and may contain mature subject matter.
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and may contain (singing in native language)
DANIEL: North wind is...
DANIEL: South wind...
DANIEL: West wind is...
DANIEL: East wind...
DANIEL: Right now, the wind is pretty bad, but, uh,
I enjoy being out there.
I'll take what Mother Nature has to give me.
Yeah, I see a lot of walrus out there.
And they're real close, but just so far, far away,
you can't get to 'em.
(singing in native language)
DANIEL: This winter is very slow.
One of the slowest seasons I ever seen.
Not a lot of fresh food right now.
DANIEL: Always gotta have a look out for that weather,
it can change any minute.
(singing in native language)
DANIEL: Now that looks good right there, huh?
CHRIS: We're gonna make a, a fish hook and ice pick.
We need a ice pick all the time.
DANIEL: That's gonna be the overall picture of it.
The ice picks that are made, uh, commercially aren't that good.
They're not really, uh,
made for, uh, work we do on the ice out there.
We use them for crabbing, fishing,
all sorts of different stuff.
DANIEL: We're gonna try to pound that in, into shape.
(grunts)
DANIEL: Now this side.
(grunts)
We can start getting ready to make the handle now.
(grunts)
DANIEL: Ah, looks like it's gonna fit pretty good.
DANIEL: Of making pathways for the boat,
using it for fishing, crabbing.
Hopefully it works out.
Time to use it I guess.
JOEL: Freedom is definitely a lot of work out here,
but it also gives you a sense of accomplishment too,
when you build something out of nothing.
To me that's like, free to do what you want,
die how you please.
♪ ♪
JOEL: Man, when I was a kid,
ice fishing was probably one of my favorite things to do.
You come out and you'd punch a hole in the ice, you know,
a couple hours later there'd be as many fish as
you wanted down there.
You'd just fricking catch fish all day if you wanted.
Now, it's hard to find them.
There's too many predators around,
but not enough prey.
Hoo-ah!
It's kind of a big ordeal out here.
You can't even find trout in the winter,
which used to be kind of the easiest source of food.
(grunts)
Oh, I hit water!
(laughs)
Yeah, that was like two feet.
That's more than I wanted to cut.
Holy crap.
Take a little gander, little gander down the hole.
Dang, yeah, that's super deep,
that's like six feet of water down there.
(singing in native language)
JOEL: Oh, that's cold.
But I'm gonna throw some, throw some eggs down there now.
Yeah.
Huh?
Good old salmon eggs.
If there's any fish in the area,
it'll draw all the fish to these eggs.
And then we'll wait for a couple of hours,
and then you can kinda look down there and you'll be able to see
the fish swimming around eating the bait.
And I'll get a little fishing pole.
If there's any trout around,
they will come from miles away to eat these eggs.
Here fishy, fishy, fishy.
Mark my hole, 'cause the hole is gonna freeze over,
and you will not find that thing again.
Nothing like fresh trout in the middle of winter, huh, Tracker?
(singing in native language)
JOEL: Next hole, huh?
JODY: We as native people, know the best use for the animals,
and we do use all parts of them.
They're just so valuable to us.
JAMEY: Trapping season's open.
Looking to boil up some traps, get them ready.
A little bit of wax in there, and some spruce bars to mask
the scent of the trap.
I've been trapping since I was about ten.
I'd be out trapping in the summertime,
winter time, and cold didn't matter.
JODY: Hey, babe. JAMEY: Hey.
JODY: I only have enough fur left for one more hat.
JAMEY: So you're almost out of fur.
JODY: Yeah, so, it would be nice that we get these set.
The furs that we trap are really, really important
to our way of life.
People can get frostbite and even hypothermia if
they're not dressed warm.
The native made gear is the best for this environment.
We adapted our clothing for this harsh cold environment.
JAMEY: I think they're ready to set.
JODY: You guys will go downriver and set a trap line.
I'll go upriver where we saw those old wolverine tracks,
and set some.
Hopefully we'll get lucky.
JAMEY: If you ain't working as a team,
we're probably not gonna make it,
'cause it's a lot of work out here.
JODY: Be safe.
Handsome.
It's really important for us to go out and get these furs.
They're very expensive to buy in the store,
so if we can get some of our own,
then you know, I'm able to make more gear for our family.
(singing in native language)
JAMEY: Marten tracks.
I have a marten from traveling through here,
so they're in the area.
Ah, that's all burnt out, widowmaker.
Here just push on it, I'll bet it'll just fall over, huh?
(cracking)
Better watch out for those.
I come up in here, I like to check for any widowmaker,
anything leaning over that could be a hazard.
That spot right here we can set.
Bad things can happen if you're not being aware of your surroundings.
Harsh land, if you don't know what you're doing here you're,
you could, uh, perish pretty quick.
I mean, it's just one mistake, and bad things can happen.
This is a dorsal fin of a salmon.
It gets pretty smelly.
When I was younger, early in the morning my Grandma would
get me up, and I'd go and check all the rabbit snares,
bring rabbits home to her.
And then after school, do the same thing,
before we could go off and play.
Put it like this.
And then just go through with one of the springs so it does open.
Try to cover it back I can,
as far as keeping the birds and stuff off of it.
All right, I'm moving on.
TIG: Every day, we're interact and intertwining with
Mother Nature out here.
It's just part of our lifestyle.
TIG: Look like a pretty good area.
When I was a kid, this was the type of places
my Grandma would always take me to hunt grouse.
It would be good to have a grouse or a ptarmigan.
Kids get tired of eating one thing every day,
so see if we can get something different for them.
We eat moose three times a day, and these kid's tongue get tired
of that same thing day in, day out.
It is good to have some variety out here.
All right, let's go see if we can spook something
out of these willows.
Whoa, deep snow, whoa.
During the day, it's getting down to a nice warm 30, 40 below for us.
Good change of weather during the day to get out and
move around and find some of this small game.
I like to have a different variety on the table.
LOUISE: Looking for ptarmigan, spruce, chickens,
whatever we can find out there.
Not seeing anything.
We can't eat moose meat every day.
TIG: Whoa, watch your foot,
break your ankle in one of these moose tracks.
Well, I don't know.
I was hoping there would be some in this little slough or these willows.
So, no luck here.
This ain't the only patch of willows in our country,
we got a lot of other places to check.
We got a long day yet ahead of us,
so let's go check out some more sloughs and bars, willows, whatnot.
We'll find somethin'.
In order to get these ptarmigan, we gotta spend some time out
there in the woods and drive along the bars, cold areas.
It's 65, 70 below at night, but in the day,
the sun is coming back and getting a little hotter and hotter every day.
It's starting to heat up our land some more.
If we just take the time and go out and try,
we'll find some sooner or later, they are out there.
A lot of tracks around here, Mom.
See, they're all over.
Hey, some ptarmigan!
There's some ptarmigan right behind that corner.
You see him?
LOUISE: Yeah. TIG: It's right there.
Ah! No!
♪ ♪
TIG: Nope. I'm iced up.
(laughs)
Yeah, (bleep), I don't want to break it.
Oh, man.
I'm gonna put my 22 on the muffler for a minute.
It's so cold out here that the guns freeze up,
the bullets freeze.
They will malfunction.
Right when you need it, it's not gonna work.
I know my motor's hot, maybe be able to steal some heat off
that motor and get my gun thawed out.
LOUISE: Uh-oh.
TIG: I hope he doesn't go anywhere.
(clicks)
Huh, nope.
Firing pin is ice shut inside the bolt.
(clicks)
(groans)
(clicks)
No!
Just my luck.
You know, I was counting my chickens a little too early this time.
Already eating that pot of soup in my mind.
So I'm gonna have to figure this out.
All ready?
Get back at it.
We're not gonna let this little mishap get us down,
you know, we're just gonna keep trying.
JODY: We still carry our traditional methods,
but as native people, we've adapted with different tools and
modern materials.
JODY: Hey, that's new!
Those are fresh tracks.
Marten I think.
The way it's...
There's definitely fur-bearing animals out and about.
Good sign.
JODY: Winter is coming, and it's so important to have good,
high quality warm gear for our lifestyle.
I don't have very much fur left for my furs at home to sew with.
Because of the way our family lives and we're out on the land
so much, we wear things out and we always need replacements.
Because staying warm in this country is really important.
People can get frostbite and even hypothermia,
if they're not dressed warm.
And if something happens, it's just so important to have
this native made, good warm gear from what the land provides.
Huh.
That looks like a good little cubby.
Bet I can set a wolverine snare.
This could be really nice.
All right, this is pretty much perfect.
Yeah, we have a lot of beliefs about a lot of these kinda,
these animals, but it's bad luck to talk about them.
Wolverine are very curious animals.
My dad built a campfire once near his wolverine trap along with, you know,
the bait, and the wolverine came and got really curious.
He caught the wolverine.
So, um, that's what I'm doing here.
Plus, it'll warm up.
I gotta get the snare wire where its head will go through the wire.
That's just right.
Pretty satisfied with how this little cubby is looking.
So now I'm securing this snare.
Right like that, it'll be good.
So this is some old, chunks of old fish from
a couple years ago.
Okay.
Now I gotta just add more brush here.
Yeah, that's good.
Cool.
Come check it in couple days,
see if, uh, we get lucky.
But meantime, I'm gonna keep going up this little valley,
and see if I can find a couple more good spots to
set some more snares.
JOEL: You know, out here in Pedro Bay,
you're just taking care of yourself and
you're not relying on anybody else.
It's just you, you and the wilderness.
JOEL: Living out here, you have to figure out
how to catch these fish.
So I'm gonna try this other creek.
Is that a wolf?
He's right around the corner.
(grunts)
Damn.
That wolf was right here.
He must've went up, around.
Oh, yeah.
And he just came down right here.
There was a bunch of rabbit tracks here too,
I wonder if he smells rabbits.
It's pretty alarming that the wolf was right in front of
the house in the middle of the day.
I do worry about the dog, they will take your animals.
And I don't want to risk losing my dog.
There he is.
♪
JOEL: He's too far away.
♪ ♪
I don't think he knows I'm here.
It doesn't look like he cares either.
Super glad Tracker's in the house.
I think he went up into the woods.
Part of living out here is respecting the land and
not killing stuff if you don't have to,
and definitely not maiming stuff.
And I don't want to risk putting this animal in pain
it doesn't need to be in.
At least now we know there's wolves around.
Big mother too.
I'm gonna walk up a little bit though,
see if I can't see him.
DANIEL: Some people think that having money is being wealthy.
To me, mine is a subsistence way of lifestyle.
♪ ♪
DANIEL: You don't want to be out there with the ice
when it starts moving.
The crabbing area is just right here,
and as you can see there's nobody here now.
On a nice day like this it looks safe, but it's not.
(cracking)
Yeah, the ice crack right there is a little pressure ridge.
It's always open.
You know, if it starts moving it's not safe.
If it moves real little here,
you know it's gonna move faster out there.
On the edge of the beach there, on the, uh,
on those cracks, you'll pretty much see if it's moving.
But, uh...
DANIEL: You know, they like this real thick ice.
There's bear tracks right there,
just from last night.
A small bear, not too big.
We were saying there wasn't going to be any, uh, no polar bears, but, you know,
this new fresh pack ice out there got polar bears.
That's a change of find, a good one.
Every now and then, if you're lucky, when the,
if the ice is thick enough,
the polar bears will be out here.
DANIEL: Hopefully we'll get a polar bear out there.
If there's one, there's gonna be more.
JODY: My people have lived here for millennia.
These furs provided the warm clothing that we wear.
It's a part of our way of life and our culture,
and our existence.
JODY: My mom taught me how to sew all of our traditional Han Gwich'in gear.
I take pride in having this skill set as an indigenous woman.
I'm using up a lot of my furs and my skins pretty quickly
making a lot of these projects.
We've already set some traps so we can replenish our own fur supply, um,
because we always need furs for different projects.
We'll also be able to sell some as well.
When we catch more than what we need,
it's also a good source of income.
So, it's getting cold enough that I need to start wearing my mukluks.
I finished the one side.
It's got moose hide bottoms, canvas uppers, and it's lined.
I'm just gonna work on this tonight so
I can start wearing mukluks tomorrow.
Because it was five below today,
and I think it'll probably drop maybe down to 20 below,
so it'll be nice and cold to wear these
and my feet will stay a lot warmer.
You really can't buy this stuff, there's nothing like it.
Our people have been wearing hides and furs from the land
for warmth, and for beauty forever.
Last stitch.
Taa-da!
My momma taught me that!
Being able to sew like this is one of my acts of love,
keeping my family warm.
Yeah, they feel good.
These are gonna be really warm.
LOUISE: What draws me and my people here,
is the beauty of the land.
It's not something everybody gets to experience.
TIG: Next time you gotta carry two guns, Ma.
Damn.
LOUISE: Okay.
TIG: We haven't been seeing any ptarmigan,
but you know, you spend enough time out here,
you know what you're looking for, you can spot them pretty easily.
You know, this is our farmland out here.
Just the same way the guys farm down the States,
this is our farmland out here.
The moose is our cattle.
The bear, that's like our pig.
Our chickens are right here in the trees.
Everything we need out here.
The berries, that's our fruit and vegetables.
A person can survive definitely just off of the land.
You do need salt though.
(laughter)
LOUISE: Willow grouse. TIG: Where?
Oh, yeah.
Hoping my gun is thawed out.
(gunshot)
LOUISE: Oh. TIG: (bleep).
He's hung up.
There's no glory in killing an animal.
That's our food, it's our culture,
it's our tradition.
It's what we've been raised upon.
I wouldn't go out there and kill these animals for nothing.
You know, if it wasn't out of necessity,
we wouldn't be out here doing these types of stuff.
Have to shake him down or somethin'.
He's really stuck.
♪
TIG: Leave it!
Whoo! Got 'em.
Whoo! Fat.
Willow grouse, they're about twice the size of a ptarmigan,
which is real good, you know,
it's a little more meat.
LOUISE: Awesome.
Get to eat chicken.
TIG: Not enough to bake but if we made a pot of soup with it
it'll feed all the kids tonight.
LOUISE: Yeah.
TIG: When we turn it into a pot of soup, you know,
the whole family can eat off of one small, one pound bird.
LOUISE: Nice and easy to pluck when it's warm.
TIG: Yeah!
Save that tail, we'll make a, a wall hanger out of that tail.
It's been a damn good day, you know,
we started out looking for ptarmigan we went out,
and we found a grouse which is twice as big and just as good.
And then that bag too, we'll make baby a rattle outta the bag.
LOUISE: Cool.
TIG: See outta this one bird, we got baby a new toy,
we got something for Louise to sew on,
we got something for us to eat tonight.
LOUISE: Pretty cool. TIG: Yeah.
LOUISE: Good ride.
TIG: Yeah, you just gotta be opportunistic out here.
Take what you get.
Someone down in the States they might think we're starving,
we're hungry people.
But if another native person was to look into my freezer they'd,
"Damn, you eat like a king man.
You eat good."
"Yeah, my kids eat good."
We got all of the best foods in our freezer.
We try hard, we work hard.
All right.
We're not going home skunked tonight.
JOEL: Wolves are definitely at the top of the food chain around here,
and the only animal competing with the wolves is human.
JOEL: The wolf was right here,
we followed his tracks off the lake.
He went in, and I saw him, and he was walking up the hill.
I can't see him now.
When we first saw him he was, like,
50 feet in front of the house so,
it's a little too close for comfort.
I'm gonna walk in there a little bit,
and see if, see if he's still back here.
He might have taken off.
His paw prints are, like, twice the size of my dog and
so Tracker's in the house.
(singing in native language)
JOEL: It looks like he killed a rabbit right here.
You know I think he was just laying here when I,
when I rolled in and scared him and he took off up the hill.
That was an unlucky rabbit right there.
That's fresh, there's not much to identify the body here.
But the hair looks too long to be a rabbit actually.
See these paw marks?
That was not a rabbit, think that was a lynx,
he was probably trying to get away.
See, right here too.
The lynx must have been sleeping right here and
that wolf snuck up and got him, mid nap.
Man.
Probably didn't stand a chance.
Just predators eatin' predators out here.
(sighs)
I think he's gone.
I'm sure I'll see him again.
He'll come back out on the ice, and I can get him.
Be a little quicker next time.
(groans)
He was just, you know, lone wolf out here in the woods.
Just kinda like me, you know.
Sticking to himself.
That was a good little side track,
but back to fishin'.
CHRIS: We're subsistence hunters here.
For thousands of years, this village has been hunting off
of the Bering Sea.
Living off the land.
CHRIS: Very hard to, uh,
spot a polar bear.
You gotta look real good.
Look at each high spots along the west coast of the island.
All this, uh, ice, locked in,
you could have a lot of polar bear coming in.
CHRIS: I see nothing here.
Go to the next point.
CHRIS: Back in the day there used to be bears all over.
They used to migrate this far south, all of them.
CHRIS: You could make skin, gloves,
you could also get food off 'em.
CHRIS: Watch it for awhile.
And after awhile that ice will get up.
You'll realize it's a polar bear.
Ah, I see something!
Oh, (bleep)!
CHRIS: Polar bear.
CHRIS: Good medium sized bear.
This is, uh, my cabin here.
On a, uh, pits stops I like to come stop by,
watch for bear hunting.
Damn! Broke my chimney.
Yeah, got some, uh, claw marks here.
Here and there.
CHRIS: Somebody sees a polar bear on the land,
you know, first one to see that, uh, bear the,
it's their bear.
You always gotta wait for your moment.
(gusting winds)
Have all this, uh, wind picking up and, uh,
snow cloud's comin' in and, uh,
the visibility is going down.
Seeing tracks, that's a good sign.
Just about going out, you know, as many times as you can,
eventually you'll run into one.
For now I'm gonna head back before the weather comes in.
Hopefully, I'll see some again some other trip.
JOEL: You know, it's about living in the moment,
not have to worry about what other people are thinking
what you're doing, just doing what you wanna do.
Not worry about all that crap.
JOEL: My personality definitely is drawn towards being alone.
Right now, I think there's probably only 15 people that
live here year round.
I am lucky if I see one person a week.
There's a low pressure system coming in and,
it's good weather if it's not blowing.
And this is why you mark your hole.
I didn't get much fishing in 'cause that wolf came by.
I ended up chasing after it, I was kinda protecting my dog.
Buncha, ice on there.
Oh, this is the deep one.
I think the bait's gone.
There might be fish down there.
So, I guess I shall bust out my fishing stick.
It's a high speed, low drag fishing pole right there.
You never know what you're gonna get out here.
Some days there's lots of fish, some days there's no fish.
Some days you're chasing wolves.
I don't see anything yet.
I don't think there's any fish down there.
I also might have scared the fish away when I was cutting
the ice pack out.
All right.
Living out here, it's a more difficult life than most people
are used to and, you have to have the right mindset.
And you have to be willing to adapt and be more patient.
Today we saw a wolf, tomorrow maybe we'll,
maybe we'll see a trout.
JODY: Living out here you always have to be ready to adapt.
You may have your mind to do something but then Mother Nature
will take you on a different direction.
JAMEY: You know winter it's coming, you know.
Change of weather, change of season.
You need to prepare for that.
Empty trap.
I'm gonna add a little bit of bait to this.
This is just some fish oil, like gives off more smell.
And I just dunk it in there and smear it around and
hang this up here.
Give a little odor.
Keeping this lifestyle alive is by having my kids out here,
having them grow up and love it.
Well, that was the last trap we got nothing in this set.
Hopefully, your mom has something.
After you.
Gotta have patience to be a trapper.
Sometimes you catch 'em, sometimes you don't.
JODY: When it's cold like this and you're out
I just feel so alive.
So it's been a few days since I set my wolverine snares so
I'm just gonna go up and check them and hope I got lucky.
I'm really hoping like if we get, you know,
a wolverine or two that would just set us up really nice.
And I'll have plenty to make nice ruffs and keep my family warm.
Uh-oh! Dang it!
JODY: Looks like our bait is missing up there.
Wow.
Well, something definitely got into it but
we didn't catch anything.
I'm seeing a lot of fox sign.
Huh.
Lucky bugger got away whatever it was.
I see fox and, uh, marten tracks.
Kinda crazy thinking about all the predator sign right here.
They even pissed here.
Took our bait, and these animals have just
been in here having fun.
The bait was here hooked on this wire.
We have more like, scent bait up there and
we had some branches here and the trap is here.
Under the snow.
I think it just didn't catch anything 'cause maybe the animal
wasn't heavy enough to spring the trap.
See?
(snaps)
Yup, it wasn't enough pressure for that.
Bummer! So close.
Time to reset.
You always get a little bit excited,
and like wondering if you have anything in that trap.
Of course, you hope that you've been blessed but
sometimes you don't get anything at all.
Son of a gun.
You're really at the mercy of when the animal decides to
give itself to you.
I have to think about my ancestors and
them living in this environment.
You know, we've always survived and been healthy and strong.
You know, it's just inspiring and I always try to remember
that the blood that ran through their veins is
the same blood that runs through my veins.
So, you just keep going.
LOUISE: Okay, this is what it looks like after it's all dried out.
It looks really nice, we've plucked out all
the bloody feathers.
I'm glad you girls are learning how,
this is something my mom showed me how to do.
I'm really excited to show my kids something that's been
passed down from generation to generation.
It says, "In loving memory of Anne K. Edwards."
That was your great, great grandma.
This is the scraps they saved from all their beading projects.
Because we don't waste anything.
It'll be four generations all together
that's worked on this project.
It's not just me and my kids,
it's something put together throughout generations.
SOPHIE: Where did you learn this?
LOUISE: I learned this from my mom.
I was about Amiya's age when I learned to sew on moose-skin.
She was always busy.
She'd be sewing on moose-skin,
she'd be knitting.
And now you guys will know how to do this too.
(rattling)
TIG: Makes a good rattle noise.
1,000 years ago one guy figured out how to tie one side off,
blow it up, dry it, and make it rattle.
Hand it to his kids they shook it and smiled, and you know,
1,000 years later it's still making kids smile.
Let's see if your brother wanted to try it.
You're the one.
LOUISE: You wanna try it out?
Watch where you hold it.
HAZEL: So right here? LOUISE: Yup.
Give it a good yank.
Pull it through, dainty little fingers.
I'll see, little bit more used to this.
That was easy!
What?
TIG: These Athabascan women they're prized women right here.
You got four in the making and one teaching them.
LOUISE: The fan I'm working on now is really special to me.
It's something I'm working on with my kids and
my great, great grandma was able to work on it and so
it's all really coming together from different generations, you know?
It shows a lot of love.
See?
It's a really touching moment for my kids to be able to work
on something my great, great grandma did.
TIG: You don't have to be rich,
you don't have to have a lot of money.
This is just the types of things that my kids enjoy and I,
I guarantee they're gonna remember these types of little moments all their life.
Pretty.
No other better way to honor our ancestors and
our elders than passing on these things that we learn from them.
We're just trying to ensure our bloodline knows how to do
these types of traditional things.
They'll carry it on, teach their kids that, you know,
that's how this goes on and on forever.
DANIEL: Our weather is, uh,
basically our, uh, what we follow.
It determines what we do out here.
That's how we live.
That's what feeds the family.
You know looking at all this, uh,
water out there it, uh, you know, it looks promising.
I brought Chris out hunting when he was in diapers and a bottle.
I taught him how to survive out in the environment.
It's amazing how at a young age he excelled
in his, uh, hunting.
Chris is turning into a young man now.
His time is coming.
It doesn't have to be the biggest game.
Out there in the Bering Sea,
even the smallest ones I give a lot of respect.
All the way down to the smallest animal
that we can hunt out there.
And learning to use it properly, positively,
something you have to put in your heart.
It's a good experience to pass that knowledge down
to younger generations.
Feels natural, you know.
Like the wind.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.