JOHNNY: All right Java, this is ghost forest.
This is where all the dead standing spruce are.
Mixed in with some of the live ones.
But there's just a lot of dead ones in here.
It's kind of a spruce graveyard.
This is where I like to come and get some wood.
Spring's around the corner and what that means, is bears.
Java did you bring your snow shoes?
In this winter, I got a snow machine to expand
my hunting grounds.
But it has oil in it, and it has gas.
Come on.
Both of those will attract a grizzly bear that could easily
destroy it.
You took the trail, cheater.
I have to make sure it's safe.
That looks enjoyable man, with the sun beating down,
I kind of want to just lay in it.
Time to get up.
Let's do this Java.
Hey, don't worry, I'll break the trail.
Don't act like it's difficult.
You got the easy job.
Whew.
Pretty much what I'm looking for, dead, not too big,
not too small, just right.
Grizzly bears here don't do a good job climbing, so all
I have to do is just get it out of reach to where they can't
climb up and mess with it.
That's the first one down, what this will be is the
beginnings of a platform to elevate my snow machine
off the ground.
The seasons just come and go as they please.
They don't follow a calendar, or an itinerary.
It's all about being prepared.
(chainsaw whirring)
Cut this little edge off.
Let me try that again.
(chainsaw whirring)
There we go. All right. Let's try this again.
(chainsaw dying)
Okay.
All right, I'm out of gas.
Nothing comes easy out here.
Man.
It's all about your mindset.
Do you want it to be a problem or do you want it to be a new
learning experience?
This snow machine's got two gas tanks.
I bet you I could just steal some gas from this machine somehow.
There's this line right here, I might be able to just use it
as a siphoning hose.
Got a hose.
Step two.
Oh, we got gas.
This is my little, like, tool container.
Spark plugs, nuts, bolts, extra stuff.
It's working.
Look at that. It's about all I need.
Pour this right in my gas tank.
There we go.
(chainsaw whirring)
There we go. Keep on getting them.
ROBERT: We're burning daylight.
I think we need to get some crab pots in the water.
My ancestors, they've been crabbing in these waters for generations.
Good bait huh, bud?
So, it's important for me to pass our traditions on and
teach my son those ways of life.
Today, we're going to go out a little closer to home,
set some crab pots.
Maybe we should try one up shallow and three deeper ones.
RJ: Yeah, spread them all apart.
ROBERT: Yeah.
We know where the motherload is but we're going to try a
new area this time, because if you can find spots closer to
home that aren't overharvested, you can save
some gas money and some time, and that's a win for everyone.
I want to do like two off of this rock.
And then go up and set a couple more up there out in
the middle on the deep spot.
RJ: You ever try in this 400 hole?
ROBERT: No, I haven't.
RJ: Off of that Black Rock right there.
That looks like a good spot, yeah?
ROBERT: I don't know.
If we fish Black Rock in that big Bay up there,
we might not get any at all.
RJ: There's a lot of current that runs through here and
I know that's what we look for whenever we go tanner crabbing.
ROBERT: All right, so two here, one up there,
and one back here in the deep hole.
See what the heck's out there.
RJ: I would love to. ROBERT: All right.
RJ: We're just off of Black Rock about 280 feet.
Tanners, they like to stick to the deep water.
We're going to try all over the place and see what there is.
All right, we're good.
ROBERT: All right. I'll go find another spot.
RJ: We got black cod heads in here.
I think that's what's gonna get a bunch of tanners.
They're very oily.
We almost spread, like, an oil sheen on the water.
All right, we're good.
ROBERT: We're gonna head up to the head of the bay,
set Dungey pots.
The water depth's between 30 and 90 feet.
RJ: In the spring, the ocean is coming to life, and it's
really good for Dungeness and tanner crab, but there's a
short season for them.
So, right now, it's time to see what we can go get.
ROBERT: So, we want to do is find where the edge of the
beach is, and it drops off like that real steep.
Every time the tide comes in and out, they'll go up and down
that area and looking for stuff that washes out from the river.
You just throw it when you're ready,
I'll keep us at this depth.
RJ: All right.
ROBERT: This bay is about a two-mile, maybe a mile wide,
and we're just going to try to work a pot like, every,
you know, few-hundred feet all the way across.
One of them ought to hit.
NATHAN: It's been a pretty heavy-duty winter for us.
It's been a little rough.
SAMANTHA: Whoa.
NATHAN: You know just staying at home and maintaining the farm.
SAMANTHA: Go, go, go.
Go, go. No.
NATHAN: The kids are kind of antsy if they're cooped up for too long.
SAMANTHA: We're missing a chicken?
ADRIAN: I only count 29.
NATHAN: So, it's important getting them out, and having
a change of pace for a little bit.
SAMANTHA: There we go.
Just being on the farm all winter long, we have been
kind of cycling through these similar red meats, cows, and
chickens and all that.
So, it'd be nice to get out and kind of change up the
diet a little bit.
Fish provides nutrients that we can't get from our other
animals, and we've been in Alaska for a whole year now,
so for the first time,
we are going to Mineral Lake to go ice fishing.
Moses, Olivia, come on!
Come on.
Oh, he's on the way.
NATHAN: All right.
That's probably far enough before we check the ice.
I don't want you going out before I check the thickness.
I wanna make sure it's safe.
We should be okay, enough for us to be scooting across.
SAMANTHA: Come on baby.
With everything that we've had to do this winter, we've had
next to no free time, so having the opportunity to go
out and do something as a family is just such a blessing.
NATHAN: I think I wanna stop here.
I think this looks fine.
We're gonna check and see how deep it is.
(auger whirring)
SAMANTHA: Did you hit water?
NATHAN: I think I did.
I'm gonna check.
No, we're still at ice.
SAMANTHA: What?
NATHAN: So, the trick is to try the extension here and see
if that's any good.
Oh.
Pull her up, just a little funky.
(auger whirring)
SAMANTHA: Oh, my gosh, it's still not even touching water?
I'm wondering if we're not hitting ground or something.
ADRIAN: Is that like, tar-like stuff?
NATHAN: Either that or weeds or something.
All right.
Hole number two and move on.
SAMANTHA: All right, follow dad.
NATHAN: Hopefully, we get lucky.
CHEVIE: It's essential that my kids are confident and
know how to navigate the country.
And the only way that I'm gonna be confident in them
to come home safe is to teach them.
All right, you guys know why we're out here today?
RYDER: I forgot already.
CHEVIE: I love that.
At this time of year, there's a lot of opportunity to get stuff.
So, muskrat are starting to come out of their holes.
Beaver are getting more active.
When winter is turning to summer, there's a short period
in between that we call break up.
The sun's high and ice is breaking up fast.
It's, it's kind of like one of the more dangerous times
of year to navigate, so that's why it's good to start
teaching you now, and by getting you out muskrat
trapping is the perfect way to start showing you how to
navigate in this country.
So, the first thing that we need to do is get some sticks,
cut it down towards the bottom, not high, okay?
So, you're not swinging it at your thigh.
SYDNEY: Like this one?
CHEVIE: That one or the one to your right, right there.
SYDNEY: Right.
CHEVIE: Cut it more down towards the bottom, Ryder.
You could even step on it, Ry-Ry.
And then bend over and hit it so it doesn't bounce.
It's all about your angle, okay, Sydney.
Let the axe do the work, okay?
SYDNEY: Uh-hmm.
CHEVIE: Muskrat, it's not real big, it's probably only about
this big, probably weighs a pound.
And if it gets caught in our trap, that stick is gonna keep
them from pulling it down into that hole.
Let's go check these muskrat houses.
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: Muskrat live in the water, down underneath push-ups.
So, what we're looking for is a shelf in their little house.
It should be frozen a little bit on top and you pick, pick,
pick and then it just goes through, okay?
Still hard ice, huh?
SYDNEY: Yes.
CHEVIE: So, what that means is that there's no muskrat
actively using this push-up.
So, we just have to move on to the next spot.
As I'm thinking about how to trap these muskrats,
I know that they sometimes live in beaver houses.
So, I'm thinking maybe we'll get lucky and there'll be a
muskrat living in one of these beaver houses.
This beaver house doesn't look alive because there's no
feed pile there.
Look how dead this is, this isn't fresh stuff.
See how it'll just crack?
That means that beaver didn't make this house recently.
But maybe stuff will come out of this hole, but you always
gotta be really careful by these open holes, okay?
(sloshing)
CHEVIE: This is why you don't wanna fall in around a beaver house, okay?
Watch.
It's not even on the bottom, okay.
That's super deep.
My kid's safety is the most important thing.
They need to know what good ice looks like.
This wouldn't be the best place to hang out.
And bad ice looks like.
ROBERT: RJ and I have been setting crab pots.
And every time I'm out here, it's always an opportunity to
come back to my roots.
RJ: All right, last one.
ROBERT: Good to go, huh?
Have you ever been to that spot where grandma lived the
first 13 summers of her life?
RJ: We went camping there, remember?
I haven't been there since I was a kid.
ROBERT: Well, let's go check it out.
Take care of mom's old land.
The tide's going out.
My mom's in her mid-70s.
RJ: Good girl.
ROBERT: And she was out here from when she was zero to
12 years old every summer.
We camped here when you were like eight or nine with grandma.
RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: We spent a lot of hours around this campfire then.
I have vivid memories sitting around this campfire ring with
my mom, telling stories about how she lived.
Making s'mores.
Cooking meat on a stick over the fire.
RJ: Do you remember any of her stories?
ROBERT: She loved stories about bears.
She hated it when her grandpa would start smoking salmon
'cause she knew it was like the bears were coming
from miles away.
Here's the bed frame.
A lot of memories.
And this is the cabin grandma stayed in.
My mom.
RJ: Were they told to leave or?
ROBERT: It's a long story. RJ: Uh-hmm.
ROBERT: Grandma ended up moving to Juneau when she was 12.
I don't know much of the history beyond that.
RJ: Been a long tradition.
It's cool that we get to come out here and visit it every
once in a while.
I've always loved this place.
Olive!
It's an incredibly beautiful bay, so we try our best to
clean the place up and just make it a little bit better.
ROBERT: Beer bottle.
RJ: Good girl, good girl.
I think it's an important part of being an Alaskan.
We help lift each other up and we take care of
the place that we love.
JOHNNY: Nothing comes easy out here, everything's a struggle,
everything takes a lot of effort.
It teaches me to not give up.
To persist and to be more of a hard ass,
because that's what it takes to live out here.
Watch out, Java.
Beat it.
So, what I'll do is I'll tie these together.
Go to the backside, do the exact same thing.
Take these rungs, just like a ladder and just boom, boom,
boom, boom, boom.
Just keeping it very primitive, and that's all it
really needs to be.
That's a heavy son of a gun right there.
I'm choosing a spot in here to build this platform because
spring's right around the corner.
And this lake's gonna have ice on it longer than the smaller one.
So, I can still use the snow machine for about three more weeks.
So, the plan is put a crossmember right between
these two trees, and I have two trees there I could put
one as well.
I'll start off by putting this ramp front end on this cross member,
so it's going to be just a gradual ramp.
And I can drive my snow machine up in theory, and then
figure out a way to hoist up the back end of the ramp.
And that will be my snow machine kind of bear proof
little platform.
The goal isn't to just hightail this snow machine
up this ramp.
The goal is to do it safely.
Do a little square lashing.
You know carrying all these logs on my shoulders,
just grinding myself down.
Man, so close.
And if I get hurt, then I'm in trouble.
Cold.
So, the goal is to try to keep my body safe.
Sweet. Now for the last spike.
Oh, yeah.
Solid.
Cross beams are nice and sturdy, but I don't think I'm
gonna have any problem with that.
I'm noticing that, like, this side, this long beam that runs
here is kind of bouncy.
It's like a trampoline.
Last thing I wanna do is rebuild this thing.
See if I can bring that snow machine on up here.
I'm gonna take it slow, I'm gonna take it easy.
I'm not trying to do anything daredevil.
Yeah, I'm just gonna ride it right up on there
and see what happens.
Java, come on!
Stay.
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Ha, ha, ha!
That's awesome.
Now all I gotta do is just hoist up the back end of this
ramp and it'll just be horizontal in the air,
six feet off the ground, safe from bears.
Man, I kinda wanna have a look at this thing up there.
Heck yeah, man.
So next thing to do, so I gotta go across the top
up there and then make a little pulley system to pull up this
back end of the ramp.
That'll be it.
This thing will be ready to roll.
Yeah, feeling good about this overall, heck yeah.
Java is just laying on the sledge down there.
She doesn't even care.
CHEVIE: When you're trapping during break up, just because
you go out one way in the morning, doesn't mean that
you come home the same way in the afternoon.
Cause that icy lake is going to be a wide-open body of water.
All right.
Remember how many muskrat houses we checked?
RYDER: Oh, yeah.
CHEVIE: Feeling a little bad that we're not able to get you
guys easy muskrat opportunities, but I still
wanna show you how to set traps.
And I know that they stay in beaver houses sometimes.
SYDNEY: Do the beavers get tired of their guests staying over sometimes?
CHEVIE: I don't think they really get tired of each other
because I think that they kinda eat different stuff.
So, if your guests aren't eating your food,
I think everybody stays happy.
(Sydney laughs)
See how there's no water around the edge of these lakes?
SYDNEY: Uh-huh.
CHEVIE: It's froze so hard that muskrat aren't gonna come out.
All these muskrat houses are frozen.
There's no hole from the house down underneath the ice.
I hate going home without trying,
so I gotta try something.
See if we hit some water.
(auger whirring)
You think that water is good to drink?
BOTH: No!
CHEVIE: Good answer, I was just checking.
These traps are called conibear and they're a
little bit finicky.
You always want to have them open, that way if your hand
slips or something, it won't allow that spring to spread
and snap you, okay?
This is where we're going to use those sticks that you guys cut.
Let's move on to the next spot guys.
During break up, the ice is starting to get rotten and
it's starting to get borderline sketchy.
That's why I got the kids out, to show them how to navigate
this time of year.
RYDER: When I was driving, there was a giant wave of
water going right behind me.
CHEVIE: Ryder, you made it through that water,
that was good.
Getting hot out, so I wanna get a hole put in this beaver house,
be able to try to catch a beaver.
We'll use that ice auger, and we'll drill two holes.
Cool.
Wanna put another one in.
So, you make a hoop, you put it on your foot, and then you
wrap it through these springs like this, okay?
And use your foot as your anchor and you gotta close
that spring and then put this latch over, okay?
I put a beet on there, some bait.
But on the other one, we'll use good old cotton wood.
Wire all that wood together right there.
SYDNEY: I may not be a beaver, but it looks yummy.
CHEVIE: Even though I know it's unlikely that we're going
to be able to catch some muskrats or beaver...
Run the pole through the, through the ring.
I still wanna show them how to set the traps,
what they like for bait.
All right. We'll just leave this alone.
They're still gonna learn from this experience.
SYDNEY: I've never seen a beaver in a trap before in my life.
CHEVIE: Really? You know what that means?
SYDNEY: What?
CHEVIE: You gotta do more beaver trapping.
Grab the icepick.
Got a lot of work to do.
ROBERT: Alaska is just an amazing place.
Such a bountiful land and you feel like a part of nature.
It lets me know why I live here.
RJ: That's it right there, huh?
ROBERT: Yeah, that's the first one we're gonna pull.
Be nice to get a couple tanner crabs.
We'll see what happens.
RJ: All right.
Let's go tanner fishing.
Crab pots, typically the longer you soak them the
better they do.
ROBERT: 200-foot soak, let's see what's down there.
RJ: So, we dropped some pots, and we're out here today to
see what we got.
ROBERT: There's something in there.
RJ: Oh, yeah.
ROBERT: Oh, man.
RJ: Look at that king crab.
ROBERT: Not legal to keep but.
RJ: Legal to look at.
ROBERT: Season just closed at the end of last month.
Look at that beautiful female king crab there.
RJ: Definitely not an old one.
ROBERT: Here's a tanner measure majigger.
RJ: Uh, there's some wiggle room in there, so too small.
Gotta let it go.
ROBERT: Go to the next one.
Coming up, RJ.
RJ: Uh, no tanners.
ROBERT: Well, I don't know what to do.
We freaking slayed here before and then just pulled up skunks
after skunk this time of year, so we gotta find them.
Kind of wanna get some crabs.
There's something in there.
RJ: There's something.
ROBERT: Oh, a bunch of baby crabs, all the wrong species.
RJ: On to the next one.
ROBERT: Look at that motherload of snails.
RJ: I'm telling you man, Black Rock is the place to be.
ROBERT: Yeah, right.
Imma start putting towards that.
One of RJ's things to do is prospect for crabs.
So, we hit the spot that RJ has a hunch about.
RJ: What do you think, Olive?
Is there gonna be a bunch of crabs in there?
ROBERT: So, we'll see what happens.
Coming in hot.
Not a good sign.
RJ: Oh.
ROBERT: Skunks.
RJ: Nothing.
No luck on the Tanner pots.
On to the next one.
But, I've definitely gone here a couple times and done very
well on Tanner crab and Dungeness crab.
So, we're gonna try to give it another shot.
Whoa, we got crabs.
I see one male at least.
Ah, that's six and a halfer.
ROBERT: All right. RJ: That's a keeper.
ROBERT: Looks delicious.
RJ: Here it is.
Once we start pulling up dungees...
six and a half on the dot, right there to right there, this one's a keeper.
They just start coming into the boat left and right.
That is six and three quarters.
ROBERT: That's good.
Oh, yeah.
That's a nice crab there.
RJ: Too small.
We actually measure just to the inside of that little knob
right there to the inside of that little knob.
This one looks like it could be a keeper.
Oh, yeah. Those are big boys.
ROBERT: We have found some crab.
Good job, RJ.
I think the hunch was better than a hunch.
Good haul.
It's turning out to be a great day.
SAMANTHA: We can learn so much through ice fishing,
especially the kids.
It's gonna teach them how to live a subsistence life.
We're learning patience and how to handle disappointment.
We're learning how to handle different emotions and it'll
help facilitate a healthy mindset.
NATHAN: So this winter, we got more snow than the last
75 years, since they have been keeping record, really.
So it's hard to get through.
SAMANTHA: I'm pretty sure that's just ground.
Yeah, that's ground.
NATHAN: Feel like ice or dirt?
SAMANTHA: No, it feels like dirt.
AUTUMN: Can we catch a fish?
SAMANTHA: We'll see, honey.
NATHAN: Probably one of our most important jobs up here is
teaching the kids.
Same deal.
Just hitting the bottom of the lake.
This will teach the kids to figure out where the fish are
hanging out.
Go figure out the right water depth.
But most of all, it's just a lesson in patience.
Another foot or two and we might get lucky.
Let's see what we got here.
Pray for water.
SAMANTHA: Oh, it was quick water.
Yay.
Oh, my gosh.
We actually get to go fishing.
NATHAN: Scoop a little bit of that slush out.
We'll check the depth and see where we need to be
with our line.
Okay. So we got six to eight inches or so.
SAMANTHA: Oh, my gosh.
We might actually catch a fish today.
That would be the most amazing thing.
CHEVIE: Each one of these traps has different attributes.
And it's important for the kids to know what they are
for their own safety and also teaching them the reality of it.
They see dead animals in those traps.
They know what's up.
Jump off with your brother.
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: Ryder, you stay here, okay?
RYDER: Okay.
CHEVIE: I'm gonna check this ice out there.
Today's the last day of trapping.
My main concern today is getting my kids back from
those traps safely.
The ice on the lakes starting to break up, starting to get
borderline sketchy.
SYDNEY: Dad, how is it?
CHEVIE: I think you guys could come out here.
SYDNEY: Okay.
I'll sit here in case both of you guys fall in.
RYDER: Oh, jeez.
(Sydney laughs)
CHEVIE: Pull it out of there.
Now, watch it.
That trap may still be alive.
SYDNEY: Did you get anything?
CHEVIE: Nothing here, baby.
Man, there must not be any beaver in this house either.
Let's go check this other one.
I want you to stay over there.
Kind of deep.
Nothing on there.
Dang.
There must not be any beaver in this house either.
RYDER: Then now we're gonna go check a different one?
CHEVIE: We're gonna keep on checking them.
Nothing.
Hey, this one was snapped too.
Look it.
RYDER: I can tell there is nothing in there.
CHEVIE: Yeah, there's nothing in there.
Heads are hung low, not having quite as much fun,
but that's the process of learning out here.
All right guys, well this is our last chance right here,
see if we get lucky.
SYDNEY: Is it okay if we go over there too, dad?
CHEVIE: I think so.
SYDNEY: Okay.
I'll walk right where you walk literally.
Ah!
CHEVIE: A lot of melting.
Tons of melting.
(grunting)
CHEVIE: Got a beaver.
RYDER: Beaver!
(laughing)
CHEVIE: Can you believe it?
What's the luck of that?
I can't believe it.
I thought that this house was dead.
SYDNEY: Yes. This is the first time I've seen it.
CHEVIE: That's a good size beaver.
It's not a huge one, but it's not a baby either.
RYDER: It looks like it's been there for a while.
CHEVIE: Couple days.
That's okay. That water is so cold.
It's like having that beaver in a freezer almost.
It'll stay good for a long time.
Here.
Now, lift it up.
SYDNEY: It's a heavy beaver.
CHEVIE: Here, we'll take this off.
Okay?
Never drag anything, right?
Use both your hands. There you go.
RYDER: It's heavy, Dad.
Ow.
Dad, you do it!
CHEVIE: It's too heavy?
RYDER: Yeah, it's heavy.
CHEVIE: That's all right, you guys.
I'm excited for the kids.
You know, they've been out there for days putting in work.
So, to pull that beaver out of that hole shows the kids that
if you work hard, put in the effort and the time.
Sydney, go ahead, pick it up baby.
Or hold the bag. One of the two, whatever you wanna do.
SYDNEY: I, I think I'll hold the bag.
CHEVIE: Okay. Got it?
You'll get rewarded.
All right. Your mom's gonna be happy for some beaver meat.
Whether it's the first trap.
SYDNEY: Nice.
CHEVIE: Or the last trap.
JOHNNY: I don't have other people out here to help.
I'm responsible to build everything I want.
It is a lot of physical labor,
but it makes me more mentally tough.
And that's important to have out here.
So, this worked out pretty good.
And the next thing to do is turn this from a ramp
into a platform.
To do that, I need to have an anchor string it up
between these trees.
Man.
Just big enough.
That'll be my anchor for my little hoist winch situation.
I don't have a block and tackle, um, pulley system.
So, the plan is to make it entirely outta rope.
Not having blueprints, plans, diagrams.
I'm gonna feed it through the first end.
The best way for me to learn out here, I just jump into it.
Go through that loop.
Yeah, most of my plans evolve off of a first initial plan.
(grunting)
Too friction-y. That's kind of a bummer.
And that first initial plan generally doesn't go
the way I want it to.
It works if you're lifting like a caribou leg up or
something, but 550 is exceeding the limit of
this friction.
And once I'm realizing what needs to be done,
I switch gears and formulate a new plan.
Got a little grab bag of miscellaneous clips or carabiners.
I have six total, so I should be able to put three up there,
three down here.
And we utilize these to kind of just do like a
block and tackle system, but like one on the fly.
The rope's going through and it's kind of like a friction pulley.
It's a lot of weight.
We'll kind of see what happens.
I'm essentially my own teacher.
And in order to teach myself,
I have to almost fail to a degree.
Okay. So, if I just kind of,
it wants to do something like this, cut it so close.
Once I do that, then an education follows.
See if that's given me anything.
Wants to.
Little stumpy guy here might work a little bit.
That's how I kind of operate.
I just dive into it.
I just start getting messy.
Whoo, cold.
I know I keep telling you I'm almost done,
but I'm almost done.
Making a peg system that is gonna help me raise it.
All right.
It's definitely not easy.
(bleep).
Whoo.
Good God.
Holy (bleep), man.
I'm realizing how much work this actually is, as far as
hoisting it up back and forth between these spikes.
And then once I get it there and spring hits and the snow
starts melting, then I gotta reverse it to get it down.
Just keep lifting that up, lifting it up, just putting a
lot of strain on my back and my body.
It probably would've been a better idea to just build a
platform and then just build a ramp to it,
separate from the platform.
So, I think what I'll end up doing is just start reversing
this down, actually.
I gotta do a U-turn and change my approach
to build this platform.
NATHAN: Between the three holes we've drilled,
I think we're right in the middle of a channel.
Go like this, okay?
The fish are gonna get swimming through here
from one side of the lake to other.
You get slack on that line.
Hopefully, we can catch 'em on the way.
AISLYN: I hope I catch a fish.
SAMANTHA: And I hope you catch a fish too.
I hope we all catch a fish.
That would be amazing.
It's been a really long trip, especially after all that
hiking and hole after hole of nothing happening.
So, it would thrill me so much to see the kids catch a fish.
Adrian said that the first person to catch a fish gets money.
ADRIAN: Yup. I said that.
And whoever catches biggest.
NATHAN: Adrian is a pretty determined little fella.
Think we're gonna catch something?
ADRIAN: I'm feeling pretty good about this hole.
NATHAN: He loves getting out and doing these kind of things.
Yeah, I wasn't aware how shallow this lake was.
So, you know, that's part of coming out here and learning
the topography of the lake and figuring out where to fish and
what's open and what's not.
And, you know, we're learning in the process.
ADRIAN: Wait...
Ooh!
No way.
Nope.
I have a fish!
Oh!
ADRIAN: It got away.
I had a fish.
SAMANTHA: You had a fish?
ADRIAN: Yeah, I had it go away somewhere.
It's still down there.
SAMANTHA: Adrian is a fisher at heart.
ADRIAN: Darn it.
NATHAN: It get off?
ADRIAN: He keeps nibbling.
He's like taunting me or something.
SAMANTHA: And it's going to be hard to get him to quit, but
we're all burned out.
We're all tired.
And we have things to do at the farm and
we have to get back home.
NATHAN: Autumn, come on.
We gotta go drag Adrian outta here.
This is the subsistence life I prefer for my kids.
You're never gonna give up, huh?
ADRIAN: Nope.
NATHAN: Well.
SAMANTHA: Unfortunately, we've really gotta get some stuff
done on the farm.
NATHAN: But the good news is we learned a lot today
about pike fishing.
We learned where they are and know where to come back to.
I think it's about time to reel it in.
ADRIAN: Okay.
NATHAN: For them to learn how to get out there, get outside,
and not be afraid to try new things.
SAMANTHA: And for such a long trip, you guys did great.
NATHAN: You know, we're brand new to a lot of things up here.
Moses, are you ready to go?
And we're still being broken in.
You know what?
The fact that you've even got bites is, is pretty awesome.
SAMANTHA: Bravo.
ADRIAN: Three bites and seven nibbles.
JOHNNY: Come on.
All right.
So, it's not working the way I expected it to.
So, what I'm gonna do is just get this ramp outta here.
Here we go.
Build a platform between these four trees.
Use this existing ramp, ride the snow machine up onto the platform.
And that platform is where the snow machine's gonna rest.
Man, those are (bleep) sturdy.
Just like I did with this one down here, we do the same
thing up here.
Just put planks all the way across.
You know, sometimes you put a lot of effort and a lot of
time into trying to make things work.
And at some point, you realize you're forcing it
when it's not supposed to be.
In those moments, I gotta stop down.
Almost got it.
And I gotta rethink.
Oh, yeah.
And rebuild.
This (bleep) thing is so (bleep) heavy.
That's what you need for it to be safe.
And that's just gonna give me a little bit of extra
stability on that ramp.
Because man, you just can't be too safe.
Here we go.
Just like that.
Just slides right on.
Being out here alone, at some point, I'm going to hit a wall
and almost fail to a degree, but the best way to look at
failure is learning.
And if you're learning, then it's a success.
That's it.
Machine's up here, man.
Keep outta reach, bears.
♪ ♪
CHEVIE: I wanna get this beaver skinned out.
Nice little medium beaver.
Perfect size for eating.
The kids are still in school right now.
So, uh, I just want to get this done and, um,
they'll have some for dinner.
Feel like it's been a very successful trapping trip
with the kids.
You know, it's a give and take for kids and my kids have put
in a, a long, hard day of trapping and it's just the start.
It takes time and time and year after year of doing these
things for them to be truly proficient.
Here you go.
Next time you see this skin,
it'll be on a set of gloves or a hat.
You have a lot of trials, a lot of errors,
it's just a long process.
None of this animal goes to waste.
The pelt gets used for sewing.
The meat gets eaten.
Beaver guts are used for trapping and the teeth are
used for arts and crafts.
And it's a fun part about being a parent, seeing them be
successful, watching them learn, watching stuff click.
This is the first beaver that the kids were really a part of
the full process of catching.
And they'll go and pass some of this out.
It's the way of life out here.
And so people really appreciate it.
It just makes me smile, because you're watching them
figure it all out.
ROBERT: I was hoping to get five Dungeness crab today,
and I think we got about 15.
I would say we did really well.
Cook one of these on the way home.
RJ: Sounds like a good plan.
ROBERT: This trip has been a special one.
Spend time with RJ out here doing what I love to do.
RJ: We don't have any butter, but sea salt will make it good.
ROBERT: We negotiated with each other.
We came up with a good plan and I learned it's a pretty
darn good spot to get dunges.
RJ: I definitely think this is worth it.
ROBERT: You're right.
It is amazing.
Thanks for cooking that, RJ.
Coming out here doing the same thing my mother did with my
great grandfather, the same water 65 years ago,
and sharing the moment with my son,
this is what's important in life.
RJ: Clinton's a really good spot to camp.
I can definitely see why they lived there.
Grandma had a good life growing up.
ROBERT: It's pretty neat, isn't it?
RJ: Mm-hmm.
ROBERT: For anyone that lives in Alaska.
That's just what it's all about.
Spending time together, teaching the next generation the process,
whether it be trapping, hunting, fishing.
SAMANTHA: We didn't even come close, but that's okay.
We had a lot of fun though.
Careful, Smooch.
JOHNNY: Give me that stick.
ROBERT: And you're free.
You just deal with what nature gives you.
JOHNNY: Good girl.
ROBERT: And every time I can learn something about my culture,
it bonds me closer to the land.
Be a shame if I didn't pass that knowledge on to my kids.
All right, let's get outta here.