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00:06On this episode of Life Below Zero, Alaskans must adapt to overcome new challenges.
00:12I like to say I'm the king of Kavik, but Mother Nature took me down a peg this year.
00:17Andy faces dark winter alone.
00:19There's literally nobody now to help me here.
00:22Eric and Martha hunt the Arctic for a cunning predator.
00:28The hailstones build a shelter from winter's rage.
00:31The wind is bullshit.
00:33And Sue Akins is forced to wait out the darkness.
00:36The pistol has to be close by.
01:02This year, winter's a lot different for me.
01:05After about 10 years of living together, Kate and I have split up.
01:13That's just the way it is out in the bush.
01:15Sometimes people spend time together, and then they find they want different things in their life.
01:21And so everybody's got to follow their dream.
01:24I'm following mine here.
01:28So I'm here at Calico Bluff alone now, which means a lot of adaptation to going back to doing things
01:35on my own completely.
01:37And a lot more work for me on the day-to-day chores, getting wood, getting water, taking care of
01:43the dogs especially.
01:44But that's part of just living out in the bush when you're alone.
01:52Who wants to go for a run?
01:54Anybody want to go for a run?
01:57Go for a run, buddy?
01:59One of the things that I try and do all year long is to mark the trails when I run
02:04them and pack the trail down.
02:07On the Yukon here, it blows really hard.
02:09Anytime I have a trail in, if it blows for 10 minutes, my trail's completely invisible.
02:15Stakes go in about every quarter of a mile or so, and then that way if I lose the trail,
02:20I only have to break trail for about a quarter of a mile to find the trail again.
02:23There's been times I've had to come back from Eagle late at night, and it was blowing so hard I
02:28couldn't hardly even see my lead dog.
02:30Putting these stakes out really helped me find the trail and probably saved my bacon from going into an open
02:36lead at night.
02:37Up, up, up!
02:41Easy, easy, easy!
02:43Since we've had a little bit of snow, I can break new trail with the snow machine later and mark
02:48it.
02:48But I want to get out and see what it's like to run a dog team over the existing trails
02:53I have, and then we'll modify that if I need to.
02:57Easy, easy, easy, easy, easy, easy!
03:01Whoa, easy, easy, easy, you guys!
03:05Whoa, everybody stay!
03:06Good boys, everybody stay, okay?
03:08Everybody stay!
03:10Stay, stay!
03:11Stay, stay!
03:13Good boy, Jack!
03:15So what I like to do is, I usually put these stakes in.
03:19We've had snow and wind, so I don't have to chainsaw these in.
03:25When you pile snow like this on it, it disturbs the crystalline structure of the snow.
03:30Once you disturb that snow, it packs in and tightens up.
03:33By tomorrow morning, this is going to be hard as a rock, and this will stay good like this until
03:38the spring thaw.
03:40Boys!
03:41Okay, let's go!
03:46I've got another crossing I want to put in farther up.
03:50I don't have a snow machine trail there, so I think I'll just go check it out with the dogs,
03:53see what it's like.
03:55See if I can do it with the dogs.
03:56If not, then I'll have to come back with a snow machine later and put that trail in real good.
04:01Because these are trails that I'm going to be using a lot the rest of the winter.
04:05Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!
04:09Ho, ho!
04:10Good, everybody stay!
04:13Trying to put a trail in across the river.
04:15There's some rough ice in here, but I can avoid it.
04:19So it's a pretty good place to cross.
04:20One of the better areas to cross around here.
04:23The rest of the river, upriver and downriver, is pretty jumbled up.
04:28So this will make a really good crossing once I get a snow machine on it.
04:32But I think I'm going to go back, get the snow machine, get a really good trail in,
04:36straighten some of these big S-turns out, stake it real good,
04:40and then I got myself a good crossing for the rest of the winter here.
04:51The older I get, the more I slow down.
04:53Everybody does. Age happens.
04:56Show me the expiration date, and then I know how to live.
04:59I don't know what it is.
05:00It could be tomorrow, it could be 10 years from now, it could be 100 years from now.
05:03But I have to be as close to 100% as a body can get.
05:21You know, this is the dark part of the winter.
05:24I only have a few hours of ambient light.
05:27My main generator is down, and I mean, I can't express the importance of getting it back up and running.
05:34Besides, obviously, the comfort of power and lights, it gives me spotlights outside.
05:38If I have to go work on something, and if a rabid or dangerous animal is out there,
05:44I can't protect myself.
05:45That's unacceptable to me.
05:47I'm losing my light, it's getting colder, I'm getting a storm in.
05:50I need to get that thing dug out so that I can get it running.
06:00I'm freaking serious.
06:03As you can see, I got drifts building up inside.
06:07Any crack in the tent, any anything, and Mother Nature finds a way.
06:1450, 60 below weather, it's nothing to mess with, and that oil is frozen.
06:18You know, a big old chunk of ice doesn't lubricate.
06:22Engines, you just don't cold start things.
06:24You know, I've got to get it over here, warm it up.
06:27What I'm doing is trying to cover the generator so that when I get this heater close,
06:36I am actually heating the generator and not trying to heat the whole shop.
06:41If it's 30 below here, that's 30 below.
06:44I've got to take that little bit of heater and try to heat it up to about 50 above.
06:48So I'm asking for an 80-degree temperature change.
07:01Cover it up.
07:03There we go.
07:05What that's going to do now, that heat's going to run.
07:08Hopefully start heating up the generator.
07:10As soon as I think it's heated up enough, we'll go ahead and try and crank her over.
07:15It's not a quick fix that it's done.
07:18Here on the North Slope, the most minute of problems can take a long time.
07:25What we try to do is we give our kids as much of the most useful knowledge as we can
07:29find
07:29up here and it gives them an option because any of these kids could go get a job in the
07:33city and pay bills and live that way, but not anybody can come up here and make a living
07:37the way we do.
07:49Go get yourself an equine, go get yourself a ski mask.
07:52We're going to be on a fast-moving snow machine, so you're going to need it.
07:55Okay.
07:57I've got so many kids, so many daughters.
07:59What if my grandkids start following?
08:01I don't want them all in the same place I'm at.
08:03I want some privacy, so I'd rather put out a little bit of effort and make a second one.
08:08The hailstones require a mobile shelter as they hunt the Arctic for food in dark winter.
08:13Building a teepee is a vital Inupat custom that has been passed down the family line for
08:17generations.
08:18We're about ready to go, ladies.
08:20Well, Carol here likes to follow me a lot, and I could use her help anyway.
08:24She'll give me a hand.
08:25Poles are really important around here because we use them for all kinds of things.
08:27Handles.
08:28We use them to build stuff, so really handy to know what a good pole is.
08:34Okay, we're good.
08:54See this little dense stand of trees?
08:56What that makes them do is grow thin and tall and straight.
09:00When they're individual trees like these, these guys are twisted by the wind.
09:03They lean to one side.
09:04They do all kinds of stuff.
09:05They also get really thick and then taper to a real quick narrow.
09:09These right here don't taper so sharply, and these are more of along the lines of the poles I want
09:13to get.
09:20We're not using a chainsaw because it's so cold.
09:23It would take longer to get the saw started.
09:29When Carol was born, we lived in a camp, and she was born into this whole thing.
09:34This girl here has got a lot of knowledge.
09:36I would really trust myself to be with her if I were injured and out here and needing things done.
09:44I'd like to go get logs and poles for our teepee.
09:48I'm happy to have the land around us because this is our playground.
09:52This is process number one.
09:53Process number two will be making these things cleaned up.
09:56Process number three is up to the women.
09:58A lot of sewing to be done.
09:59That's pretty much it when it comes to a teepee tent.
10:04People do everything the way they want to do.
10:05Some people buy out of a catalog.
10:07Some people build their own things.
10:08This is the way we like to do them.
10:09It just depends on the person.
10:11And this is what we go with.
10:17Alaska is the land of economic opportunity.
10:19There's unbelievable opportunity here.
10:22I'm nobody, and I've been able to run a number of different businesses here
10:26and been able to live a very comfortable life.
10:38So what do you think?
10:39You want to go find a bluff somewhere?
10:40Yeah, let's fire up the sled and cruise out of here.
10:46My name is Eric Salatan.
10:48I'm married to my wife, Martha May.
10:49We run two lodges in Alaska.
10:51You know, a lot of people view living in the bush as very physically demanding, which it can be at
10:56times,
10:56but I wouldn't live any other way.
10:59For me, I enjoy living here and living the lifestyle I do, guiding and living a subsistence lifestyle.
11:04I'm Martha May Salatan.
11:06I'm originally from Iliamna, Alaska.
11:08Currently, I live up here in Wiseman with Eric, 67 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
11:13We're totally off the grid.
11:15We do everything for ourselves.
11:16I would not want to come out my back door and see a huge skyscraper or a neighbor.
11:21It's a good feeling to be able to provide for yourself.
11:25In between guiding seasons, Eric and Martha supplement their income by harvesting and selling the hides from Arctic predators.
11:34Martha and I are going to ride just a couple miles downriver to a little bluff I know.
11:38It overlooks a large willow bar.
11:41That willow bar is just chock full of rabbits, and big willow bars like that that hold rabbits are places
11:46that hold predators.
11:47I'm going to be doing the shooting today, which is a little bit different, but fun.
11:52Fun for the both of us.
11:53You always got to change it up.
11:54You can't become redundant out here in the bush, otherwise you get bored.
12:10That's not cool.
12:12The whole slew had been shelf ice.
12:14There was about 24 inches of ice, and then there was about 36 inches of air above the ground, just
12:20suspended ice,
12:21where the whole river collapsed right here.
12:24Do you want to crawl up on that bank, and I'll try to rally the snow machine to get around
12:29it?
12:30Yeah, that sounds good.
12:31I'm probably going to go over that on this side.
12:32This is what happens when you go and you motor around in Alaska.
12:36The wild just presents challenges for you, and you've got to overcome.
12:39I've got a three-foot piece of shelf ice, and then this part all collapsed.
12:45You know what?
12:47I think I can just jump off that.
12:50Oh, that's good.
13:05It's all good, baby.
13:07I was thinking about beating my machine up through the brush, but I got down on the fallen ice, and
13:12I seen it was pretty solid, so I just jumped the sun in the pitch.
13:15You've got to stay aware.
13:16You've got to stay on point all the time.
13:18As soon as you're lackadaisical or you're not paying attention, that's when you can get hurt.
13:26We're just going to continue safely along here and have Martha get back on the sled and go set up
13:31and do some calling.
13:32Eric and Martha are hunting the Arctic for fur-bearing predators, as their hides will provide income during dark winter.
13:40I don't know.
13:41I think we should go a little bit further, actually.
13:42This isn't, it's not thick enough in here.
13:45There's obviously a lot of science that goes into a good setup to call, but it comes down to it,
13:51you need a little bit of luck.
13:52The vibe isn't quite right for me here.
13:54We're down the river a little further.
13:56I know where there's a nice little bluff.
13:58It's about the same height as this, but there's a lot more willows.
14:02It's holding a lot of rabbits in there.
14:04That's where the predators are going to be.
14:06Plus the wind is coming right down this creek here, blowing out on the river, so anything that comes is
14:10going to smell us.
14:11Smell us, yeah.
14:12Let's roll down another mile to the spot I know.
14:14It'll be way better.
14:17Right here, we're at about noon right now.
14:20It's just getting light.
14:21It's going to get a little bit lighter, so we have maybe another hour of daylight.
14:36If you're not adaptable, you're not going to do well out here.
14:40You've got to be quick on your feet to think and problem solve.
14:43And if you're a little bit creative in your problem solving, you do just fine out here.
14:57So I just ran the dogs.
14:59I've got a few more hours left of sunlight.
15:01I think I'll go in and try and get a base down with my snow machine.
15:04It's hard-packed underneath the soft snow.
15:12I don't know.
15:15I don't know.
15:16That's going to sound right.
15:19I got nothing.
15:22Absolutely nothing.
15:24Son of a bitch.
15:26What's going on?
15:29Nothing.
15:33Well, that means that I've got problems with my battery.
15:39So I think I'm just going to go ahead and order another battery and be able to run tomorrow
15:44to go get it.
15:46The good thing about what's happening right now is it's happening in my yard.
15:50If this happened out in the field, I'd be walking right now.
15:54So my day of breaking trail is put on hold now, but I've still got a lot of work ahead
16:00of me.
16:02Who needs a little straw?
16:04Huh?
16:04I know Cougarhand does.
16:06A lot of adaptation to going back to doing things on my own completely.
16:11And, you know, a big part of what's changing for me is the size of my kennel.
16:15I decided to get down to about 12 working dogs.
16:1812 is manageable when you're alone.
16:22And so I've gotten down to that.
16:24I've given some dogs away.
16:25I've sold a few dogs.
16:27And I'll just take this winter to reassess what I want to do in the future with my dogs.
16:34It's going to be a nice bed.
16:36Oh, boy.
16:38Oh, you like that, huh?
16:39I guess one of the big changes for me is that I am spending more time with my dogs.
16:47They just bring a smile to my face.
16:49And all in all, every day I go out and do something with my dogs, I feel like that's the
16:54payoff
16:55for all the work I put in.
16:59We're all pretty tied to each other.
17:01It's a really symbiotic relationship.
17:03They depend on me to feed them and clean their dog lot and take care of them and make sure
17:08they've got straw in their house when it's cold.
17:10And I depend on them to get me from point A to point B, all wood, all water.
17:14So it's a good life.
17:21I don't know the first thing about some of the things that I fix.
17:24But when I get it done or I figure it out, I'm pretty freaking proud of myself.
17:31Fat, 50, and fabulous.
17:33That's me.
17:42Well, welcome to the world of Sioux, the non-electrical version.
17:52Basically, you know, the generator is not running.
17:57And for me to have power, I do have an option.
18:00I have a small 2,000-watt portable generator.
18:04But it's heating up the main generator so I can try to get it started.
18:07So here I sit in the dark.
18:09For me, while I'm out of power, the pistol, you know, has to be close by.
18:15This year, both the states and the feds have gotten a hold of me and said,
18:19hey, there's a severe outbreak of rabies and distemper out there.
18:21Don't take a chance.
18:23I've got to limit my exterior activities during the dark.
18:27For me, without power, I mean, you can look out my window and you're not going to see very far.
18:33So, you know, I mean, I've said it a million times, nature's king.
18:36You know, I'm just the visitor.
18:38I'm not, you know, I like to say I'm the king of Kavik, but Mother Nature took me down a
18:42peg this year.
19:01Time for me to check on the generator, see if it's warm enough.
19:06Maybe it'll kick over.
19:12Let's see.
19:15I put my hand under.
19:17It's fairly warm in there.
19:20Okay.
19:21It's warmed up.
19:25So, I mean, here goes, here goes nothing.
19:40Well, it started.
19:42It didn't want to stay started.
19:44When it cuts out like that, it's not getting enough fuel or something.
19:48All right.
19:48I want to take this, uh, the little bleeder bolt.
19:51You loosen it when you're trying to bleed the system, which means air is in the system.
19:56Air will not combust by itself.
19:58So, you have to bleed that out.
20:00Hence, you have a bleeder bolt.
20:02I should probably loosen it so that any remaining air can bleed out.
20:08So, I loosened it just a smidge.
20:14Come on.
20:15Come on.
20:17What the fuck is that?
20:19Oh, fuck.
20:24What I discovered is the bleeder bolt is no good.
20:29Um, I, what do I notice?
20:32This is loose.
20:33It will allow that fuel to seat.
20:35As you can see, there's no fuel.
20:38There should be fuel puking out, and there's not.
20:42So, you know, I really need to get on the horn and call Bob to fly out.
20:46I mean, it's just so silly.
20:46It's a tiny little bolt, but it doesn't matter if it's one stupid bolt.
20:52If it keeps it from running, you know, I've got to fix it.
20:56If you think about yourself, then you've got, like, ten people thinking of ten people.
21:00But if we all think of each other, we've got one mind.
21:03We all work together.
21:04It's a common goal.
21:13Here, check out these snakes.
21:15I got all these scraped up real good.
21:17They won't even make a hole in our tarps, huh?
21:19Nothing will make a hole in the tarps, nope.
21:22That takes a lot of work.
21:23Yep, no problem.
21:25Chip and Agnes are teaching their daughters to construct a teepee,
21:28a native tradition that will provide shelter from the Arctic's wrath as they hunt for food.
21:33Right now, we are measuring the cloth for our teepee.
21:36Ah, we stay in teepees a lot.
21:39I'm, of course, going to be following them out to go camping,
21:42so I own my own teepee to stay in with my sisters
21:45because we've already got one for my parents' maid.
21:51Notice how he's making it into a circle curtain?
21:54And then when we put all the poles up,
21:56all the two ends will meet together and farm into a teepee.
22:01Working together makes things a lot easier
22:04rather than me and Chip trying to do this all by ourselves.
22:07Working together makes everything a lot easier.
22:10Well, let's pile the poles, let's wrap the canvas,
22:13and I'll take care of these, uh, I'll take care of the tarps.
22:22Okay, girls, let's go in now and go get this sewed up.
22:25Now that we're done out here,
22:27the girls will be doing the inside job
22:29with sewing the canvas together with sewing machine.
22:32Me, myself, I'm not a sewing machine person.
22:35I usually sew stuff by hand.
22:36Maybe I'll get to learn something today.
22:51That looks so simple.
22:55We get to use the sewing machine today
22:58and sew up this canvas,
22:59and we can be done in a matter of minutes,
23:01and yet it's still, um, a traditional use for us.
23:09Yay, yay, yay, yay, all done.
23:10Right on.
23:12Wow, you did a real good job.
23:14Usually I'm hands-on and helping,
23:16but, um, everything all changes.
23:19Like, I get older and the kids start to, you know,
23:22get things done,
23:22and the younger kids start to bring, like,
23:25Carol help with the poles and stuff,
23:27and we just work together that way.
23:29Um, it just makes life so much simpler,
23:31and one person don't have to do all the work,
23:34and we just share the load,
23:35and that's, um, pretty much how we work together
23:39and make a happy life here.
23:42Right on. Thank you.
23:45If you'll work hard, you can have anything here.
23:48There are no limits of any kind.
23:51It's all just being self-motivated
23:53and getting done whatever needs to get done.
24:01Let's go.
24:14This is our first time in the winter.
24:15See if we can't call on a fox
24:17to really kick off the first season
24:19and get a hide on a stretching board.
24:20What do you think?
24:21This looks like a pretty good place
24:23with all that brush over there.
24:24Let's just set up along these willows here
24:27and see what we can make happen.
24:30In the beginning, I was a little scared,
24:32but Eric's been a really good instructor.
24:34He's helped me a lot with shooting,
24:36so, uh, I'm not scared anymore.
24:39I always like to just sit here for a minute
24:41before we, uh, we start the call-in set up
24:44and just kind of let things calm down a little bit
24:47after the snow machine.
24:48The animals can hear that.
24:50Kind of look out over my area,
24:52memorize the little black spots.
24:55Over there across the river
24:56is where I really see them coming from.
24:58Keep a sharp eye.
25:06This reed call imitates a, uh, rabbit in distress.
25:09To a hungry predator,
25:10it sounds like something good to eat.
25:13There's a fox, there's a fox.
25:15I see him.
25:16But he just moved his behind the brush there.
25:18Yeah, a red fox.
25:20There he comes.
25:21Looking right at him.
25:24There he comes, there he comes, there he comes, there he comes.
25:34Well, that worked out good.
25:35Cool.
25:36Should we go get him?
25:37Yeah, let's go get him.
25:37Let's go.
25:38So we came up to this bluff
25:40where Eric knows there's a bunch of good willows
25:42and some rabbit action in there.
25:43We were hoping to find a fox,
25:45and we did.
25:45He came out.
25:46He told me where it was.
25:48I got my sights on him,
25:49and I blasted him.
25:50I told you the tail was cool, isn't it?
25:52We just got this really nice red fox.
25:56First fur of the season.
25:57First fur of the season.
25:59You want to head back?
26:00I'm pretty cold.
26:00Yeah, my eyelashes are starting to freeze.
26:02Let's get out of here.
26:03Fairly long shot for an open-sighted rifle,
26:06and she took advantage of it.
26:07One shot, one kill, boom, right in the head.
26:10Fox down.
26:11So we got the first fur of the year on the ground.
26:14I got to have a kick-ass day with my wife out in the woods,
26:17and my life is cherry.
26:23I guess it's not fear,
26:25but there's a healthy respect of what's out there
26:29that I can't see.
26:33You know, what I can see, I can deal with.
26:35What I can't see, I can be surprised by.
26:44Sunshine!
26:46Right here is the break in the storm I needed.
26:49In order to get supplies flown into Kavik,
26:52a flight from Dead Horse costs $1,000,
26:55a high price for a small generator part.
26:58But as soon as I can get those parts in my hand,
27:01got to get on it.
27:02Sooner I get a fix done, power is restored,
27:05spotlights are up, I can move on to the next issue.
27:08Super Sue's back in business, fixes are done, life is good.
27:12Hey, Bob!
27:14Susan!
27:15My parts came in?
27:16My parts came in?
27:17I think so.
27:19It's a little box, right?
27:20Yeah.
27:20Awesome.
27:22I appreciate it.
27:23I know you've got a lot of stuff to do, but...
27:24It's not you.
27:25Yeah.
27:26Well, cool.
27:27Okay.
27:28Good luck with that.
27:29If you have any problems, give me a call.
27:32Okay.
27:33Yeah.
27:34I'll talk you through putting it on.
27:35Yeah, you know, I might need it.
27:36I've never had to replace that before.
27:38All right, it's cold.
27:39I don't want to keep you down on the ground.
27:40All right.
27:41But...
27:57I'm going to have to do some of this with my bare fingers.
28:00And it's pretty cold.
28:02There's no heat.
28:02There's no anything in here.
28:04Bummer that, Hal.
28:06But I've got to be able to...
28:08These are little parts.
28:11This is the good bleeder bolt.
28:12And if you look at the old one, it's a little shorter.
28:16This one is broken.
28:18And you would think, oh, well, here's a new bolt dropping in.
28:20Well, the other half of that bolt is sitting in here.
28:23I can't just drop it in.
28:24I've got to remove it.
28:26Well, this is going to be bad, man.
28:29See if I can nudge it.
28:30Do not drop parts, Sue.
28:31Do not drop parts.
28:35I don't know the first thing about some of the things that I fix.
28:39I have to remind myself to stay calm.
28:42Because that generator, it's just not running right now.
28:46And it's my job to figure it out.
28:48Pretty goddamn frustrating.
28:50But if I have to do it, I have to do it.
28:54You want to be on there.
28:57You want to be replaced.
28:59And we know this.
29:03Okay.
29:05The new bolt goes on.
29:09So snug, not psycho.
29:13Fuel!
29:16Damn, I got some fuel.
29:18It's flowing good now.
29:20Okay, that tells me that I've bled the air out.
29:22So, now that I've, uh, now that I see fuel coming out this, you know, coming out this
29:27area, I snugged it down.
29:28That means I have fuel up to this point, going towards the injectors.
29:32So the next thing for me to do is, you know, try to kick it over.
29:37See if it'll run.
29:38I hope this works.
29:41I hope this works.
29:50Looks like we got power, baby.
29:53I can hear it's running on all the cylinders.
29:57Now I'm going to push down the lever, send it through camp.
30:02Okay.
30:03If the, uh, light is on the Twinkie, we're in business.
30:07This way, please.
30:20Close my eyes.
30:23Yay!
30:26Foxy, we did it.
30:27Come on!
30:31Yay, Foxy!
30:32I got lights!
30:34Yay!
30:37I feel like a ton of bricks is lifted off my shoulders.
30:46You know, I say that when I got here,
30:50the only thing I knew about diesel mechanics
30:53was how to bake bread.
30:55Bam.
30:56That was brioche, buddy.
31:01Woo!
31:05Yay!
31:06The only thing you can really rely on out here
31:09is yourself and your skills.
31:11Oh.
31:12And your creativity with those skills.
31:15I just couldn't imagine my life in any other place.
31:26Come on.
31:27Come on.
31:28Come on.
31:29Says it's cold and windy out.
31:30I don't want to go.
31:31Come on.
31:32You're coming.
31:32I've got to make a run into Eagle with the dogs.
31:35I'm going to take a pretty big team in so I can make good time
31:38and get as many dogs exercise as I possibly can.
31:41The main purpose is to go in and get a battery for my snow machine.
31:45To access resources along the Yukon River in dark winter,
31:48it is crucial for Andy to carve trails through the icy terrain
31:52with his snow machine with his snow machine and dog sled.
31:54Hup!
32:03You guys got to settle down a little bit.
32:05Easy.
32:06Settle down.
32:09Oh, easy, easy.
32:12I'm living alone.
32:13I can't afford to hurt myself.
32:14There's nobody to pick up the slack.
32:16If I'm hurt, it's real easy to flip a sled.
32:19It's real easy to get thrown off and slam into the ice.
32:23Caution is the number one word for me.
32:27There's literally nobody now to help me here.
32:30All right.
32:30Up and over.
32:34Out of words.
32:35Straight ahead.
32:35Up and over.
32:35Let's go.
32:37This guy is a smoker.
32:39All right.
32:41Yee-haw.
32:44Atta boys.
32:45Easy, easy, easy, easy.
32:47Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
32:49Whoa, whoa, whoa.
32:52Whoa, whoa, whoa.
32:53Whoa.
32:54Everybody stay.
32:55Everybody stay.
32:57Stay.
33:01All right.
33:02Let's go.
33:02Good, boys.
33:05It's a little hairy running 12 dogs.
33:07In fact, it's not a little hairy.
33:09It's scary shit to hook up 12 80-pound to 90-pound dogs
33:14and take off with them.
33:16OK, good.
33:17Let's go now.
33:24Good boy.
33:25Straight ahead.
33:26Yeah, good boy.
33:28Down, chief.
33:31Down, chief.
33:33Chief.
33:35Chief, come.
33:37Chief, come.
33:37Toe.
33:38Toe.
33:43Toe.
33:47It's a long way to go for me right now, just to go pick up a battery, but it's something
33:54that's really essential to what I'm going to be doing and needing to do in the next couple
33:58of days, and so it's worth the trip here.
34:03Kind of a rough trip in in a few places, and running a big dog team like this in Eagle
34:08is
34:08always a little bit nervous, but I got what I needed.
34:12We'll get the heck out of Dodge, head home, and see if we can get that machine running.
34:15I got it.
34:17OK.
34:18Let's go home.
34:22Chief.
34:23Chief.
34:24I'm a registered guide outfitter.
34:26I'm a fishing guide.
34:27I do a wide variety of things year-round, all out in the woods, and Alaska is the land of
34:32that economic opportunity.
34:34There's unbelievable opportunity here.
34:46If I skin it, will you flush it?
34:49I'll flush it and sew it.
34:50I hate flushing.
34:51Obviously had a good day.
34:53Called in this fox for Martha.
34:55She cracked it one shot with the AR.
34:57We skin everything we get, taxidermy quality.
34:59We try to get the most out of everything.
35:02So taxidermy quality meaning that you keep the whole thing.
35:04You keep the face.
35:05You keep the feet.
35:06You have everything so it's top notch.
35:07I don't know why you don't like to skin foxes, but you like to fool with caribou,
35:13and you like only animals you can eat.
35:15I'll do the sewing and the flushing.
35:19That I enjoy.
35:21The taking the skin off the actual body, for some reason, that gives me the heebie-jeebies.
35:25Just like how anything is out here, it requires a lot of teamwork.
35:29So I went out, I shot it, Eric's going to skin it, and I'm going to sew it back together,
35:33and it'll be fine.
35:35Were you excited when the fox was coming in?
35:37Yeah, I was really excited.
35:39Yeah?
35:39Yeah.
35:39Were you scared you'd miss?
35:40I was nervous.
35:41I wasn't scared to miss.
35:44You did good.
35:45You dropped it.
35:46We got the back legs freed up.
35:48Now we're going to free up the front legs here, so that when we skin down past them,
35:52we're able just to pull them right through.
35:55What do you think?
35:55We'll get a buck and a quarter for this?
35:57Yeah, it'll be valuable.
35:58At worst, a hundred bucks.
35:59It's a lot of fun to get out in the wintertime and just go do stuff, especially for Martha
36:05and I.
36:05You know, we're slamming busy all year round.
36:10This is our time, and we just get to go out and hunt and trap and just do our own
36:14thing
36:15and just get our own time and hang out together.
36:18Went out, got the first fur of the year, got a fur on a stretching board, a little bit
36:24of cash on a red fox here, and good start to the trapping season.
36:33There's really a lot of things you can do for yourself, you know?
36:36If it's not working in one way, then it's going to work in a different way.
36:39And you just keep going until you find that way.
36:55This right here is what I'm going to use to make a stove for the inside of my teepee.
37:00Be a good little wood stove.
37:01I'll get the top off, and I'll probably transfer the top.
37:04I'll cut it and make it a little bit shorter and use the other woods from the top to make
37:08the doors and hammer the sucker out.
37:15There's nothing really hard or technical about this kind of living.
37:18What it is is long and it's cold, but once you're used to the work, it's not a problem.
37:23It's actually kind of a fun way to go.
37:25And we're in control of our own destinies.
37:27We're our own bosses.
37:31This will be the part where the pieces of wood get put in.
37:34It's kind of a big deal here, but it also makes it for an easier start to...
37:49That is one tough cookie.
37:51Cold weather is pissing me off.
37:56It don't wanna.
38:01Yeah.
38:12This is just adapting things.
38:14A lot of things come up here to the Arctic and they don't work out so very well.
38:17It's just our temperatures and our conditions and just the way the world is up here, I guess.
38:22So cold weather has a hell of an effect on a lot of things.
38:29There.
38:29Now we got a hinge in.
38:32So that'll be the door.
38:37It's getting windy, kids.
38:39You guys fly it up and over.
38:40There you go.
38:42Wind is bullshit.
38:46You got it?
38:48You got it.
38:48Okay, couldn't, you know, pull it when it comes over.
38:50Pull it, couldn't.
38:52You got it.
38:53She got it.
38:54Pull it over.
38:55Now the other side, Mary.
38:56Pull yours.
38:57Yep, there you go.
38:58Your sting, you got it.
38:59Pull it.
39:00Now, couldn't.
39:02Hey!
39:05Check, check, check it out.
39:07Now look, it's just perfect.
39:09Perfect.
39:11Awesome.
39:12All this extra time and effort and frustration turns out pretty good and we just, just the
39:18perfect teepee for all of us to fit in and keep warm and still be out and just be comfortable.
39:26Oh, you got it?
39:27I got it.
39:29Well, this is a good replacement for your girls' tent, huh?
39:32This is a much sturdier deal and it's much more like what me and your mom are using.
39:36I think this will work out just fine.
39:38Nice, good space for everyone, just small little tents.
39:40Yeah.
39:41We could just kick back and relax and tell some stories and be warm.
39:47It's real good that we all get to participate in doing something like this together.
39:50The girls, they know how to make their own home now.
39:53That's a good way all the way around.
39:55It's your house.
39:56This belongs to you ladies.
39:58You girls got it made.
40:00Well, someday you'll have your own family and then we'll make another tent.
40:06Being self-sufficient, being solitary.
40:09Some people think it's a lonely life.
40:12It's never been a lonely life for me.
40:14It's exhilarating.
40:15Being your own boss is the only way to live.
40:17Being your own boss is the only way to live.
40:34It's a better gift!
40:34Alright, I've got my battery.
40:37Trip to town with the dogs.
40:40Stick it in.
40:43It's ready to go.
40:44Otherwise, I'll have to charge this one.
40:52patience patience patience everything takes time out here in the winter
41:00this is a good day to go put some trail in it wouldn't matter if it was a good day
41:05or a bad
41:05day I'd still be going out and doing this because I got to get this done if I want to
41:09run my dogs
41:10some more on some of these other trails doesn't matter if it's 40 below or 40 above you just go
41:17do it that's part of living out here come on baby all right one more time machines running sounds
41:34good everything sounds like it should I think I'll go hook up my sled for pulling behind the
41:41machine that puts down a really good trail for me go turn some dogs loose for recess and go have
41:47some fun putting trail in
41:52ho ho what are you doing nickel what's up buddy good boy car me good boy bring it
42:08I spent my first 15 years pretty much living alone in the bush and I'm kind of feeling like I'm
42:15back
42:15to where I was when I first came to Alaska but I'm a whole lot older I often wonder how
42:26long I'm gonna
42:26be able to do this you know I'm 56 almost 57 years old and you know I know my body's
42:33gonna give
42:33out eventually and I know just the amount of work I have to do that's gonna have to diminish over
42:38time but
42:39I can't ever think of a time I won't live out in the bush without dogs
42:43I'm glad I listened to my heart decided to come out here and make a life for myself out here
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