All language subtitles for The.Last.Alaskans.S02E06.On.Thin.Ice.720p.HDTV.x264-DHD.en

The arctic refuge is
roughly the size

of the state of south Carolina.

You go for hundreds,
thousands of miles

without roads -- nothing.

Our permits only go up

until the death
of our last child.

Within 100 years,
there's gonna be nobody.

We are the last.

This country
was made for winter.

It just opens up the door
to everything that's out there.

This area
that we can hunt,

there's like millions of acres,

but you got to go a long way
to find one animal.

You have to have
a crazy will and tenacity.

'Cause mother nature
doesn't give up the treasure

as easily up here.

This is our freezer, you know.

This is the arctic freezer.

You've got the cabbage
underneath the snow

from a long time ago.

It's been frozen,
but it's good.

Potato.
yeah.

Some on- I mean,
some onions and carrots.

Damn door.
Got to work on that door.

Oh, soup.

Soup.

Here, look at this lid.

See all that dust on there
from the floor,

from a dirt floor.

-So dusty.
-See that?

Look at that.

This new cabin
that I built here,

I still got to put the floor in.

And so once the floor
is in, I'm done.

I'm done working on the cabin.

A lot has changed
since this last summer.

The girls came here for,
uh, you know, uh,

to help build the cabin.

And so we just said
to heck with it,

we'll kill a moose
in the winter season

and we'll just
get the cabin done.

You better
kill the moose

because we're running
out of food here.

I know.
Well, you know,

I saw that moose upriver.

It'll be good
if we get some moose.

Then we'll have meat

and we'll be all set
for the winter.

Be careful.

We'll see you later.

Heim...

Okay.
love you too.

A couple days ago, I saw
a little bull just upriver.

I'm gonna go after that today.

That's my plan.
Hopefully I can get him.

We do have matches
over at the lake.

Yeah,
but we need toothpaste.

Oh, yeah, toothpaste.

And some extra socks

in case we get
our feet wet, you know.

Mm-hmm.

I mean,
it should be pretty simple.

Already pretty well stocked up
at the cabins.

All right.
Let's get started.

We're getting ready
to go on our trip

to do our loop,

and so I'm packing
a few essential things.

So, in go our snacks

and Tyler's packing dog food.

We're leaving for a --

for a big trip
around our trap-line circuit

and, uh, just getting ready.

A trap line is a trail
that goes through, hopefully,

good trapping grounds
where a lot of animals live.

We are, you know, trying
to make a living off of fur.

Trappers go after fur animals --

marten, lynx, Wolverine.

This is -- this'll be
for a couple different purposes,

just for snacks
on the trail for the dogs,

and then also it's, uh,

I use it for my marten baits.

The first leg
of the trip

is going up to the upper cabin

and then, uh, along the way,
we're gonna check my traps.

Is that for the trip?
-Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Are you ready
to take right off?

Mm-hmm.

I think everything's
kind of in order.

-You think?
-We're ready to go.

Load up the sleds
and hit the trail.

Want to go for a ride,
huh?

Time for our trip.

This winter, we have
two new puppies,

smokey and goose.

With pups, they just
run free behind the sled.

We just let them chase
all the time.

They're just learning
what it means

to be part of the dog team.

Jaffe's, you know, been
leading for five years now.

He's the one that steers
the team around the country.

He just turned 7, so...

We raised him
from a pup.

You were born
in a chicken Coop.

And we ran him at wheel
for the first couple of years,

which is the position
right in front of the sled,

but he would just like
put his head down

and lean into the harness

and work the whole time,
you know.

You could tell he was listening,

you know,
and you could see, like,

I would give a command
to that leader

and he would start
picking up on it, you know.

You could see him actually
turning in that position

and your dog team

is only as good
as your leader,

so I mean,
i can totally trust him.

I mean, we get into situations
where we'd be put in jeopardy

if we didn't have
a competent lead dog.

And so he's --

it's really important to have --
to have a dog like this.

Jaffe will make sure
you stay right on the good ice,

you know, and you get across

and you can't just trust any dog
to do that, you know.

It'd be pretty scary.

We're ready to roll.
-Okay.

-Yeah.
-let's go. Let's go.

Ready, jaffe, hike.

Right now, you know,

in the middle of winter,
i do not want to be hunting

when I should be trapping and,

but yet I'm spending time
trying to get food,

you know what I mean?

And then you have
to work like hell trapping

to make up for that
and also to make a profit,

so that's a lot of pressure
to kill a moose then.

A lot of pressure.

We got wolves here.

You can tell that they're go--

going upriver
right there in the track.

You see the claw marks,
you know,

the claws they're pointed
that way.

One is right there,
one wolf track is there,

one wolf track
is here, so that's two.

Another one here,
so that's three;

another one here,
so that's four;

and there's two of them there,

two wolves there, five and six,

so that's a pack of six

and they all,
they're going upriver.

That's a big pack.

Well, the wolf is, I mean,
he's the top predator.

He's got the biggest brain,
he's the smartest,

and he will keep killing
and keep killing

until there's nothing.

Moose aren't dumb.
They don't want to stay here

when there are wolves here
'cause wolves will kill 'em.

Now is when I really,
really have to hunt moose.

I'm worried about that.

Uh, dig out some willows

for filling the cracks
in the logs of the cabin.

There we go.

Sarah cut these earlier.

We don't see many ravens
in the winter,

but there's a few
hanging around.

This fall, the weather
was horrible.

It's been real warm.

It rained continuously for --

for the past three months.

I mean, that's just
extremely unusual.

It's normally sunny
most of the time,

so it took us longer
getting the cabin up

and getting moved in
and everything,

but, uh, it went well
with all five of us working.

You know, that was
six weeks of work.

We raised the walls three rounds

and then put a new roof on,
put an addition on.

We decided to build an addition

going out for the girls.

That gives them privacy
and gives us privacy.

And we were able
to use shorter,

smaller lo-- shorter logs

and, uh, you can use a lot
more crooked material 'cause

you're cutting 'em shorter

so that's what we ended up
doing, but,

uh, the moss dries out.

It gets real brittle
and dries out and,

uh, it falls out
and stuff, so,

uh, you slap willows over it

and it just kind
of helps seal it in.

This is kind
of like winterization, you know,

kind of like weather stripping

that you would do
in a, a conventional house.

Nice to stay warm.

We're good
and comfortable now.

Hey, do you want
to take your pack

or do you want
to use mine?

Yeah,
we can just use mine.

-Are those new traps?
-What?

-Are those new ones?
-No.

-Oh, they're not?
-No.

Yeah, um, we're just going out
to set a couple,

uh, beaver traps.

It's kind of interesting
and exciting to trap, uh,

new animals 'cause, uh,
at the other place, um,

on little black,

we just had, um,
pretty much lynx.

That was the main animal
that we trapped out there.

Beaver are a little bit
harder to trap

than other land animals

just because they live
under the ice.

Um, so with beaver,
you don't really see any tracks

and they don't leave
behind clues

that you can follow.

-Are we ready?
-I think so.

Be careful.

Go ahead.

Come on.

Up, up, up.

Here we go.

Up, up, come on.

Up, up, up.

Up. good boy, jaff.

Good boy.
-Man, it's just like fire

behind the trees
on the cut bank there.

Yeah. all right, jaff.

We've been working on
getting this trail up for years.

Our trapping loop
is a trail, basically.

It's 80 miles
worth of circuit right now

and it's all in the wilderness

that we've cut ourselves,

but now the country
is really open to us.

We have a lot of possibilities

at this point
as far as trapping goes.

Go on.

Ho. we probably
should check that ice.

Up.
-dang it.

So I'm going up
to check the crossing

and I don't like
what I see from here.

Bank side is pretty bad.

The black ice there.

This is probably
50-60 feet wide.

Normally, you would walk out
and check it,

but that ice is so thin

that if I were
to walk out there,

I might break it.

There's nowhere else to go.

See how these woods
are along this bank,

we'd have to cut a trail
all the way through those woods

to get around it because
that channel runs all the way

down to that bend.

So, it's totally unrealistic.

We don't have time
to do something like that.

The weather
turned warm, uh,

on us a couple weeks ago

and it stayed that way

and started
to undermine the ice and --

and that's how you get around.

I think I'll -- what I'll do
is just drive the dogs up here

and, uh, stop 'em
right before the crossing.

Jaffe.

And they kind of pick up
on the tension a little bit

and they get all hyped
up themselves

and then they just want to blast
across it,

which is what you want.

You don't want 'em
dilly-dallying.

So that's the plan.

How is it?

Really?

You do worry
about the dogs, of course,

because they will be
the first ones to go in

if there's a bad spot

and chances are
you could fall in

and get under the ice

where you couldn't
touch the bottom.

Ahh! nobody wants
to think about that.

Should we -- so, yeah,
they're ready to go.

Yeah, they've been ready
to go for 10 minutes.

Uh-huh. they'll be
plenty fast going across it.

Let's go.
Let's go.

Jaffe, are you ready?
Jaff, let's go.

The black ice there,
it's pretty bad.

How is it?

Really?

There's nowhere else to go.

They'll be plenty fast
going across it.

Let's go.
Let's go.

Jaffe, are you ready?
Jaff, let's go!

Let's go!
Jaffe, hike!

-Let's go!
-Get across there.

Go on! Hike!

That was awesome,
i skidded on one side.

We made it.

Each time we make it
across...Satisfied.

We ought to make it before dark
to the upper cabin.

Okay.

I grew up, you know,
in rural Michigan.

My earliest memories
are just, you know,

dreaming about the woods

and seeing nature.

There's a lot of,
you know, country around

that I haven't really seen,

so I built a boat.

The whole idea was just
to explore a new country

with it.

The girls were up here earlier.

They came and scraped the snow
off the deck.

And, uh, I wanted
to get down here

and get it cleaned off

before we get
another bunch of snow.

That's one thing
about a big boat.

It's quite a commitment

because the amount
of maintenance it takes.

So much for that.

Nice while it lasted.

The girls kind of
had mixed emotions

about coming out here.

They're glad
they came and saw it,

but I think they still
prefer our other place.

I think that's their favorite.

They're just fond of it
just for that fact

and that's where
all their memories are,

I guess.

Our other place is in the woods
on the little black.

The girls were raised there.

It's home for them

because that's
what they are familiar with.

It's the only place
they spend any time.

Occasionally, I'm reminded
of the fact that they're --

they're kind of attached to,

you know, their life
and their lifestyle

and it kind of always
surprises me.

I wasn't brought up that way.

We moved around a lot,

so they're kind of sentimental
about their home and --

and I never was,
so I don't know.

It's hard for me
to relate to that.

We'll get through it.

What doesn't kill you
makes you stronger.

We're all settled in now,
comfortable,

so now it's the time to, you
know, poke around, you know,

just explore a little bit;

get out their traps,
get their line out, so...

You know, once they get out
and see it, you know,

they'll appreciate it
for what it is.

I came to the woods, you know,

to tune out distractions,

get that peace of mind
and be comfortable.

Once the girls
discover this area,

they'll grow attached to it.

This is a nice trail.

I've been hearing
about this place

for, like,
ever since I can remember.

I've looked forward to exploring
because it's new country.

Everything's new
and it would just --

we're kind of piecing what
we're seeing with the stories

that we've heard,

what the river looked like,
what the country was like.

Where do you want me
to set?

Uh, probably up here.

It's a little frustrating
catching beavers

because I guess they're a little
harder to trap than, um,

like a land animal

because they don't
leave tracks either,

so you can't really like,

um, tell, like,
which way they're going

or where exactly
to put the trap.

-You're getting poles.
-Yeah.

We put beaver snares
and underwater traps.

You want to, um, put it
right up from the house.

You want it close
to the house

because as he's going down
to his cache,

he'll see the, um, our bait,

which we'll use Willow bait,
he'll see it right here,

um, coming
to or from his cache, so...

I'm just getting some bait
for the, uh, beaver set.

You've got to get
some kind of Willow

or some kind of, um,
vegetation that they will --

that they'll be attracted to.

I'm trying to find
the live ones

'cause they won't eat
like dead -- dead Willow bark.

I'm just gonna get
a little bundle here, so...

It's kind of interesting,
though, seeing new country,

seeing new stuff, places
that you haven't explored yet.

I mean, in other ways,
it's kind of,

it's strange because like,
it doesn't quite feel like home.

My old sister Molly, I mean,
she kind of remembers out here

and Sarah has never
been out here.

With em
and Sarah not really having,

um, memories connected
to this place,

I guess it really doesn't feel
like, uh, home to them,

but they're making memories now.

So you just want to like,
across it like that.

Basically, like,
the "x" just stays above the ice

and holds the rest
of the bait above the ice.

Um, and you,
you attach your snares

to the cross poles

so from here down
is in the water,

from here up
is above, above the ice

and you have four snares
around the bait,

so I mean, you have four chances
of getting a beaver.

Don't die.

Then we adjust it.

Are you done?

Yeah, it's covered from the top,
so it should be good.

Wait. is that a --

is that the moose
or a wolf?

Just hang on.

What the heck is that?

Wait.
is that a --

is that the moose
or a wolf?

Just hang on.

What the heck is that?

Yeah, I'm gonna go over there
and look.

Yeah, there's blood all over.

The wolves killed a moose there.

I've never seen them do that

where they pull
the skin like that.

That's pretty weird.

It's usually they eat the skin
right off the bat,

but I'll look over here
by the --

you can see the big fight
area here where they, uh,

where they fought the moose.

It's a big wiped-out area.

And there's a few bones
here and there,

little bits and pieces of bone.

Must have been
a hell of a fight.

This is the stomach
from the moose here

and, of course, all this hair.

They must have chased it
from in the trees out to here

and killed it out here.

They like to get them along
a bank like this

'cause then they can jump
on its back and, uh,

yeah, there's blood all over.

All over. Just way over there,
just, they got the jugular vein.

Wow.

It looks like there's two packs
in this area

and they're just taking moose.

This makes it harder now

to provide meat
for me and Edna, you see?

One wolf consumes a lot
more moose

than me and Edna
would take in one year.

I guarantee you that.

And then when you get
a pack of them,

let's say 10 of them in there,

that's a lot of moose.

Oh, here's the skull right here.

Oh, just look at that.

Little bull moose.

Tiny bull, just the perfect size
what I want right there.

Look at that.

Yeah, well, what can you do?

It's done, it's over, you know.

I got to find one
before the wolves find one.

Get across there.

Get across. Go on.

Hike, hike.
Go on.

Up, up, up.

Ho, ho.

Jaff.

Uh

there's something in the trap.

Jaffe is right
next to a lynx cat right now.

The bomb's
about to go off.

It's gonna be crazy.

They don't know it yet.
They haven't seen it.

But I know where the trap is,
so I saw it.

So, they're just
gonna go crazy.

But, uh, now they know.

Well,
they figured it out.

For the dogs,
a big part

of what they eat in the winter
here is lynx, so to them

when we catch one,
it's -- it's food.

Quiet.
it's dead, guys.

Don't bite, koss.
No, no.

I'll make --
remake the set.

Okay.
yeah, that's a good set.

-And we can just keep going.
--Okay.

That's wax paper.

I always put a piece of that
underneath my traps.

It keeps them
from freezing down.

Yeah, I mean, nothing on a lynx
goes to waste out here for us.

I mean, we use it all, so,

it is pretty much
the most useful animal

that we catch on the trap line

'cause if we don't eat it,

the dogs will eat it.

Furs are always valuable.

Pretty important
for us, you know.

Well, that was good.
Yeah.

-Still catching stuff.
-Yeah.

But we got a ways
to go, so...

Go ahead.

Oh, the sky is pretty.

Ay yi yi yi.
Heimo's out hunting.

Hopefully he came home
with a moose.

Hope so.

I'm trying to find
a good packed-down trail

to, um, set bunny snares on.

Whenever there's no moose meat,

we go after bunnies, grouse --
smaller animals.

There's one.

See where the back and forth?

That's where
they've been eating,

where it's circled

and then they go back
to the brush to hide out,

so what I'm gonna do

is take one of the snares

that is longer like this.

You pull other snare through
and tighten this one.

Tighten it up

and there you got your snare.

Now I got to get sticks
that are --

stuff to block off the trail

that I want to have them go in.

I'm trying to guide it
into that snare,

so when they come by,

they'll stick
their head in there.

Okay, that's about it.

Hey, moose.

Right there's some moose.

Out in that open out there.

They're running there.

Right there.

We're having fun.

Good training for you.

Can't you howl?

You shy?

Come on, goosie.

Right there's some moose.

So just got to leave her go.

She doesn't like that ice there.

She doesn't want
to cross that ice.

She's not sure.

In my mind
when I see cows,

you know, especially a --
a calf cow,

you know, she might be pregnant,

so you're not just
taking one, uh,

one moose, you're taking two,

maybe three 'cause sometimes
they have twins, you see?

Out here, you are part
of nature's food chain

and you are at the top.

And I think being at the top,

you have the ability
to either destroy it all,

or else use it wisely.

That's a good sign
that there's some moose around.

That's a real
good sign, you know,

even though they're cows
and a calf, you know.

But now
i just got to keep going,

just keep looking
and see what shows up.

Well, did you --
did you get it?

-No.
-no? no luck.

Yeah, okay.

No, no sign or anything?

Not today.

How thick's the ice?

A few inches.

Really? wow.

Yeah, well, it's starting
to get cold now

so we'll get more ice.

I've got to work
on this sled here eventually.

These ropes are all good,
i can reuse these,

but these uprights
all got to come off.

We got a bunch of wood to haul
and this will do it

if I can rebuild it
or salvage it.

Still looks like

it's in fairly
usable condition.

If I can get this curve
in this front,

maybe if I, uh,
put some weight on here.

Where's that ammo can,
the .22?

Good as new.

Dang.

Dang, I'm
one impressive individual.

Back to the original.

Now it's transformed.

I mean, it was a sled
that carried two children

at one time,

now they're gonna be pulling it
hauling firewood.

It'd be kind of cool to be able
to pull my grandkids in it

if I'm fortunate.

We'll see.

Living up here is hard,
especially in the wintertime.

You can be humbled
real quick, real quick.

And this land will do it to you.

Come on, goosie,
you're home.

The home away from home.

Ho.

During the winter,
this place is a good teacher.

Here you go, jaff.

Let you off first, huh?

Ol' faithful.

We live in sort of tough,
extreme conditions, you know,

it exposes who you really are.

You're doing good.

Oh, yeah.

Are you ready to come
out of your harness?

Huh? you little goof.

-I think so, it's like...
-Okay.

The woods was always
gonna be my lifestyle.

Being able to live
with my family,

you know, on the land,

a more simple life
without distractions.

That's -- that's all
i ever wanted to do,

but the girls, you know,
they're adults now.

They won't be spending as
much time here.

All three of them got
pretty big dreams

that they're excited about.

I'm looking forward
to watching them pursue them

and, uh,

that's all I want to do
is for them to be happy.

That's all I want to --
that's all I care about.

-Oh, my goodness.
-Oh, in 10 days.

-Yeah.
-serious?

I always want them to
feel that the door's open,

that they'll come back and forth

and they'll share
their adventures

and, you know, with us.

That's -- that's
all I ask for.

I want them to share
their life with us.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, let's eat, huh?

-Okay.
-I'm hungry.

Mmm. oh, yeah.
Look at that.

Holy smokes.
Nothing come easy.

I mean, if I don't have food,

I mean, uh, that's kind
of scary, but I mean,

there's dangers in everything
you do in life, you know,

so if a person was scared
of them all the time,

you wouldn't do anything.

Nobody'd do -- nobody
would do nothing.

You know, you just
got to keep going.

Just go.

There's something
missing in here.

Charlie's one of the few people
in this world

that can live out here.

All right.
I'm out of here.

This is his first year
to be out there on his own.

This is a place
that you build your own life.

It's not handed to you,
it's not molded for you.

You kind of got to bust
your own trail out.

My leader,
jaffe, is getting older.

I'm really hoping
one of these pups

that we raise will
take to leading.

I can already tell that
there's a problem.

Look, there's the moose.