♪ ♪
CHRIS: I'd like to check a few different
beaver dens today.
This one's always been good to us in the past.
Oh, yeah.
There's the den from last year.
But, no beaver sign.
JESSI: There's no feed pile over there.
CHRIS: Yeah, that's really strange that there's no feed pile.
Normally, it's just a bunch of twigs sticking out of the ground.
Let's keep cruising.
Let's see if we can get any more signing before the sun sets.
We got just a little bit longer.
JESSI: All right.
CHRIS: So, the logical choice is these beavers moved into the river.
Lakes are a lot safer to trap in,
mostly because there's no moving water.
At least in a lake, if you fall through.
JESSI: Ah!
CHRIS: Whoa! I'm here. I'm here!
You just hold still and hope to bob right back up the same
hole you went in.
In a river, if you go through,
the current will catch you and take you down.
That's it. You're not coming back up.
Best-case scenario is death quick.
Worst-case scenario is starving to death,
and I don't want to starve to death.
CHRIS: Hey, check it out, Jess.
Getting some beaver sign in here.
JESSI: Some over there. CHRIS: All right.
JESSI: Here a beaver, there a beaver,
everywhere a beav-beav!
CHRIS: If we can find this den,
that'll be really awesome.
That's gonna be a good source of meat.
Let's keep cruising.
It looks like the river's right here.
Then let's walk down and see if we can see any of the dens.
JESSI: Let's go. I'll follow you.
CHRIS: Looks like I can get down here.
I'm gonna try to work my way down and see if I can
spot any signs of beaver down there.
JESSI: Okay.
CHRIS: I'll let you know what it looks like.
JESSI: I'll be here.
CHRIS: Oh, this is gonna be steep.
(bleep).
Get my axe over here.
JESSI: Whew!
CHRIS: That worked out well.
What we've learned about living out at the Cosna is
it's really hard to get big game out here.
We're just coming into beaver season.
We gotta get back up and start trapping right away.
I'm just trying to get down to this next level okay.
I'm gonna check out the riverbank here.
Oh man, it is slick.
Sounds hollow down here.
I think we're working with some shelf ice.
I gotta be real careful.
One of the most dangerous things on the river is the shelf ice.
It'll be just a couple inches of ice with insulating snow on top.
And when you fall through that,
it's just open water underneath with swift current.
So you gotta watch out.
JESSI: Watch your footing.
You never know when you're going to fall in somewhere.
CHRIS: Yeah, right by this hole here is really tilted.
Oh yeah!
Looks like it might be the entrance down here, Jess.
That's where I think they're going in.
JESSI: All right. Well, I mean.
We got a spot, right?
CHRIS: Yeah. I don't feel as safe.
I don't know river trapping as much.
JESSI: Hands down, we gotta set some snares for winter.
You know what I mean?
CHRIS: Yeah. I'm gonna come back up.
JESSI: Okay.
MICHAEL: Being self-reliant out here,
you gotta be mindful of what you're spending money on.
You gotta be super frugal.
You'll never see anything I use that's frivolous in any nature.
Everything is very utilitarian out here.
(engine starts)
MICHAEL: Not bad for 500 bucks.
Recently, I sold my fat tire bike for about $800,
and I had no early season training device for the dogs.
And I can't really afford an ATV or a side-by-side.
And poverty breeds ingenuity.
I bought this hooptie for 500 bucks.
This little tiny four-wheel drive may look like something
that your sister or your little baby brother would take to college,
but I'll tell you what.
This thing's a straight up sleeper.
And so this little tiny four-wheel drive,
I am gonna convert this into a lawn and garden tractor.
And I am also going to use it to train my dog team
while I wait for the snowpack to increase.
Winter is here and the dogs are all excited.
They kinda sit and take it easy through the summer,
but they actually do need to start working early in the season,
that way they're ready for expeditions and winter caribou hunts.
And so just like any athlete, you have to train.
Get those muscles conditioned,
get those tendons tightened up.
Yeah. There we go! There we go!
A dog sled flexing over roots in low snow conditions,
it's excessive wear on the sled for no good reason.
So, while I wait for the snowpack to get proper,
I can use this on my local trails and roads,
and all I gotta do is modify it just a wee bit.
All right.
So the idea that I come up with is that I'm gonna cut the
entire top of the vehicle off to about this
point right here.
That way, there I have a little cab over my head.
And I'm going to leave all the structure in here,
all the side structure.
And so it'll be just kinda like a utility rack integrally
built into the vehicle.
I'm also gonna yank the seat out of it and
all the interior.
It's going from SUV to mini truck with a utility rack.
And that starts now.
I have high hopes for this thing.
I think it's gonna be a very cheap but very important piece
of equipment here at base camp.
I really enjoy being frugal like my parents
taught me to be.
To be able to take something that is essentially trash,
that I can turn into a very useful tool.
This little thing, at 500 bucks,
it could catch on fire tomorrow and I really wouldn't
care all that much.
Whereas if you had a $9,000-$10,000 side by side,
the continued payments on that, it won't go away.
And so you gotta be frugal and be mindful about what I'm
spending money on out here.
And that's the only way to survive.
Won't be needing these.
All right.
That should be the last of it.
Look at this truck bed space!
I could stack firewood way up here,
just great big towering piles of firewood weaving in and out
of the woods with this thing on my property because
it's so tiny.
And then this got cut off and just turned into a tailgate.
So, a cheap-o SUV has now become a lawn
and garden tractor.
It can haul firewood and train dog teams.
Work's done.
I'm gonna go grab some dogs and test this beast out.
ALEX: I don't have a lot of money,
but the land around me is my wealth.
You know, in the same way a person takes care of their bank account,
I have to take care of my bank account.
I think it's just that simple.
(chopping)
ALEX: Every time I cut down a tree here,
I get more firewood, but if I leave all these branches,
it's just more fuel on the ground for a forest fire.
So, I gotta clean it up every time.
And keep creating big brush piles, and then I'll burn 'em.
The works never done, but that's good,
because I like doing the work.
It's not really a question of if,
but it's just a question of when.
The greatest threat that I face is not bears,
not the cold either.
It's actually a forest fire.
Less than ten years ago,
there was a huge forest fire that destroyed many thousands
of acres just about a mile from here.
And firefighters were able to stop it.
It would be almost impossible for them to save my place,
because there's all this brush and stuff all over
the ground surrounding it.
So, a few months ago before the ground froze,
I dug a big hole right here,
and then I covered it with plywood.
If I don't take care of this,
all of this fuel around my cabin,
it could be the difference between losing my home
or saving my home.
So, in order to protect my property and my life,
I have to literally fight fire with fire.
Okay, so this is my big burn pit.
What I'm gonna need to do is collect all of my fuel,
you know, just lots of brush like this.
I'll pile it all right here.
Then I'll get my fire going,
and then I just gotta keep feeding it in.
It's gonna be a lot of work.
Once I get it built up, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
So, I'm going to get started.
The biggest fuel loads around my cabin are actually some
brush piles that I've made.
And these are basically just like giant bombs.
If it catches these on fire, it's just gonna be a huge,
you know, tower of fire that will burn extremely hot.
It'd be really irresponsible of me to just sit here and
keep my fingers crossed that a forest fire
doesn't come through.
So, this is bush style adulting.
If I make a mess, I gotta clean it up.
But yeah, it's a lot of work.
But it's the kinda work I like to do.
I like, I work, I like working with my body.
There's not really any jobs left that are, like,
just doing physical work, you know.
Everything's some big machine.
Sitting around on your butt.
So, I still got more to do here.
This is one pile.
I got three more.
There's a lot more to collect, so I'll keep at it.
JOHNNY: You know, with beauty, comes the beast.
With the beauty of the landscape, the snow,
the ice crystals forming on everything,
comes the cold and bitter chills.
So, yeah, it's a very extreme place to live in.
JOHNNY: It's a brisk one today.
It's a very primal existence out here.
I do as much foraging, gathering,
and hunting as I can.
I have to constantly be chopping firewood and I have
to haul water from the lake.
I don't have running water, but I have walking water.
A lot of people say, "How do you keep up with all those
challenges in one day?"
But I welcome them.
To me, it's more of an inspiration than
it is challenge.
Can't always expect nature to provide everything I
want when I want it.
It's not that convenient out here.
Last thing I need to do is work up a sweat out here.
And nature decides when I get what I want.
It's close to negative 20 down here in the lake.
So, I'm chopping a hole in the ice to fill up
my water bucket.
It's something you gotta do every day.
Chop through the new formed ice.
Lakes make a lot of noise.
It sounds like thunder cracking.
It's almost like you're sitting above a bowling alley.
(ice cracking and shifting)
You could feel that ice shift right underneath me.
You just hear it shoot across the lake.
Crack under your feet.
And it kinda went right through my water hole right here.
(ice cracking and shifting)
JOHNNY: (bleep).
You can hear the ice settling.
So, the water freezes underneath and the ice falls
down to that new water level.
It's safe.
I'm not, I'm not scared of death out here.
I'm not scared of danger.
And if I was, I don't belong out here.
Ice is getting pretty thick.
It's hard to get a clean hole and just chop it with
the axe without getting too wet.
And the bucket, I can't really fit in that
little hole anymore.
As I get closer to winter,
I'm learning how prepared I am.
You know, in some areas,
I think I'm more prepared than others.
But as the challenges face me,
I have to adapt quickly.
It's all about adaptation out here.
Today, I'm gonna make an upgrade.
The ice is getting thick enough to where I need to
upgrade with some new tools.
I'm gonna make an ice chisel and some ice cleats for my boots because it's,
it gets slippery out here, walking around on the ice.
Pretty soon, I'm gonna get a lot of snow,
so I'm gonna make a snow shovel.
Might even make a little ice scooper to get the ice out,
so I don't have to keep putting gloves on and
stick my hands in the water.
You know, the cold penetrates those gloves pretty easily.
There's not a hardware store I can just pop into and buy this.
I'm 200 miles away from the nearest town and I
gotta make it myself.
Running around in the woods,
I can find some resources to use.
It shouldn't be a problem to make some tools.
Seasons change and they change fast.
It's not a gradual change.
It happens almost overnight.
So being prepared, having the right tools,
is the key to success out here.
ALEX: For me, using my body isn't hard work.
It's just what I do, it's life.
Sitting inside an office, sitting in front of a
computer, and doing paperwork, that's hard work.
I hate to do it.
It feels terrible to do it.
Everything in my body says,
"No, no, no. Don't do this."
ALEX: I've been doing a lot of work to clear all the
land around my cabin.
But now this tree is just sitting here.
I'll cut it up and turn it into firewood.
But all these branches, that's not good firewood.
So, what I, what I'll do is just cut these branches off
and I can add them to my big burn pit.
If all I do is respond to immediate needs,
just like things that are right in front of my face,
obvious dangers.
Well then, I'm just barely surviving.
If I'm predicting things that could happen and I mitigate
them now, then I'm thriving.
Then I'm a real bush man genius, so.
I gotta think ahead.
It would be a real shame if I struggle an entire winter and
then a forest fire destroys my entire home in the summer.
So that's a pretty good wood pile.
I think I'll burn it.
The way I build a fire is just kinda Lincoln Logs,
stack them up like this, it's just kind of with air flowing
in there decently.
You know, I'm playing with fire here.
I'm playing with extremely high heat.
So, one of the major things that I just gotta be careful
of while I'm doing this is,
I'm gonna be standing near the fire throwing
additional pieces of wood in.
I just gotta be careful not to fall in and burn myself,
melt any of my clothing.
Because there is a real danger here.
The more stuff I throw on top,
the bigger it's gonna get.
Most of this forest is stuff that would be
really hard to burn.
It's not really flammable.
It's got a lot of moisture in it.
But what happens in a forest fire is,
once the fire gets so big and so hot,
it'll just burn anything,
because all that moisture just vaporizes very quickly,
turns the wood into dry wood, and then it will burn.
So that's the same conditions I have to create using my burn pit.
Okay, okay, it's getting kinda warm over here.
Gonna take off my jacket.
I don't really feel like I'm in Alaska anymore.
It's getting pretty warm.
(flames blazing)
(crackle and pop)
So over here, it feels like winter in Alaska,
I get pretty cold.
But then when I come over here,
it feels like a sandstorm in Kuwait.
Just like blowing fumes of hot air.
Oh my God.
Oh, that is (bleep) hot.
That is hot.
Whew, the embers are getting me.
Whew!
It's burning my skin.
Whew.
(bleep). Oh (bleep).
ALEX: Oh (bleep).
Make sure I'm not burning my clothes over here.
Not melted.
This stump right here is steaming,
so I just moved my clothes so they don't melt.
It's too hot to stand right here, really.
Whew. That's it.
That's all my wood.
Eventually, the middle will all burn,
and then I can shove the sides in.
But for now, I can just sit back and enjoy it.
Took me a couple days to gather all this wood.
Now, I've basically burned it off in just a matter of a
couple of hours.
Really makes me realize the destructive power of a fire.
It gives me life, and yet, it can take away everything,
too, in a moment.
That's real power.
I don't think I'm quite as high as my cabin yet, but oh,
it's pretty good.
That's pretty tall.
When I was younger, whenever someone pressed me, you know,
"What are you gonna do with your life?"
"Why don't you do better in school?"
I'd always tell them, "I wanna be a caveman.
I don't care about any of that stuff."
But I never really thought that I was actually gonna
grow up and kinda become a caveman.
And from here, I only wanna become more of a caveman.
Whew.
Well, it's quitting time for the day.
I'm pretty exhausted.
But there was a purpose, and to be honest,
even if there was no purpose to this,
I might have done it anyway, because why not?
When your work is also what you might do for fun anyways,
that's as good as it gets, I think.
JOHNNY: To know what I need out here,
I gotta spend time in nature.
And ultimately, nature tells me what I need.
It's all about banding with nature.
It's being part of it.
JOHNNY: First thing I'm gonna make is an ice chisel.
It's gonna be a chisel that I can more efficiently chop a
hole through the ice.
To get water and, you know,
even to go ice fishing once it's time to do that.
Well, it's frozen, so I hope it will close tight.
Probably not.
We will figure it out.
You know, to prepare for the changing of seasons out here,
you need to adapt.
And to adapt for winter, I need to make some tools.
Simple tools that I can kind of put up my
own fight against nature.
So, I need to make an ice chisel to clear out an
ice hole to get my water.
I have an old chisel that I'm gonna secure it down
with some cordage.
All right, one last knot right here.
Boom. I have my ice pick.
Cool.
Now I just gotta give it a test run.
Ice pick is an essential tool in the Arctic.
An axe, the handle's too short.
And eventually, this ice will be several feet thick.
I won't be able to chop all the way down to get
to the water.
So the ice pick is a super vital tool out here
in the Arctic.
Awesome.
I think the next thing to make is gonna be a scooper
to scoop all of the ice chunks out of the hole.
And first thing I'll need is a willow branch,
because willow is very malleable.
So, that'll be the choice wood.
So, to make the ice scooper,
I'm gonna use this willow,
bottom of a kerosene can that I have, and some cordage.
It's pretty simple, tie it all together,
and that'll complete the ice scooper.
It'll filter out the water and the ice when I try
to clean out my ice hole.
Don't be an ice hole, dude.
Yeah, it's easy to keep it simple out here
with these tools.
The simple items that I find laying around and the
natural resources around me,
oh yeah, we're getting somewhere with
this bad boy.
I can pretty much make any tool that I need.
Cool.
Yeah, it's rustic looking.
You know, it's got a patina to it.
But to me, you know, that's beauty.
That's, I like this kind of stuff.
I like character.
I'm giving it a little test run.
Oh yeah.
Works great.
You know, it's important to repurpose all of the material
I have around here because just that...
its all I have out here.
What I have here is what I have.
So, I gotta utilize the materials that I have on hand
to make the items that I need.
It's a good way to separate what you want versus
what you need.
Awesome. I'm pretty happy with that.
The sun's going down.
It's time to get off this cold ice.
JESSI: Huge part of living in Alaska is being able
to adapt to your circumstances and your surroundings.
You gotta survive the winter.
You gotta decide that your life's worth it, right?
(chainsaw motor)
That's a lot of bows, love.
CHRIS: Oh, I just figured I'd cut it all up.
You can use what you want.
NARRATOR: Chris and Jessi Morse are attempting to trap beaver,
a key source of meat for winter survival.
But with limited experience navigating the thin ice and
deadly open water of the Cosna River,
they must be extremely careful when setting their traps.
JESSI: I was just trying to think of where
we were gonna set.
Like I wish I could get on the river.
CHRIS: It's deep overflow out here, like.
JESSI: Ooh, yeah. Look how wet that is.
Okay. So, we gotta stay close.
CHRIS: Right in here, you drop some in here,
I bet you're gonna get something.
JESSI: So, you think that that is a good spot to snare,
right there?
CHRIS: I can see underneath the ice a bunch
of beaver signs.
Do you see all this funky ice right here?
It's got chunks in it.
JESSI: That's snacking material.
So, I mean, this is it.
This is the only spot that we can put it.
CHRIS: Can you hand me the chainsaw, love?
(chainsaw motor)
Something down there.
I'm not sure what's going on.
Something's weird. I'm gonna try and pry at this.
JESSI: Okay.
CHRIS: Swap me out with the axe.
Weird.
JESSI: I'm expecting some three headed beaver to come
out of here or something.
CHRIS: Weird.
JESSI: Is that the ground?
CHRIS: I don't know what's down there.
JESSI: What is that?
JESSI: Dang! This stinks, love.
CHRIS: I'm already this far in.
I gotta get down there and just at least scope it out.
JESSI: I don't know if he's cutting through bank,
or if he's cutting through trash feed,
if he's cutting through the feed pile.
But, just lots of, like, eaten branches.
Wow!
It's like the beaver trash.
So, they're just like super messy adolescent beavers.
CHRIS: That's what I'm thinking.
(bleep) adolescents!
JESSI: Oh my.
CHRIS: it's the entrance into the den I bet, right there.
That's why it's bubblin' out.
JESSI: So, you like, smashed a hole right above
their door jam.
CHRIS: Uh-hmm.
JESSI: This is just a weird one.
This might be kind of a trial and error kinda thing.
CHRIS: We're gonna find somethin' out.
I think we should put a snare, like, right in here,
one right in this corner, and one right in this
corner nice and deep.
JESSI: All right, you wanna place this guy?
CHRIS: Yeah. Let's make sure it.
JESSI: I'm happy.
CHRIS: Yeah. There it goes.
JESSI: I have to be really careful about where I set the snares.
They're just finicky.
They're just finicky little snares.
They have to be twisted just right, faced just right.
I don't wanna walk away from a set that I'm not 100%
dedicated to.
I want every snare to be at its maximum potential.
So that set is at its maximum potential to get a beaver.
All right, right in the middle, right?
CHRIS: Uh-hmm.
JESSI: Okay, please don't drop snare.
Please don't drop, snare.
So, I really need the snares to be in the exact spots.
I spend a lot of time on my hands, and knees,
with my eyes really, really close to that hole,
placing those snares.
But they're perfect.
I think they're good.
I think they're in the spot that we need them.
That's good.
CHRIS: All right.
JESSI: All righty-roo!
Well, like, there we go.
CHRIS: I'm worried, does it...
JESSI: We just gotta cover up the hole with snow and
spruce boughs and just hope that tomorrow or the next day when we come out,
maybe we have a beaver on the other end of the snare.
JOHNNY: You know, to prepare for living in the Arctic,
in an environment like this, you got to plan ahead.
It's all about preparation in a land like this.
JOHNNY: Snow's still haven't come yet.
But they will, and when they do come,
I wanna be prepared.
So, I'm making this snow shovel.
So this is part of a 55-gallon drum.
Looks like it'd make a good shovel, so I cut it.
There's no instruction booklet for any of this stuff.
There's only one way to find out,
is just to just try it.
Yeah, just go anywhere you want, saw.
No matter where you live,
you gotta be prepared for that environment.
So I'm just gonna cut a couple brackets out of this.
And in this environment, it's even more crucial to be
prepared because it's the elements that you're facing.
It's, it's nature, it's very stark contrast.
You're either living or you're dying.
There's not a damn thing in between.
Whoo-hoo! Yeah! We're in business.
Shovel store is open.
Ultimately, you can make a living or you can
buy a living.
And I tried buying my living and it didn't work for me.
To pay for everything we need,
to have people do everything for us,
I don't think that's natural.
It's all about being reliable.
Do you wanna rely on others or do you wanna rely on yourself?
It's pretty good.
In a place like this, I choose to rely on myself.
This is gonna help with my success of the winter,
that's what this is gonna do.
One less thing I gotta worry about now.
But, I gotta keep pushing on.
MICHAEL: Cold weather is really hard.
And really, the only way that you can keep them energy
levels up is just gettin' out and workin' in the weather.
You gotta condition yourself for.
You gotta stay outside as long as you can.
You gotta let them toes get a little cold here and there.
(barking and howling)
MICHAEL: All right.
This thing wouldn't be complete without a set of moose antlers.
That'll be something that I can wrap up my gang lines with
when I'm not using them.
And with some crazy mayhem like this,
we need some patriotism as well.
Another cool thing about this rig,
is it's got this big bright red hook,
and it's welded right to the frame.
That's a perfect spot to hook up a gang line.
I'm puttin' my four most rambunctious, crazy,
powerful malamutes on the gang line.
Haw!
There's a lot of frenzied...
Come here.
Nervous energy pent up in these dogs because they've
been sittin' for some time.
Line up!
Try to keep the teams small in the early season runs.
So that way there, they're more comfortable just working
with a smaller group.
Hop up! Come on.
But hooking them up to an automobile,
that's entirely new for them.
Come on. Gee, over.
They've never ran in front of one and had to focus on
keeping that gang line tight.
And so, hopefully, this goes well.
Go get 'em!
Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!
Go! Go! Go!
What the (bleep)?
Line up that way. You go that way.
Look, that way.
'Kay?
Stay.
Shh! Quiet down.
You ready?
Go! Go get 'em!
Go get 'em! Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!
Straight ahead.
We're just gonna go kinda slow.
Let 'em get used to runnin' down the road.
All right.
You know, I just have this thing in drive,
just so that I keep, keep some forward motion going.
I'm not jerkin' 'em.
But they're kinda pullin' this thing.
I wanna keep a constant weight on 'em.
So I'm looking for a really tight tug line.
You don't want to let dogs free-run in the early season
because this is about conditioning,
holding them back.
Hop up! Yup! Yup!
And so the gas pedal, the brakes,
this all helps me keep these dogs at a precise six and a
half to seven miles an hour.
Good boys!
This is just a really safe way of gettin' them first
early season miles on the dogs.
I'm really liking this.
I could see it now.
I have an entire eight-dog team hooked up to this thing.
Best 500 bucks I ever spent.
They have done about a three or four mile loop.
I could tell they're tuckered up.
All right. Do you guys like your new toy?
Do you like your new toy?
Good boys.
They've never been hooked up to an automobile before,
and they don't seem to mind.
I think that went really well.
It's really special to see these guys subjected to
something new and prevail.
Good boy. Good boy.
CHRIS: The Cosna's always throwing curve balls.
Every year, it's something different.
I feel like everything on this river's fighting against us.
But we can't just pack up and head back to the lake
where we know there's just nothing there for us to trap.
We gotta make it work or we're gonna go hungry and
it's gonna be a tough winter.
CHRIS: Rock Solid.
We're feeling good about it.
We got the three snares set exactly where I think the
beavers running through and maybe we got the beaver and
it's just stuck down under the ice.
And so I won't know until I chip it all out.
But I'm hopeful.
JESSI: Oop! Okay.
I think that's it.
BOTH: Oh!
CHRIS: We had a beaver.
That is disheartening.
JESSI: Wow!
So he must have gotten it real tight.
You know, this triggered, and then he chewed on this
to pull this thing down.
You see how when I pull that, it comes down?
CHRIS: Yeah.
JESSI: So, we had a beaver for a short period of time.
Yeah?
That's a strong beaver.
CHRIS: Yeah. I'm impressed.
JESSI: That's a super strong beaver.
CHRIS: Let's check out the other one.
Maybe it got caught in the other one.
Nothin'.
JESSI: Nada.
CHRIS: It's like a tornado going around in circles
all around your snare.
JESSI: Maybe because it's the river?
CHRIS: Yeah.
So, it's just very new to me.
I'm just, I've never seen them pile sticks around
snares like that.
JESSI: It's.
CHRIS: Very strange.
Smart beavers.
JESSI: New type of beaver.
CHRIS: It's the strangest thing.
It's almost like they're putting caution tape up
around our snares.
I've never seen beavers go to so much lengths to block a
snare with sticks like this.
Damn!
JESSI: We were so close. We were so close!
CHRIS: Maybe, maybe this other one has it in him.
JESSI: Last one?
CHRIS: Well, let's find out.
JESSI: Wow, that's deep, Chris.
CHRIS: Okay.
Let me see if I can find your snare.
Jessi is very meticulous on where she puts 'em.
We spent the time, we put 'em in right.
Why aren't we gettin' any beaver?
Oop. Look at that.
JESSI: They ate the bait pole.
CHRIS: I think I'm gonna have to go down to my T-shirt,
stick my arm down in there.
JESSI: Okay.
CHRIS: Okay.
There's somethin' fuzzy down in there.
JESSI: No way. CHRIS: Yeah. JESSI: No. Stop it.
CHRIS: It's wrapped up in sticks.
Holy cow! This thing is heavy.
Oh! I almost got it. Almost got it.
JESSI: Do you really?
Are you serious? Are you serious?
CHRIS: Yeah. JESSI: Let me see.
CHRIS: I'm trying right now.
JESSI: Let me see. No way!
CHRIS: It's (bleep) massive!
JESSI: No way! CHRIS: I got it! JESSI: Holy cow!
CHRIS: It's (bleep) massive! JESSI: No way!
CHRIS: I'm trying to find an end of it.
I got it.
JESSI: Stop. CHRIS: I got it. (bleep) massive!
JESSI: Holy cow!
CHRIS: It's (bleep) huge!
JESSI: Holy Smokes!
There is a beaver on the end of the snare.
Like, we did it.
We got a beaver!
Holy smokes!
This is a huge, monster beaver.
We have succeeded in this really difficult deep river.
And I've never done this type of set, but, like,
it paid off.
CHRIS: That's a good looking beav.
JESSI: That's a big beaver.
It's a huge beaver.
After all that work.
And in the river.
Like, the first time in the stinking river and we did it.
Oh my goodness.
CHRIS: Good job.
JESSI: Oh, my goodness!
CHRIS: Well, let's get it dried off,
and then we have a long ways to drag this guy home.
JESSI: Thank you for your life, beaver.
Nothing will go unused.
We appreciate you and we appreciate your life.
Take it home!
CHRIS: Oh! He's huge.
I'm pretty excited.
All of our hard work is finally paying off.
Everything's finally coming into focus.
The Cosna just likes to push us to the edge of breaking.
And it just goes to show that you just can't give up.
You just gotta keep moving forward and keep pushing and
the Cosna will reward you.
ALEX: I've begun this big journey towards clearing my
cabin to make it safer from a forest fire.
But on any big journey, you know, my experience has
taught me that the best thing to do is to enjoy the work.
Because if I enjoy the work,
and then I'll keep doing it,
and then one day, it'll be finished.
So, the ritual's complete.
It's to be the first of many.
So, this is only the beginning.
It's gonna take me a long time of doing this many,
many times before the mission's complete.
So this will have to become a habit for me.
Okay. It's just the door.
When you live further from society,
you gotta do more things on your own.
I mean, that's just kinda how it is.
If I wanna get help, I gotta first help myself.
This will just help kill the coals more quickly.
Keep fresh oxygen from getting in so easily.
And help keep any,
anybody or anything from falling in.
There we go.
Well, that's that.
For now, I'm not safe from a forest fire,
but I'm a little bit closer.
MICHAEL: This little micro four-wheel drive used to haul
a girl to college every day.
But now, it's got a whole new life out here at basecamp.
It's got all sorts of utility.
And just like everything else I own, it's multifaceted.
So this is just the beginning for this thing.
This is the funnest $500 I've ever spent.
This thing's all about freedom, America, donuts,
and some malamutes.
Oh (bleep).
That type of freedom,
to be able to take something that is essentially trash,
and turn into a very useful tool.
Everything around my life is designed to be sustainable and affordable.
JESSI: All right. Beaver.
I finally got the monster beaver that we were after.
Living out at the Cosna brings sort of respect to
everything around you.
It brings respect to the river,
and to the trees that heat you,
and to the animals that feed you.
These beavers are tough.
This is an amazing experience for us and nothing
will go to waste.
CHRIS: Oh, wow!
JESSI: Holy cow!
CHRIS: Has a really good-looking haunch there.
JESSI: That's awesome.
Like, just this is, just this is at least three
meals for us.
CHRIS: And look how fatty it is.
You can see it glisten across there from the fat.
Beaver's one of our favorite meats out here.
It's a nice fatty meat.
Man, it packs some power.
When we wake up and we look over at that thermometer and
it's needled out below fifty, below zero,
those are the days we eat beaver meat.
JESSI: To a good trapping season, yeah?
CHRIS: Yeah. JESSI: First one.
(crunching)
CHRIS: Mmm! Excellent. That's good.
JESSI: That's rich meat.
CHRIS: It's very rich.
Thank you, beaver.
JESSI: Thanks, beaver.
CHRIS: Mm.
JOHNNY: To have a thought and to apply it,
and actually build it, to use it,
and to see that it's functional, is very,
very satisfying.
So, this is a chainsaw chain.
And when I was putting my window in, I hit a spike.
Oh God!
(bleep).
That's why you gotta wear eye protection.
My mom's probably pretty upset with me at this point.
It's just too damaged.
So find another use for it.
And that's what I do out here.
Take something that's damaged and I turn it
into something new.
So, I think this chainsaw will act as a nice ice cleat
if I could strap it to the bottom of my boot.
The ice cleats are gonna be pretty vital for me out
here walking around on slippery ice.
So, I have an old chainsaw chain laying around,
so I'm gonna utilize that for some cleats.
I like to keep it simple out here.
I need something that works and I need it to be available.
And not only that,
I need it to be made from materials I have around my camp.
There it is.
That's all four of 'em, all tied on.
Yeah, they feel pretty good.
A lot of people see a frozen landscape and they think
"Time to go inside",
but for me, it's time to go outside.
I don't wanna sit inside and watch it.
I wanna get out there and experience it.
What you doing, girl, huh?
What you doing, girl?
What you doing, huh?
Come on, come on, come on.
Mother Nature brings out the vulnerability in me out here.
And it's just when I think I have a grip of things,
she switches gears.
And it's up to me to either adapt or to
face the consequences.
And it's all about adaptation and preparation.
If you can harness those simple principles,
that's what's gonna keep you coming home every night.
That's what's gonna keep you safe.
That's what's gonna keep you living wild.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.