♪ ♪
chip: Yeah?
Agnes: So, honey, there's a plane coming in soon.
It's gonna bring in your parts and stuff, your, uh,
whatever you ordered for the boat.
Chip: Oh, from ting? Agnes: Uh-huh.
Chip: You get on a sat-phone? She let you know?
Agnes: Yeah. It'd be nice to get our boat running.
Wouldn't have to worry about water coming in.
Chip: Last year, my daughter hit a rock.
Iriqtaq: (bleep).
Chip: Tried to fix it then, did the best I could.
But the boat, it's still leaking.
So, it's really tough when you don't have a boat,
and that's how you make your living from.
It's kind of like having, uh, a truck.
We drive like 50 miles stop somewhere, get whatever,
we bring it back in the boat and we got there in the boat.
This is how people do things up here.
Most people are centered around boats.
Agnes: So, he's just gonna fly over and just
drop something out of his plane.
Being out here, in the country,
we don't have the tools we need here.
So, we called our daughter and she was able to find a pilot
that would be able to swing by on his way to one of
the other near villages.
Oh, there it is, look! Go! The birds are flying.
Chip: That's when I know the plane is coming.
Come on, ag.
Prepare to be bombed?
Agnes: Whoa.
Chip: He's letting us know he's here.
Agnes: That was a practice run.
Chip: Yeah, practice round.
Everybody looks first, you know.
Like in the aircraft, you look before you do it.
Also, instead of landing,
and taking off and burning all that fuel,
he's simply just gonna chuck it out the window.
Agnes: Here he comes. I guess he's gonna do it.
Wild.
Chip: He's lining up on us.
Agnes: Scary. Yikes!
Whoa! Oh, my god!
Wow, there it is.
Chip: Right on, skya. Agnes: Whoo!
Chip: Yeah, good man. Agnes: That was scary!
Chip: That was excellent.
Agnes: Boy, he came pretty low, huh?
I almost thought he was gonna hit us for a moment.
Chip: Yeah. Okay.
I've done that a couple of times,
like in the last 30 years.
But never for a hammer before.
Pull out, release.
(laughs)
agnes: Wow. Let's go open it up.
Yay, we can fix our boat.
And that's how you do an airdrop.
Chip: That was bomb.
Andy: I've always had this desire inside of me to live
closer to nature and a life where you just utilize what you have on hand,
to do the things you need to do.
Denise: Andy?
Andy: Hey.
I just was down at the river, looking at the water level,
it's really high.
So, what I wanna do is take advantage of that high water.
Go down into that slough we like to go back into,
and build a tree stand,
so we can hunt back there this fall.
I want to build a, uh, a tree stand.
And not just a small little tree stand that you sit your
tail end on and, and sit there for hours uncomfortably.
I wanna build a tree stand that denise and I can spend,
uh, quite a bit of time in and hopefully call in a
moose or maybe spot a black bear or a grizzly bear.
Let's just take advantage of this high water,
and we can get all this building materials down there in a boat,
instead of having to hump it over through the woods and.
Denise: That's a good idea.
Andy: Over the hill and through the dale and.
Denise: Yeah.
Andy: Or get everything down there.
Throw together this, um, tree stand.
And then we got it forever.
Denise: The slough is a place we love to go.
It does have multiple purposes in what we need,
moose, the bear.
There's a lot of berries and there's a lot of fish in there.
There's beavers in there.
There's a lot of different resources available to us.
Denise: Okay. Hold on, grizz. Hold on.
Okay. That was pretty hard on grizz's head.
Andy: Let's, uh.
Denise: Get a trail cut?
Andy: Yeah. That's, that's the tree I wanna try and put a tree stand in.
Denise: Okay. So, you're gonna cut straight in?
Andy: Yeah. I'm gonna cut a trail right to there.
Denise: Okay.
Andy: I'm just gonna cut and let 'em fall,
and maybe if you throw them out of the way.
And I think I'm just gonna cut high right now,
and then we'll cut, come through and cut the stumps out.
Denise: Cut low. Okay.
Andy: And then once we get a good trail,
then we'll just carry all this building material up and
we'll cut around the tree, so we have some room to work.
And then we'll stack all this material there and
build it whenever.
Denise: That's nice with, straight in.
Be careful, grizz.
Andy: We wanted to build this early enough that we
could do it when it wasn't hunting season,
so we could make all the noise we want and not scare the game away.
A lot of hunters going by.
But there are a lot of hunters on the yukon river and
I'm competing against those hunters.
So, it's kind of forcing me to go off the beaten path a
little bit more to go hunt.
Now, that kind of bugs me.
It's a lot more work once you get an animal down,
to have to pack it a quarter or a half mile back
to your boat.
But it's worth doing that work to get the animal.
I think that's pretty good.
Denise: Okay.
Andy: Whew!
I think we may have to do a little bit of,
a little bit of clearing of some of this brush around here
but I think for the most part,
we'll have a pretty good spot here.
Okay. Let's get these building materials up to our
building spot, so I can build you a building.
Denise: Okay.
Jessie: Every year you live here,
you just learn how to do things easier and smarter,
not harder.
Jessie: Hey, girl. You're ready, huh?
I'm gonna get you set up, babe.
I've bred four females here this spring.
And they're getting close to the time where
they're gonna have their pups in a week or so.
Vivian, she's really, uh, far along.
She's gonna be the first out of these girls to
have her pups.
Okay.
Got everything here I should need to build, uh,
vivian a nice whelping box.
Whelping boxes are designed to protect the mom and
the pups from the elements.
Make it easy for her to come in and out,
but also make it easy for me to have the access
to the pups.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can tell vivian's close by the way she's acting.
I gotta get this built.
Vivian's right here.
She seems to be enjoying watching me work.
She's full of pups.
She's a little bit uncomfortable right now
before her birth.
It's nice that I can be here and give her that moral support.
She's watching me work for her and I believe that she
honestly knows that I'm doing this for her.
She knows that this is gonna be her house.
I can tell by the way she's looking at it.
She sees the door.
She says, "that's for me."
yeah, this is gonna be your new home.
Yeah, for your puppies.
You're gonna like it.
Got lots of room in there.
I'm almost done.
This is gonna work out perfect.
Next step is to move the house in.
That way, she can start feeling comfortable about her new home.
Okay. Out with the old and in with the new.
You're gonna be styling, vivs.
♪ ♪
it's ready to bring vivian in.
See what she thinks.
Go, go on in.
You go check it out, babe.
Yeah, there's nice bedding in there for you.
Go on. Come here.
Come on, vivs.
Vivs.
Vivian.
Vivian?
Good girl.
There you go. Come on. Come on.
There you go.
Isn't that nice? Isn't that nice?
Looks like vivian likes her new little spot here.
I'm just gonna hang out with her, let her get comfortable.
My saying is, there's plenty of space for me to hang out in
here too when the puppies are being born.
Keep an eye on her.
Now that I got the whelping box built, vivian approves it.
It's time to let her get comfortable with it,
and I just gotta keep a close eye on vivian.
Sue: As the ecology of the area, as the weather patterns,
as everything changes, the animals change with it.
Sue: Time to do a little bird hunting.
I've got caribou in the freezer,
but I wanna dip in on some feathers.
I've seen some bird activity.
I've got rock ptarmigan, willow ptarmigan,
and this is an area where they tend to congregate.
Sometimes, the smaller game is, uh, is really overlooked,
as far as how important it is.
You've gotta depend on the smaller and the
more numerous game.
It just takes a little bit more to fill the belly.
So, how do you check who's in your neighborhood?
You look in their habitat.
You look where their signs are.
They like the willow, they eat the willow,
they roost in the willow.
So, I'll start looking around the brush.
Uh, on the edges, and get down in here.
They think they're all that and a side of fries, being sneaky.
So, you kind of wanna get in there and be sneaky with them.
Bird hunting is a whole lot of reconnaissance.
Poopy, poopy, old poopy, older poopy, newer poopy.
So, there's definitely ptarmigan biscuits.
Where you at, ptarmies?
Where are the freaking ptarmies?
Whoa.
I've got a little spot here that looks kind of dug up.
Bears do that.
The bear track right here, this is super fresh.
Okay, that's kind of changing things around a little bit now.
That, I'm not cool with.
This is more worrisome.
Doesn't mean I'm gonna run off frightened this moment,
but it definitely is gonna put me on a higher state of alert.
Bears are one of the only creatures that can be so big,
800 pounds of fun, and you never hear a sound.
I really wanna get some birds,
but I do not wanna become the bird that gets caught.
You got a bear print, you got caribou prints.
Looks like a zillion birds.
Stop.
Dammit.
(groans)
well, I just scared up some ptarmigans.
There may still be one or two in here.
Let's see if I can't put a sneak on them.
As a remote person,
if that animal doesn't come within range,
it's like having a traveling store.
If you didn't get up at the right time,
you missed it.
I heard something.
(distant chuckle)
that's a chuckle.
(distant chuckle)
I just heard it again.
Just a little cluck-cluck.
I heard it right in here.
There he is.
(gunshot)
(gunshot).
Sue: This guy's down.
There was another one that flew right over here.
(gunshot).
I'm collecting this bird, the other bird and, uh,
I wanna get out of the bear territory.
Thank you, buddy.
I'm coming through, bear-bear.
Thank you, little ptarmy.
So one, and two.
I'm very concerned about all the bear activity.
So, I'm gonna leave this area.
Um, yup.
There's another bird, maybe more floating around back here.
But it feels a little bit like I'm kind of attending a party
I wasn't invited to.
So, I can maybe let them have this area,
and, uh, and keep hunting.
There's a million free acres right now that I'm in.
I don't need to take up his spot.
Chip: The water, we don't only drink it and cook with it and
wash with it, we travel in it.
Our food comes from the ocean and the rivers.
And they're our roads.
Start the day, every day, this way.
My daughter hit a rock last year and really messed my boat up.
When this thing struck the rock,
it upset all these rivets and it bent all these ribs.
Now it's time to just try to fix it one more time.
Narrator: The hailstones rely on boats for travel and
freighting along the kiwalik river.
But the damage to their larger vessel from last year's
collision has left it prone to leaks.
After being airdropped needed tools,
chip must repair the craft if it is to be usable for
the remainder of summer.
Chip: Okay. We're gonna wash it out.
Edward: You wanted the inside clean?
Chip: Yeah.
Edward: You're gonna help, too, son?
Chip: There you go. Thank you.
Splash at the dirt. Yeah, there you go.
Wow, you got lots that come down.
Good job.
Little guy's gonna have to know how to take care of a
boat someday, might as well start now.
Chip: Oh, he's really getting the muck out of there, isn't he?
Agnes: Good job. What a good splash.
Chip: Okay. I'm gonna rinse.
We're gonna do some bucket splashing.
I think we're done.
These ladies are gonna get their fishing stuff ready.
Edward: And dry off.
Chip: Yeah, we'll let it dry off, so we can smack it clean.
It'll probably take a little while,
but we got a good breeze.
Agnes: Nice day to set net. Tide is up.
We're gonna be setting a net here.
Chip: All right.
We got a little bit of time while it just sits here and
does nothing but dries.
Agnes: We're gonna be hopefully catching some silvers.
Carol: Yum.
Chip: I have small boat for net-checking.
And I got a big boat that I use for traveling and hunting.
And while one's down, there's always a second one.
Wade: Now to put it in the water?
Agnes: Yup, now to put it in the water.
I'm gonna drive and carol's gonna throw the rock in.
Shall we?
Carol: Me and my mom are setting the net while qutan
feeds it out to us.
So she makes sure it's not tangled.
Is it going too fast?
Agnes: You got it, qutan? Qutan: Yeah.
Agnes: We're targeting the silverfish.
They're really fat and they're really good meat and usually
this time of the year, this is when they run.
So, we're hoping to catch a whole bunch.
Dry them up, sell some, make some smoked salmon.
Looks real good, qutan!
Okay. You can pull tight.
Whenever you want to let go, you could.
Now we're able to just wait for the fish to hit.
Andy: It's good living out in the bush.
It's not for everyone.
But if it's something that you really wanna do,
it's probably one of the most rewarding things you can do in your life.
I'll take that big one.
Let me get that one, then you can carry those.
Denise: Okay.
Narrator: Andy and denise have arrived at the site where they
will build a tree stand, a structure that will increase
their odds at spotting wildlife for future hunts.
They have found an optimal location and tree for the lookout,
and now the dangerous work will begin.
Andy: I'll get the ladder set up and start taking some of these limbs off,
and you can just throw these limbs out of the way here.
Denise: Hm.
Andy: A tree stand really offers a lot as advantages.
The only disadvantage is it's only one place.
So, you got to put in a place where you're pretty confident
there are game trails and game movement in the area,
otherwise you're wasting your time.
Perfect.
Stand away from me.
It's one thing to climb a ladder and then run a chainsaw.
That's something I wouldn't recommend to someone who
hasn't done it a bunch.
They're really dangerous and they can,
they can bite you really hard, really quick.
Denise: There's something about seeing that chainsaw
over my head, and falling branches and wobbly ladders.
Oh, that was a stubborn one.
Andy: Oh. Okay. I think that'll work.
(drill whirring).
I just, I want 'em in the board when I get up there.
I don't wanna have to be clinging onto them.
Denise: Right. Yeah. The less you have to do.
That was kind of creepy being right underneath you with that
chainsaw and one hand up over your head,
limbing a tree like that on a wobbly ladder.
On a hillside.
Andy: So, what I'm thinking we can do denise,
let's hoist it up there.
You pull up on it, and I'll just walk up the ladder with it.
Almost looked like we knew what the hell we were doing.
Almost.
Ooh, that sucked it in good.
I don't feel comfortable hanging on that.
All right, well that went good.
Watch it!
Andy: Ooh, that sucked it in good.
I don't feel comfortable hanging on that.
All right, well that went good.
Watch it!
Denise: That could've been bad.
Andy's up there working directly above me with tools,
equipment, boards, chainsaws, running chainsaws,
and so I had to have my third eye always looking up and
honing in on what might come down on my head.
Andy: Okay. So that's a good lesson.
Don't stand right underneath me, okay?
Denise: Hi, grizz.
Andy: Probably keep him away too, so I don't skewer him.
When you're hanging off of the last rung or two of a ladder,
15 or 16 feet up in the air, you really better know what
you're doing.
Because when things go wrong, things fall.
And, uh, if you're not looking up, man,
you can get clocked pretty good.
Up. Hook it up.
Okay.
Okay. You can let go, it's not gonna go anywhere.
Seems pretty good.
Denise: That's really good. The foundation is laid.
Andy: The first couple of boards are the really important ones.
If you start level, then that's a good starting point.
I always say the most important things are food,
shelter, and clothing.
And, uh, food for me is number one.
I try and keep my freezers as full as I can.
The number one thing for me is protein.
If you don't have protein, you don't have energy.
If you don't have energy, it's pretty hard to get the work
done out here that you need to get done.
You burn a lot of energy when you live out here,
and you gotta eat well.
Almost home free.
I know one thing, tarzan's got nothing on me.
(denise laughing).
Chip: We work, we stay warm, and we stay happy.
We just keep moving forward as best we can.
If you don't work, nothing works.
I figured we should probably just get started with,
um, hitting every rivet along here.
Just going along it, pow-pow-pow-pow-pow from top
to bottom would probably be best.
So, if you'll just back them up with a,
face of the hammer to the flat spot,
I'll smack these suckers toward you.
Get underneath there and I'll give it two hits and we'll
move to the next one below it.
So, you ready?
Edward: Yeah.
Chip: Okay. The next one down.
That's a solid hit there. Yeah, there we go.
Okay. The next one up.
Edward: You can't just pound one side of the rivet without
it getting loose.
You know, you don't have long enough arms to be on both
sides of the boat, so it's a two-person job.
Chip: Next, next.
We'll just get a rhythm down and get her done.
Edward: We pounded about at least, 80, 90 rivets.
Me holding it up from the bottom,
inside, too, just holding my arms up.
It can get a little tiring, but all of us need the boat, you know.
It's summertime.
Chip: Kind of pounding on your head in there, huh?
Edward: Yeah. Need some earmuffs, eh.
Qutan: So we're just gonna get poles?
Agnes: Yup. Qutan: From there?
Agnes: Turn these old poles into a fish rack.
Carol: So while my dad and edward are working on the boat,
qutan, my mom, and I are gonna be building a fish rack.
We call it a iniksuk out here.
Every fish camp in the summer is gonna have one of these.
It's just useful for pretty much anything.
What you want to dry or hang.
Qutan: Are you trying to put it up?
Agnes: Yeah. Whoa, whoa.
Qutan: Just pull yourself.
Agnes: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Good.
Carol: Okay. One, two, three go.
You guys are way too close.
Qutan: One, two, three. Carol: Now, pull.
Agnes: Carol, go that way.
Chip: Let me know when, ed.
Edward: Go ahead, spin it in.
Chip: Up here, at lease in this society,
men work together and women work together.
It's more of a traditional division of labor.
And we all work together when we need to.
But the fact is, I just do the heavy work and they do the steady work.
Carol: Ready to hang it in?
Qutan: Ready.
Agnes: It's always fun to do things with the kids and the grandkids.
Of course, we build the rack and set the net and once the
fish hits, hopefully we can have a nice silver or a chum
and be able to have a nice dinner and have a taste of the rewards.
Look like that's enough, huh?
Qutan: Yeah.
Agnes: Wow, looks pretty good. Carol: Awesome.
Qutan: It's ready for fish?
Agnes: Yes, it definitely is ready for fish.
Jessie: I'm not gonna do nothing that I'm not
passionate about.
♪ ♪
now that I built one of these, I kind of got a good idea what
I wanna do.
And all these measurements are just in my head,
so I can crank out most of my pieces to get started in one
little go here.
Vivian's got her box. She's all set.
She's getting comfortable with it.
I'm gonna start building the ones for the other girls.
They're a few days off, but, uh,
I'll be well-prepared and they'll be able to get
comfortable with their new houses.
I got all my lumber here.
I wanted to get everything here to where I'm here for the
rest of the day.
I got three more boxes to build.
These I'm gonna be building a little bit more permanent,
taking the things that I learned.
You know, first whelping box I built,
I can see a few little modifications I wanna do.
Take a little bit of extra time with these.
I'm not in a huge, pressured rush.
Hi, vivs.
You getting comfortable in there?
Oh yeah, you look like you're due soon, baby.
Also gives me a great opportunity to be right here with vivian,
be able to keep a close eye on her.
You know, while staying productive.
Name of the game out here is killing two birds with one stone.
I need to be on close call for vivian.
I need to be being productive.
Figured out a way to do everything right here.
I put my heart and my soul and my passion into everything
I do with my dogs.
I wanna be the top kennel.
Not in alaska, in the world.
And when it comes together, three, four years from now,
it's gonna be something that I'm gonna be super proud of,
that I built out here in the bush, in the wilderness.
Okay.
I've made some modifications.
Have a four-inch step here.
The pups will have to be about three weeks old before they'll
ever even be able to make it up and over this.
And whenever they do, it's about time that they get out
and explore the new outside world.
Get some sunshine.
Got a little ramp here, so they'll be able to easily make
their way back in.
I've, uh, added a little bit more headspace into the
bedroom for the female.
Based on what I've seen, you know,
with vivian, a little bit of space will be even better.
Still got a nice little living room for the puppies to play
around in, out of their, you know,
sleeping quarters.
And then, nice thing is move, roof's removable.
The bed's removable.
Whenever all the pups are about 10 weeks old,
and the mom's not with them anymore,
they can all crash out in here together.
And that four inches will help hold the bed again,
for them then.
I'm gonna paint this, but first I'm gonna go check on
vivian and see how she's doing.
Oh, wow! Good job, mom.
Jessie: Oh, yeah, wow. Good job, mom.
She looks like she's got two puppies in here.
Oh, babe.
Oh, you're doing good.
Look at there.
She's got two puppies, a white one and a gray one.
Nature knows best.
I mean, these dogs are amazing at their instinct of what to do.
This isn't vivian's first litter, it's her second litter.
So, unlike the other females, it's,
uh, she's not a rookie mom and it's kind of,
uh, nice that she had hers first and you know,
get me back in the whole groove of things.
Just gonna let her continue to take care of this and,
uh, see how many she has and monitor throughout the day.
Getting to be here for all the beginnings and it's something
very special to be a part of and I'm really proud of
vivian, she's doing really good.
I know there's more.
She's huge and, uh, got a pretty good idea she's at
least got six or seven in there.
So, it's gonna be a long day.
Sue: Because anybody wants something doesn't mean
you're entitled to it.
Entitlement's just a mystery in people's heads.
Been hunting, got a few ptarmigans,
but just a lot of bear activity going on right there,
so I'm gonna check out the south bank.
We have these little cricks that run through and
occasionally migratory birds when it's hot out,
they'll dip in here.
Okay. All right.
I just saw a little duck butt going around the corner.
It's time to go see if I can't get a quacker.
I wanna get down but I don't want him to see me.
They're hard to hunt 'cause they're pretty savvy.
For remote people, we're opportunists.
And that small game is just as important,
if not more, than the bigger game is.
Bigger, you just get more in one whack.
But the smaller game is the meat and potatoes.
So I have to rely on the smaller game.
Okay. I see mister duck. Come on.
Come a little closer, buddy.
(gunshot).
Yes.
I have to get my ducky, means getting wet.
If you always had a peanut butter sandwich every day at lunch,
sooner or later you'd be thinking about taco Tuesday.
So, this is just kind of my version of taco Tuesday,
and it came with feathers.
Oh, look at that.
All right, buddy.
It's been a long time since I've had a duck and,
uh, I think I might just wanna pluck this guy and have a feast.
Beautiful.
Well, thank you, little area, for sharing your bounty.
Agnes: It's nice to watch my daughters work.
It's fun to see the kids learn.
Eventually, they'll be taking care of their own camp.
Chip: We just gotta let her go.
Ready? One, two, three.
Edward: Grab that rope.
Chip: Nah, just let it go.
There.
Hey, ladies!
We just need a few extra hands.
We're gonna spin the boat around and launch it.
We're done.
We got everything we're doing done.
Just lift up and go.
Two, three, four, five.
Carol: We're gonna help the guys put the boat back in the water.
It's pretty heavy so it's like, uh, teamwork.
Chip: Okay, you ready? One, two, three, go!
Carol: And probably, while they're, um, taking a boat for a test drive,
we'll be pulling the net out.
Edward: No leaks.
Chip: Nothing in here is going crazy that I can see.
We'll be back shortly.
Qutan: Try to turn us, carol.
Agnes: You have to.
Carol: You have to, yeah, like that. Yeah.
Qutan: Okay. I'll get the hang of it.
I've never paddled before.
Not like this, at least.
Carol: You got it.
Chip: Boat's doing okay.
No leaks from what I can see, the engine's running fine.
Carol: Now grab it. Hi.
Qutan: Hello.
Agnes: How's the boat doing?
Chip: The boat is fine. It'll last for a while.
Qutan: Okay, carol.
Agnes: Is that the end, qutan?
Don't pass any.
Throw yours out, carolyn.
That one is not good.
Carol: Hers is more messed up than mine.
Qutan: No, yours has, like, got blisters, carol.
Agnes: Or throw 'em both out.
Qutan: Mine just has a bad face.
Carol: Right now, there's a lot of fish running,
but some of 'em are spawned out and we call 'em zombie fish.
They're just not good to eat.
Just a bunch of nasty fish.
Ew, gross.
Qutan: Slimy.
Carol: Nasty eggs, eggs too! Oh eggs going everywhere, ooh.
Agnes: Us being near the lagoon and close to the ocean,
we usually get a lot of spawned out,
yucky fish down here.
Hopefully, they're not all spawned out.
Carol: I think we came here a little too late.
Qutan: Zombie? Carol: No, silver.
I think we came here a little too late.
Qutan: Maybe they passed.
Carol: If so, I think we're just gonna have to take off the net.
Agnes: Wow carolyn, is that a silver?
Carol: Wow. Oh, dad, it's a silver!
Chip: Oh, silver will do.
Carol: Yep. At least we know they're coming now.
Agnes: Yeah, looks like dinner.
Chip: I got no problem with that.
Qutan: This one's good, mom?
Agnes: Uh, it's good. Yeah, it looks good.
Carol: This one's head is pretty freaking huge.
Agnes: Wow, carolyn.
Wow, that looks like a good one.
Carol: There was a few bad ones,
but after all, there was some pretty nice ones.
Oh!
Agnes: Wow, another fish.
Yay!
Carol: I guess we're pretty lucky today.
Whoa, red. Holy cow.
Look mom, check it out.
Agnes: That's a pink. That looks like a good one.
So it's real nice to get a tub load of good, fresh fish,
especially when you set your net for the first day.
Carol: That's all of 'em.
Ooh.
Agnes: This is a real good place to be when you can just
get something and just eat it fresh,
right out of the country.
Wow, look at that!
Carol: Wow. Wade: Wow!
Chip: Out of the river and into the frying pan.
Wade: Into the frying pan.
Agnes: Having this tub full of fish,
we'll be able to have dinner and cut and dry some for later.
Wow, that's darker than mine.
Carol: This is a real good one.
Agnes: That's a silver also.
What a productive day.
Got the boat fixed, got the net in,
got a bigger fishing rack.
Chip: Well, we could munch down as soon as somebody arrives.
Oh, there's idi bitty.
Carol: Idi came down with the baby,
and at the end of the day it was just pretty good being
around the fire with a bunch of happy people.
Iriqtaq: Good to come home and eat fresh salmon.
Chip: Yeah. Isn't it?
Iriqtaq: Uh-hmm. I already feel healthy.
(laughing).
Jessie: When I set my mind to something,
there's nothing I can't achieve.
Hi, vivs. What are you doing?
Hi, honey. How's the puppies doing?
Let's take a look at your little sausage puppies here.
Oh, look at them little sausages.
Had any more?
Oh, wow. There's a new white pup in here.
That'll make seven.
Can I get in there?
I'm gonna go play with them.
Aw, look how cute these little puppies are!
Holding a puppy just makes me feel like a little boy,
you know, like, I'm in awe of the puppy,
I'm in awe of its life, and I've done this a lot.
And it never gets old.
You can tell they're really getting used to being handled.
That's really important.
They're getting really used to me.
Viv's really used to me handling them.
They're warm, they're fuzzy, they make the cutest little
sounds and they wiggle and their feet twitch and they
yawn and it just makes me feel so happy and so in awe of life
and how beautiful it is.
This is just an armful of joy right here and,
uh, armful of inspiration.
You know, all this new life.
This new location where we have so much freedom to chase
our dreams and, uh, make those dreams come true.
In my mind, these are gonna be the future champions of brushkana.
Andy: So much of living up here is just timing.
'cause the resource goes away or the weather changes.
If you don't jump on it, you might as well kiss it goodbye.
Just gotta put this piece of plywood up.
Narrator: In preparation for the upcoming hunting season,
andy and denise are building a tree stand that will be used
for spotting big game.
With the supports of the stand in place,
it's now time to move on to the final phase of the project,
the flooring.
Denise: Yeah.
That's a good idea, might as well use that pulley for this.
Andy: You know, putting the plywood up,
it's one of those projects where you kind of have to try it
and see what it does and then modify how you're gonna do it.
Denise: What you got, grizz? You just wanna help, huh?
It was heavy and I had to hold it.
I could pull it and get it up there was fine,
but then to hold those positions,
it just takes a lot of upper body strength to do that.
Pull!
Denise: That's it. Is it hooked on something?
Denise: Just be careful.
Andy: Oh!
Denise: Okay.
It's gonna swing when it comes off that corner.
Andy: Let it down. Just let it go. Relax.
It's not gonna go anywhere.
Denise: Looks a lot better there than a minute ago,
swinging off the ladder.
Andy: Fortunately, no accidents happened.
A couple of times some good, close reminders of pay attention
to what you're doing 'cause bad things happen really quick.
First time's always the hardest.
And, uh, once we started, the second time worked pretty good.
Let it down. Good.
Denise: Perfect.
Andy: The third time worked great.
So, it's just a matter of paying attention to each time
you do something and then modifying it a little bit.
Denise: Here we go. Floor is closing.
Wow! It's all closed up.
Wow, it looks like a stage.
Andy: Come on up.
Denise: Wow! Look at it.
New york apartment size.
Ah, this is great, andy.
Andy: It seems pretty solid.
Denise: You should be happy with this.
Andy: Sometimes, you travel out in bush or remote areas
and it's a real uneasy, bad vibe kind of a place.
But this, uh, hunting platform just has really good vibes to it.
Denise: So, is that the last one?
Andy: Yay!
Denise: Yeah! Yay!
Andy: Sit right here, and you can still see over top of everything.
Denise: Yeah, let me try sitting.
What's really cool too is you can stretch out and sleep and
not worry about rolling over.
Andy: To put the time and energy into putting something
that's gonna be really useful to us and comfortable for us
to go back there and spend some time and really utilize
that piece of the country, that's,
that's gonna pay off big for us in the future.
Grizz is in the basement.
All right.
Well I'm happy. You happy?
Denise: Oh, I am very happy.
Andy: Tarzan make jane new house.
(denise laughing).
Sue: The tundra never ceases to amaze me in the bounty.
Sometimes the brutality.
But it is what it is, take it or leave it.
First things first, I'm just gonna start pulling some feathers.
And get ready to cook my little duck.
Pretty good day.
I got ptarmigans and this here duck in a very wildly changing ecosystem.
It's not infallible, you don't get something every time you go out.
But if I can chip away at it, I keep adding variety and it
all adds into a bountiful year.
We have a nice, clean ducky.
I don't have a pan to cook him in,
but I could probably fashion something.
I've got a little bed there.
I'm gonna lay him in it and then I'm gonna cover him up.
I'm almost making a little nest for him.
Little remote kavik bush rotisserie.
Now I got to attach him, loosely wire on so he doesn't fall off.
Meat is meat is meat.
But is it?
I think that variety is the spice of life.
It's harder for me, maybe, to go get the variety,
but I mean I've got ptarmigan for the freezer,
a duck for lunch.
The variety keeps it interesting,
has different nutrient value, and I'm a little bit of a
foodie so I get to experiment a little bit.
Was it a good day?
No.
No, it was a fantastic day.
I don't have a pan, didn't have a plan,
but, uh, with a little bit of fire I was able to make
something and get him cooking.
Oh, he's actually starting to look pretty damn good.
It's perfect.
Nice little meal.
Thank you, ducky.
Captioned by cotter captioning services.