(mock bird call)
JODY: Today, Jamey and I are gonna go upriver,
looking for birds, waterfowl.
In the springtime,
ducks are a really essential part of our diet.
JAMEY: We first pulled in, we saw one goose fly over,
so there's probably some back here in these openings
in the water back there.
(whistles)
Sure hate to waste a good BB shot on a little duck.
I want birds with more meat on 'em.
JODY: Babe, just shoot, 'cause, like, last winter,
we didn't get (bleep).
Like, let's not be picky.
♪ ♪
JAMEY: Well, we'll just float along this edge, huh, babe?
JODY: I'm feeling luckier on that edge.
JAMEY: Okay.
Here comes a duck.
(Jamey quacks)
He turned, they saw us, dang it.
We should have parked further back in the willows.
(mock bird call)
JODY: We're out of moose meat, we don't have fish,
'cause we couldn't fish the last two years,
so, be really nice to get some birds to have some fresh meat.
Instead of just Spam.
♪ ♪
Right there.
(gunshots)
JAMEY: Got it.
JODY: Good job, babe.
JAMEY: It dove into the grass.
Oh, yeah, there it is, right there, babe.
You see it, straight ahead. Good eye.
JODY: Oh, yeah. Want me to go grab it?
JAMEY: Yeah.
♪ ♪
Well, there's a half, half pot of soup.
♪ ♪
DANIELLE: We're very lucky to be who we are as Native people
and be able to do the things
that not many people can do around the world.
(whale blows)
You got the 20-gauge?
What other gun you bringing? .243?
Do you want it on this Honda?
CHRIS: Yes. DANIELLE: Okay.
CHRIS: My 17-mile camp down the west coast.
Hopefully, we run into lots of seals and birds
so we can get some hunting done.
DANIELLE: Yeah, I'm excited to go out with my brother,
his girlfriend, and my nephew.
Are Ina and baby almost ready?
CHRIS: Uh-huh.
INA: All good? Yeah. (baby cooing)
Your first trip to camp.
Yeah.
It's gonna be beautiful.
(baby coos)
Yeah.
CHRIS: It's important for him to go to camp at, uh, right now,
so he can learn things at a young age.
We learn by observation.
We're kind of concerned about the trail
and how long we're gonna take to get down there.
DANIELLE: It's gonna be really muddy.
And it's gonna be a long drive. (chuckles)
Are we ready?
CHRIS: Yeah.
♪ ♪
Normally, I'd travel to camp within, uh,
who knows how fast I go, probably too fast for others.
♪ ♪
Gonna have to slow down a lot 'cause I'm with my son
and got to take it easy on the road with him.
INA: I'm tired.
It's taking longer than expected.
♪ ♪
CHRIS: My dad used to take me out when I was a little baby.
And now I have to experience what my dad experienced.
DANIELLE: I never really went to camp growing up.
Going out with my brother,
we could butt heads sometimes.
It's just, he's my brother. (chuckles)
♪ ♪
CHRIS: Alright.
We made it.
DANIELLE: Finally.
Oh, where are you?
INA: Yeah?
CHRIS: It's cool going out with my sister
to have company out hunting.
INA: Look at.
DANIELLE: Your Apa Takeva built this cabin.
Apa. (baby coos)
(chuckles)
CHRIS: Hopefully, we'll all get along and have a fun time.
DANIELLE: Hopefully, we don't kill each other.
(laughs)
MARCELLA: This truly is God's country.
It's a beauty that is indescribable.
This is a beauty that has to be experienced first-hand.
♪ ♪
Welcome to paradise.
GLYNDARIL: Right?
Oh, look at the water.
MARCELLA: So today we are gonna set out a net
to try and get some fish.
We are hoping to get some beautiful bright reds.
Sockeye salmon, which is a fave around here.
Oh, look it, a seal!
GLYNDARIL: Oh. See it, Tinky? Right there.
TINKY: Yeah.
MARCELLA: Hey, that's a cute one.
He's plumpy.
GLYNDARIL: Woo-hoo.
MARCELLA: Early spring going into summer,
that's usually when the reds hit.
GLYNDARIL: Land!
(scrape)
Park.
MARCELLA: This is our first time together going out
and set the net as husband and wife, or as a family.
GLYNDARIL: Jaz, I need your help.
We're gonna pull this net into the skiff,
and then we're gonna tie it off to that rock over there.
MARCELLA: I was never having to be responsible to deal with fish
really growing up, because, you know, I had a bunch of brothers.
I had my dad, my mom used to always do that.
And it's just the fact I used to get seasick, so. (chuckles)
Very important you keep the corks on one side
and the lead line on one side.
But, you know, turns out, I'm a natural, ha.
'Bout ready to set this thing?
GLYNDARIL: Yeah.
What is the most important thing about setting a net?
TINKY: Uh, tying it to a rock.
GLYNDARIL: That is important.
But the most important thing is the tide.
If you come here and you're too late for the tide,
then you're fishing for nothing.
The tide waits for no man, right?
TINKY: The tide waits for no man.
MARCELLA: Hold on, slow down.
Turn more, maybe.
♪ ♪
I don't have any doubts
when it comes to my husband doing things.
GLYNDARIL: We're stuck.
MARCELLA: You're in gear.
I'm not holding on to it, so you got all the slack.
I believe in him 100%.
GLYNDARIL: We're, we're clear.
MARCELLA: Look it!
GLYNDARIL: Got a fish already.
JoJo, look! MARCELLA: Look it!
You see the fish?
GLYNDARIL: You see the way the line's shaking?
TINKY: Yes! MARCELLA: Is that cool?
Yeah!
Got three of them, look it.
GLYNDARIL: We already got dinner.
MARCELLA: Got four of them. GLYNDARIL: Four.
Nice. That's two.
GLYNDARIL: Woo, there we go.
My wife is the Native one.
I learned from her family.
I learned from all them.
This goes back in.
It's something you can't just learn in school.
MARCELLA: We're gonna have to watch out for seals now.
'Cause remember the seals are gonna want the fish, too.
GLYNDARIL: These seals ain't gonna steal our fish.
Not these ones anyway.
TINKY: Nope.
TIG: This is a wild, dangerous country.
Gotta respect it.
The country will respect you back.
♪ ♪
EVAN: Whoa!
HAZEL: Hi, beaver.
TERRANCE: That was a big beaver.
TIG: Oh, yeah.
I got to go up to my uncle's cabin.
I left some of my tools up there.
And these tools I'm gonna need for the construction
of this, uh, fence making
that we're gonna be doing here on Memorials Day.
TERRANCE: I'm getting up front.
TIG: Country is transitioning from snow to water.
The river starts going out, the ice gets rotten.
The land is waking up.
Let's go grab some tools.
TIG: Whoa, cub.
Look at this, you guys. Your guys' sled.
That bear definitely didn't like it for some reason.
Tore it all up.
Yeah, there's been a bear here.
The bear is gonna be your most dangerous animal,
the black bear and the grizzly bear.
TERRANCE: Plastic all over.
HAZEL: Geez.
TIG: Wow. Yeah, they chewed the crap out of this.
When they come out in the spring,
you know, they slept for nine months.
They're starving, they're hungry.
It's definitely a black bear.
EVAN: How did you tell it was a black bear?
TIG: Oh, by the little paw print on there.
The shape of the paw print.
Black bears are kind of a smaller, rounder track.
The grizzly bear is gonna be bigger
and a little more elongated.
I can see some tracks on the door.
Another one right here, you can see his paws.
TERRANCE: Dad, there's a claw mark right here.
Long.
TIG: Oh, yeah.
TERRANCE: He dented it right here.
Holy cow.
TIG: Alright, back up.
Grizzly's gotten in last year.
Tore up the whole house.
♪ ♪
TIG: Well, looks, looks good in the house.
I just got to gather up some of my tools
for the upcoming Memorial Day.
Gonna need these tools when we work on the fences.
Out here in Allakaket on Memorial Day weekend,
it means a lot to us.
HAZEL: Those are all stuff we're bringing home?
TIG: Yep.
We all gather at the hall and we build fences
to honor the loved ones from the community that have passed.
Oh, put that drill in there, too.
TERRANCE: Okay.
TIG: We all come together as a community, pitch in together,
work as a big family, pretty much.
Thank you, boys.
One of my main goals is trying to teach my kids
the tradition and culture.
And this is a big part of our tradition and culture.
Let's head home, it's time to go to work.
♪ ♪
DANIELLE: Growing up, I didn't do much with the cultural stuff.
When I moved away, I started feeling that empty feeling
that I needed to be in my village.
(baby fussing)
What's wrong?
CHRIS: Once we go to bed, my son started getting sick.
DANIELLE: What are you guys gonna do?
CHRIS: We are pretty far from home,
and, uh, got to bring him back before anything gets worse
with his body conditions.
He's probably having a little fever.
DANIELLE: Bye, love.
You'll be okay.
I love you.
Don't drive like a dummy.
(engine starts)
Bye, baby.
(dog whining)
(whimper)
My brother, he'll be here in a few hours,
but now's a good opportunity to go for a seal hunt.
The waves are crashing in right now,
so, good opportunity for the seals to come in.
And now we sit here and wait until a seal pops up.
Growing up, I didn't really like to do anything subsistence.
Now that I've grown older, I actually love it,
and it's an adrenaline rush.
(chuckles)
And at the same time,
I get to hunt for my family and our community.
(singing in Yup'ik)
This is a seal blind. We call them nengkis in Yup'ik.
My dad built this one.
(singing in Yup'ik)
Just being out here makes me think of him.
When I sit out here with my dad,
when we're waiting for a very long time, he'll say,
"Come on, seals!"
(chuckles)
Hoping for them to come a little quicker.
So, I'll say it in my head sometimes.
♪ ♪
Just a bird.
False alarm.
Kind of wishing my dad was here.
Catching my first seal off the land
would be such a cool thing for him to see,
and I think he'd be really happy.
Come on, seals.
JODY: I'm a part of the land, and the land is a part of me.
It's just innate.
♪ ♪
Are we going to that slough
that's your shortcut in high water?
JAMEY: No, we're going to fish slough.
JODY: Oh, okay.
Tonight, I hope that we're able to get some geese.
Geese are really good eating and also a lot bigger bird.
Hoping we see a lot more birds
and that we're a lot more successful.
That's my prayer for tonight.
♪ ♪
JAMEY: Wow, that is nice.
JODY: It's midnight, you know?
JAMEY: The midnight sun right there.
JODY: Yeah. I love summer.
Summertime in Alaska is when all the life is back
and everyone's out making the most of the daylight
before it gets dark again.
JAMEY: Wow, it's just so much drift out there.
JODY: The willows are so thick,
it'd be hard to get through them, but.
JAMEY: Yeah, this boat is too big for it.
♪ ♪
JODY: Baby, wait!
JAMEY: Nope, we're hung up.
This one, we're just gonna end up fighting it all the way.
Yeah, we better just turn around and go back out to an island.
So, we'll just back up the motors all the way up, babe?
JODY: Yeah. JAMEY: Okay.
Alright.
♪ ♪
Alright, start putting your motor down
and drive me forward a little bit more.
JODY: Okay, I'm gonna move forward.
♪ ♪
JAMEY: Alright. Okay.
(Jamey chuckles)
♪ ♪
(gunshots)
JAMEY: Doggone it. The only goose we saw, and it flew away.
JODY: Babe, get ready for those ducks.
Get 'em, baby, get 'em, get 'em, get 'em, get 'em.
(quacking)
JAMEY: Uh-oh. Jam.
(gunshots)
JODY: There we go.
JAMEY: I lost it.
JODY: I think I see it, it's bobbing.
♪ ♪
JAMEY: Watch your step, babe.
Got it?
JODY: Got it.
JAMEY: We got two ducks now.
Enough for a pot of soup.
JODY: Ducks are a really nice change in diet.
And the ducks also have a little more fat in the meat,
and so that's always nice.
I grew up on the banks of the Yukon.
The river is central to our way of life and our identity.
It's just like the blood that flows in our body.
The Yukon provided for our ancestors.
It's just this ever-powerful presence in my life.
♪ ♪
I'm feeling lucky over there, babe.
JAMEY: Alright.
You know, we subsist on a seasonal thing.
You can go back on the lakes,
and the ducks and geese are just coming in.
It's just that time of year to where your body's craving it.
JODY: Oh, there's some, baby.
Look, over there, ducks.
(gunshots)
JAMEY: Yeah, I got one.
♪ ♪
That's a wigeon.
They're tasty. Good flavor to them.
JODY: I'm happy we'll be eating duck soup tomorrow.
♪ ♪
TIG: You can't go and pick up a book and read about
how our people used to live.
Our history is passed down from generation to generation.
It has been for thousands of years.
♪ ♪
Alright, so 7 foot by 36 and a half.
So 7 foot, cut, straight cut, and then...
TIG: (chuckles) One month of carpentry, that's it.
(laughs)
Up here in Allakaket, when somebody passes away,
family, they gather material to build a fence,
and we put 'em together and bring it to the cemetery.
Put this fence on top of the grave site.
(saw buzzing)
This is the one time of the year where we go up to the cemetery
and we visit our loved ones.
Well, these four better be real straight.
MAN: Yup.
TIG: It's a sacred place, the cemetery.
We don't go there whenever we feel like it.
MAN: This one looks good, compared to these two.
TIG: It's what our elders taught us,
and that's one of the traditions we carry on right there.
Pretty straight.
The whole town is come together.
Everybody's chipping in and helping.
That's just the way we work out here,
you know, something goes on, community comes together,
and we all get it done as one.
This wider one's first for the pickets?
MAN: Yeah.
TIG: Okay. And what would these ones be for?
TIG: Okay. Let's go get this one squared.
There's some master carpenters here
that, you know, been doing carpentry all their life.
And these older guys are showing us younger men what to do.
MAN: Go towards Dennis. TIG: Yup, towards Dennis.
Quarter inch, yep. MAN: Yup, right there.
TIG: 'Cause at some point in time, it's gonna be us.
(drilling)
The younger generation that's gonna be teaching
our younger generation this types of stuff.
No, I don't want to quit, but here, I'm gonna hand it over.
TIG: This is for a guy from the community,
his name is Sean Burgon, and he was an awesome guy.
He was, you know, a big staple of our community.
Whenever something like this was going on,
he'd definitely be here helping out, you know.
He's gonna be really missed.
There's a real famous basketball team,
and their colors is gold and purple.
And that was his favorite basketball team, the Lakers.
Good job, Mar, little perfectionist, huh?
Tomorrow morning, we're gonna get these all together
and start making the way to the cemetery with them all.
I think this is an amazing way to show respect
for the ones that's passed.
♪ ♪
MARCELLA: There are some people that have
that strong cultural root to want to thrive
and take on the traditions and the Alutiiq culture.
GLYNDARIL: Okay. Hey, y'all, scoot over here.
Let's go head out right over to where the net is.
MARCELLA: Vroom, vroom.
Our subsistence way of life,
obtaining food to put away,
is very much determined on the weather
and the climate around us.
GLYNDARIL: Pull it up.
TINKY: A seal, Daddy! JAZMINE: Seal!
TINKY: I saw a seal over there. GLYNDARIL: Right over there.
MARCELLA: He's just gonna be pestering us now.
GLYNDARIL: Oh, yeah. He sees the net.
He's like, "I'm waiting, I'm ready for dinner."
The moment you start catching fish in your net...
...it's gonna be the seals versus us.
Seal, he's beelining.
It's a race.
Who's gonna win?
The seals know, that's their dinner bell.
Alright, let's go back to the beach.
Any sense of urgency comes more around summertime.
Because summers are short.
So, this is the time where you got to get your fish.
You got to make sure everything's prepared
for the winter.
MARCELLA: Look it, we got five more fish.
GLYNDARIL: One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine lovely little fish.
MARCELLA: Good catch so far, guys!
GLYNDARIL: One of y'all needs to hang out on the rock,
watch out for the seal and watch out for fish.
TINKY: Okay, I will!
MARCELLA: One of the fish already got bit.
GLYNDARIL: But it's okay, we saved him.
There's always going to be seals around.
Okay, where are we gonna put these at?
Right in the water?
MARCELLA: Yep.
Put them right here in the shore,
I don't want them to sit in the sun too long.
GLYNDARIL: What happens if they sit in the sun?
MARCELLA: They're gonna start cooking.
GLYNDARIL: Oh, and you want to be the one to cook it,
not Mother Nature, right?
MARCELLA: Absolutely.
You help me hold the string, babe?
TINKY: Seal!
Right by the net!
MARCELLA: Oh, my gosh!
JAZMINE: He went over the line! GLYNDARIL: Oh, he went over!
Oh, that's not good.
GLYNDARIL: Oh, jeez.
He's checking our net for us.
MARCELLA: Think we should go ahead and pull the net up now,
there's too much seal out here.
We got enough fish.
GLYNDARIL: Alright.
Learning from my wife's culture...
There it is. MARCELLA: Okay.
GLYNDARIL: The one thing they pride themselves on
is not taking more than what you need.
TINKY: Oh, look at this baby one.
MARCELLA: Alright, bub.
We could head onto the island to go get some eggs,
then come back and cook us up a meal?
GLYNDARIL: Yeah, sounds like a plan.
(boy squeals)
MARCELLA: A sense of success is a great feeling.
Well, at the end of the day we brought in 21 fish.
That's not bad for one outing.
TIG: Every time we lose an elder,
we're losing a lot of tradition,
we're losing a lot of stories.
We lose a lot when we lose an elder.
♪ ♪
This one's about 300 pounds.
100 pounds of paint.
♪ ♪
Watch your head, Uncle.
Oh, oh, watch your foot, Gordy.
Today we have all these fences finished up,
and we put this fence on top of the grave site.
Head down, and watch your hand.
Kind of clear it off, we set down the flowers and everything.
It's a big process, but as a community,
it's just a small hurdle for us
to honor the ones that have passed.
Yeah, that looks good.
(drilling)
We did you up good there, buddy.
We did you up there good.
♪ ♪
They're gonna burn food for the ones that passed right now.
We aanle food for the spirits.
TIG: We burn food in the fire, the smoke goes to the sky,
and it feeds the people that have passed.
TIG: Thank you, Auntie.
That was just a beautiful ceremony
that we put on for the loved ones.
♪ ♪
My brother died on December 23rd,
two days before Christmas.
♪ ♪
Christmas day I woke up,
I watched my kids unwrap their presents,
and I came to the cemetery,
and I started digging the grave for my brother.
That was my Christmas present for that year,
I get to bury my only brother.
♪ ♪
My sisters were lucky, they got two brothers.
Me, I only had one brother.
That was all I had.
♪ ♪
This is the one time of the year where I can actually
go and visit my brother over there in the cemetery.
He died way too young.
One of the elders told me, "You know, that kind of guys,
they don't last too long."
He used to piss a lot of guys off
'cause he'd walk up with his big belly.
Just look out of shape.
Yeah, they'd tease him about his big belly.
"Whoa, look at that belly, bro.
How the hell you gonna get into snowshoe racing?"
Ah ha ha. Crack up. "Oh, I'll do all right."
He'd get in, he'd win it.
"My bad, bro, I shouldn't have teased you like that."
I always miss him, I think about him a lot.
Alright, brother, I'll see you again next year.
♪ ♪
DANIELLE: I'm learning it all on my own, in different ways,
trying to get to know our people better.
Come on, seals.
I'm about ready to just target practice on a frickin' bird.
Oh, right there.
I see a seal.
♪ ♪
Come on, come back up.
♪ ♪
Where'd he go, where'd he go, where'd he go?
♪ ♪
(gunshot)
I'm gonna move.
♪ ♪
(gunshot)
(bleep)
DANIELLE: Come on, come back up.
Think I lost him.
♪ ♪
CHRIS: It was good.
DANIELLE: (bleep) missed a seal.
CHRIS: Oh, where?
DANIELLE: It was right here, and I missed it real close.
CHRIS: It's kind of cool to see my sister hunting alone,
and she almost got a seal.
DANIELLE: Just a few minutes ago, before you got in.
CHRIS: He's, uh, doing good, but he's real tired-looking.
DANIELLE: His fever is down, though?
CHRIS: Hey.
DANIELLE: What?
Are you the boy who called seal? (laughs)
But the conditions are real good for seal hunting right now,
and, uh, in Gambell if you don't subsistence hunt,
you can't eat off of anything.
DANIELLE: We're gonna target practice, see if my sight's off.
(gunshot)
I shot above when I was aiming in the middle.
CHRIS: How far?
DANIELLE: Just right above the paint, but.
(gunshot)
What the heck, Agra?
CHRIS: Go down three clicks.
♪ ♪
(gunshot)
DANIELLE: What the heck?
It shot down and to the left.
I think you got to put this one, one click back maybe.
CHRIS: Okay. DANIELLE: There?
CHRIS: Mm-hmm.
♪ ♪
(gunshot)
DANIELLE: I hit it.
CHRIS: Yeah.
DANIELLE: So, it wasn't just me. (chuckles)
That's why, that's probably why I was missing.
CHRIS: Now that her rifle's targeted in,
she's gonna be able to hit something now.
DANIELLE: Ugh.
I want fresh seal meat.
CHRIS: Yeah.
DANIELLE: Should I race you to the first seal?
(laughs)
CHRIS: My sister, she's not really home all the time.
I pretty much get to only stay with her
couple weeks, once a year.
DANIELLE: 'Cause we can't miss it again.
CHRIS: It's good to have her home.
There's a seal coming up close.
Alright, it's gonna come up right here, start aiming.
♪ ♪
Right there. Look.
♪ ♪
DANIELLE: It's too far for us to shoot now.
Ugh.
Seal hunting from the land is not easy.
We need the right conditions.
Looks like the tide's already coming back in.
We could go fishing or something.
CHRIS: Yeah.
MARCELLA: My husband, my children, they're my motivation,
they're my push to make what I want happen.
♪ ♪
GLYNDARIL: You guys ready? Want to come get some eggs?
We'll cruise right up this hill, start looking down.
MARCELLA: You guys be sure to keep your guys' heads down,
don't step on any of the eggs or nests.
Responsibility is taught at a young age around here.
(squawking)
MARCELLA: Oh, sweet! GLYNDARIL: Awesome!
MARCELLA: It's important to teach my children
what they can harvest from the land.
That's the way I want to raise my children.
GLYNDARIL: We got three right here.
MARCELLA: Remember, just grab two out of the nest.
Just leave the one.
GLYNDARIL: It's so warm, you can still feel the heat.
Like they were just hatched.
MARCELLA: Do you know how come we only leave one egg behind, Tinky?
MARCELLA: Yeah, so the birds will lay more eggs in that nest.
Seagull eggs, they are a delicacy of ours.
There's a few islands around here that we harvest from.
GLYNDARIL: Oh.
TINKY: Look what I found, Mommy.
MARCELLA: Yeah! Good job!
GLYNDARIL: There you go, thank you.
Hands-on learning, that's the best way to learn.
MARCELLA: Kids, you finding any more?
TINKY: No.
MARCELLA: It's pretty empty over here.
No more over that way either?
GLYNDARIL: Nope, no more.
MARCELLA: How many eggs do we have?
GLYNDARIL: 15.
MARCELLA: Oh, that's plenty.
GLYNDARIL: Alright.
MARCELLA: Well, let's head back to the boat.
♪ ♪
JODY: A lot of the challenges we deal with
are results of colonization,
but for families to break the cycle
and still raise our kids in our traditional way of life
is really powerful.
♪ ♪
See our refrigerator?
JAMEY: There's our fridge right here where we cool stuff down.
JODY: I feel like every season there's something for us to do.
JAMEY: Good.
JODY: Lose more water that way.
JAMEY: Alright.
And there's our honeymoon spot right there. (Jody laughs)
We like to sleep right next to the creek
and listen to the creek at night when you fall asleep.
It's nice honeymoon spot, you like that, huh?
JODY: Hmm.
Every season there's like a different animal
or plant to harvest.
The land provides us with a lot.
JAMEY: Go.
Alright. Here we go, ducks from last night.
I plucked 'em, gutted 'em.
So right now I'm gonna quarter them,
get them ready for some soup,
'cause we do have Jody's cousin and her husband and daughter,
they're gonna, they'll be here tonight.
The smell of the feathers when I'm scorching it and burning it
always brings back childhood memories
of, you know, it's springtime.
You know it's springtime when you smell feathers,
people scorching ducks and geese,
and it's, makes my mouth water, the smell of it.
The other side.
♪ ♪
(whistling)
JODY: Coralee!
(whistling)
I can't find my female dog Coralee who just had puppies.
And one puppy's missing, and so she...
Just weird.
One of the things I worry about is there's falcons
that nest across the river, and then we always have eagle
that flies over at 11:00 every morning, hunting.
There's owls and all kinds of predators.
Coralee!
JODY: Coralee!
(whistling)
Oh, there she is.
Coralee, what the heck?
Come here. Come on.
(whimper)
Well, you freaked me out, Coralee.
That gave me a scare.
Our dogs are just like family members.
You really got yourself buried under there.
I got you food.
They're well taken care of.
You never want to lose your dogs.
Jame. Could you help me?
Could you just lift it up, I can get the puppy?
JAMEY: I don't want to set it back down on her, though,
might be kind of heavy.
JODY: Well, I'll reach it, just.
JAMEY: Okay, ready?
(whimper)
Got it?
(whimpering)
JODY: Pretty puppy.
JAMEY: Momma's favorite.
(dog barking)
(thunder)
DANIELLE: I have some nuts we could put on our fishing rods
for weights 'cause it's pretty windy out.
Hopefully, we can catch some salmon
since we didn't have any luck with the seals.
CHRIS: Oh.
DANIELLE: Ugly weather, man!
Seal hunting is all year round, but salmon fishing is seasonal.
First cast.
Ah, my line.
Mine got wrapped.
♪ ♪
CHRIS: Ah, damn.
CHRIS: Huh?
DANIELLE: You think they're gonna bite?
CHRIS: No, it's too windy.
Moving all the dirt off the bottom.
DANIELLE: With this wind and the rain,
it's not good for fishing, so it's not worth it.
CHRIS: Yeah, I'm done.
DANIELLE: No seals and no fish, that's just our luck today.
The weather changes rapidly here.
CHRIS: Come back on a nicer day, huh?
DANIELLE: At camp we don't have any cell service or Wi-Fi
or any way to check the forecast,
so the way we do it is you look at the sky. (laughs)
♪ ♪
My turn?
(mumbling) Going in.
Even if we didn't get anything,
it's always nice spending time with my brother.
That's a seven.
So, I win. (laughs)
♪ ♪
(chuckles)
♪ ♪
JODY: Hi.
JODY: Do you remember coming here before?
GIRL: Uh-uh. JODY: No?
♪ ♪
(sizzling)
And then as the edges just get golden, you turn it.
Every Saturday my mom always made
a bunch of homemade frybread,
and, you know, we'd always have like beans or moose soup
with frybread.
Our culture really is our medicine, you know.
MADELINE: I think the way to bring back culture
is to live it.
Just having a conversation,
my daughter hears what we're talking about.
There's just a lot of strength being built there.
JODY: Yeah, it's good medicine.
MADELINE: Uh-huh.
JODY: Yeah.
♪ ♪
TIG: I'd like to thank the community of Allakaket.
What a beautiful place we come from and we live.
You know, this is a town that's full of culture and tradition.
You know, that was my first time ever
helping put together a fence.
There's carpenters from around town helped me,
and showed me and guide me, and I appreciate that.
(applause)
TIG: Doing stuff like this as a community,
it's a good way to keep our community strong.
It shows our elders, they don't have to be worried
that when they're gone, these traditions and cultures
aren't gonna be left behind.
We're a very strong community, very strong people.
Very proud to be, be from Allakaket.
(applause)
Our culture and tradition is in good hands.
♪ ♪
JODY: There's certain things in our life
that are just good medicine for us.
Come eat, you guys, dinner's done.
♪ ♪
Being around certain people...
DANIELLE: Oh, hi, handsome.
CHRIS: Boo.
JODY: Being out on the land...
GLYNDARIL: First fish of the season,
got to cook it up on the beach.
JODY: Breathing the fresh air...
MARCELLA: We got fish, the seal got fish. (laughs)
GLYNDARIL: Everybody's gonna eat today.
JODY: It makes me a better person.
That's just the life that I choose.
INA: Oh.
JODY: That's the life I strive for.
MARCELLA: Is that yummy?
GLYNDARIL: Mmm. Mm-hmm. MARCELLA: Yeah.
JODY: There's a lot of medicine all around us.
♪ ♪
A lot of beauty.
First duck soup of the year.
Really hits the spot.
JAMEY: Oh, yeah.
JODY: Just really thankful for all of that.
Captioned by Side Door Media Services