All language subtitles for Life Below Zero S11E06 The Great Unknown_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: A select few
Alaskans carve out a life
in the isolated wilderness

by working together.

CHIP: That's our target.

NARRATOR: As a team,
they celebrate wins...

AGNES: Yee, one shot!

MARTHA MAE: That
doesn't sound very good.

NARRATOR: And suffer losses.

But above all
they persevere...

AGNES: Carol! Help me.

NARRATOR: In pursuit
of one common goal.

MARTHA MAE: Fish on!

NARRATOR: A life of
freedom and adventure...

ERIK: Girl is
obsessed with fishing.

NARRATOR: At the
ends of the earth.

(theme music plays)

In Noorvik, the Hailstone
family bands together to
collect vital resources that

will sustain them during
the brutal winter months.

CAROL: We'll be down there.

CHIP: Yup.

AGNES: We're planning to go
on a little hunt boating trip,
our very first one this season

now that the ice is gone.

CHIP: These rivers
here, they're our roads.

So now, it's time
to travel this road.

But do it in a boat rather
than the snow machines.

You guys ready?

CAROL: Sure.
AGNES: Ready and willing.
CHIP: Let's go.

CAROL: Right there!

AGNES: Oh, it's
right there, Chip.

Stop.

CHIP: Oh, wow.
That's our target.

AGNES: There's a
muskrat, Carol, you're
the first shooter.

CHIP: Good job, Carol.

AGNES: Man, hook, hook, Qutan.

CHIP: Good one, there you go.
AGNES: Our first muskrat.
CHIP: All right, good job.

This is the last fur
hunt of the year.

The animals that live
in the water, they don't
shed till next month.

So, their fur
is really, really good
still prime right now.

And they're pretty
good-tasting.

And we can use their furs
for making stuff out of.

You can make blankets.
You can make clothing.

It comes down to,
you know, feeding your
kids, feeding yourself.

None of it goes to waste.

AGNES: 12:00. You see it?

CHIP: I see it.
CAROL: There's another one.
QUTAN: Right there, dad.

AGNES: It's right
there Chip, stop.
Right there, Carol.

CHIP: That's him underneath
there underneath the log.

He's right underneath
the log right there.

Right in front of us.

AGNES: It's right
in here, Carol.

QUTAN: It's just right there.

AGNES: Grab it, Qutan.
You got it.

CHIP: Just grab
it by its tail.

QUTAN: I can't reach it.
AGNES: Here you are.
CHIP: There you go.

AGNES: Perfect, Carol,
perfect, you're doing great.

CHIP: Now grab it and
bring it in, be quick!

AGNES: We got a
shooter and a grabber.

CHIP: We haven't even gotten
a mile down this channel yet,

and we're doing pretty good.

AGNES: There it is, Carol.
QUTAN: Right there!
AGNES: One, two, three, go.

CHIP: You're a little high.

You need to bring that front
side down a little bit.

AGNES: Go, Carol.

Yee! You got it.

CHIP: Carol's getting
used to using a .22,

and she's in a boat
doing this while the
muskrat's doing this.

So, when you're doing
this, it's not easy.

Not easy at all.

AGNES: Way up there.

12:00.

CHIP: You lead it too much.

AGNES: Reload.
One more time, get it ready.

By the fifth muskrat,
you'll be just dialed in.

CHIP: Good job, Carol.

AGNES: That's a big one.

CHIP: Wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait.

Right here, right here.

AGNES: Whoa.
It's coming right to you.

QUTAN: That one is dead!
AGNES: Nice shot!
MARY: Wonderful!

QUTAN: You got it!
CHIP: There you go.

AGNES: You girls are awesome.
I love this.

Now I know how my
parents used to feel.

So exciting, fun.

CHIP: Now you're learning
that rifle a bit, aren't you?

CAROL: We got eight.

CHIP: Whoa.
There's number nine.

Good job.

We haven't even made it
a mile down this channel yet,
and we're getting plenty.

I think we're gonna do
pretty good tonight.

We just got a long
night ahead of us.

MARTHA MAE: As far as
waste goes, I guess that
comes full circle with

everything that we have.

Whatever we can use,
we'll utilize it...

So nothing goes to waste.

ERIK: There we go.

We're gonna cut up
this moose quarter.

It's the last one that
we have from the moose we
harvested this past fall.

It's a ham, really
tasty, prime cut piece.

I'll hack the
bone out of here.

Start taking apart
the muscle groups.

NARRATOR: Erik and
Martha Salitan rely on
the animals they hunt,

to maintain a subsistence
lifestyle in the arctic.

ERIK: Oh, you wanna scrap
together a smoker and
smoke some of this meat?

MARTHA MAE: Yeah, that
could be fun, different.

ERIK: Break up the
cuisine a little bit?

MARTHA MAE: Uh-hmm.

Harvesting your own meat,
it's very fulfilling.

You feel a lot better
knowing that you
butchered the animal,

it's all good quality meat,

and it makes you feel a
little bit more independent,
living in the bush.

ERIK: Well, I'm done.

Let's go out and check
out what we got for
building materials.

MARTHA MAE: Sounds good.

I'm done, too.

ERIK: The type of smoker
that we're looking to
make is a cold smoker.

It just adds a little
bit more flavor.

It doesn't add any
nutritional value.

It has nothing to do with
life or death, it's just
a little spice of life.

MARTHA MAE: Doing these
small kind of projects is fun
because it's like a change of

pace, something different
than the daily chores.

ERIK: I'm gonna use these
two by sixes that are left
over from building this

hangar this past summer.

We're gonna go six feet
deep, six feet wide, and put
a six-foot roof on there.

MARTHA MAE: We're putting
up the sheet metal here,
which is not only going to

complete the smokehouse, but
make it sturdier.

ERIK: Feed it up
on the top there.

MARTHA MAE: So far,
progress has been real fast.

We have four walls, we've
got the roofs all ready.

We've pounded it out and
we're just gonna keep moving.

Is it gonna fit?

ERIK: We're gonna get this
door on hinges, make sure
it flows the way we want it.

Then we'll sheet
the son of a gun.

MARTHA MAE: It's nice
to be able to work on our
own little projects at

our own pace and
do what we wanna do.

Nice.

ERIK: And it's solid.

MARTHA MAE: Yeah.

ERIK: And the first moose
we smoke in there is the
moose that antlers it is.

I'm just pumped to drag
it out of here and fire
it up for the first time.

CHIP: There's only so much
you can talk about to your
kids and there's only so many

stories that they can
read and see and hear.

The best you can do is just
take them out there with you.

AGNES: It's about to come up
right in front of you, Carol.

Yee!

CHIP: Good one.
AGNES: Good shot.
CAROL: This is fun.

NARRATOR: For the Hailstones,

it's critical for everyone
to do their part to harvest
muskrat meat and fur.

The window for the hunt
is brief, as the muskrats
will shed their valuable

coats in the coming weeks.

QUTAN: There's one right there.

AGNES: Oh yeah,
theres one right there!

MARY: Right there.

QUTAN: Hey, can
I try to shoot?

AGNES: Carol, pass the gun
to Qutan, let Qutan shoot it.

CAROL: Here Qutan,
you can see it?

QUTAN: What? I don't,
I can't see it.

CAROL: Point at it, Qutan.
You can see it.

QUTAN: Okay.
AGNES: Right there.
CAROL: Use your sight.

Even it out. You got it.

AGNES: She got it.

CAROL: Good job, Qutan.

CHIP: Good job, Qutan.

I'm glad you got a muskrat.

Now, get a hundred more.

QUTAN: It's gonna pop up.

CAROL: Oh!

AGNES: Qutan got
her second one.

So exciting!

AGNES: We're doing a
real good hunt here.

And this is usually
how we teach our children
and pretty soon I won't have

to do any shooting anymore.

CAROL: Look, right there.
Good shot!

MARY: You got it!

AGNES: Oh, my god, Qutan!
I can't believe your
proficient shot.

AGNES: Okay, Mary, you're up.

CAROL: You see it, Mary?
It's right there.

CHIP: You should try aiming
at the middle of his neck.

CAROL: Almost.

QUTAN: It's in the same spot.

As the (inaudible).

AGNES: Go ahead.
CHIP: Good.

AGNES: Oh! Deader than dead.
CHIP: Good job, Mary.

Takes a lot of getting
used to shooting in a
moving boat, doesn't it?

It's not easy when you're
sitting here doing this
with your rifle, is it?

Anybody who says this is
an easy hunt is foolish.

It's getting a little
too windy here, girls.

It's about time
to call it a day.

Sound good?

AGNES: Yup, besides our,
um, muskrat tote is full.

CHIP: And to think,

we didn't even burn five gallons
of gas getting all this.

AGNES: And I didn't
even have to shoot.

You girls did a
real awesome job.

CHIP: Yup, and
that was the best.

ERIK: Every day, I work.

You know, out cutting
some firewood, out
hunting, trapping...

Whatever it is, I'm into
being productive every day.

MARTHA MAE: You ran into me.

NARRATOR: Erik and
Martha have built a smoker
to prepare meat that

they harvested themselves.

But before it can be
used, it must be moved
out of the hangar.

MARTHA MAE: Your snow
machine's gonna be able
to pull this thing?

ERIK: I am not sure.

Try with a snow machine.

If not, we'll just hook
the truck up to it.

MARTHA MAE: So we got
the tow hitch attached.

We're gonna see if
we can get the smoker
out of the hangar now.

ERIK: All right.

MARTHA MAE: No, it's
not gonna happen.

ERIK: We tried to pull
the smokehouse out
with the snow machine.

I think we can probably get
it if we kept reefing on it,
but it's not worth damaging

a snow machine over it.

So I'm just gonna pull my
truck around, hook onto
it, and drag it on out.

MARTHA MAE: That's good!

Start off slow so we
can get the line taut.

A little bit more.

Okay!

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!

Okay, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!

I knew it was
gonna hit that lip!

It hit that lip and
busted the skid off.

We just tried pulling the
smokehouse out, unfortunately,
we didn't have the skids

braced well, so they came
together and in turn, pulled
the whole frame of the

smokehouse in also.

So a little bit of a bummer.

ERIK: The chain choked the
two pieces together because
there was no crosspiece here.

Kind of irritated at myself
for rushing, not putting
a good support on it.

MARTHA MAE: Gonna take this
two by six and make the skids
a little bit sturdier by

putting it in between, so next
time when we pull, at least
they won't come together.

ERIK: Stand on this,
will you, Martha?

Now we got the bracing on
there, I'm gonna go ahead
and hook it onto my truck.

And hopefully, it should
be secure and we'll go
ahead and we'll be able to

pull it across the yard
where we want it.

MARTHA MAE: Just moved
the smokehouse to where it's
gonna sit temporarily and

get it smoking.

ERIK: I'm gonna put this
little wood stove in
there and fire her up.

MARTHA MAE: So now Erik's
sticking the alder in there.

ERIK: Alder is a
highly desirable wood
to use for a smoker.

A nice flavor that comes
off of it that will be
impregnated into the meat.

There she goes.

MARTHA MAE: Close the
doors and let it smoke.

CHIP: With every change of
weather, with every change
of season, you know,

even the moon.

There's always some
new opportunity.

AGNES: Now this is
where the work begins.

So what we do first is
we go around the legs.

NARRATOR: After the
Hailstones harvested muskrats
from the local waterways,

Agnes is teaching
her daughters to
process the animals.

The family will not only
be able to use the meat
but the fur can be made

into clothing for
the cold winter months.

AGNES: You can tell where
the back, it's dark and where
the stomach part, the light,

comes together right
here between that.

Like in the tail you,
take your knife and
you follow that line.

And you go straight down.

You go to the tail.

Yup, just like that.

And that's where we'll
start to peel from.

I done a lot of these when
I was your girls' age.

I feel like this has been
a real successful hunt.

We got quite the collection
of muskrats and pretty
soon we'll have quite the

collection of muskrat skins.

So once you really figure
it out, it should take you
less than ten minutes to

do one muskrat.

We got 57 to do, so if we
work together, we should
get them done fairly soon.

CHIP: You guys wanna
eat some muskrat?

I got some with some rice.

AGNES: Muskrat, you say?

CHIP: 'Skrat and rice.

AGNES: Right on.
Awesome, thank you.

Wow.

Qutan, you ever
try muskrat before?

It's pretty good.

Muskrats have its own flavor.

CHIP: Well, these girls
know from beginning to end
just what it takes to get

everything working.

The girls all
learned something.

They all took their turns.
They had their fun.

The best thing to do is
just sit back and watch
your kids succeed.

I really like doing that.

People here a couple
hundred years ago were
tasting the same stuff at

this time of year.

Kind of like having
hotdogs on the 4th of July.

AGNES: Well, muskrat is
the flavor of the season.

CHIP: Yeah, it is.

ERIK: Day in and day out,

I wanna be out in the
woods, I want to be hunting,

I want to be trapping,
I want to be flying,
I want to be fishing.

That's why I run off and
come live out in the woods.

NARRATOR: After working
together to build a smoker,

Erik and Martha
can reap the rewards.

Should have been long
enough to give it a good,
smoky taste from that alder

dinner for Erik and I.od pr

Looking good in here.

I think I'm gonna go
with this one right here.

Right on the top shelf.

Took this one off the top
shelf, so I guess it's what
you would call top shelf meat.

Nice.

Gonna go cook it up.

Smoker was a good little
project for Erik and I.

That was a little bit of
a challenge there at the
end when it came apart,

but Erik and I
always overcome whatever
issues we have out here,

which you gotta do anyway.

You can't rely on anybody
else but yourselves, so
you work independently.

It's really cool to think
that not too long ago,

Erik and I were brainstorming
up this idea about this

whole smokehouse,
and build the smoker,

and then smell the
fruits of our labor.

ERIK: Real good.

CHIP: Preparedness
meets opportunity
gives you good luck.

That's really how it works.

All the possibilities
out here are open to us.

Once we get the boat
out and we get everything
all packed inside the

boat good and proper,
it's off to Kookoochiaq.

We're going down to
Kookoochiaq to go stay, but
we're going to be at a lower

camp they call Nuluk.

While we're down there,
we're gonna go fishing and
gather some firewood and do

all the other things that
you do while you're camping,
so it should be a lot of fun.

AGNES: We got stove
pipes to fix the stove
when we get there.

CHIP: There's that
little cabin there.

My wife built it
when she was 17.

She has a lot of pride
in that little cabin.

This last winter, there
was a tree that fell on
it and then in the wind,

it sit there and
swiped back and forth.

It damaged the stove pipe.
It needs to be fixed.
That's all there is to it.

Part of living this
life is once you've got
a cabin or something,

you take care of it.

We've got all of our food.
We've got gas.
We've got everything in order.

AGNES: We pretty
much have everything.

CHIP: Now, let's get in
and go to Kookoochiaq.

Let's go see what's happening.

AGNES: One, two, three, go.

MARY: Okay.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
live nomadically,

traveling between their
various camps in pursuit

of resources to survive
in northwest Alaska.

Today they will travel to
Kookoochiaq to harvest fish
from the area's waterways.

But before they can
reap the camp's benefits,
they'll need to make repairs

to the family cabin.

CHIP: My wife's dad and his
family before him, they had
that place where they would

rest and they
would keep a cache.

People that cross the
lake, live along the sides,
that'd be the place where

you'd stop and sleep.

AGNES: There it is!

Oh, it's still there.

We're here at
Kookoochiaq finally.

Fun.

Okay, girls.

CHIP: Well, girls,
we're going to make ourselves
comfortable here before we go,

so we can come back
to something warm.

So I'll fix the stove
pipes the best I can.

We'll get some firewood up
and we'll make sure that the
place is ready to receive us.

AGNES: Hey, it's like going
from one home to another.

ERIK: I don't think that the
way I live is the way to live
and that other people are

doing it wrong.

Each human being is in
their pursuit of happiness,
and doing it their own way.

You ready babe?

MARTHA MAE:
Yeah, I'm ready.

ERIK: Let's go get some birds.

MARTHA MAE: You jump in,
and I'll push out.

ERIK: And right now, Martha
and I are just doing some
subsistence waterfowl hunting,

and hopefully putting up
enough birds to keep us going
here for a little while before

the fish come in.

NARRATOR: Erik and
Martha have traveled to
Iliamna for the summer,

in hopes of harvesting
the region's
hard-earned resources.

But navigating the river
is no easy task even
for seasoned hunters.

MARTHA MAE: Yeah, you want to
watch for rocks around here.

ERIK: I know I'm
turning around.

MARTHA MAE: Whoa.
Slow down, why
you going so fast?

I don't want to be
ejected from the boat.

Where are you, yep...

(bleep), Erik!

(engine sputtering)

MARTHA MAE: Do you hear the?

NARRATOR: Erik and Martha
are hunting waterfowl
on the Newhalen river,

but shallow waters
have stopped their
boat on the rocks,

and the motor is burning up.

MARTHA MAE: I
can smell it now.

ERIK: You can smell it?

MARTHA MAE: Yes, I
can smell the motor.

We are literally a floating
duck, a sitting duck.

That doesn't sound very good.

ERIK: No.

MARTHA MAE: Oh, my god.

ERIK: You know, whenever
you're running the river,
you need to read the water,

read the riffles,
read the colors, and be
aware that there's all sorts

of submerged dangers.

And at this time of year,
the river's really shallow.

There's a lot of gravel
bars you need to watch
out for with a boat.

MARTHA MAE: I wouldn't
start it right here.

You're just going to do the
same thing you just did.

ERIK: Paddle us out.

MARTHA MAE: How am I going
to paddle us out in the wind?

That's not going to happen.

You've got waders on.

ERIK: There's more
along that shore there.

Let's go home and look
around down there.

MARTHA MAE: Okay, that
sounds like a good idea.

ERIK: Let's get out of here.
MARTHA MAE: Alright.

CHIP: Don't be shy about,
uh, improving your life
by getting a little dirty.

That's important.

NARRATOR: At camp Kookoochiaq,
the Hailstones must
make repairs to their shelter

before they can take advantage
of the area's resources.

AGNES: Whoo, camping.

Just leave that around here.

CHIP: Doesn't look like any
grizzly bears have been here.

AGNES: Nope.

Look like the camp
survived the winter.

Let's put that...

CHIP: Yeah, I think the
stove pipe's the first thing
that's got to be fixed though.

Oh, my, it took quite
a beating, didn't it?

AGNES: Yup.

CHIP: Well, let's, let's
break it up like this.

I'll work on the stove,
maybe Carol can help me.

Agnes can help me.

You girls will go get
some firewood kindling
and some, uh, freshwater.

And we'll, uh, we'll
get this place nice and
warm and make ourselves

something to eat, okay?

AGNES: Yeah.

CHIP: Let me go
grab those pipes.

Last winter, my wife came
down here and she saw that the
stove pipe had been damaged.

And I brought pipe here
to replace this with.

I'm gonna get Carol up on
top of the roof and let her
take it apart from up there.

I'm going to try and send
her up another piece of pipe.

CAROL: Oh, my leg
couldn't reach.

AGNES: Careful.

CHIP: Let's try and
see if this will fit.

Okay, that's, that's good.

This is an important piece
for the, keeping the water
out of the roof there.

So we're going to reuse
it since it's not broken and
there's nothing wrong with it.

And, uh, it's probably
been here with the cabin
since the cabin was made.

We put a lot of effort into
heat here in the arctic.

It's something
you're constantly thinking
about, being dry and warm.

CAROL: If I could reach it.

CHIP: Now, this is made
to go straight, okay?

CAROL: Okay.
AGNES: Okay.

CHIP: You got it?

CAROL: Yeah.

AGNES: You think
you got it, Carol?

AGNES: Carol.
CAROL: What?
AGNES: Help me.

Okay, your feet now, Chip.

One, two, three, go.

You ready?

CAROL: Watch your,
watch those nails.

AGNES: Here, put your feet up.

One, two, three, go.

Oh, my God, how am
I gonna get back down?

Oh, now what were
we doing, Chip?

CHIP: Attaching the pipe.

AGNES: Oh, my God, yeah.

CAROL: Okay, now it's good.
AGNES: Yup, there you go.

Thank you, Carol.

Now, we just got to try to
figure out how to go down.

CHIP: Your fine,
you're just a foot away
from the, there you go.

See you're so short,
that's why it seems
like it's so far away.

AGNES: Yeah.

CAROL: Whoa. I'm good.

CHIP: It's all right.

We're good.

AGNES: Right on?

We got a lot of
stuff to do tomorrow.

We got to try to rest
now that we got heat.

We get up tomorrow
and go fishing.

CAROL: Yup.

CHIP: We'll all relax and, uh,
start again tomorrow, okay?

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

subsistence hunter and
trapper is pretty unique.

And there's a lot
of work associated with
it, but I think there's

more pros than cons.

MARTHA MAE: Oh yeah, this
is pretty good right here.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: After ditching
their boat for dry land,

Erik and Martha change
strategies in their
quest to harvest food.

Erik: Depending on the
conditions, we use boats,
we use four wheelers.

We use our feet.

And sometimes we sit and call.

Other times, we spot
and stalk ducks.

ERIK: There's some out there.

(gunshot)

I'm kind of
sick of sitting here.

You want to go and try to
stalk up some of those birds
that landed over there?

ERIK: Let's just walk
in the woods and see
what comes our way.

NARRATOR: Erik and Martha
are stalking the woods along
the Newhalen River to harvest

waterfowl before the birds
migrate south for the winter.

ERIK: All the meat that I eat
in my household is meat that
either I harvested myself,

or meat that's recycled
to me via my hunters that I
guide every spring and fall.

You know, that's not an
unlimited resource up here.

You got to realize
that these animals
need to be respected,

and that you need to really
be careful about how many

you harvest and
what you do harvest,

you should use to
the fullest capacity.

Fish.

A (bleep) load of
them over there.

There's some out there.

(gunshots).

MARTHA MAE: Where'd it
go, is it still alive?

There it is.

Who got it, you think?

ERIK: Who cares?
Let's go home and eat it.
You going to make soup?

MARTHA MAE: Yeah,
I'll make some soup.

ERIK: Nice, let's go home.

I'm going to head home,
and I'm going to have some
fresh duck, nice and fat.

We're going to chow down on
some delicious table fare.

So go home, clean up these
birds, and call it a day.

CHIP: Our kids work with us.

Not for us, but with us.

And it's absolutely the
best way to ever teach them.

CHIP: Grab the bucket.

CAROL: Uh-hmm.

CHIP: I wanna bring
those fishing rods and
those lures over there.

I think we could have
a pretty good time.

I'm going to, uh, show my
girls how to use fishing
poles, or fishing rods.

We don't really use
casting rods much.

But, um, hopefully the
girls will, uh, get a chance
to sucker some pike in.

AGNES: Right on, we
got fishing poles.

CHIP: Jump in.

AGNES: Um, should I
put this in the back?

CHIP: There we go.

AGNES: Hey, never go to
the lower camp yet, I
hope it's still there.

CHIP: We'll we're going
down to the mouth camp
right now, down by the,

where the river meets the sea.

Do some casting for some pike.

We call this the lower camp.

There's a really old
building here my wife
grew up in as a kid.

They call it Nuluk
which is sleep.

So, I guess they
used to sleep before
they crossed the lake.

AGNES: We haven't
gotten down this way for
quite some time but, uh,

it's a good change up.

It's a good place to
fish and it's a beautiful
day for fishing.

I think we're gonna
have a nice time here.

CHIP: There's a pole here
for you girls to try out
if you wanna try your poles.

Everybody's got a pole.

I wanted to try out
a, um, fishing rod.

I haven't used a fishing
rod since I was a kid.

So, I figured it would be
fun for my kids to try, too.

CAROL: Oh, no.

CHIP: Well, now you got
to stop and untangle it.

You got it?

Okay, now tighten it up.

I don't know if it's
dinnertime for pike or not.

All right, I like that.

I've not got him on yet
but yup, I landed him.

Now, it's time to be happy.

I just got this, can
you believe that?

This just took a couple
minutes and I got a pike now.

I'm pretty happy.

Folks around here called
these, um, Siilik.

So now I am one Siilik rich.

There's gonna, bound
to be quite a few more.

So, just keep casting
and messing with them.

AGNES: Qutan, oh
yeah, you got it.

Yup and you put it back.

Yup, there you go fisher girl.

You got yours, Mary?

Oh.

QUTAN: I got one.
AGNES: Oh, you got one!

QUTAN: I got one.

AGNES: Oh, you got one!

QUTAN: Oh, look at this, yeah!

AGNES: Pull it up, Qutan!

CHIP: Oh, I'm gonna go check
out what the ladies caught.

AGNES: Hold on, whoa.

CHIP: Whoa, much bigger
than the one I caught.

AGNES: Qutan!

We just got here to the
lower camp and we've been
here five minutes and we've

already got a couple fish,
so it's a good day for fishing.

CHIP: Once you get
a fish on and you land it,
it's pretty hard to give up

this kind of sport.

It's a lot of fun.
Whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

AGNES: Oh, your dad's got one.

CHIP: There we go.
We got another one.

Catching pike
and catching any kind of
fish is just food for us.

It's food we don't have
to pay for at the store.

It's also really good food.

It's, it's wholesome.

It's delicious.

It's from the land.

You know, it's all part
of making a good living with
the resources around you.

And these are the resources
that are around us.

AGNES: It won't
open its mouth.

CHIP: It's time to head
off down towards other
fishing spots to see if

we can collect upon some pikes
somewhere else.

AGNES: Probably if
we go for a little ride,
we might catch sheefish

or something different.

CHIP: You guys ready?

AGNES: Yeah, we sure are.

ERIK: This is the life
that I've chosen to live,
and it's just what we do.

ERIK: Martha and
I have been really busy
the entire summer running

our fishing lodge,

and we're here
right at the end.

Our last client
left yesterday, we're
leaving Iliamna for Wiseman

in a few days.

NARRATOR: Erik and Martha
have spent the summer
at their lodge in Iliamna,

taking advantage of the
area's resources to maintain
their subsistence lifestyle.

With dark winter approaching,
the couple has one last chance
at harvesting salmon before

they return to Wiseman.

ERIK: You know, Martha
and I eat a lot of fish,
it's a real nice break to

break up our red meat diet

that we primarily eat up
there with moose and sheep
and caribou, and, uh,

we just wanted to get
out here, put up a
few fish of our own,

and be able to
take those fish home to
Wiseman for the winter.

So these fish here in the
Iliamna drainage are sockeye
salmon that are locally known

as reds, one of the best
eating fish on earth.

MARTHA MAE: Fish on!

ERIK: Fish on?

MARTHA MAE: It's foul-hooked.

For salmon, you gotta
catch 'em in the mouth,
you're not allowed to keep

'em unless you do,

so when you hook 'em on
the fin or anywhere else on
the body besides the mouth,

you have to let 'em go,
'cause it's called a foul hook
and that's sports fishing.

ERIK: Well, let's head
downriver below the rapids.

I think the fish are better,
even that one was a little
reddish, it's kinda turning.

I think the fish below the
rapids are far less beat up.

MARTHA MAE: Let me
fish a couple more.

ERIK: Oh, you wanna fish more.

Okay, girl loves to fish.

MARTHA MAE: The water coming
down the river right now
is all silty and glaciery,

and it comes into this little
creek right here and then you
can't see the fish anymore,

because it's all murky.

ERIK: I told Martha like
ten minutes ago like,
let's go, and she agreed,

and she's still
over there fishing.

The girl is obsessed
with fishing.

Push the boat off here
and pick Martha up since
she refuses to quit ever and

see if we can't get on the
fish a little bit better.

MARTHA MAE: How am I
supposed to get in?

Like that?

ERIK: Yeah.

MARTHA MAE: It's swift
out there right now.

I've been fishing at the same
spot since I can remember.

Coming here for 24 years.

I have a lot of good
memories over here.

Fish come by this one
rock every single year, and
it's the greatest fishing

spot for red salmon.

Wow!

There's a lot of fish.

I still feel like a little
kid when I come out here.

ERIK: Of course you
go to the best spot.

I love my wife, but she's
a game and a fish hog.

Look how net
rashed that one is.

Yeah, the fish are just,
different days, they run
up in different ways.

We're foul hooking
a bunch of them.

It's one of those kind of
fisheries you, you can fish
all over the world and be a

great angler, and then
you come up here to Alaska
and try this and you gotta

get dialed in.

Haven't got dialed in yet,
but uh, once we get dialed,

we'll punch 'em
out pretty quick.

MARTHA MAE: Oh, that
was in the mouth!

ERIK: Was it?

That's the first salmon of
the day that we've caught
legally in the mouth.

This is some really
good, good fresh meat.

Meat like this sells for
19.99 in supermarkets
across America.

It's found free here
in the wilds of Alaska.

MARTHA MAE: Hey!

ERIK: Mouth?

MARTHA MAE: Yup.

ERIK: Nice job, honey.

Keep it off the rocks.

Nice, all right,
we got the limit!

So this is the last
fish of our limit today.

Martha and I had the goal to
put up a couple hundred pounds
of salmon for the winter.

Got our last 10
in the Rubbermaid.

We're gonna go home,
set 'em up, clean 'em.

Ship these fish to Wiseman.

MARTHA MAE: And
have fish head soup.

ERIK: And definitely have
fish head soup tonight.

MARTHA MAE: I'm so hungry.

ERIK: Let's rock
and roll, babe.

CHIP: It's not shopping in a
store, but we call it shopping
because we're trying to go

home with the goods, the food.

AGNES: It's a good
place for fishing.

CHIP: Oh, it's chilly
out here, ain't it?

AGNES: Yeah, a little
rough but not too bad.

CHIP: You can see though
that the ice isn't
very far away at all.

AGNES: Yup.

CHIP: But it takes the ocean
a whole month more to thaw
out than it does the river.

It's always the river first.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
are surveying the waters in
Kookoochiaq for fish that can

be harvested this
time of year.

AGNES: Pass one to, um, Carol.

CHIP: You know,
we've already got a nice,

nice amount of pike
back there at the camp.

And, uh, we come down
to where the river meets the
sea and this brackish water

is where the sheefish are.

Oh, man. One jumped
right behind my lure.

It's a little bit
of everything here.

QUTAN: You got one?

AGNES: She's got one.
She got one!

CHIP: Oh, she's got one!

QUTAN: Oh!

CHIP: Get a hook,
get a hook on.

CAROL: It's a big one!
Holy cow, dad!

QUTAN: Whoa!
CHIP: Hook it!
Hook it in the face!

CAROL: Holy cow,

QUTAN: Whoa!
CHIP: Hook it!
QUTAN: Whoa!

CHIP: Hook it in the face.

CAROL: It's a fighter.
Whoa, it's gone.

CHIP: Oh, it's gone?

CAROL: Holy.

CHIP: Well, let's
get another one.

CAROL: Holy cow.
CHIP: It's a lot of fun, huh?
CAROL: Yup.

CHIP: You never know
what you'll get.

CAROL: Ah! Again.

CHIP: Yeah, you got to be
mindful of other people's
eyes and faces and stuff.

If you hook someone's
eye, they ain't gonna
get no help out here.

We're all learning, you know.

This is, uh, something
I haven't done
since I was a kid.

And I want my
daughters to learn how.

This is a lot of fun.

Oh, yeah.

This is a big one.

Oh, that's a big pike.

QUTAN: I got one!
AGNES: Oh, Qutan's got one.

Oh, I need that!

It's a sheefish,
give me the hook!

CHIP: Just a second.
Okay here you go.

Whoa, yeah!
A sheefish and a pike!

AGNES: We got it!

Look, Qutan, you
got a perfect one.

It's a sheefish.

This is what we're having
for dinner when we get back.

CHIP: We came down here
to the mouth to catch pike
and to catch sheefish and

we're catching them both.

Oh, I got another one on!

It's just a fishing
day, this is what
we're here to do.

And you know what they
say about showing someone
to fish versus giving

someone a fish.

CAROL: Wow, that's a big one.

CHIP: That's a good-sized one.

AGNES: So we've
done real good.

We caught a lot of
sheefish and pike.

I'm happy.

Time to go warm
up and make a fire
and eat some fish.

CHIP: Well, the fire's
going really good,

so I'm gonna let
this burn down to coals and

I'll start cooking dinner.

If you wanna cut up that
last sheefish that we caught,
it'll be the freshest.

AGNES: Yup, Carol's got
that right here actually.

CAROL: Yup.
AGNES: She's scaling it, too.

It's nice to be out
here with my girls.

I don't even have to ask them
to start cutting the fish.

I used to have to
sit there and help them
and show them, but now,

they can just pretty much
cut them on their own.

Good to come to where
I used to grow up and fish
and stuff like that and

let the girls come here

and have an idea
at least of where my
camps are, you know.

They might just get
right into these places.

CHIP: Well, this meal's done.

CHIP: Grab a fork.

Oh my God, it's sweet.

AGNES: Thank you, girls,
this is a real good dinner.

I enjoyed the dinner, I
enjoyed the way we caught
these fish because I don't

usually catch fish this way.

You girls did a pretty
good job using your
rods catching fish.

CAROL: That was a lot of fun.

CHIP: You girls are learning
this country, now you're
learning these waters.

And if you choose to live
this way and wanna fish
and hunt for a living,

this is one of the
places you can do it and
do it quite, quite well.

ERIK: Life is good.

Life is busy.

I like to get out and
just get my hands dirty.

NARRATOR: After catching
their limit of salmon,

Erik and Martha begin to
process the fish so they can

be shipped to their
winter home in Wiseman.

MARTHA MAE: Let's get
this done and eat.

ERIK: Even though we use
the salmon to, to sell
and bring guests in,

we also love to eat salmon.

There's not a whole lot
of salmon up in Wiseman.

So every year, when
we leave Iliamna for that
at the end of the summer,

we make sure that we bring a
couple hundred pounds with us.

You won't find a filet
much fresher than that in
your local supermarket.

Every time Martha and
I go into a grocery store
and we see a sockeye salmon

we'd laugh and we look,

and we look at one fish
in there and think about how

that's $100 and we
say man, all you just, all
you got to do is go in the

boat and putt
along a few minutes and
you're gonna come out with

several thousand
dollars in fish.

We got these fish all cleaned
up, filleted, and now we're
gonna go ahead and vacuum seal

these fillets and get them
ready to ship up to Wiseman.

MARTHA MAE: All right.

What are we up for
poundage right now?

ERIK: 50-pound mark.

MARTHA MAE: Last two.

ERIK: All right, where's that,
can you grab that Sharpie?

MARTHA MAE: Sure,
let me turn this off.

Even though we're leaving
Iliamna, we're taking a little
bit of it with us, which is,

uh, the red salmon that
we're vacuum sealing here
and bringing with us.

So, in a couple months when
we're kind of missing Iliamna,
we'll be able to break out

some of that salmon
and, uh, enjoy it again.

ERIK: All right, we're
ready to roll, I think.

Let's go ship this out.

Let's ship it to
Wiseman and, uh, we'll
go back to the lodge,

start breaking things
down, and close
it up for the season.

I got the fish,
you got the door?

MARTHA MAE: Yup.

NARRATOR: Together,
remote Alaskans can
overcome any obstacle.

Relying on the
strengths of others...

ERIK: Nice job, honey!

NARRATOR: They harness
the power of many and
prove that the whole

is greater than
the sum of its parts.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.