♪ ♪
denise: It feels a lot different opening up the rack this year.
We keep the dog food in here for our whole team that
we depend on.
Where there should be salmon hanging and plentiful food,
there's empty space.
The river has been shut down.
The state has completely posted no fishing whatsoever
on the yukon river.
Period.
We basically have these set, one pole per day.
So, we'll be able to get by a couple extra weeks,
but I just really feel like we're doing the countdown now.
It's time to really figure out what we're gonna do in lieu of
not having the chum salmon.
(theme music plays).
We got everything?
Nets and gear and gun and, maybe we'll get a fish.
Andy: We'll try.
Tough year on the yukon river this year.
Both these chum salmon run and the king salmon run are crashing.
So they've closed down the entire yukon river to any
subsistence activity that could potentially catch a salmon.
Yeah, let's go see what we can catch.
The things that we normally fish with during the year,
number one is a fish wheel.
I'm not allowed to put that in.
Number two is a large five-inch mesh net to catch
chum salmon, I can't do that.
I can put a hook in the yukon river,
and I'm allowed to fish in side streams and back sloughs
of the yukon, as long as it's with gear that isn't gonna
catch any king salmon.
But it's not gonna equate to the hundreds of pounds of meat
that I normally would get with salmon.
It's probably the most valuable resource to me.
And when I don't get that, it really throws a monkey wrench
in my whole way of life out here with my dogs.
Right in here off this little peninsula might be good, denise.
Our game plan right now is to spend a few days and put out
every means of fishing that we have available to us.
And try and make up just a fraction of the amount of food
that we normally would've gotten.
But a little bit of something is better than nothing of anything.
So, that's what we're up against right now.
We're gonna stick in a fyke net.
That's a, a really great way of fishing because you can
capture fish alive and you can pick the ones you want and
throw the little guys back or a species that you don't wanna eat.
That'll work good.
Start pushing the boat over.
I've done a lot of experimenting over the years with this,
knowing that this was gonna happen and trying to
understand what effort I could put in and what I could
expect out of it.
You know, it's just gonna take a lot more work.
We'll do our best and see what comes of it.
Well, we're fishing 80%, 90% of the creek,
so that's good.
They get by us, they deserve to live.
Denise: Yeah.
Jessie: Just keep focused.
You keep putting your head down and you keep working hard.
Put more heart, more drive, more thought into this.
This is it. This is the beginning of the best season of my life.
This part right here is a stabilizer bar from my rear suspension.
Snapped it right off.
Been working this machine hard,
training the dogs all summer.
Using it to haul water, it does a lot of work around here for me.
So I got the part.
And I'm gonna figure out how to fix it myself.
Fall comes quick in the alaska range.
It's really starting to set in.
It's really starting to cool down.
My training is ramping up.
I'm getting ready for a trip up into the mountains with the
dogs to set up a remote training camp,
explore some new territories, spend some quality time.
I didn't move out here just to train on the highway.
I'm looking for something to challenge the dogs mentally
and physically more.
More high mountain training,
some getting off the trail training,
some creek crossings,
some new stuff to challenge the minds of the dogs.
Here, we know every bend of the trail right now.
I want to get off the highway, get up into the high country.
We want to get out there to where we don't know what
we're gonna see.
All right, I got my stabilizer bar replaced.
I'm gonna start packing and get ready to hit the road.
I've got my side-by-side all fixed up and in running order,
so that's a relief.
Be loading that up on a trailer behind my dog truck.
And once we get to a good point to start hooking up the
dogs and leave the truck behind.
Be packing everything that we need into the side-by-side and
taking off from there.
(barking).
I've got some newer members of my team that I've got a lot of
faith in that could make it better this year.
I'm gonna be taking out half and half.
Half veterans, half question marks.
I'm gonna see how these question marks do on a big trip.
Get 'em out in some wilder country where I'm emulating
life on the trail.
Come on now, load up. Load up, kors.
Come on, there you go. Stay in the back.
Now, everybody's loaded up and there's nothing but adventure ahead of us.
Ricko: Harsh environment out here, so your word is everything.
If you don't stand by your word,
things will turn out to bite you in the end.
This is a big surprise for you, kids.
Skyler: Where are we going? Ricko: I'll show you.
Okay.
This is a good spot, see how the smoke is blowing through.
Skarlett: Yeah.
Ricko: It helps to clear the bugs out.
You know what we should do right here?
Skyler: What? Skarlett: What?
Ricko: Build a tree house. Skarlett: Yeah.
This is gonna be where I'm staying,
it's gonna be big.
Skyler: Yeah. It's gonna be big.
It's gonna be all around these trees.
Ricko: The kids could learn a lot building a tree house.
We build smokehouses and we build caches with the same
basic pattern.
Further down the road, this is the skills they're gonna need to know.
You see all the jack spruce back here?
Skyler: Uh-huh.
Ricko: Those we could use for building the structure.
So we got a lot of work to do, but the first thing we're
gonna do is clear this whole area out.
Skarlett: Okay.
Ricko: Maybe just burn it down here,
right against the water.
I wanna clear the area of brush and trees around this tree house
because this is the place they're gonna be playing in,
I don't want no bears sneaking up on them and
I also want some wind blowing through it so it can keep the
gnats and mosquitoes down.
Holy! A lot of stuff you're raking up.
Okay, we did a good job here.
Cleared out this whole area.
I'll get the chainsaw going.
We got a lot of poles that we need.
There's a lot of things you can build from just sourcing
out material that's natural to your environment around here.
I'll limb it and you guys carry them back.
That's important for the kids to not only learn to use tools
but learn how to use the material that's growing naturally.
We got about 10 to 15 of these we're gonna get.
Timber!
My whole life, we had tree houses.
It's kind of a tradition out here to have a tree house to
play in when you're a kid, so I'm looking forward to putting
a new one up around here.
The kids are a huge help today, more than I realized.
Skyler is working like a beast.
Skyler: I didn't think it would be this much work to
build something so fun, but I mean,
we're gonna have a lot of fun at the end,
so it's kinda worth working hard.
Ricko: Okay. Let me get one more pole.
You guys are giving 100% and that's what counts.
Okay. Bend your knees.
There you go. Good job.
Okay. We got our material.
Now, we can start building.
Sue: Alaska's a wild place and I'm a long way from help.
Are there challenges?
Daily.
That's what I thrive on.
All righty.
Well, it looks like the earlier floods took a bunch
more of the roadway out.
I'm gonna say I probably lost 30 feet of bank just this last year.
The old trail system, there's a stretch of the road where
it's washed out.
It's well-used by not only me, but clients that come through.
If people go bombing down the road,
not paying attention, you can reach a dangerous part of that
road and slip.
First things first is to get out some flagging tape and
mark this roadway far enough back so that people know don't
go any further this way.
It's just simply not safe.
To maintain safety for the people that come through and
even myself, I need to mark where is it safe to get off
the road and onto the approved access,
and then where is it good to get back on.
Seems like a silly chore, but nothing that keeps people safe is silly.
They're not gonna drive off the cliff with this here.
Oh, there's animals over there.
Let's see what they are.
I've got two really nice-looking bulls over there.
This is a chance to fill the freezer.
(animal call).
Any of us remote people, if you're living off the land,
you are an opportunist.
And jump on the opportunity as it arises.
(animal call).
And I've tried to make any noise.
They're curious.
(animal call).
All right.
(gunshot).
I can see the area he went down in.
I don't see him getting back up.
For me to get to where he's at,
I've got to get down from the bank,
cross the river there and then head over to where he's laying there.
It's a hell of a place to cross.
But I've gotta get it done.
Still in shock, I was not expecting that.
But to survive, you make the best out of
whatever opportunity arises.
Ricko: We can't go to the store.
We can't hire a construction team.
But hammers, nails, axes, chainsaw is all you need.
Skyler: Dad. Ricko: Whoa, what the heck?
Snowing on you, huh?
Narrator: Ricko and his children, skyler and skarlett,
are building a tree house near the family cabin.
The tree house will give the kids a space to play at
the grounds and will also allow ricko to teach them vital knowledge
and skills that they will carry into adulthood.
Ricko: Okay. Grab that side.
(grunts)
ricko: Let's get the four corners up.
Okay. About right there is high enough.
Can you hold it right there, skar?
Skarlett: Yeah.
Ricko: Okay.
See this little bubble here?
Skyler: Uh-hmm.
Ricko: You gotta put it, so it sits in the middle.
Skyler: That's perfect!
Ricko: We nailed it.
Okay next, across there.
Tree house build might seem simple,
but the kids learn a lot.
Kids learn to use the level, the hammer.
They see me cutting with the chainsaw.
They're gonna use these skills they're learning on
this tree house later on in life.
Hey, this thing looks good.
I gotta cut some more bigger poles and just
put 'em all the way across.
And then we can lay the floor on.
The kids, they basically are like sponges.
They want to get hands-on on these tools and that's
what's important is having them engaged in helping me.
My job as a father is just kinda lead them and let them
kinda take control so that they have big ownership.
Skyler: I'm having a lot of fun working.
I just like building, and this is like a good start for me.
Ricko: So, the floor is done.
Let's get a ladder made.
I grew up tough, but we also played a lot and
that's really important to growing up,
is learning how to use your imagination and have fun.
Let's put this here.
So it's really important I teach the kids to work with a
fun project because that really opens their mind and
makes them think outside the box and really become creative.
Skyler: I want to try.
Ricko: Test it out. How does that feel?
Skyler: Feels good.
Ricko: See if it's good enough for me.
Oh, yeah. Solid.
Got the ladder,
got the floor, now we just need the roof.
Put things away, start up again tomorrow.
Andy: Living out here is nothing but adaptation.
Conditions change.
If you don't jump on it,
you might as well kiss it goodbye.
Andy: You don't have to do much tying it off,
just try and get the boat tied to something, okay?
Denise: Okay.
Andy: All right.
I think what I wanna do is we'll try and drop the
net in right here.
It's a pretty long net.
It might almost make it to the other side there.
Denise: Wow.
Andy: And there's not much current in here,
so I'm hoping what we can do is just stretch it all
the way across and go from there.
Denise: Okay.
Andy: I've got no idea what I'm doing here.
Denise: I don't believe that.
Today, we're gonna attempt to see what we can get for
alternative sources of protein here.
Any kind of fish, any size of fish out of the creeks and
streams around here since the yukon river is a no-go for us.
There's a lot of possibilities,
but they're slim.
It's very slim pickings.
When you take the yukon river out of the picture for us,
we're scrambling.
Andy: If we can, we're gonna set a couple
of different nets.
Different types of nets.
It's pretty deep out there.
Eight to ten feet deep.
And so we'll just see if we can't see if there are any
fish in here we'll see if we.
Denise: What kind of fish do you think will be
coming up here?
Andy: I don't know, maybe some grayling.
Maybe, maybe a pike every now and then.
Denise: Grayling is good.
Andy: You know, sheefish might come up here.
I don't know.
We'll see, that's the whole thing,
I have no idea.
I don't fish these side rivers very often,
but we're being forced to this year, so.
Pretty much everything out here relies on harvesting.
And if you're not allowed to harvest,
then it means you have to adapt and that's what we're
gonna have to do right now.
Just hold onto the float ends and try to get those out.
Potentially, we might catch pike.
That's probably the most abundant.
We might catch burbot, which is a bottom feeding fish.
But it'd probably take about 15 or 20 pike to
equal one chum salmon.
So, it's gonna be challenging,
it's gonna be frustrating,
it'll be fun because anytime we catch anything
around here is a plus.
But knowing what we could've done and knowing what we're
probably gonna end up with is pretty devastating right now.
Okay. Let's go back and we'll just snug it up on
that snag and then let's go down and check the fyke net,
see if we got any fish in there to eat.
Denise: Okay. That would be good.
Andy: Should be able to see if there's fish in there, really.
Denise: Yeah. It's really clear.
Andy: Whoa, there's a big pike right here.
Denise: Oh, look at that.
Andy: Giant pike right there. Denise: Oh. Oh, no.
Andy: What the hell are they doing in there?
Denise: Oh, look at that. Andy: Giant pike right there.
Denise: Oh. Oh, no.
Andy: What the hell are they doing in there?
Two beavers?
Holy (bleep).
Well, that's why that pike wasn't in there.
Kind of a disappointment for denise and I actually,
we were excited to come up to a net and hopefully
have a bunch of pike.
But it was full of beavers before it could
fill up with pikes.
So, it's one thing if you're purposefully going
after a beaver to hunt it or to trap it.
You're in a different mindset.
I'm not opposed to trapping them in the wintertime,
but summer time's not the time that I would wanna
normally harvest a beaver.
Denise: I'm just thinking of all the ways we can maximize
the use of these guys, andy.
Andy: Well, they'll be our food, they'll be dog food.
The skin the pelt out. The hair will be okay.
If we didn't want it hair,
you can just turn it into leather.
Beaver leather is really nice, you know.
You know, it, it's just really hard for us to see
something like that happen.
We both dealt with it fine and we're both gonna be
happy to have a good meal out of beaver.
We're gonna be really happy if we get some hides tanned up
and make something really nice out of 'em.
You know, whatever we do with 'em,
it'll turn that negative of catching them incidentally
into something that's a real positive.
And that's the way we like to live our life.
I think we're good.
Let's get going.
Jessie: Their enthusiasm is part of the magic of these animals.
You keep that enthusiasm up, they can take you anywhere.
Jessie: Okay, I just left my place and I'm heading east on the denali highway.
I'll be taking some mining roads up into the clearwater mountains
and I got 16 dogs with me in my truck.
Getting to get out with a full-size team and go
exploring some new territory way up in the mountains is
just about the most exciting prospect of the summer so far.
Narrator: On the denali highway,
jessie holmes is traveling deep into the nearby mountains
to scout new training grounds for his sled dogs.
This journey will present a crucial opportunity for jessie
and the dogs to learn of the potential blessings and
the potential dangers that come with the unknown.
Jessie: This is absolutely incredible.
This is a nice-looking spot to be able to get off the road.
Nice creek for the dogs to be able to get a drink in.
Good clear shot for me to be able to get back on the trail.
I'll be heading up into these mountains.
It's gorgeous out here.
Can't wait to see what's out in that valley and
around that bend.
One of the beautiful things about this trip is I chose to
bring eight of my veterans and eight rookie dogs
that really aren't as familiar with racing with me.
But bringing them out here, I can train the dogs.
I can slow the process down,
and start breaking down the details.
All right. We're ready to roll!
Gotta get outta here before something breaks.
Gonna give the dogs a really good,
long run before we find somewhere to set up camp.
Yee-haw!
Ho, ho.
Haw, alpy, haw, haw. There you go.
Straight, straight, there you go.
Straight ahead, good.
There's a huge mountain range to the east of here,
capped in snow still.
For me, it makes sense to take the dogs up there.
Get out into some new country, go have some fun exploring,
do our homework now so we can be going up in
that direction this winter.
The psychology of the dogs is that they love to explore.
They love to hunt.
They love to feel the thrill of being in a pack,
going through unexplored territory.
So do I.
I see a lot of options that I can explore more in the morning.
But right now I'm just trying to stay in the safest
path and take some steam out of these dogs.
They're really strong.
They're really excited to be in a big team.
This is what it's all about.
Getting out here in new country, cold mountain air.
It's exhilarating, it's a little bit nerve-racking even
with this many dogs.
Haw.
♪ ♪
whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.
Oh (bleep).
Trail's taking us up pretty far into the mountains.
And all of a sudden the dogs just overshot straight out
into the brush and they went clear off a cliff
it looks like to me.
Hey, oh, all right, all right, all right.
It looks a little sketchy but I'm kind of committed.
I'm gonna ease down this nice and slow.
Easy. Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Easy, easy. Easy, easy.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Haw, haw, haw.
Good.
I made it out of that.
It was a hell of a predicament to be in,
but my bond with the dogs and them trusting me,
what could've been a bad situation was resolved in teamwork.
I didn't come out here just to run the dogs.
I also want to train the young dogs.
Good, straight, straight, straight.
Haw, haw.
Them seeing me give commands to the veteran dogs and how
quickly they respond to me and how confidently they respond to me,
they start connecting the dots and they start
learning the commands.
The dogs learn so much here.
Straight ahead, guys.
Right there.
Ho, good.
Easy guys.
All right, this is gonna be the spot to camp
for the night.
I was able to put a good, long run on the dogs.
Get 'em through some challenging terrain.
This is an excellent spot.
It is beautiful.
Good dogs.
I'm gonna get these guys' straw out.
It's a signal, we're stopping.
It's time to calm down.
It's time to go to sleep, get some rest for tomorrow.
I know you guys really ain't that tired,
but we got to save some energy for tomorrow.
I want to fill up their fuel tanks,
get some food in their bellies.
Get them all comfortable and situated,
then I'm gonna set up my tent.
Have a nice fire, cook up some food,
have some tea.
Enjoy the night.
Well, it's not the greatest night in the world as far as
weather goes but it ain't gonna ruin my parade and
my party here.
I got my dogs, I got my fire.
Just make the best of what we got here, you know.
This is a beautiful place to camp, tomorrow's another day.
I'm looking forward to getting further up into the mountains,
exploring some of these valleys.
It's time to crash out for the night, get some sleep.
I'm gonna get up early in the morning and start doing some
traveling off the beaten path.
Sue: If you're gonna hunt for your own meat,
you're gonna get your hands dirty.
Red is the color of success.
Sue: All right, time to get my little furry buddy home.
Narrator: After spotting two bull caribou,
sue was able to harvest one of the animals.
This unexpected opportunity has brought her one step
closer to having a full stockpile of caribou meat
for the coming winter.
Sue: Buddy, thank you so much.
I'm gonna get you loaded up but don't you think for one
minute I forgot about your heart rock, I did not.
Thank you, buddy.
I bet you this guy weights about 220, 210 maybe.
Where's my grandson when I need him?
Ugh, okay now his booty's in here.
Oh, wow, take a look at that.
Sue: He's hanging out across the river back where
I was working.
There's a chance I can get a twofer and round out my tags.
That's important for me.
I don't get this kind of a setup too often.
This is just the day of the caribou.
If I can get a twofer, hell yeah.
Oh, he's a little far off.
See if I can call him down.
(animal call)
come on, just come a little closer.
(animal call)
come on, come on, come on, come on, come on down the road.
Come on, come on.
(animal call)
I mean, he's like (bleep) 500 yards away.
And there's so much brush in the way.
Can't see him anymore. We lost him.
(inaudible) it.
One thing I can do is go across the river...
See where he's at.
If I can get over here and get another shot that's gonna round out
this evening, a twofer,
I'll have my work cut out for me.
But I've gotta fill my freezer.
There he is, there he is, there he is, there he is.
I'm gonna start just kinda hunching down and making my
way a little closer.
(animal call)
(gunshot)
I don't want him to run.
Go down, go down, go down!
He's down.
Oh, my gosh.
Baby.
Yep, he's dead.
You will not be forgotten.
Thank you.
These are my caribou for the season,
this rounds it all out.
I got food to put away for the winter.
What I need to do now is just get this closer to
home and get the meat hanging.
Ricko: Having kids is beautiful.
Do I get to relive my past and try to make their
future more beautiful than I ever had it?
Ricko: The roof will be lower on this side,
higher on that side.
That way rain and snow can slide off.
So, the floor's done, then we'll keep moving and
hopefully get this roof on.
Lift up on that end.
And I'm gonna tack it on while you're holding it, okay?
The kids have been really enjoying the tree house build.
It's a lot of work building a tree house
but it's also been a lot of fun.
I think they're gonna learn a lot by doing this.
I hope this is right.
I'm blaming it on you if it isn't.
Skyler: What?
Ricko: Oh, you get an award.
I wouldn't be able to do this without you, sky.
Skyler: Thanks.
Ricko: Awesome.
Okay, we're ready for the first sheet of iron.
It's not heavy, it's just cumbersome.
I work hard all the time and I try to stay busy.
But even if you're working,
you can have a lot of fun doing it.
Oh, yeah. Okay, I think that's it.
Time to be acrobatic.
Oh, oh, there we go.
Thank you.
Skyler: This is so cool.
Like none of the tree houses I've been on had a roof.
Ricko: Look at your view.
Skyler: Yeah. I know.
Ricko: Geez, this is a million-dollar view right here.
We got this tree house built,
but let's do a few more things like little balancing poles,
do a swing from right here.
Skyler: Yeah.
Ricko: How about this one? Just go through up there.
Somehow, someway, I managed to raise these kids so they have
enthusiasm to work and that's what makes me feel real good.
Good old sailor's knot.
Here you go.
My kids are small but they gave it 110%.
They didn't stop once, they pushed all the way through
and couldn't have done it without the kids.
Okay, you guys ready?
Skarlett: Yeah.
Skyler: Uh-hmm. That was awesome.
Skarlett: I wanna try.
Ricko: I had a lot of fun building this tree house.
I think the fun for me is just seeing my kids have fun.
I kind of owe them that.
You know, I'm their father.
If I'm able to help them have something in life that brings
enjoyment like that tree house,
that makes me feel a lot better about myself.
Whoa! Awesome.
Man, I feel like I'm 10 years old again.
(laughter)
andy: The interior of alaska,
you can live here but you gotta work to live here.
It's not abundant.
♪ ♪
andy: 30 pounds.
So, between the two of these,
it's probably gonna be 40 pounds of meat, so.
Denise: Well, 40 pounds is a lot.
40 pounds will go a long ways.
Andy: For us.
That's one meal for the dog team, maybe two, max.
Because there's nothing like meat to feed the dogs.
You know, we're buying the best quality commercial dog
food that's on the market right now.
And not only is it gonna cost us more than double,
maybe triple, the dogs aren't gonna do well on that.
We're gonna have to find some other source of fat just with
losing one resource.
But anyway, let's just get all this stuff taken care.
Denise: Okay, yes.
Andy: Best we can this morning.
Denise: Yeah.
Andy: And then we'll go out and check those nets.
And see if our efforts yesterday were worth it or not.
Neither denise or I are people that live in the past.
But nature does have a way of kicking you in the teeth.
When that happens, you know there are two ways
you can deal with that.
You can feel sorry for yourself and lick your wounds
and not do a damn thing or you could dust yourself off and go
do something that's productive with your life and your time.
You know, pretty much every part of a beaver is usable.
In this case, we're gonna be feeding the bones to the dogs,
salvaging as much meat for ourselves and salvaging the
hide for ourselves to tan up and use it later.
That looks pretty darn good to me.
What's this like?
Denise: Oh, look at it all.
It, that really shows it off,
what beautiful hides they have.
Andy: Yup.
Why don't we take it over and put it in the old workshop?
Denise: Okay.
Andy: So nothing can get in there to it.
You wanna go over and hang it up in there?
Denise: Get this hung up and then we better get,
and check the nets.
Okay, here we go, fingers crossed.
Let's see what we got.
Andy: Looks like it's a little bit murkier today.
Denise: It is, definitely.
Andy: Moment of truth, do we have any fish or not?
Denise: Wow.
This is really good, andy.
Andy: Looks like there's another one.
Denise: Oh.
Andy: Yeah, that's a pike.
Denise: Oh, that's a nice size, look at that.
Andy: Yeah.
Denise: Oh, and then there's more.
Nice.
Andy: Surprised me.
Denise: Yeah, it did. This is a great surprise.
Our cooler's getting full.
Andy: This is great.
This is a cool thing to know that we can come here
and catch these fish, if we need to.
But as far as like replacing dog food or the fall chum,
it's not even close,
it's not even a drop in the bucket.
Neither one of us mind working hard.
We both actually like working hard,
but we want a good payoff from the labor and time we put into something.
Unless we're really lucky, it's probably really not gonna
be very good bush economics.
And for me, it's all about bush economics.
Denise: Think we got room for this?
Andy: Here we go, there it is.
Forget about fishing for dogs out of the yukon river.
Let's start making another game plan up and then right now,
why don't we go get that beaver on the barbecue.
Denise: Yes.
Andy: And enjoy a good meal of that.
It's a positive from a negative.
Denise: Yup.
Andy: I think this year,
given my experience over 30 years on the river,
it's gonna be a very different year for us.
And there may be no substitute for the fall chum salmon.
It's hot. Give it a few minutes.
Denise: Thank you. Looks good.
The salmon that we have now will get us just to the
beginning of winter.
So, that's obviously a huge problem.
Boy, these treats smell really good, topaz,
I don't know.
I think I want one of these treats.
They don't understand what's going on with the chum salmon.
They just depend on us for bringing them their fish at
the end of a hard working day, like we depend on them to
bring us our firewood in the winter.
We've got to come up with something,
and we'll keep trying until we do.
Yeah, we'll get you lots to eat all winter long.
Yes, we will, one way or another.
Yes, we will.
Sue: I've gotta keep all of my body healthy.
Not just well-fed, it's gotta be well-nourished.
Sue: So if you see I'm peeling back some of this velvet.
I really don't wanna get all the blood on me.
I want a lot of it to stay in.
I like being well-rounded and I like using every part
of the animal.
I don't often have a chance to get bulls in this stage of
growth with their antlers.
If you can get the velvet in this stage,
you can have a tincture or you can make a salve that will
help with joint damage, cartilage damage.
It helps with the regeneration and the pain.
Having so much work done on the spine,
and the joints, and the legs,
and the ankles over the last several years.
Pain is a real thing for me.
Pain happens, age happens.
We do what we can.
All righty, so now, I have got a bucket full of velvet.
The tincture that I'm making,
you can do it several different ways.
So you've got one for your joints,
one for a blood purifier and then you have an oil,
which you can rub on.
One good medicine saves me $5,000 each way
to town and back, a doctor's appointment,
how many blood tests to get at what I already told him
that I'm in pain and I need something and then how much
per month for a pill?
So I've got one, two, three, four different products.
So, well done on this, but now comes the part that
I've been waiting for.
I do have a little bit of the caribou meat, I sliced off,
I flattened, put a little bit of spice on it and
make myself something kind of yummy.
All in all, it's a pretty amazing day.
Everything always works out the way it's supposed to,
seldom how you think it will.
I didn't anticipate all of this when I set out to
mark a detour on a road.
Let's see what we have here.
Occasionally, detours are the sweetest part of life.
You see and do things flying 90 miles an hour
down the highway of life, you miss.
So yeah, I'll take the detour.
It's definitely good eating.
Jessie: If you wanna be a champion you gotta be willing
to go above and beyond what everybody else is gonna do.
I'm gonna do everything I can to be one step ahead
of my competition.
Jessie: Hey, guys.
Wow, you guys look cozy.
But today's about setting out and doing things other people
aren't willing to do because that's what makes champions.
You know, whenever we forge a bond together,
overcoming all the obstacles that are out here.
All right, fellas, gals, ready?
All right?
You ready?
Good.
That's what I'm talking about,
that's a well-trained team.
All right, guys, let's go exploring.
Nice early morning, leaving camp with the dogs.
The dogs are rocking and rolling.
Always love this moment after they camp,
how they get in a groove and they,
they start settling into a nice pace and learning
the country now and that's exciting.
Gee, looks like go right there.
Now, we're climbing up into some really beautiful
mountains right now.
Everything I'm doing right now has a purpose.
At some point,
I'm gonna have to break away from the competition.
Being able to come out here and train in uncertain
circumstances prepares the dogs to do that for me.
When I ask them, I know they're gonna respond.
That gives me confidence, it gives them confidence in me.
It gives me confidence that there's nothing
we can't conquer.
And to do something that's extremely challenging,
for some of these young dogs,
they've never done anything like this.
So, it's really incredible to see them stepping up
to the game.
All right, good dogs, good dogs.
The dogs have had a great training run out here.
I want to cap it off with a nice run up the
mountain with them.
So I'm gonna lead the pack up this mountain.
It'll be a nice cool down for their muscles,
but it'll be a good workout for me.
Dogs ain't the only one that needs some exercise.
Don't wanna leave out of here without coming and enjoying
this grand view here.
You know, really got to learn the country,
got to spend some time going up that valley,
up this valley.
And there's about 20 more valleys for me to
explore out here.
Jessie: Come wintertime, it's gonna be unlimited what
I can do with the knowledge that I now have here.
This has been an incredible training trip.
It's opened up so many new doors for our training
in the future.
And the bond that I have with these dogs,
sitting up here, above the clouds,
like I've reached the highest point I could ever
reach in my life.
I just don't even know how it can get better than this.
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