♪ ♪
CHEVIE: Hopefully there's not any major ice jams on
the way back into that slough.
ROGER: It's pretty (bleep) ice in there.
CHEVIE: It's the first slough to open up and
it'll open up right away.
And so, by getting over there into that water,
we're gonna be able to access some areas that nobody's been in
so far at this time of year.
Hopefully there's some good hunting over there.
ROGER: Let's go ahead and get started.
Oh, man mud.
CHEVIE: My buddy, Roger and I are going out hunting together.
And our goal is to get as much game as we can in a short period
of time before the ice goes out.
This slough is the only place with open water,
that's where the animals are gonna go.
Looking good, looking good.
It's about 1,000 feet from our side of the river to
the other side of the river.
It's a long push across less than perfect ice with
water coming through it.
Big brown spot right there, cousin.
ROGER: Yeah, it is.
CHEVIE: Brown ice is where the river has melted through
the bottom of the ice and is turning the ice brown.
This isn't like, if you fall through the ice,
you could just stand up and Roger's gonna grab me.
If you go through the ice, you ain't coming back up.
It's like that's (bleep) open right over there.
This river's 16, 20 feet deep underneath us.
ROGER: It's all slush we're walking through here.
Work your way to that seat.
(laughter)
(engine starts)
CHEVIE: She's alive!
JOHNNY: You can never really put your finger on
exactly what caribou are gonna do.
They move from one place to another.
And just when I think I start to understand them,
they do something completely different.
JOHNNY: So, I just woke up and, uh,
came outside to go to the bathroom with Java.
And there's like a couple dozen caribou,
like sleeping on the lake right now.
(snow crunching)
Gotta be quiet.
Gotta be super quiet.
The snow's really crunchy right now.
Generally, this time of year, the caribou are all far gone.
So, I've been like subsisting off of small game, squirrels, rabbits.
There they are.
It's like a fire trail, you know,
it's like not really prepared for this kind of thing
to just go down so fast.
Like, I haven't had breakfast,
I haven't had coffee, I haven't had anything and they're not moving.
They're just laying there.
It's like the most incredible thing I've seen.
It's gotta be one of the hardest stocks
you could ever put on a caribou.
We're about six, 700 yards away from them.
Basically, what happened was one of 'em felt uneasy and
it jumped up, herd instinct, the rest of them jump up.
Some of 'em are still laying down.
They're, they're starting to kinda calm back down a little bit.
So, I'm just gonna let them be at ease.
They don't have the best eyesight.
So, they're gonna think I'm a caribou,
as long as I'm not posing any sort of threat.
So, my approach is let them see me.
So, none of them get rattled and jump up like they just did.
So, if they're all just looking at me and
I'm kind of just walking at them slowly,
not posting a threat, they're gonna let me walk toward them.
Let's go.
Holding the gun above my head, just kind of shows like antlers.
It's the little subtle things like that,
encourage the caribou to believe that I'm just another caribou.
This is a crazy, uh, stalk man.
I've gone like 100 yards.
It's freaking nerve racking, man.
I'm gonna try to close that gap a little bit more.
SAMANTHA: I feel like I have a really unique connection
with all the animals on the farm.
I kind of spend a lot of my leisure time
and my self-care time out just kind of talking to
the animals, building relationships with them,
petting them, giving them treats and things like that.
And it really just kind of feeds my soul.
SAMANTHA: So, it is the time of year for shearing sheep.
And I have to get my whole flock done today
before it rains tomorrow.
So, it's just easier and I don't have to wait for them to dry out
'cause the rainy season's coming in and
it's time to just get this done.
It's gonna be a lot of work though,
'cause I'm not very good at this and I'm new at it.
This is only the second year
I've ever sheered sheep.
It could be dangerous.
We'll see what happens.
Thank you. Come on.
(grunts)
Marshmallow, she's old and I think her days are,
are fairly numbered.
If we don't collar and eat her,
she'll probably pass away on her own.
But she's one of my favorites,
such a good girl, Marshmallow.
I definitely like working with hand shears better than
electric shears, 'cause it's a lot nicer for the sheep.
It's a lot calmer, quieter, less for them to be afraid of.
Hey, honey.
The sheep are definitely, they're my babies.
They're my favorite animal on the farm.
And I'm definitely more bonded with them than most of the other animals.
With her, all I'll be doing probably with her wool
is boiling it down for some lanoline.
Sheep just make amazing farm animals between
the fact that they're great companions.
You, they give you wool for fiber and, um,
you know, you get lanoline from them,
which is just, it is really awesome to have in your own,
like natural medicine cabinet, not to mention, you know,
you get meat out of them.
Ah, nope, nope, not.
Okay.
(bleats)
(laughs)
You got fluff butt.
Ooh. Who's next?
When we first came up here, when I found out the farm came
with sheep, I was just over the moon.
I got all of the equipment to start spinning wool.
I was really, really excited to actually start.
It seemed like just the coolest thing to be able to actually,
you know, utilize the resources that they provide.
Oh, you're gonna wrestle, okay.
Gotcha. Hey, honey.
NATHAN: Hey.
SAMANTHA: I might need a hand with her if she's,
she's doing good...
NATHAN: All right. SAMANTHA: So far, but, um.
NATHAN: Surprised, you caught her.
SAMANTHA: She was actually the easiest catch.
Marshmallow's looking pretty darn rough.
And I'm thinking that we're probably gonna have to cull
her first out of all of 'em.
(grunts)
(sighs)
NATHAN: You done?
SAMANTHA: Oh, Lord, thank you. Yeah.
(bleats)
ROBERT: I think the coolest thing about herring fishery is
it's almost like our Christmas or our New Year.
Herring fishery for our Tlingit culture
is a way of life.
It signifies everything coming back to life after
a long dark cold winter.
Teaching the next generation,
the process I think is real important.
ROBERT: Well, we're ready to see if we can get some eggs, RJ?
RJ: Yeah, I'm excited.
ROBERT: The goal for this morning is just to go out and
try to find where they're still spawning.
If we can find an active area where the ocean's turning white
from their melts and the eggs are floating around all over,
we'll set some branches there and see if we can catch 'em on it.
RJ: Little bit of frothiness on the water over here.
ROBERT: They've definitely spawned here.
There's a little bit of brown hue in the water and stuff too right now.
RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: So, it's post spawn colors.
So, we probably won't want to be setting around in here,
but I want to check out this little cove around
the corner up here to the left.
RJ: Okay. ROBERT: To go check it out.
So, the herring come back to spawn for about two weeks.
Unfortunately, I got real sick for about the first week and a half.
So, there's only just a few days left and
I'm not sure we're gonna get any.
We got really cross our fingers and hope for the best.
RJ: See some eggs are on these, uh,
this bull kelp over here.
ROBERT: You wanna check it out? RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: Do a little scout there.
RJ: There's a little bit right here, not much.
This one's got quite a bit more on it.
ROBERT: Breakfast of champions right there.
Oh yeah.
RJ: Cheers. ROBERT: Yeah.
God that's good.
So, herring eggs are, uh, food source that's been in
our Tlingit culture for probably since, you know,
we started living here on the Southeast coast of Alaska.
But that's what we're looking for.
This is the spot right now.
They're going off right here.
You can see the different color of the water right there.
You can see some birds around, it's active.
It's gonna be good.
We'll set some branches here and see if we can get some.
This is all, basically, this is all milk in the water
that you're seeing.
This is all milks, uh, the males that have done their thing,
and they're still doing their thing actively right now.
Now we gotta wait for the females to come in
and they'll do their thing.
RJ: That'll do. Go ahead.
ROBERT: See some hemlocks over here.
We're gonna go cut a couple of those down.
I'm hoping to get three or four trees out of this spot so
we can set in this bay.
And then we could drag them out,
tie some rocks to 'em and sink them.
And that way, these herring eggs,
when they spawn, they're real sticky and they stick to
whatever they first contact.
Okay, well, that should do then.
And I think this looks like a great spot up in here.
It's kind of protected cove.
The eggs will just swirl around in here and try to grab whatever
they can to stick to.
And the color of the water's right.
So, I know they're spawning in here right now.
It looks like.
(engine whirrs)
I just lost all power.
(grunts)
Put it in neutral and try it again.
Will ya, Arge?
(clicking)
RJ: Yeah, no power, not seeing anything on.
ROBERT: Let's, uh, turn the steering wheel Arge and try to
steer us away from this beach and do our troubleshooting.
Figure out this damn motor, see what the hell's going on
with it, son of a bitch.
ROBERT: Try it again. Will you, Arge?
RJ: I don't have any power.
Um, here, the, not getting any voltage and.
ROBERT: The motor just died, it just killed itself.
RJ: Shouldn't we throw the rest of these branches over?
ROBERT: Let's get these things in the water.
This is not the ideal spot where I really wanted to set,
but we really needed to get some troubleshooting done and
figure out what the heck's wrong with this thing.
RJ: You got trim back there?
ROBERT: I got trim here, so I know all the fuses in the motor
are probably good.
RJ: Well, I don't have anything here.
ROBERT: Let me check in the battery box.
RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: No corrosion or anything.
This is a positive battery cable.
Looks like there's a fuse here.
Let me check it.
RJ: It would be nice if it was that simple.
Yeah, that, uh, that looks blown to me.
ROBERT: You know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna bypass the fuse.
RJ: All right.
ROBERT: I'm just gonna hardwire it.
Get us through the rest of the day and maybe the rest of this
trip till I get it into the shop.
We can splice these wires together.
A little tape on there.
I'm gonna turn the battery on, RJ.
Let's see if this thing will go. Okay.
RJ: Yup. ROBERT: We got juice.
(engine starts)
Yeah were back in business.
RJ: All right. ROBERT: Let's get outta here.
CHEVIE: Soon as we leave, we're hunting.
You're the predator and you're looking for prey and
we don't stop hunting until we come home.
CHEVIE: Just feel the ice underneath the boat.
Just (inaudible).
This could be a (bleep) showstopper right here, man.
(thudding)
ROGER: That's a big chunk.
CHEVIE: It wouldn't take much for all this ice to get
jammed up and keep us out here for a little longer
than we want to be.
We're the first people in here in eight or nine months.
The variety pack is in this slough.
And that's what we're looking for.
We want some beaver, some ducks,
maybe a muskrat or two.
ROGER: Something swimming right there.
CHEVIE: Yup. Beaver?
(gunshot)
Little low, huh?
Oh, I put it right at the back of his head.
Right on the water line.
I should have put it over just a little bit more.
Just have to keep on moving here.
Hunting during this time of year in Alaska is always dangerous.
It's great to do it with somebody that you know
will help get you out of a jam, if you get into one.
The mink.
(squeaking)
Four birds ahead of us there.
So, we're gonna, pull over, jump up and use those willows
right there for a blind and maybe get lucky and get some geese.
But we gotta get in here.
We'll hide our boat in this little creek right here.
We're out here hunting.
And the point of hunting is to get as much food as
we need for our family.
Geese are flying.
Just give 'em the sneak attack. Huh?
ROGER: Sneak attack.
CHEVIE: (bleep), mallards too.
ROGER: Maybe they'll come back.
CHEVIE: I didn't have put one in my chamber.
(gunshot)
Oh.
ROGER: Get him?
Man, it sure looked like you had clipped there.
CHEVIE: It did. Didn't it? ROGER: Yeah.
CHEVIE: Just right here. I see it.
ROGER: Mm-hmm.
CHEVIE: Why it's just staying right in the damn middle.
Gotta do the right thing.
Grab the boat and get that bird.
JOHNNY: Anything I can do to make them believe I'm just another
caribou is what's gonna give me any
sort of chance to getting one.
JOHNNY: So, I'm about, I'm about halfway from where I started.
Now it's like the most crucial time
for me to be like,
just very slow with my movements.
No fast movements whatsoever,
because caribou don't move fast
unless they feel threatened.
I'm trying to present them
a calm kind of vibe.
If I'm not calm, they're not calm.
Now these animals can pick up a lot
more than we believe they can.
So, I wanna present them a really calm energy.
The guy to the far right doesn't like me.
He's the only one standing.
I think it's a female pregnant and
she has a duty to keep that unborn baby safe.
So, she's gonna be on high alert.
(exhales)
(gun clicking)
Slowly, slowly.
♪ ♪
(gunshot)
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: They're too bunched up now,
so I can't shoot anymore 'cause I don't want to hit more than one.
So, I'm just gonna approach 'em.
It's a defense mechanism for caribou to
huddle together like that.
And I already shot, and I know I hit one,
and I don't want to start firing when they're all
huddled together like that.
So, I need to make sure that the herd kind of disperses and
whichever one I hit will kind of be left there.
But once I single that one out, then I can finish.
(gunshot)
He's lights out.
What aggressive hunt that was.
This is definitely the most wide-open stalk I've ever done.
The very first step I took on that lake,
the caribou jumped up.
It's very hard to walk 600 yards with a rifle over
your head toward 30 some caribou staring at you and try to remain calm.
It's one of the hardest things I've done.
You know once I saw the animal drop and all I could focus on
was the life that I just took, but how grateful I am for it.
I gotta get processing this thing.
SAMANTHA: Subsistence is freedom.
We came to a subsistence farm.
We came to live off of what we can produce at the farm.
SAMANTHA: All right, let's see how this does for me.
This is a big mess.
For skirting, you wanna try to find all the,
the problem areas and just like the dirty spots and
kind of just pick through it.
Because Marshmallow doesn't have that great of wool for spinning.
I'm actually gonna take all of her wool and I'm going to use it
to boil down for lanoline.
It's a waxy secretion that comes from the sheep skin.
It's like super healing.
Super good for your skin.
It's also called wool wax.
This is what I want for making like sabs an,
or chapsticks even, um, different skin medicines
and stuff like that.
It'd just be really, really good.
NATHAN: How long do you think this is gonna take?
SAMANTHA: I read that it takes like a few hours.
You gotta boil it for quite some time in some salt water.
This is the first time I've ever done it.
So, hopefully it turns out okay.
(laughs)
What's supposed to happen is the water's supposed to
start evaporating off of the wool.
And then, uh, after that, you're supposed to take
the wool out after it boils a little longer.
Kind of makes me think of like a jellyfish or something.
Whatever's left over is the lanoline.
Then you strain it through cheesecloth.
That way we can get out any like impurities, dirt, grime,
anything that's actually in there that
doesn't need to be in there.
And then I let it cool.
Scoop the lanoline off the top and make my sab.
I think it'll be great.
What if we set it in the snow?
It'll cool a heck of a lot faster.
Not a bad idea.
CHEVIE: A good blind can be the difference between going
home empty handed or going home with a handful of geese and some ducks.
So, we're gonna give ourselves the best chance of coming home
with the most amount of birds as we can.
(imitating geese calls)
ROGER: We're about due for a little fly by.
They're coming in.
(inaudible).
(gunshots)
CHEVIE: Those are geese. ROGER: Couple geese.
They didn't make sound coming in.
CHEVIE: Wait and watch.
(gun clicking)
Couple ducks coming in here.
(gunshots)
ROGER: (bleep) duck went down.
CHEVIE: Did it?
ROGER: Yeah, over there in the water.
CHEVIE: I got him. Can't outrun my steel, dog.
ROGER: Hmm.
Here.
(gunshot)
I wasn't expecting it to go down.
CHEVIE: So, we got two? ROGER: Yeah.
CHEVIE: I think I got that one duck on that
last shot, way up there.
ROGER: We gotta grab the boat.
CHEVIE: There's nothing like those spring birds after
eating moose, fish all winter.
There's something about eating fresh,
still not a full boat, but we're gaining.
Keep on moving though.
It's, it's decent hunting.
We can find something a little better.
We're just gonna keep on moving.
There's something in the water up there.
Look like a beaver, but it might be an otter.
We gotta make sure it's a beaver before we shoot it.
You can't shoot otter right now.
That's a beaver.
(gunshot)
(splashing)
(gunshot)
CHEVIE: I'll get it, cousin.
Make some nice mittens there.
We just put it up here, so we don't get blood in our boat.
All right, boat's starting to fill up.
We need a few more animals for sure.
ROBERT: Herring are so important to the Tlingit people,
they have their own name, yaaw.
It's been in our culture a long time,
you just got to be ready when they come.
Get out there and do the process and you gotta grab what you can.
ROBERT: Let's go check out this little cove, RJ.
We're gonna go in here and see if there's any herring in here
that we can catch for bait.
Maybe they're spawning in here, do you see any spawn?
RJ: Uh, not at the moment. ROBERT: Let's see what happens.
RJ: We can try a couple different areas.
ROBERT: Yeah.
Well, it's hard telling without knowing.
We just have to throw the net and see.
RJ: Just looking for light colored water,
there might be some right here.
It's hard to tell.
ROBERT: See what happens.
RJ: So, I'll throw a cast and see what we can get.
ROBERT: So, we're looking for spots where the water is
a light green color where they're actively spawning.
If there's fish there,
you should catch one on your first toss.
Oh, that looked like a great toss.
See what you do.
RJ: I see some flashes. ROBERT: You got, we got fish?
RJ: We got a couple. ROBERT: Oh nice. One.
RJ: Two. ROBERT: Two.
Better than none.
RJ: I'm sure if we keep trying around in here,
we might see some more.
ROBERT: Yeah. Bait.
That could turn into 200 pounds of halibut
right there, you never know.
RJ: Anywhere that I can net a herring,
for this cast net, it would probably be anywhere
that's five feet or shallower.
Anything deeper than that and it's pretty difficult to get
into them just because the net takes so much time to get down.
See what we can get.
That one wasn't the greatest cast.
Got a couple.
ROBERT: Oh, you got one.
(laughter)
RJ: That'll work.
ROBERT: I think we have to go and look for another spot, Arge.
There's some light-colored water up in there for sure.
I think there's herring in there,
right up on that shoreline in that corner.
That's a good toss.
If there's anything down there, we ought to get it.
Good depth.
RJ: Oh, there's a couple! ROBERT: Oh, you got some.
Oh yeah, sweet.
Good job, you can go and get some more out of there.
Being out here, part of who I am,
and I honestly believe that RJ has that bug.
I think he needs this.
He's learning every single day how important
our culture is even more.
I'm real proud of my son, he's doing good.
RJ: Broke a chord on the, uh, net.
So, I think it's time to retire the net for the day.
ROBERT: Call it a wrap.
RJ: Go repair it and try it out another day.
ROBERT: Not bad.
RJ: Yeah, I think that'll do for what we want.
I mean it'll set enough halibut skates to catch some halibut.
ROBERT: We could turn this into 1,000 pounds of halibut if
we play the cards right.
RJ: Yeah, I think we'll do exactly that, so.
ROBERT: All right. Well I call it a success.
Let's, uh, go check on the branches.
RJ: Yeah. ROBERT: All right, cool.
SAMANTHA: Everything has an expiration date and with farming
no matter which way you turn with it you're going to have to
confront life and death.
You're going to see things that break your heart and
that's just a fact of it.
(bleating)
SAMANTHA: Hey marshmallow.
The whole idea of having to cull one of the animals that
I have just fallen in love with, it, it makes me sick.
How's my girl, come here.
(laughs)
I'm gonna miss you.
I love you.
I wish we could let all of our animals live out their old age and,
you know, die of natural causes at the end of their life
but that's not a sustainable way of farming.
I think I'm ready.
NATHAN: Yeah? SAMANTHA: Yeah.
She's the oldest, she's kind of getting sickly,
and she's not super healthy.
And I would just like for her maybe to not to end up dog food
but to feed us instead.
I think that would be really good.
I think that would be good.
And I'm, I'm, I'm at terms with it.
I had my time. Thank you.
I needed that.
I really needed that but now I'm, I'm ready.
If you wanna go, take care of business.
I'm good with it.
NATHAN: I'll get it done. All right.
Come on. Let's go.
Let's go. I know.
It can be difficult putting an animal down that
you've raised and cared for.
But unless you're willing to take your animals to slaughter,
you're really just running a petting zoo and
that's not what we're trying to do here.
You have to do it sometimes.
(gunshot)
SAMANTHA: This is a lifestyle in which death and
life are right up front and center.
You're going to see it frequently.
You can come give hugs.
AISLYN: I love you.
JOHNNY: It's tough man how much these things shed
at this time of year.
Like anytime I'm gripping the hide,
I'm just pulling chunks off.
All right, let's get to work.
It's kind of a celebration for me today.
It's been 12 years since I was able to scrape myself up
off the ground and kind of start a new life.
So every year I kind of do something special on this day.
Sometimes all the stars align.
The caribou had been gone for so long and they come back
around in this moment in my life.
Okay, first leg off.
It's beautiful.
Really good meat man.
I was really lost growing up.
I just doing a lot of drugs and that led me down a just a bad spiral.
You know, I couldn't hold jobs,
I was bouncing around the country hitchhiking,
and jumping trains, and, uh,
sleeping under bridges.
Just really lost.
Really, really lost because,
I didn't want to do what society wanted me to do,
but I didn't know what other options there were.
And when I was 25 something around there,
I was in a homeless shelter,
and I've decided that I don't have to let go
of that dream that I had when I was much younger.
I wanted to be in Alaska and everything I did from 25 on was
just dedicated to figuring out how to actually live in the woods.
Alaska didn't necessarily save me.
You know, I saved myself, but Alaska is just what's kind of
nourishing my soul and is keeping me well.
Having all this meat's great but I think it would be cool to
donate this meat to a homeless shelter.
Now is my time to give back to that community.
And as far as the organs go that's something that, uh, I keep.
That's eight meals right there.
Well caribou, I appreciate your life and I think a lot of
other people are going to as well.
CHEVIE: We've been going up and down the slough,
not a full boat yet.
Not gonna cut it, but we're gonna hunt this big sandbar and
we have to capitalize on it.
CHEVIE: We got birds coming in.
But they could just, it's so easy to see us on the sandbar
so we're gonna have to build a good blind.
It's a perfect situation but we have to get hidden.
A lot of work.
I got my little window right here.
Definitely got a few good meals in the boat but
not enough for, uh, both of our families so to speak.
We got birds coming, cousin.
ROGER: We have birds coming, we have birds coming.
CHEVIE: Right here would take some, cousin.
ROGER: Ooh. Okay.
(gunshots)
CHEVIE: Waited too long. ROGER: Yup.
CHEVIE: We're getting humbled, we're eating that humble pie.
(imitating geese calls)
And you just gotta be patient.
It's hunting, not getting.
This isn't like going to a grocery store.
(gunshots)
So, everything is valuable at this point.
Everything.
Yup, missed those three.
ROGER: Yeah, damn it! CHEVIE: Damn it, a little high.
ROGER: Almost.
CHEVIE: I thought we were in them.
Damn it!
You're hoping that stuff turns.
And you just gotta keep on playing the game.
ROGER: Look at that. Take them!
(gunshots)
CHEVIE: Two we got? ROGER: Yeah, I got two.
(laughter)
CHEVIE: So, I grab Roger's goose for him too since
I think he's feeling bad for himself since I shot both of them.
ROGER: Yeah, I always wanted a golden retriever,
but Chevie will do.
Grabbing both my birds I shot.
CHEVIE: Good sized birds man.
ROGER: Yeah.
CHEVIE: Just gotta keep on, keep on hunting.
Staying out here, you gotta put the time in.
Stuff could happen really quick.
(gunshots)
If their flight patterns right,
and your shooting's correct,
and everything works out, stuff happens quick.
You go from a half full boat to a full boat in a matter of
hours when everything lines up.
You just gotta be ready to capitalize on it when it happens.
Right on.
ROGER: That was a good pass.
CHEVIE: That was a damn good pass, boy.
They're coming in low.
They're right on ice, right off the ice.
(gunshots)
You're out all-day hunting and
you're working hard and it's dangerous.
You always have that stress of whether you're gonna bring home
all the animals, you know, it's not,
nobody put these birds in the boat.
Nobody put this beaver in the boat.
It's something that we had to work for and, and use strategy
and skill to get.
Good way to wrap up this hunt.
JOHNNY: Here it comes Java.
Here he comes. You better wait.
I might reject society, I might not be living around people.
But it doesn't mean that I don't care about people.
It doesn't mean that I'm not willing or able to help people.
Okay Java, go get him!
I got a Bush pilot that flies me out here and
I like him because he's a very giving guy.
Morning!
And he said he's got the time to fly up here.
So, he's gonna come out.
He's going to take the meat all the way back to town.
All right, so it's, uh, this bag here is ribs, neck, back strap.
ANDY: And as you know it's appreciated at the food bank.
JOHNNY: Yeah, heck yeah!
Yes, something they definitely like.
RJ: Oh my God. This is really heavy.
ROBERT: Is it? RJ: Yeah.
ROBERT: Oh holy.
RJ: Oh yeah there's some eggs on that.
ROBERT: Oh yeah.
RJ: Oh, I need you to grab something.
Grab a branch or and then we can start pulling it up.
That's pretty heavy.
ROBERT: We need all our Tlingit people to get their bounty.
So we go harvest what we can to sustain us for an entire year.
Grandma, we got you some eggs.
That's a heavy branch, isn't it?
Holy, that's pretty good.
RJ: I think it probably weigh 100 pounds.
ROBERT: There's lots of eggs, we did really well
and I'm pretty impressed for a two day soak.
Not bad.
Family members are definitely going to be very happy when they
receive this gift box in the mail.
The arrival of the herring signifies life.
These eggs are a gift that we as people can share.
These are awesome.
That's pretty good, pretty good batch right there.
Mm, mm, mm. Quite the catch.
Natural Tlingit soul food right here.
Priceless, you can't put a dollar value on something
that's so precious to our people.
It's pretty cool.
All right, let's get out of here.
AUTUMN: Who is mutton?
(laughter)
SAMANTHA: Mutton is, uh,
it's sheep.
But, like grown up sheep.
NATHAN: So, everybody likes the meat?
ADRIAN: Mm-hmm.
NATHAN: Good, I'm glad she turned out good.
SAMANTHA: Yeah, I know, awesome.
NATHAN: Doesn't taste like a marshmallow?
AISLYN: No. She tastes just perfect.
SAMANTHA: Mm. NATHAN: It's filling.
SAMANTHA: It's good.
NATHAN: It's really good.
SAMANTHA: After all we've done for the animals and,
and how we've cared for them.
It's a lovely feeling knowing that they're also going to take
care of you, they're gonna become part of you,
they're going to nourish your body.
It didn't come without pain,
but it was definitely, definitely worth it.
She was really, really good.
Good in life and good afterlife.
NATHAN: It's farming with the tears?
SAMANTHA: Yeah, most of the time.
I figured I'd put dinner away and then maybe get working on
my sab and just have that done tonight too,
that would be amazing.
JOHNNY: Thanks again Andy, I appreciate that a lot man.
All right Java, we gotta get out of the way.
Come on girl.
We all have a past and it's important to learn from
your past, it's important to grow from it and
to let your past be your guide.
Yeah, on the surface it's easy to assume that Alaskans
are running or hiding from something.
But if you dig a little deeper, you'll see that we're seekers.
We're looking for more meaning,
we're looking for more adventure,
we're looking for more opportunity.
We're looking for the freedom to be whoever we choose to be.
Feels good man, it feels good.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.