(gunshot)
NATHAN: Nice. Good shot.
(gunshot)
Bam. Got it. Two in a row.
ADRIAN: Feels good.
NATHAN: Adrian is 11 years old.
He's grown into a good young man.
He's starting to take some responsibility, you know,
having to go out and raise your animals, hunt your food.
(gunshot)
Three for three.
Adrian has a fair amount of experience with firearms
considering his age.
(gunshot)
Nice.
So I'm gonna take Adrian grouse hunting and we're gonna
try to put meat on the table.
Four for four.
Pressure's on.
ADRIAN: See if I can get five.
(gunshot)
NATHAN: Nice. ADRIAN: Five in a row.
NATHAN: Let's do that with some grouse, huh?
ADRIAN: Yep.
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Just because I live on my own terms, on my own time,
doesn't mean I don't have jobs to do.
I just don't have somebody standing over my shoulder.
I'm not clocking in.
I'm not clocking out.
The only person to hold myself accountable is me.
Check this out.
Grizzly tracks.
That just happened last night.
You can tell it's a grizzly cuz they walk kind of pigeon toed
and kind of have their paws in like that.
And I don't have black bear out here.
It's too far north.
That's a late bear.
Just cruising around, trying.
Probably trying to get a last meal before he dens up.
This year I came up to the Arctic a little bit late.
I'm gonna follow these, see where this guy's going.
I was stuck in town, so coming back here finally.
It's nice to be able to walk around and just kind of get a
little glimpse of what's going on out here.
Underneath this tree here
is where it kind of was bedded down.
And there's multiple, there's multiple piles of dung here,
so this bear has been just like hanging out here.
It's kind of interesting.
Every year is so different out here.
I love it.
I made it back to the Brooks Range and
I want to do some camp upgrades.
Just get myself set up for winter, so you know,
once it drops down into like the negative 60 degree
temperatures I don't have to mess around and I can focus on
trapping, hunting, and just staying afloat
in the cold temps.
I'm gonna build some steps coming up, uh, my hill here,
there's just about five, six inches of snow on the ground,
and I'll be able to put these logs into the snow,
bury them,
and, uh, as it snows, it'll just continue to make
stronger and better steps.
I live on a hill and intentionally picked this
cabin site because the lakes rise and lower and, and if you
live on the shore of a lake, you can get flooded out when
ice melts and the lake levels rise.
It's opening up camp.
These are the things I do when I get here because winter,
that's the next chapter of my life.
I'm going to, uh, get some water here, fill up my bucket.
Use the water to lock in those logs.
I'm gonna dump water along the logs.
They're gonna freeze into place.
That way they don't move.
There's water.
It's important to get out and challenge the mind.
Challenge the body.
Do the things you don't want to do.
You learn real quick who you are and what you're made of.
You learn your strengths, you learn your weaknesses,
Alaska's full of challenges in every corner, every bend,
every frozen footstep.
But at the end of the day, you're walking home and
you're thinking, man, it's good to have these challenges.
Cool. That's it. That's my steps.
They're gonna freeze in pretty nicely,
so I'm just gonna let these kind of settle
and I'm gonna fill up my water bucket.
Uh, grab the remaining firewood down there and
start stacking it on the side of the cabin.
BRITTANY: The weather in Alaska is never really predictable.
It could snow, it could rain.
You never know what's going to happen, so we just have to
learn to be adaptable.
We have a small window to get some of these
building projects done,
so we have to take advantage of the weather right now.
Hello.
How'd it go?
KALEB: Good.
Let's go find a place to put the tank.
BRITTANY: Cool.
KALEB: Out here in the middle of nowhere,
trash is a problem.
So today I want to try to fix that problem by
building an incinerator.
So I think it's kind of important that we get this
done quickly 'cause we don't want bears digging into
our burn pile.
And then we'll be more ready for wintertime.
BRITTANY: Very good.
KALEB: I'm thinking we don't have much room down here,
so maybe we can stick the stuff up on top
of the pile up there.
BRITTANY: There you go. It's nice and flat up there.
KALEB: All over rural Alaska people have burn barrels,
but they're tiny and they're inefficient.
They don't work very well, so I want to build something that
hopefully works way better than a burn barrel and also
handles a larger volume at a time.
BRITTANY: All righty.
KALEB: Let's push this thing off the trailer.
BRITTANY: This direction, right?
KALEB: Yeah.
We don't want it to fall off the hill.
All right.
Let's see if this thing will clear the tires.
Let's back it up all the way against these tires and then go.
BRITTANY: There you go.
KALEB: That was easier than I thought.
Oh yeah, that's a nice one.
That'll do the trick nicely.
BRITTANY: So why are we filling this with water first?
KALEB: Because it is full of fuel vapors and when I take my
saw and I stick it on here and I cut through and
I'm making sparks, I'm gonna cause those fuel vapors
to blow up, basically.
BRITTANY: Ah-ha.
KALEB: And so it'll just ka-boom.
So what we wanna do is fill it with water and remove all of
the fuel vapors.
BRITTANY: Gotcha.
So you'll just fill it until it kind of overflows and.
KALEB: Yup. All the way to the top.
And unfortunately, our well is only about a five gallon a
minute pump, so this is gonna take a while.
We'll come check on it in a bit.
BRITTANY: Sounds good.
NATHAN: It's important to have variety in the diet.
Just to bring home a different set of nutrients in the meat
that you're eating.
We do raise a lot of animals on the farm, so we provide a
lot of food for ourselves, but it's important to get out and
bring home something different.
But I think to start off, let's just trek on ahead here.
As that snow comes in, it'll drive the ptarmigan down from
the mountains and they'll start going into lower areas.
So, you know, as we get snow and more cold, um,
pushes 'em down so it works to our advantage.
And with grouse hunting just like anything else,
a matter of finding them in the right place at the right time.
Hopefully we'll get lucky.
ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: You really don't have to be super quiet because
part of what you want to do.
ADRIAN: Is scare them off.
NATHAN: Yeah.
Is scaring 'em outta their spot if they're hiding in the brush.
Olivia will help with that.
Adrian's tagged along for other hunts that I've done
both in Oregon and here when I did a moose hunt.
He's just at the point where I feel comfortable taking him
out with a weapon and do his, uh, first actual hunting trip
where he gets to knock out an animal.
Oh, grouse right there.
Oh, stop. Wait, okay.
I saw something fly.
ADRIAN: Me too.
NATHAN: They're around here and we're just gonna cut
straight that way slowly.
Okay?
Keep your eyes on the trees because I guarantee you it
landed on a branch 30 yards ahead, I imagine.
And I want you to take the lead.
If you see it in a tree then just be ready.
ADRIAN: I heard like a branch move somewhere.
NATHAN: Oh, right there. Right there.
Get it. Oh.
ADRIAN: Went that way.
NATHAN: All right, so we're go, Adrian, stop.
We're gonna do the same thing now.
You see it fly again like that?
You're chambered, right?
ADRIAN: Yes. NATHAN: Safety's on?
ADRIAN: Yeah. NATHAN: Okay.
You raise that gun, take safety off and you shoot
if you can.
If you see that thing, you pop it.
I'll be your backup.
ADRIAN: Ah, a squirrel.
Yeah. That's a squirrel.
NATHAN: Let's head back.
Can I cut through this way?
Where there's one, there's bound to be more.
MARIO: It's really important to prep for winter up here
in the Arctic.
You have to get a lot of firewood.
You have to harvest a lot of food, and being prepared for
the months where things are really extreme and cold.
Because your survival depends on it.
There you go. Straight ahead.
There you go. Come around.
There you go.
There's quite a few things that Clare and I have to
really do to prepare for winter.
We have to really take care of our dogs and
help them thrive in these temperatures.
We have to train them on a regular basis to get them
ready to take on the adventures that we wanna
take them on.
Whoa.
You see these trees?
I think that we have to cut 'em down.
The last thing you want is like, it's snowing really
heavy one day and then the weight of the tree coming down
on the dogs or us when we're coming through here, you know?
CLARE: Yeah.
MARIO: So, let me go ahead and cut these down.
CLARE: Okay.
MARIO: I think both of these right here.
CLARE: Both of them?
MARIO: Yeah. Well that one's kind of hung up.
If I cut it, it's not gonna flip.
You know what I mean?
CLARE: Right.
MARIO: So let me cut this one that's hanging over here.
(whirring)
(dogs barking)
Oh (bleep).
CLARE: Woo.
MARIO: It's really important to take care of the trails here,
not only for ourselves, but for our animals to
travel down on.
If one of these trees comes down because of the weight of
the snow, it could potentially take out our dogs.
And when the snow starts to accumulate, the weight of the
snow can really bring these trees down, and if you're in
the wrong place at the wrong time,
it could cost you your life.
CLARE: Looks good. MARIO: Yeah.
You know, every tree we cut down that makes it safer for us
becomes firewood.
CLARE: Yup.
MARIO: Serves two purposes, you know?
So let's go home, feed these dogs, and then come back out
and just make our way down the trail.
JOHNNY: If you don't mind being alone,
if you don't mind hunting, fishing,
gathering your own water, chopping your own wood,
you'll have no problem out here.
To me, it's a very easy life to live.
You just need a strong mind.
You see water lines on these logs,
and a lot of frost on the bottom, and they're heavy.
These bottom logs are real heavy, and it's because
they're water, uh, water logged,
no pun intended.
And what happens is the snow melts, and it kind of comes
all around here and just saturates my logs.
I'm going to do something I've been wanting to do which is
build, uh, a firewood rack.
I wanna get my firewood up off the ground, and I think the
most common-sense answer is to just build a firewood rack.
I think it'll look nice.
I think it'll give me something to do, kind of hone
my skills in, and it's actually gonna keep
my firewood dry.
It's kind of a win-win all around.
All right, I'm gonna start shaping this down.
One of my favorite things to do is actually
go out and get firewood.
I really, really enjoy going out on these lakes,
kind of exploring with my ax, with my saw,
and it gives me an excuse to get out.
And as long as I got more than a week's worth of wood in case
I got injured, that's really all I need.
These are projects I wanna do early fall and before the snow
started falling and I just wasn't able to get out here.
Mostly because of this one here.
Come here, Java.
How you doing, girl?
We'll climb the ladder.
Or you wanna climb me?
Java got surgery done.
Is your fur coming back yet?
Let's have a look.
The vets removed about half of her lungs and she had a
big old zipper of stitches here.
It's about, I think 20 staples, and that was a hole
they had to use for I don't know,
keeping air or something inside of her.
But I'm trying to keep her warm with your
new little town jacket.
Huh?
I just didn't wanna bring her up here because once
I'm up here, I'm so remote.
And out here it's like a three day trip to get to the vet.
So, she's happy to be out here man, and so am I.
Moving on.
This rack will be a half cord, which is about a week,
week and a half worth of wood, and that'll get me through until
it's time to go get more wood.
That's great, man. I love it.
It looks good.
This is done.
And uh, oh, what up Java?
Look at you in your little city girl coat.
Man, I'm happy.
I'm gonna get all this firewood stacked up on here.
I'm gonna call it a day.
Go inside, eat some food and, um,
I got more projects to finish up.
Um, so this isn't the end of it.
What's up girl? What's up girl?
Oh, look at you. You got some energy again.
Got some energy.
KALEB: No matter who you are.
You have to deal with trash.
If you live in the city, there's probably a refuse service
that comes by and dumps your trash bin into their truck.
And you never see it again.
I don't have the luxury of that.
I have to deal with it.
All right. My tank's nice and full.
Water's right, right there.
So, it's time to start working on this.
I think I'm gonna kind of make a barbecue styled door here.
It's gonna start, I don't know, somewhere down in here.
And I'll just come straight across.
That's my top, and that's where it's gonna connect.
So, I'm gonna go across like that.
I think that's big enough.
I'll be able to huck a couple bags in here, turn the fan on,
and burn that trash up real good.
So, if I have a tank full of vapors and I add spark,
this tank will be a literal bomb and it will explode and
send shrapnel everywhere.
Hopefully the water renders all of the vapors from the
fuel inert and it won't cause any problems.
(whirring)
KALEB: Oh, we're through.
Ha, ha.
Living in the bush, you, you can't just do everything
all at once.
Everything is a slow progression.
You start with your bare necessities and then
you start needing other things.
So you come up with another project to do and you just
keep doing that, and over time you build up
your quality of life.
It's cut, it's done.
We need to put a hinge here and a hinge here and, uh,
weld them on and this'll be ready to open.
Part of the reason I love living here is because
I have the freedom to do projects like this.
I don't have to call the zoning committee and be like,
uh, can I get your approval?
No.
None of that happens out here.
This is my property.
There are no rules or regulations attached to
this property, and I can do whatever I want.
I think that does it for the welding.
I had to kind of cool it.
I was underneath this thing and there were sparks going
down my ear and aye yai yai that gets your attention fast.
Now that I've gotten the hinges welded on,
I've got the door cut out, I've got handle to open it with.
Now I can start thinking about my air intake and my chimney
and then start burning.
JOHNNY: I'm not out here to prove anything to
myself or anybody.
I'm out here because I love the wilderness.
Because I love isolation and because I love to live remote.
All I need is, uh, about four foot of board and it's gonna
make up the window frame for the window I'm installing.
In the cabin, in the front.
I've been meaning to get a window up there for, well,
hell, since I built the cabin.
This is so I can have a guide in my chainsaw mill.
The window will be a nice addition.
See out the front door,
get some extra light in 'cause
that sun right there, not too many more days left of it
and it's gone.
So, I'm maximizing some light.
You know that bear that's been kind of roaming around this
early winter, if it decides to make a presence, uh,
we can have a little chat.
And I'll know it's, uh, out there before I open up my door.
I'll scare it or it scares me.
My first fall up here, I had a big grizzly bear come into
my camp and the thing harassed me for about a week,
got into my caribou meat.
They tried getting into the front door of my cabin and
that's when I learned these predators are my neighbors and
that I gotta learn to live with them.
And I didn't end up killing the bear.
I learned to just deal with it.
So these are gonna work out great.
Just making my own lumber.
You know, it's some of the stuff I do out here,
part of the lifestyle, self-sufficient.
So, if I ever hear something outside,
might just be a little weasel,
but I can confirm by looking out a window.
I guess this would be my version of a peep-hole.
Yeah, the window right here will help get some light right
up my wood stove where I cook and into kind of what
I would call my kitchen.
I'm cooking on a black stove with a black cast iron, and
it's really hard to see what's going on in that pan sometimes,
just anything that can come through this wall man
is gonna help.
A few of these chores I really have been kicking around,
wanting to do, finding excuses not to do them.
But by completing them,
I'm like almost prepared for this winter.
Nice.
Heck yeah, man.
Nature put everything it had into making this beautiful
place and I'm putting everything I have into the
things that I make.
These logs are pretty big, girthy, and they stick out
past the window and the windowsill, so I'm just gonna
delicately cut off the corners.
It's kind of just an aesthetic thing.
It's nothing functionality.
There's just, um, more aesthetically pleasing.
All right. That can work though.
NATHAN: We used to hunt grouse down in Oregon,
but the conditions aren't as cold, aren't as harsh,
aren't as brutal.
Hunting up here, every little aspect,
it's a lot more difficult.
You gotta roll with the punches.
Starting to snow a little bit.
A little bit of weather change,
but could help to spot grouse a little better.
Gotta find 'em at the right place at the right time,
as is hunting for anything.
This is a learning experience, not only for Olivia and Adrian,
but for myself as well.
All three of us are learning.
We're getting to know the lay of the land.
We're getting used to what we're doing.
You know, we're working out the kinks and, and try to see
if we can knock down some birds.
ADRIAN: I'm burning up. NATHAN: Yeah?
ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: Can you take that coat off and throw it in the bag?
ADRIAN: Yeah, sure.
It's crazy how hot 22 degrees can be.
NATHAN: That's one thing to keep in mind.
You know, it's important that we get some meat, but not
more important than coming home safe.
All right, let's go.
I'm liking this spot up ahead.
It's wide enough for us to get through.
Not too narrow to get a shot off.
ADRIAN: Yup.
Grouse.
NATHAN: You see it? ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: Are you sure it was a grouse?
ADRIAN: Yeah. NATHAN: Okay.
ADRIAN: Right there.
NATHAN: Let's walk in right through here.
ADRIAN: Looked like a good sized one.
Where did it go?
Oh, I see it. I see it.
NATHAN: Shoot it.
ADRIAN: All right.
(gunshot)
NATHAN: Booyah!
Good job.
ADRIAN: My ears are ringing but I don't know if
it's dead or not.
NATHAN: Got it! Good job.
Proud of you, that was a good shot.
ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: That's the first animal you ever killed huh?
ADRIAN: Yup. It was pretty cool.
NATHAN: You got us our first bird.
Look at that breast too.
You didn't really do any damage at all.
Beautiful.
ADRIAN: I'm actually impressed.
NATHAN: Yeah, good job.
That was a good shot.
So, we got meat to bring home.
We got a beautiful grouse breast.
And there's a heart in there.
Which I love, heart.
Awesome. High five.
ADRIAN: All right.
NATHAN: So, what we're going to do is we're going to rip
one of these wings off.
We're going to show it to Livia, let her sniff it.
And kind of let her know what we're looking for.
ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: Livies, sniff.
That's what we need.
That's what we need to find.
Just toss all that in there.
We'll clean it up a little more later.
Good job.
ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: Proud of you, that was a good shot.
Good spot, so.
ADRIAN: It was kind of a lucky shot.
NATHAN: I saw those models.
You can't tell me that was luck, let's see if we can get more.
ADRIAN: Okay.
NATHAN: What do you think? ADRIAN: Sure.
BRITTANY: Kaleb and I always try to have dual things going on.
So, while he's working on the incinerator,
I'm working on the garden
and the kids get to help me with that.
All righty.
It got pretty chilly last night.
Which means that it's going to get pretty chilly in here,
so it is time to get...
ELOVIE: Sweet tomatoes.
BRITTANY: Get all the tomatoes.
Our hope is to harvest enough to where we can
eat it for quite a while.
We can store some in our root cellar and then we can also
put it up in cans and freezing.
That way we have it throughout the winter.
Oh, I love carrots in my face.
What do you guys think of how many tomatoes we got?
ELOVIE: Woo-hoo!
BRITTANY: So, this is the first greenhouse we've ever had.
And...
It did really, really well.
I was not expecting for it to do as well as it did,
and we definitely learned a lot of things.
You can see all of our, our string hanging stuff up.
I'm pretty impressed with how things went in general, and
I'm excited about next year's growing season too now that
we understand a little bit more of what's expected.
All right, everyone grab a container.
Let's go on out.
Okay, we all went for the same one.
I'll grab this one.
ELOVIE: I'll grab this one.
GILBERT: I'll grab this one.
BRITTANY: And we'll send, we'll come back for more.
ELOVIE: Where's dad?
BRITTANY: Well, Daddy's working, remember?
KALEB: All right, it's the last screw for my chimney.
That was the hardest one to put in.
Now it's nice and secure.
Air comes in, air goes up out of there, filters out through
all those little holes up there so that big pieces of
ash and whatnot don't go drifting out into the woods
and catching the woods on fire and burning down McCarthy,
which would be very bad.
Uh, so chimney's done.
Now I gotta do my fresh air intake,
but first thing I gotta do is screw the tank flange in place.
And then I can screw the pipe on,
and then I can screw the fan flange.
Lots of flanges on this job.
Part of my design of this incinerator is to try to
minimize the amount of large toxins that
I put back into the air.
And if that happens, I'll see nice clear, clean smoke come
out of the chimney and not a whole lot of color to it.
Then I put that piece of pipe on, then I put my fan and
fan flange on and this thing's pretty much ready to go.
MARIO: If you're not fully prepared for winter up here,
you could potentially die.
If you don't have enough food harvested, you could starve.
And if you don't have enough firewood,
you could freeze to death.
All right.
So...
I think we should take care of that tree first.
And you know, just go from there and see if it's good firewood.
CLARE: Sounds good.
MARIO: Winter is coming and honestly part of me is
a little hesitant for it to fully be here.
I feel like there's still a lot of things that need to get
accomplished, but I'm looking forward to meeting the
challenges that a life up here brings with it.
Gratitude is the key to abundance out here.
These trees aren't only going to provide us a safer trail to
travel on, but they're going to give us firewood and
they're going to keep us warm during these cold temperatures.
CLARE: There she goes.
MARIO: Falling!
CLARE: Woo!
MARIO: Man, that's a heavy tree.
CLARE: Yeah.
MARIO: As I was like, as I was putting it in there,
just like that, you could feel the roots underneath you
just like unbuckling.
CLARE: Wow.
MARIO: I was like, "what?"
CLARE: Good job.
MARIO: I'm just gonna finish that cut.
(whirring)
Oh no!
MARIO: Hey the chainsaw is bound up.
You wanna come help me push it off?
CLARE: Sure.
MARIO: You see what happens?
You see now it's like kind of bound up.
You see that?
CLARE: Oh, yeah with the chain. I see.
MARIO: Yeah, yeah, see so this is sharp.
So just hold that guy up right there and
I'll just push it right off.
CLARE: Yup.
MARIO: And then it should come...
Okay, that ain't gonna work, all right.
Never mind.
CLARE: It actually doesn't look, I mean, it's not rotten
down here.
MARIO: Yeah, it's full of water.
It's still alive.
CLARE: Yeah.
MARIO: Yeah, I see it's bound out.
It's just like, it's just too heavy.
CLARE: It's not going anywhere.
MARIO: It's the actual chain is what's stuck in there.
CLARE: Yeah, so.
MARIO: Here, yeah.
Well, we'll just,
we'll just solve this in a quick jiffy here.
CLARE: All right.
MARIO: It feels really good to be able to
problem solve with Clare.
Often, it's said that two minds are better than one,
and I feel like having Clare out here really provides
a fresh perspective.
And sometimes she also prevents me from really
making unsafe decisions.
All right, I'm going to stand right here out of the way.
CLARE: Okay.
MARIO: And then, um, hold it, yeah, just a little bit,
tension the line.
There you go, right there.
Keep going.
There you go.
Good job, honey.
There you go. There you go.
CLARE: Woo!
MARIO: Tada!
CLARE: Good?
MARIO: Yup. Thanks.
Okay, let's get this one done and get back to cutting and
move on to the next tree.
CLARE: Great.
Every day out here is definitely a challenge.
It's definitely never easy.
You think you're done with one thing and then you're out the
door doing something else.
If we want to maintain our lifestyle out here,
you have to have wood.
So, the work definitely never ends here.
But every day is always rewarding.
MARIO: Now it's time to focus on the next project and get
another thing done here before winter.
Let's get this moose hide shaped up and then
we'll start stretching it with the paracord.
CLARE: Yeah. MARIO: Okay.
Let's work our way around in a big nice big circle.
CLARE: Okay. Yeah.
MARIO: I feel a deep sense of gratitude.
I feel happiness.
I feel sadness.
This isn't just something that's gonna make me feel warm.
It's a memento of the special experience that I had.
Ultimately, it's these memories that make life worth
living up here.
Okay, well, now that that's done,
let's get it stretched out.
And then um, I'm gonna keep this and hopefully use it to
put on my traps this next week so I can, you know,
like reusing every part of the animal so.
CLARE: Yeah, great.
It's our first time working on a big scale kind of project
like this, a really great reminder of his first
successful bull moose, and
we have a full freezer because of it.
And we're just really thankful every day for that experience
and we really look forward to
being able to preserve the hide.
MARIO: Okay. CLARE: Nice.
Yeah. Cool.
MARIO: It's freaking awesome!
Hell yeah!
So, we're just kind of cutting off this piece of
fat right here.
Look at that, you see that?
CLARE: Woo!
MARIO: Yeah, look at that. That's dog food for tonight.
CLARE: Neat!
MARIO: Yeah, we'll cook that up for the dogs.
It's got good fat for them, you know what I mean?
Like, that's a good piece of meat.
NATHAN: Adrian brings a whole other element to
hunting out here.
I try to include him on the decisions and which way
he wants to go.
And it's a learning opportunity for me to
learn from him.
Because you don't realize how much you can learn just
by trying to teach someone else.
So, I haven't seen any grouse down this trail yet.
Figured it was worth a shot coming down here.
I can see some parts of this ice are not
what I want her walking on.
ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: Don't want her to end up like our friend's dog who
broke through the ice and got swept away.
No, Livy, come here.
No, you stay.
ADRIAN: No.
NATHAN: Let's head back around.
What do you think?
ADRIAN: Yeah.
NATHAN: Cause we certainly ain't crossing this creek.
Creek's pretty, but you know what I think would be prettier?
ADRIAN: Those mountains?
NATHAN: A dead grouse.
ADRIAN: Yes.
NATHAN: A lot of these trails,
we generally take in the summertime.
The trail looks a lot different, uh, during
wintertime then it does summer, but it's really nice
to get away from the farm and Adrian and I can go out and
have a good time and just bond.
He gains more respect for the area.
And it's incredibly important for the father-son relationship.
Did you hear them when they're chirping?
ADRIAN: Yeah.
They sound like a turkey mixed with a chicken.
NATHAN: You stay on the left side,
I'll stay on the right side.
We'll stay evenly spaced so one's not ahead of the other
and just work our way that way.
Okay.
Get one in.
If you see a good shot, you take it.
ADRIAN: Wait, oh I see it. I see it.
It's right there.
Yeah, it went right over toward the trees.
Right there.
(gunshots)
NATHAN: I don't know if I got him or not.
ADRIAN: Nope.
Should we chase him down?
NATHAN: We'll check it out.
ADRIAN: I thought I saw it fly down there.
NATHAN: You saw it fly where?
ADRIAN: Somewhere down that way.
Grouse!
Right there, yeah.
(gunshot)
NATHAN: Got one.
ADRIAN: Oh, nice.
That was a good shot.
NATHAN: It's a beautiful bird.
Look at it, look at that coloration.
It's a decent size too for up here.
I was paying attention to the ground all of a sudden.
Sitting up in the tree there just waiting for me.
It's great to get out and have some father-son time and
I think he is starting to really understand how to hunt and how
to bring some food home for your family.
Just keep pushing forward and keep your eyes out.
We might get lucky and get another one of them.
ADRIAN: Yeah, we need a tiebreaker.
NATHAN: Yeah we need a tiebreaker?
ADRIAN: Yes.
KALEB: It's time to test this thing.
All right, I got a nice pile of firewood in here,
that'll make my base of coals.
ELOVIE: Wow dad I like your chimney.
KALEB: Oh, thank you.
BRITTANY: Check out what you've done.
KALEB: We got some trash here we can throw in.
That stuff will help light the fire.
We got some nice dry cardboard here.
BRITTANY: You've been busy.
KALEB: Put this in. This is more nice dry stuff.
So, this door closes.
Just like that.
ELOVIE: Whoa! BRITTANY: Nice.
KALEB: And then we turn the generator on, and we turn the
fan on, and it blows all the air into here and makes it a
big fire and it goes out the chimney up there.
BRITTANY: Huh!
All right, let's get it done.
KALEB: All the time that I spent building this incinerator,
I had no idea if it would work.
And my expectations were far exceeded by
how well this incinerator worked.
How hot it burns.
This is going to make it so that I can bring trash out here
every couple of weeks and burn.
It's super clean.
There's no risk of catching the forest on fire.
Just watch it burn now.
BRITTANY: This is just amazing, Kaleb.
KALEB: Yeah, it's working way better than I imagined.
But look at how clean the smoke is coming out of the chimney.
It's just nice, clean smoke.
It's not gonna catch the forest on fire.
So, to me, this is a smashing success.
BRITTANY: There you go.
Well let's go get some more trash.
JOHNNY: All right, so I'm going to go inside and
just finish the window.
I put everything I have into all the jobs that I do,
and if I'm putting all I got into it,
that's a reflection of myself
and I can look at that finished product and say
that's me right there.
That'll do.
All right, good enough.
All right look at that.
Perfect because it's not um,
it's not blocking the window.
It's like a whole new upgrade on this side of the cabin.
Little things like this, they really get me, make me feel
good about my accomplishments, what I've done.
And this is it right here, so it's nice.
Java could you stack the wood on here for me?
Hmm?
You wanna go get all the firewood and stack it up for me?
Come on. No?
Let's go get it. Come on.
MARIO: Sweet so, yeah.
CLARE: Cut up some meat scraps.
MARIO: Yup. Just like that, see that.
Just like that.
CLARE: Nice. MARIO: Yeah.
Nice small cubes so that they all get the same amount,
you know?
CLARE: You wanna put some kibble in there too tonight?
MARIO: Yeah. Yup. So.
CLARE: Kibble still. MARIO: Yup.
So, we'll boil all this and then this will give them a nice,
like, hardy like supplement and then they'll
get their water from it because they'll like,
it'll taste like moose.
And then we'll put kibble in there as well.
We've used this moose already for 1000 different things,
you know, to feed ourselves, to feed our dogs, to, you know,
to feed the animals that are still out there, you know,
like to tan the hides, just like everything serves such a
good purpose in our lives, you know.
Just a little bit more.
CLARE: Uh-hmm.
MARIO: Yeah, look at this, look at this. See that?
That's amazing. That's perfect.
We'll just finish it off with this and then we'll be done.
CLARE: Yeah that's perfect. Yeah.
MARIO: Yeah. This is nice and tidy.
CLARE: Scraps for a couple more days.
MARIO: Yup.
And we're still stretching the thing, you know?
CLARE: Sweet! Yeah, more scraps to come.
MARIO: Along with tanning the hide, we're very fortunate to
be able to harvest the fat and use whatever meat we scraped
off to feed our dogs.
There's a cycle of life up here.
Things feed each other, and things go a long way up here
when you intend to make the most of them.
(ringing bell)
Who wants dinner?
All right.
Out here, the work's never really done.
We've been super busy this year.
We've been doing so much while trying to learn about
running dogs.
Let's grab some straw for these babies.
Fresh straw gives them a warm little cozy home just like
we love to have.
And while it may feel overwhelming, it's something
that we really enjoy, and I feel a deep sense of gratitude.
All right.
CLARE: Let's go.
MARIO: Nice hot meal and nice warm bed for them.
CLARE: Yeah. MARIO: On to the next thing.
NATHAN: How does it feel to shoot your first grouse?
ADRIAN: Loud.
NATHAN: Loud?
ADRIAN: Loud but good.
NATHAN: Pretty good to me to get you out there and get you
to take out your first animal and you get the hang of it and
get the feel for it.
Plus, we know right where to go to get more.
ADRIAN: Yup.
NATHAN: This trip was mostly about Adrian getting a grouse
and his first kill hunting.
So as Adrian grows older, you know he gains more respect for
the firearms and gets to know the area,
understands how to survive.
So, in the future, Samantha and I definitely want to send
him out on his own when he's ready to help feed the family.
What do you think?
Do you want a little sample of your grouse?
ADRIAN: Yes.
NATHAN: Is it good?
ADRIAN: Yeah. 10 out of 10.
NATHAN: 10 out of 10?
ADRIAN: Yup.
It's worth all the work we put in the hunt.
NATHAN: I think the girls will be excited to be able to get a
different type of meat, different proteins.
Well, there's nothing like cooking grouse.
It's an emotional experience.
The subsistence life is difficult.
But up here in Interior Alaska,
it just adds a whole other element.
There's days you wake up and you don't want to go out and
do the brutal cold, but you have to.
SAMANTHA: You went, and you got us food.
ADRIAN: Yeah.
SAMANTHA: Bravo. That is, that is wonderful.
I'm proud of you.
NATHAN: But we love that it does push us to that level,
and it just feels that much better in the long run because
when you overcome something,
it's just an exhilarating feeling.
It's a hard life to live, but that's exactly what
we were searching for.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.