.

We eat all different kinds of fish all year,

and there's all different types of ways we cut them and prepare them.

After I scale them, Idi, I try to clean them up a little bit

because I'm not going to wash them.

Ooh, this one's fat. Let me just get the stomach out.

These are the eggs, they're the best parts of the fish.

I still have a lot to learn, but,

someday, I think I will be able to manage my own camp,

be able to live the way my parents, and their parents,

and everybody else before them did.

My girls have the real good opportunity to learn a real lot.

If they don't get it from someplace like me or my husband,

they could lose it, but we're not going to let that happen.

SUE: They're top predators, I'm not.

As a human being, I am bred to be at total disadvantage

for survival here.

NARRATOR: Six years after being attacked by a grizzly,

Sue is going head-to-head with her tundra nemesis.

(WHISPERS) 386.

I'd like to close the distance more,

but I'm fucking afraid he's gonna see us.

(COUGHS)

Shit. He heard me cough. He just turned.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Shit.

I gave it away. He's looking right at us.

I'm getting ready in case he charges.

First shot's critical.

You're gonna make him mad. A bear can charge 40 miles an hour.

They are top, top predators.

I can't see him. I lost sight. I have no fucking clue where he is.

Oh, shit.

(RIFLE SHOTS)

(RIFLE SHOTS)

I'm shaking.

(EXHALES DEEPLY)

Thank you. Thank you, brother bear.

That is a big thing for me to actively pursue a bear.

Proud of myself for doing it and overcoming some fears,

especially as he was getting closer.

But I also protected camp. I did this to protect me,

so my little grandkids could still visit and see me.

And I really appreciate...

Appreciate the moment.

I'm going fire, just in case. He could just be too injured to walk.

Well, here's your kill shot.

This is not a case of let's go out and get the biggest, baddest bear on the planet.

This was a case of, I knew I had a bear that was coming around through camp,

harassing, getting into things.

This could very well... I mean, it's within 5, 6 miles of my home.

He was headed back there.

This...

...brings back a lot of memories, man.

This is a mature boar, but...

That can kill you.

I don't take the taking of life lightly.

I absolutely respect every single thing about this guy,

and I accepted a long time ago that something like this...

I might be the one laying there. Not him.

Thank you, bear.

Your spirit will not go to waste.

You'll bring warmth, nutrition.

I'm grateful for it, but for perspective,

this is definitely not the end of the war.

This is one skirmish in the battle on the Arctic.

It's not over.

ANDY: Life is very physical when you live out in the bush.

If you're not willing to put in the physical activity out here,

you're not gonna do very well.

(DOGS HOWLING)

What do you think, Prance?

This looks pretty good.

Everybody's gonna get fish tonight. Ohh, boy.

This is the first fish of the year for the dogs.

Fish wheel's fishing good, catching 500, 600 fish a day.

As soon as this fish starts coming in, we pour the fish to them.

It's got a lot of good oils, lot of protein, lot of fats in it.

It really makes for healthy animals.

We've got a dog right now. He's 16 years old and he's still doing great.

You know, I think living on this fish their whole life really extends their life.

Mmm, look at that. That's going to make you nice and fat.

ANDY: These fish are critically important to us.

This is the most important job of the year for me.

Taking care of our dogs and making sure they have high quality food.

It's my job to keep them in shape, to train them, and to feed them,

and make sure that their health is good.

Their job is to do the work that I ask them to do.

It's about 700 on the rack right now.

Probably be putting another 700 on tomorrow.

And, uh...

Now it's just a matter of time and calories to cut fish, put fish on the rack.

And get a year's worth of fish.

And guys like this fat boy will have food the rest of the year.

Won't you big guy? Huh?

Gilligan, can you sit?

You're a good sitter. There you go, fat boy.

It's like a symphony of slurping up when it's like this.

(DOG WHINING)