♪ ♪
RJ: We're gonna go over to Kupreanof.
There's a bunch of black bears over there.
Kupreanof and Kuiu Island have the densest population of
black bear probably in the world.
KAMILIA: You're gonna have to teach me a lot this trip because
I am terrified of bears.
RJ: Yeah.
KAMILIA: You're gonna have to really walk me through this hunt.
RJ: Well these, these black bears are a little different.
They're so testy.
KAMILIA: The black bears. RJ: Yeah.
They don't see people as much as the brown bears over on
the other islands and they don't get shot at as much here.
KAMILIA: Living in Alaska, we are faced with danger every day.
RJ: These bears are just waking up from the hibernation,
they can be pretty hungry.
They're pretty aggressive.
I'm sure they're itching to get some food in their stomach,
but we are too.
But I'm not just out here by myself.
I'm, I'm here with Kamilia and all of them.
I need to be extra prepared to make sure that they are okay as well.
(theme music playing).
RJ: Oh, check it out.
There's some, uh, some orcas over here.
KAMILIA: Oh my goodness.
That is insane.
Look at the little baby.
(laughter)
RJ: I'm always surprised at what Alaska throws at you.
It's, it's incredible.
This is what I live for, for moments like these.
Are you to get this show on the road,
go try to find a black bear?
KAMILIA: Yes. RJ: All right.
It's a good start to the trip.
KAMILIA: Yeah, it is.
RJ: Oh, there's a bear right now.
There's a black bear.
KAMILIA: Stop. RJ: Right there.
Yep, there is.
KAMILIA: Oh, my gosh right there?
RJ: Yeah. You see it? KAMILIA: Yes. I see it.
RJ: Yeah, that's a black bear.
KAMILIA: That's a big one. RJ: Yeah, that thing was huge.
KAMILIA: Yeah, it was.
RJ: I think we're gonna go down and anchor the boat up.
Hopefully get a bear tonight.
KAMILIA: Strangely enough, a few nights ago I had a dream
that I was attacked by a black bear.
Frightening to have these dreams.
The danger is there, so I'm really hoping that
that's not going to happen.
KALEB: It's early spring time.
The snows all melted out.
It's nice and warm out.
So, it's time to do projects that will improve our lifestyle.
And be a benefit for our family.
BRITTANY: So, let's try laying it out and see what we think.
KALEB: Yep.
Yeah, not a bad size for a greenhouse.
BRITTANY: No.
Kaleb and I decided this year it's time for us to do a garden.
KALEB: Yeah.
So what we need to do is cut everything to length.
BRITTANY: Mm-hmm.
KALEB: And then we got to drill holes in there and
start thinking about pounding ground posts in the gravel.
(laughs)
BRITTANY: It's gonna be fun. KALEB: Oh, boy.
BRITTANY: Our hope is to harvest enough to where
we can eat it for quite a while.
And then we can also put it up in cans and freezing.
That way we have it throughout the winter.
KALEB: This is a 16 by 24 greenhouse.
These boards will lay on the ground.
We'll pound the post into the, into the dirt.
I don't know how far they're gonna go.
Well, that's kind of a crap shoot if you ask me,
but I'll make a try.
BRITTANY: Where do you want this?
KALEB: Right there.
So, I gotta get started cutting.
Make this all the right size, stand it all up,
and start pounding stakes down.
Time to make some noise.
(whirring)
All right, I got these all cut to length and now I've gotta do
this next step, which is, screwing all this together.
Uh...
Gonna screw 'em to the end.
Screw 'em in the middle, screw 'em on this end, and, uh,
everything will be happy then.
JOHNNY: Here in Alaska,
you gotta hunt to survive and if seasons change,
you have to take advantage of what's in the locality,
and not every hunt is gonna be successful,
but you don't really have any other options.
But to keep looking.
JOHNNY: Yeah, that Eagle's doing the same thing I'm doing, hunting.
You know, we're after different animals.
He's after fish.
I'm after black bear.
This time of year, I migrate with the animals,
and I leave the Brook's Range and
I come to South Central Alaska.
You know, there's two very important hunts every year.
Fall hunt for winter meat and spring hunt for the summer meat.
And right now I'm going after the elusive black bear
for my summer meat.
This is the meat that carries me through until I go back north
into the Brooks Range, but it's always daunting.
If I don't get a bear, it's very hand to mouth.
So that's why it's important to get just a big,
solid wholesale style of food,
and that's a bear for me.
You know, bears man, they just like pop up out of nowhere
and just, you least expect it.
It's how it always is, you know?
(gusting winds)
Cool.
All right Java, come on.
I'm looking for like grass that's been clipped.
It looks like somebody took like a weed eater and, uh,
that's from the black bear eating at it.
I'm just trying to see what's been cut.
Here you go. Right here.
You see the grass has been clipped.
She smells it.
So, normal blades of grass come to a point at the top.
These all come to points, and you look at these ones that's
been clipped and this, you can see it's a little brown on top.
It's been chomped on, it's been eaten little patches here
and there, so a bear has been coming down here.
The bears don't go far from any food source,
and right now the food source is the grass.
If it's been there once, it's gonna come back.
I just have to be in the right place at the right time.
CHEVIE: We live on Innoko River for a reason.
Gives us a lot of fish.
Gives us a lot of access, but when it wants to take,
there's nothing you could do about it.
SONTA: Truck is this, are they gonna move that?
Or are they just gonna let the front end get flooded?
CHEVIE: Does it look like it's in the water right now?
SONTA: Yeah, it's in the water.
CHEVIE: All right, let's check on this cabin.
SONTA: Yeah, the water's really high in Shageluk.
That's a sign that we better go check on the cabin today.
It's coming up.
Would you still say about an inch an hour?
CHEVIE: Gotta be. SONTA: About an inch an hour.
CHEVIE: Gotta be something like that.
And there's so much water on the Innoko 'cause we had a lot of snow.
A late spring.
The mountain runoff's finally starting,
and this water's gonna keep on coming up.
And I'm really concerned about our cabin down river because it
is not on high ground.
SONTA: Dang, Chev. Look at that bridge.
I've never seen the water that high.
CHEVIE: If that bridge goes out,
we'd have a real emergency here in Shageluk.
This is our access to the outside world.
Anything that comes into this community that people rely on,
comes across that bridge.
SONTA: The bridge is essentially a lifeline to everywhere else.
You know, there's really no way out of the community.
CHEVIE: Yep.
SONTA: And it's a concern for safety and medical needs or emergencies.
CHEVIE: And right by that bridge is the power plant and
that powers the whole community.
If the water gets high enough to start to reach those
transformers underneath it, we have to shut the power down.
Mother Nature could say you're going back
in time, 30, 40 years, 50 years.
We start worrying about food security for people and
different stuff like that, just.
It's, uh, it's a real deal.
You gotta be one or two steps ahead of it, so...
SONTA: Yep.
Definitely don't wanna be behind a situation like this.
CHEVIE: Yep.
The water's coming up fast, it's not going down.
SONTA: So should we go check on the cabin?
CHEVIE: Let's do it.
Where Sonta and I and the kids live is up on a hill.
We're in a safe location, but what I'm worried about is
our remote cabin that's right on the river.
SONTA: The water's super high here.
I mean, it definitely is concerning to me.
Let's just get to the cabin.
Chevy, you're really looking.
You gotta really look.
CHEVIE: Where's the cabin? SONTA: I don't see the cabin.
CHEVIE: I don't see the cabin.
There's the cabin.
SONTA: There's the cabin.
Yep. That'd be our cabin.
CHEVIE: Damn. Holy (bleep).
SONTA: And look, it's even more water in the back of the cabin too.
CHEVIE: Yeah, there's a lot in the back of the cabin.
(sighs)
SONTA: So, what are we gonna do today?
Just chain it up and jack up the house.
CHEVIE: Let's get prepared.
Let's, uh, front row parking.
Oh, and there goes the dog.
SONTA: Oh, Thor.
There's water there now buddy.
CHEVIE: Holy (bleep).
SONTA: Good thing we brought our rubber boots today.
Wow.
CHEVIE: It is...
SONTA: It's never come up this high since we've built this place.
CHEVIE: Well, the other thing that's amazing me
is look how deep it is.
SONTA: It rose a lot quicker than I expected and
it's still coming up.
CHEVIE: Let's, uh, pick up anything else that's loose,
I guess I see just stuff underneath the cabin.
SONTA: Some tools. CHEVIE: Some tools.
Let's try to get that tin high.
Whatever we could do.
And let's just give it one more good pickup so
we could work around this area.
We might have to end up jacking this cabin up.
SONTA: All right. Yeah.
Just to get that much higher, you mean?
CHEVIE: Just to get it that much higher.
So the water's gotta come up another, foot,
18 inches and then it'll be in our floor.
And then I just kind of want to prep and like see how much strap
we're gonna need to run.
SONTA: Basically, you just wanna tie off the whole building.
CHEVIE: We'll tie off that whole building.
All right.
SONTA: This is amazing though.
I was not expecting this much water in just one day.
So the water's still coming up.
It's really a concern.
CHEVIE: No (bleep).
I mean, hell, it might be at the bottom of the floor tomorrow.
SONTA: Well, let's get to it.
Time's definitely moving a lot faster than we are right now.
CHEVIE: We're on a river.
We're not on a road system.
There's no hotels.
There's no gas stations between villages.
SONTA: Thor! You're not helping.
CHEVIE: But as cabins are built along river systems,
they're a necessity for everybody that lives in this
region to have those safe houses along the way and
along the trails that are traveled year-round.
KALEB: In order to have a good building,
a proper foundation needs to be laid.
My entire career has been in construction,
so if I want something built,
I have the skills to make it happen.
KALEB: These are all cut to length,
so now I can get to the, uh,
business of building a greenhouse.
Everything's level now.
(drill whirring)
There we go.
There's one bow put together.
Shall we go try and stand it up?
BRITTANY: Yeah.
Okay.
Oh, there it is.
There we go.
KALEB: There we go. Cool. Let's make another one.
ELOVIE: Wow! KALEB: It works.
BRITTANY: Knowing how to build, even as something as simple as
these already bent steel poles can help my kids to be a little
bit more self-sufficient.
ELOVIE: Here you go.
KALEB: Thank you darling.
GILBERT: Here. BRITTANY: Thank you.
I think it's going to help them later on in life,
whether they decide to live in the city or
whether they decide to live rurally.
They'll either have these great memories or
have these great abilities as they grow.
(whirring)
Last one.
KALEB: Last one.
BRITTANY: Can't put it in yet. KALEB: Let's hope it fits.
BRITTANY: What happens if it doesn't?
KALEB: What?
BRITTANY: I said what happens if it doesn't?
KALEB: I'm gonna go, somewhere else and cry.
Probably.
BRITTANY: Ellie, come bring the bolts over.
KALEB: That's something that I totally do.
BRITTANY: That makes sense.
Move from this direction.
Mm-hmm.
KALEB: There we go. BRITTANY: Ta-da.
KALEB: Ah, we got us the start of a greenhouse.
BRITTANY: What if I, I think it needs to be rotated?
KALEB: Have fun.
(laughs)
BRITTANY: I think this looks amazing.
KALEB: You just do that. This is, is amazing.
All right, I'm gonna get...
BRITTANY: What's the next step?
KALEB: A, uh, wrench and tighten all these up.
BRITTANY: Cool. Do you have two wrenches?
KALEB: Yeah. BRITTANY: Let's go get 'em.
JOHNNY: When you're going out into the wilderness hunting, tracking,
you have to look at nature signs and adapt to them,
but also having a plan is super important.
JOHNNY: Is that a bear?
Is it moving?
It's moving.
Got a bear, Java.
I'm gonna try to get up there before it crawls into the brush.
All right. Here we go.
Stay. Stay. Stay.
Stay, stay, stay.
Okay, get out there.
♪ ♪
Yeah, I'm gonna try to close this gap.
♪ ♪
It's looking at me.
♪ ♪
I'm gonna take a shot.
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: That's a female, I'm almost certain that's a female.
The closer you get, you can kind of tell by the hump,
and the ears, and the shape of the face.
It's this bear right here that's gonna guarantee you future bears.
Just because I hunt, and I kill.
It doesn't mean I want to kill everything I see.
And as much as I need the meat, I'm just gonna let that bear be.
I gotta go find my bear.
CHEVIE: With spring comes high water.
With high water comes a chance of flooding.
Even though this is something that we know may happen,
when it does, there needs to be action taken.
CHEVIE: So what we're waiting on,
we're waiting to see is how high is this water gonna get?
Is the house gonna stay on its foundation,
or is it gonna get high enough to be able to
float this cabin down the river?
If that's the case, I want it to be hanging onto this
sturdy birch tree right here.
There's no reason to assume that somebody's gonna turn the spicket off.
Right now the water's still running.
Water's still coming up.
All right, so I'll grab a couple straps.
SONTA: Yep.
CHEVIE: I came here thinking for sure I'm gonna jack this cabin up.
And then some gut instincts, just like, I don't know, man.
I sure don't want to mess with the structural integrity of
the building and then create, create a problem I don't have.
SONTA: What do you think Thor this water world?
Just how you like it.
CHEVIE: Sonta's jazzed, relaxed, having fun,
saving the cabin and I'm kind of like
hope I make the right call here.
You know, the pressure's on me to make sure that
this thing doesn't go away.
Panicking and freaking out and, and stuff
like that's not gonna get you anywhere.
You kinda gotta keep your head and just have faith that it,
everything's gonna work out.
SONTA: I'm nervous. Don't break the windows.
CHEVIE: So, what we're gonna do is running some straps through
these windows onto this big birch tree right here.
So I have something sturdy with deep, deep roots.
If it starts floating, it's not gonna go far.
I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed and
hope I'll have something to work with after the flood.
Two, two of these two-inch straps will hopefully do the,
do the trick to hold it.
That's a lot of force.
That's a lot of river water, but...
SONTA: Yep.
CHEVIE: I had been contemplating cutting down that birch tree or not.
Could be kind of a hazard,
but I thought I better leave that there.
Not gonna be able to cut it down now,
especially if it keeps the cabin here.
Um, we'll have a special bond with that tree for sure.
KAMILIA: Alaska's unpredictable.
We are always risking and it's dangerous.
Mother Nature has no mercy here.
RJ: This is a ginormous bay.
You know, if I was a bear, I would definitely be out here
grazing on the seaweed or the grass.
(imitating deer calls)
KAMILIA: Imitating a deer?
RJ: Yeah, it's just like a distressed fawn.
I might get a hungry bear looking for an easy meal.
You see any, uh, scat or paw prints yet?
KAMILIA: Not yet. RJ: Yeah.
KAMILIA: I'm scanning pretty intensely though.
RJ: Just need to find a couple bear tracks something fresh.
KAMILIA: What is this? See that one?
RJ: Huge wolf tracks. KAMILIA: Wow.
RJ: Pretty fresh. KAMILIA: Crazy.
(barks)
RJ: Hey, heel.
It's pretty eerie.
I don't think very many people have been mauled by wolves,
but it's probably hard to keep a record since they eat everything.
The bones and all.
Ah, ah, ah, ah.
(howling)
That's close.
Those are not your friends, Olive.
(howling)
That is seriously a lot of wolves.
(howling)
RJ: It's cool but it's also kinda terrifying at the same time.
You wanna try to talk to them?
KAMILIA: No. RJ: Why not?
KAMILIA: Because I don't wanna bring a pack of wolves here.
We only have two guns.
RJ: It's perfect.
KAMILIA: Not against 15 or 20 wolves.
(howling)
Why do you think they're howling like that?
RJ: They can smell Olive so.
It could be just a way to try to lure her towards them.
They'll try to imitate.
Like they'll howl or they'll yelp and lure her into the herd.
Make it feel as if she's like one of them.
And then they'll eat her.
KAMILIA: She's very curious.
RJ: That's exactly what they're doing.
(howling)
KAMILIA: It's okay.
RJ: There's a wolf right there. KAMILIA: Stop.
RJ: Yeah, it out in the open. KAMILIA: Where?
RJ: They're right out there on the flat.
I can guarantee those wolves know were here though.
KAMILIA: That's so terrifying.
He's just walking now down that beach.
RJ: It's like a perfect set up.
There's a pack of wolves but there's only one in the open.
She comes up and hangs out and then
goes walks in the trees and then they all attack.
They're very smart hunters.
KAMILIA: Seeing the wolves and
hearing the howling of the wolves behind it,
it reminds me how powerful Alaska is.
Despite how beautiful and powerful this moment is we know
that we're not going to be able to find our bear here.
We need to move on.
RJ: It's been a pretty interesting morning, so.
Maybe change the plan and go fly fishing and
then drift down the river at dark.
KAMILIA: Okay. RJ: Heel.
SONTA: Shageluk has had a history of flooding.
So roughly every 20 years the whole Innoko River is impacted
by a surge of water, and this just happens to be that year.
CHEVIE: Coming up by the hour, getting higher and higher.
SONTA: You could just feel that current pushing against you.
That's just pretty wild, just about over my boots.
You just want to get these batteries moved?
CHEVIE: Yeah, it'd probably be the smart thing to do if
we don't know how high this water is going to get and
I was hoping that I didn't have to move these batteries, um.
They're heavy.
And, uh, who wants to deal with electricity standing in water, you know?
(sighs)
SONTA: You just want to put them inside the cabin for now?
CHEVIE: Well, I don't know what the hell is going to happen to the cabin,
so we might as well just take them home.
Hope that we have a cabin to bring them back to.
Hey.
SONTA: I know.
Every step's a sure step.
(grunts)
Contain your balance.
How many pounds is that Chev?
CHEVIE: I don't know. I think they're 125.
(grunts)
I love this cabin.
SONTA: Way to go Chev.
CHEVIE: Sonta and I built it.
SONTA: Okay, ready for the next one?
CHEVIE: Not really but.
When you put in work on something,
it's more than just a structure.
It's more than just a place used for subsistence activities
or hunting and fishing.
Hell, I probably could have just parked the boat up
another five feet.
SONTA: I didn't even think about that.
CHEVIE: And when something threatens to tear that down just
because of Mother Nature, it's pretty alarming.
All right, one more battery here.
SONTA: Last one.
CHEVIE: This is an emergency situation,
and the water's still coming up.
There's a lot of current through the cabin.
I'm just hoping that something changes.
I'm hoping that there's this, that there's a sign that this
water's going to start to go down.
Not much more we could do now,
but just hope and pray, so to speak.
Hope it's there when we come back.
JOHNNY: Rain and weather can be frustrating.
But more so because the animals don't like to cooperate with it.
But I don't mind subjecting myself to the hardships.
Because that's hunting in Alaska.
JOHNNY: Look at this here.
A vertebrae. It's small.
I'm not sure what that's to.
Could be a seal.
It could be a lot of different things.
Small bear, and I know that one of the main food sources of
a bear, when it comes out of the den, is cubs.
It's one of their main food sources, grass and cubs.
Yeah, I don't know what this is from though.
But it's small, it could definitely have been from a cub.
What you think?
No, not interested.
(laughs)
Nature's here to thin out the weak.
And if I'm weak and I'm just not going to make it out here.
I like challenges, I like being presented with
a little bit of a push to find food for myself,
because finding food for me is hard,
but it's an adventure.
Something starting.
I feel a little bit of rain and I know from my past experiences
that it bothers bears.
I just, like, I've never seen them out and about in the rain.
I think I might just head back to camp.
And just come back later tonight if it's not pouring down rain,
just keep the hunt alive.
That's the best choice to make right now.
(pouring rain)
The rain just started.
Now this is a hunt for me to secure meat for the spring and
the summer, and to just be hunkered down in a tent,
not seeing any bears, not being able to harvest anything is,
it's just not productive for me.
It's just kind of waste of time.
And as much as I love hunting,
it's not just a recreational hunt,
it's a hunt with lot of purpose, so.
Yeah, you just gotta deal with the punches as they come.
It's getting water in here too, man.
The rain builds up pretty quick in the boat.
And this boat's pretty old.
Once those winds start howling,
this boat's gonna be zipping down the coastline,
so I want to tighten this up a little bit.
It's creepy to have it be this calm because it's,
to me, the calm before the storm.
So, I think that when it starts picking up,
it's going to be dark.
It's going to be when I'm sleeping in my tent and we'll
see how I go to sleep tonight, knowing my boat's just out here
and my tents going to be rattling in the wind, but.
Hey man, that part of Alaska life,
what are you gonna do?
KALEB: Living in rural Alaska,
having a garden is really important, perfectly plum.
But Brittany and I have never made it a priority
because we're not good at growing things.
BRITTANY: One down, three more to go.
KALEB: There's always a time to learn something new.
But.
Hopefully not the hard way.
BRITTANY: All right, what's the next step?
KALEB: I think the next thing I want to do is get this vent mounted.
BRITTANY: Okay.
KALEB: And then there's channel lock stuff that goes
across the framing that, that locks in the plastic.
It goes up over the top of the bow and then
of course some across the bottom here.
BRITTANY: Cool.
KALEB: Brittany is a huge help on this project.
This isn't really something that can be done by a person,
by himself, a partner is needed, and Brittany has been doing an
awesome job of helping me out with this project and
providing the extra set of hands that's needed.
It's coming along really good.
Getting this channel lock on.
And then the vent.
Channel lock on the other side and then this side will actually
be ready for plastic.
That's pretty exciting.
BRITTANY: Go grab another piece for you.
Whenever we're doing these projects together,
I try to do whatever is needed.
It's not very often that I use the chop saw.
Even though I don't use it often,
it has always been with wood.
I've never cut metal before, but we'll just see how it goes.
(whirring)
(rattling)
BRITTANY: Uh-oh. KALEB: That looked bad.
BRITTANY: It sounded bad too.
KALEB: Mm-hmm.
BRITTANY: What did, what did I do?
KALEB: Well, you have to go really slow with these when
you're cutting into, uh, light metals.
Otherwise, the blade can catch,
especially with how thin that is.
And it yanks it up, yanks it up into here...
BRITTANY: And then it fling, uh, that way.
KALEB: And then it flings it.
BRITTANY: So that's maybe something to tell me about before,
because I've never cut metal before.
KALEB: Oh, well, see, I didn't realize that.
So that was my bad.
BRITTANY: I mean, every time I've used any power tool,
it's been with you.
KALEB: Yeah. I just didn't realize it.
To me it's just second nature.
But...
BRITTANY: Yeah. KALEB: Yeah.
You got to be real careful 'cause it's a long ways to help.
Cutting metal on the chop saw is risky business.
It's just a quick little reminder that we're a long ways
away from help here.
It's a minimum of three hours just to a clinic
and seven or eight hours to a hospital.
We have to be really careful not to get our fingers in places
where saws can chop them off.
Cool. Last screw for the channel lock.
BRITTANY: Let's go.
KALEB: Uh, the next thing to do, I guess,
is start making boxes and fill them up with dirt.
BRITTANY: Cool.
KALEB: And then that stuff can all start warming up and
getting ready to be planted.
BRITTANY: There you go. Cool.
SONTA: Anytime that you're faced with a flood,
you are humbled and at some point,
we just have to accept it for what it is.
But we don't know how high the water got at the cabin.
So, our fingers are crossed.
SONTA: Wow.
It's still coming in though.
CHEVIE: Yeah, it's still coming up.
This is our road to the airport right here.
It's gone.
SONTA: It's completely flooded.
CHEVIE: We need to be checking on that airport to
make sure that the airport's not underwater.
Once that airport goes underwater then we have no way
of getting the supplies or anything or people in or out.
SONTA: Yeah, then it's a real safety concern.
CHEVIE: Then it's a safety concern.
Shageluk's a community of 70 people.
Sonta's related to almost everybody.
We care if somebody can't get in their medication or
if somebody has medical need or emergency and
can't get out of our community.
That's why we need to go up here and check on this airport.
SONTA: Yeah, I think it's not there.
I think it's underwater.
Oh, right there.
Wow, we have about, what would you say two feet before
it's completely submerged?
That's insane.
CHEVIE: Yeah, looks, looks like it.
SONTA: You could drive right up to the airport right now.
We still have a little ways to go.
That's kind of reassuring.
I'm glad they built it up, you know,
as high as they could.
CHEVIE: Yeah, to the 100 year flood mark or whatever they did.
SONTA: Yeah, it is one of the main worries at this point.
Thor's liking it.
CHEVIE: Oh, Thor get in.
Load up.
All right, we know that the airports here,
that's the number one thing.
Let's go check on the cabin now.
SONTA: Yeah, that's the main question.
JOHNNY: It's a interesting relationship when
hunting predators because at one point I'm a danger and a threat.
But if you injure one, then it's flipped and
they become dangerous to me.
JOHNNY: So, I was just about to go out and do my rounds on the dingey.
And as I was getting ready to push off,
I noticed a bear ran up over here.
I don't need the boat, all I need is my rifle.
Oh, man I got a bear way up on this hillside.
Man, this sucker is just way up in there.
Completely inaccessible on foot from me.
Those things are just like all-terrain vehicles man,
they just go anywhere.
Yup, there he is.
Okay, he's coming down.
Get the (bleep) out of here.
There's a bear over there on the (bleep) beach.
Let's go.
Okay let's move.
There's one right there too, there's a bear right there.
Far left corner right where the other one is.
We got three bears.
Okay. Time to go shopping.
Busy day in bear country.
JOHNNY: Okay.
Let's just go over there.
♪ ♪
I see the bear, it's kinda low to the ground,
a little bit far.
I'm just looking.
Right now, my heart rate is just too high,
I can't hold my rifle still.
Sometimes that happens.
(exhales)
♪ ♪
(gunshot)
(gun clicks)
BRITTANY: Very exciting.
We're in the, the final few steps.
Peekaboo. Yeah.
All right, next step.
KALEB: We'll start plasticizing this greenhouse.
BRITTANY: I think having this greenhouse and growing a garden,
it will help us be a little bit more self-sufficient.
There were a few times this winter when we literally could
not leave McCarthy because of weather for flying and
because the road was too icy.
Knowing how to garden and having one set up to be able to do each summer,
that's just another skill in our toolbox to help
living out here be better.
Looks like you're almost done there.
KALEB: Yeah, this is the last piece of wire lock,
and the plastic is done.
BRITTANY: Cool.
RJ: You know, spring bear hunting and fishing pretty much
go hand in hand.
The bears are down by the river.
And there is a ton of green grass growing on these banks,
so if there are bears, I think they're going to be here.
KAMILIA: Alaska always has a lesson to teach you.
Living off the land and being able to live a subsistence lifestyle.
Oh, oh.
It's challenging, and there's obstacles and
you have to keep trying and trying.
And living in Alaska, that's what it's all about.
Here.
RJ: One, two, three. There you go.
KAMILIA: Oh, look at her.
Alaska is the land of abundance.
It provides what you need.
RJ: Beautiful. KAMILIA: Olive, look.
RJ: Beautiful. KAMILIA: What is it?
What is it?
SONTA: It looks like it's gone down.
Yeah, Thor your water world's going away.
What do you think about that?
Wow!
CHEVIE: Looking a lot better, huh?
SONTA: Yeah. I think we're, we're safe now.
CHEVIE: Yeah, I hope this is a once every 20-year type of flood.
SONTA: Yeah.
CHEVIE: Not having to deal with this every year.
SONTA: Yep.
More and more ground's getting exposed again.
CHEVIE: Water's dropped at least a foot,
maybe even 16 inches, since the last time we were here.
I think we may have dodged a bullet.
JOHNNY: Java, Java!
She smells blood, man.
There's no doubt about it.
If it is injured, I don't want to creep up on an injured bear
and surprise it even more.
So, at this point of the game, it's not about being quiet,
it's about being loud.
There it is. There it is man.
(sighs)
Stay.
He's down man.
It's like you could just never be too sure.
I appreciate your life bear.
Thanks, bear. Thank you so much.
Now there's a point in this hunt where I had to make a decision
of which bear to stalk.
I kind of realized that every single day in Alaska,
I find myself needing to make quick decisions,
think on my feet.
You know, it doesn't matter if it's a hunt,
doesn't matter if you've got a building project.
Doesn't matter if you're just spending time with your friends and family.
There's always going to be a time where
you gotta make the best decision.
Because these decisions ultimately direct your future.
What you need to do is listen to nature.
Nature will tell you what to do.
Nature will tell you where to go.
Nature will tell you which bear to hunt.
And just by simply listening to nature,
you're going to get what you need.
And I'll let nature decide for me.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.