♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Hey, hey.
Nope, you're staying behind me.
(dog whines)
I got some wolf (bleep) right here.
Full of caribou hair so that's a good sign.
I'm actually seeing more moose sign than I thought I'd see out here.
But it looks kinda old, too.
It's like the little willow plants,
you can see that.
There's like old moose sign where they've been nipping on the little buds.
I can see 'em kind of all around me.
Probably smells those wolves.
Which way do I want to go?
Kinda seeing if there's any animals moving around in these ridges.
This owl right here up in this tree again.
Feels like this sucker's been following me around.
It's like any time I stop, picking blueberries or
something like that or talking to Java it like,
suddenly just lands and just stares down at me.
I'm not like a spiritual person too much
but I kinda think I wanna make this
my little spiritual hunting buddy right here.
Take me to the caribou, dude.
It's looking that way, so.
Maybe that's where the caribou are at.
Or moose, might be worth it.
Let nature dictate your next move,
where you're gonna go.
When you're open like that, you're gonna see a lot more.
You're gonna appreciate nature way more,
and honestly, it's gonna take you further.
And not knowing what's ahead,
not knowing what's around that next corner?
That's the Alaskan experience right there.
(gusting wind)
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: (bleep).
That's a lot of ice.
I'm out in the Brooks Range of Alaska.
Uh, very remote, very isolated.
Seasons are changing this time of year,
I'm going from the very short fall into a long, cold winter.
I'm essentially gearing up for
the most important hunt of the year.
This is a hunt that you put up, uh,
enough food to last you months,
to get you by when no other game animals are around.
That's what's going to kind of make or break my winter.
Aside from the ice this beach is great.
Essentially this is what you call winter's knocking
at the door right here.
You know, it's gonna hinder me from hunting,
it's going to hinder me from fishing,
pretty soon I won't be able to travel on this lake and
I won't be able to fish.
That's why I wanna focus on, on, big game,
'cause that's what's gonna get me through the winter.
That's pretty much all I need for several months,
so this location here is gonna be a great starting point.
Each morning that I can just wake up in a little shelter and
just hit the ground runnin'.
What do you think, Javs?
You wanna call this home for a little bit?
Couple little trials with the ice but Java's having fun.
Beautiful beach.
What more could I ask for?
Yeah, these trees...
I'm kinda just looking for two trees that are about my body length apart,
something I can lay between.
Nothing fancy, but something's that's just gonna allow me to
just wake up and go hunting.
I think these are gonna work good.
So, clock's ticking, it's time to get to work.
SONTA: Indigenous people, are the first scientists,
of our world.
We're so connected to what the animals are doing,
what the fish are doing and they haven't returned this year.
The cycles have changed.
That's really scary in the Arctic.
Rain or shine we're out here, aren't we?
You know it's fall time.
And these are the, uh...
Dynamics that we're working with out here, and...
SYDNEY: I think I'll do a shine, shine.
Not rain or shine.
SONTA: Sometimes it's really good fishing when it's rainy though.
So, you can't miss out on what's going on underneath the water, right?
So, this time of year typically
we'd have our smoke house full of salmon and fish and
fish processed by now, but we had a baby this summer.
In addition to that, the other obstacle we had going against us
is that there really were no fish this year.
So, really we're looking for this fall fishing time to meet
our needs throughout the year.
All right guys, we found a good spot to put the net, I think.
Ryder I'm gonna need your help, okay?
RYDER: Okay.
SONTA: All right here, you see this good eddy?
That's how you know it's a good spot to tie up the net.
Looks like a great spot.
Come on out.
One of our big responsibilities is teaching our children
how to live off the land.
Awesome, come on out.
You got it?
Way to go, buddy.
Okay now go ahead and wrap this around that tree two times.
RYDER: Oh, I got it. SONTA: Okay, cool.
The Athabaskan people have been doing this for thousands of years and
we're not gonna be the generation that stops that.
Pull it against the tree, there you go.
Mm-hmm.
We want our kids to take ownership of fishing.
There we go, ready to go set this net?
RYDER: I think it's good. SONTA: Okay, let's jump in.
Okay Sydney we're gonna need your help, why don't you come on out.
SYDNEY: Okay.
SONTA: Okay Daddy, we're ready.
Just one at a time.
SYDNEY: Okay. SONTA: You're doing good.
Just let it go, let it go.
Just kinda throw it, yup.
Doing good. Doing good.
Got the end.
Here we go.
Okay, you guys ready?
RYDER: Yeah. SONTA: We're gonna count.
One, two...
RYDER: Two, three. SYDNEY: Two, three.
SYDNEY: Yay! SONTA: Good!
It's perpendicular to the bank, so we got a good angle on it,
that's what we want to see.
It's not going into an S-curve or anything like that.
CHEVIE: How does it look, Sonta? SONTA: Hey, Chev, we're good!
Good job, guys.
SYDNEY: Good job, yay! RYDER: Yeah, that was good.
SONTA: We'll see what we get here.
ROBERT: One of the dangers in Sitka is weather.
And you've gotta be ready for it.
You gotta be confident in your abilities
to make wise decisions if the weather's bad.
And you can't let those things control you,
you just gotta get out there and live your life.
ROBERT: Thanks for driving the boat today and
giving me a chance to relax a little.
RJ: Yeah, it's gonna be a good day.
ROBERT: Coming up on Black Rock, huh?
RJ: I think, I think that's probably our best bet.
ROBERT: Yeah, I mean if the weather breaks a little we can peek out and see.
RJ and I are gonna head out fishing,
my freezer's low and I know a few elders in town
that don't have any fish yet.
Piled up for the winter.
So RJ was, uh, kind enough to come along with me and
we're gonna try to catch some black sea bass.
And then if the weather looks good enough
we'll try to sneak out and get some halibut.
So, once we get out there,
we'll feel it out and see what happens.
Well how about putting your old man on some fish today?
RJ: I already know how you are;
you always catch the first fish so.
(laughs)
Yeah, we got lots of birds, they're feeding on bait.
That's a pretty good sign.
Give it a drift, let's see what's happening.
ROBERT: In order to catch these sea bass,
we're gonna use some herring.
Maybe we can hook into a king salmon or a coho but
we're just gonna target sea bass this morning.
Oh yeah.
There's a lot of rock fish down there,
look at that one.
Oh yeah, that's a good one right there.
RJ: Oh yeah, that's a nice size. That's a good one.
I like that.
ROBERT: That's a nice keeper right there.
RJ: Oh, is that scary?
ROBERT: If we can get ten of these real quick and
then we'll process them up, huh?
Pretty little but man those are pretty good taco meat.
My background as a Tlingit, Alaskan Native here in Sitka, Alaska, well,
Tlingit people are water people.
This is our culture, you know?
And there's just, without the ocean,
I don't think I could feel alive.
Oh.
Hey y'all, look at that.
Here's a rock fish.
I knew she was gonna lick it.
(laughs)
All right, we gotta our ten and bleeding the last one, huh, bud?
RJ: Yeah, let's get out of here.
ROBERT: Let's go try to get a halibut.
We'll see how the weather looks out front.
It looks like it's not too bad.
All right.
I think we should head out to the deep and
just see if we can get some action and see if it's safe or not.
JOHNNY: I'm a firm believer of,
if you put the work in you get results out.
Whether that's covering miles and miles of country looking for animals or
putting your heart and soul into building something.
I think that if you put the effort in,
if you put the work in you will get the results you're looking for.
It's a pretty sweet gig.
(creaking)
JOHNNY: That wind's picking up and you can hear what
ice is forming along the shoreline.
It's all getting just pushed in here and
it sounds like a, like a wind chime or a rain stick.
(creaking)
It's these little moments, these little sounds that
I try not take for granted or just kind of like pass up without enjoying for a second.
And as beautiful as it sounds it also is a good stark reminder that, you know,
winter is right around the corner.
And that's what's always interesting about these little moments is like
the beauty but the fury that comes with it.
I better get back to the shelter.
Now I have the shelter built, the spruce boughs are just gonna
keep the snow off of me because it's not really rainy season anymore and
I know that by looking at these clouds and
the snow that's gonna be coming in, in the next coming days.
It's gonna be my last chance to kinda go out and do a little bit
of fishing on the lake before the ice starts forming too much.
So this is, uh, about the last piece here.
It's good enough.
Java.
Try to go catch a fish, huh?
Get a little food in us.
Man, this ice is building up fast.
(bleep), come on.
Come on, load up.
Whewie.
Could be a little, uh, storm rolling in.
I've had some sunny skies the past couple of days, and, uh,
I think that's it.
I think the sun is a thing of the past right now.
And even nature's trying to fight me right now to keep me
from coming out here fishing.
The weather just completely flipped on a dime.
Uh, I hope it doesn't affect my hunt,
I hope it doesn't affect the fishing.
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Where'd the snow come from?
I think I'm gonna try right here.
See what I can do.
God, everything's all frozen.
The Arctic's not always the easiest place to catch fish in my experience.
Water's very cold and, um, you know,
it makes the fish move a lot slower.
It's not always the most ideal place.
And like, just like this, that fast I got a wall of snow
coming in right there.
The weather's changing really, really quick.
Wonder if it was that snow owl that's been kinda following me around,
that's bringing me the good luck?
Or it could be bad luck.
Well, that was a tap right there.
Whoo!
Hell, yeah.
That's a fish on.
Hell, yeah.
That's awesome.
Ooh, this one's got a little fight to it.
(laughs)
I can see it.
There it is.
Trout, lake trout.
Nice. Awesome.
Lake trout are excellent eating!
Yes!
(laughs)
Lake trout, Java.
Look at that sucker.
These things are loaded with fat,
loaded with oil and, uh,
God with this snow coming down now
it's gonna keep me warm in my shelter is what I'm hoping.
This is absolutely insane, it is, it is coming down.
It's gonna be a cold night tonight, Java.
It's gonna be a cold one.
And this stuff came out of nowhere.
I can't even see the lake over there anymore.
It's insane man, winter, like,
it just, it creeps in and then it creeps in fast.
Yeah, I knew it was going to be chilly but I didn't know
it was gonna be like this.
We'll see what tomorrow morning looks like.
But hopefully that snow will kind of push those caribou
down from the mountains.
But this is all just kind of, you know,
a prelude to the hunt.
Yeah, things are changing quick out here.
CHEVIE: With change you have to adapt.
And there's always diversity in life and you have to adapt to it,
you have to think about what you could do to get by and
still live a comfortable life and provide for your family.
CHEVIE: All right, we're gonna get out.
And get this, uh, net checked.
It's a rough day, wind's blowing, howling out of the south here.
It's cold, rainy, it's one of these days where, where I want to just go out,
get this net checked by myself without having to worry about a baby and
Sonta and kids and all that stuff.
So we're gonna see what we have in this net today.
When the wind starts blowing like this out of the south,
the location that we're in with our net sometimes we get filled
with a bunch of drift.
You can't catch fish if you're catching sticks.
Little problematic.
So the fishing is, uh, been down this year,
there hasn't been any summer chum,
haven't been able to target any salmon so, uh,
another little bump in the road,
gotta keep rolling through it though man.
Can't sweat the small stuff.
We're gonna catch fish sooner or later,
you just gotta stick to it so that's what we're gonna do.
All right, I'm gonna pull up here to the net, um.
I'm not seeing tons of drift right here floating towards
the net so that's a good thing, but, uh,
we do have some drift in there.
But I just hope for no big logs or anything that gets rolled up
in there something where I gotta, it rips my net or
does something funky like that, so, uh, see here.
Yeah, that's a lot of drift in here.
(bleep).
Just gotta deal with it.
Oh look at that.
♪ ♪
CHEVIE: Oh look at that.
We even caught a...
Could be a score.
Look at that factory two by eight.
(laughs)
Don't find that every day.
Well, this is gonna be a little bit of work,
glad the kids aren't here wondering what's going on, uh...
We'll try to get this cleared up without ripping my net,
that's the big thing so that I can get this reset.
When you get high water, wind, rain,
all at the same time and you're catching,
there's this much drift you can't fish it,
it's just too, it's just too dirty.
So I need to get this out of here sooner than later.
I'm gonna get my net cleaned up, we'll get this net set again and
we'll keep on fishing.
Today wasn't our day but we'll, uh, that day will come.
ROBERT: My son RJ is a student.
He's a student of the hunting.
(gunshot)
He's a student of the fishing.
He's been a student of his dad.
My son's following in my footsteps and
it's just been so amazing to see.
ROBERT: I'm pretty excited to get some halibut,
that's one of my favorite things to fish.
I love catching halibut.
There's a lot of sharks out here, too.
I hope we can get through 'em.
RJ: Oh, I'm sure it will be fine.
ROBERT: So we just got our limit of sea bass in,
we're on our way out to the halibut spot now.
The water looks great today for halibut fishing,
so that's gonna be our main goal.
We'll go out there and we're gonna throw the hook,
anchor up and we're gonna try to catch some halibut.
Can you put a three pounder on ours?
RJ: Yup.
ROBERT: So we're out here now, we got the anchor set, um.
We put a three pound weight on
and a hook and then we have a bait bin here
that's full of salmon carcasses
and we're just gonna put remnants of the salmon on our hooks.
We'll, uh, drop them to the bottom,
trying to get a chum trail.
We'll be putting a lot of fresh bait down here.
Trying to get that scent trail going out with the tide,
and that will attract them in.
It's like bears coming in to a fresh kill on the beach so
they can smell it from miles away.
Fishing now.
See what happens.
RJ: Fish on!
ROBERT: That looked like a good bite, RJ.
Is it on?
RJ: Oh, it's on.
You wanna get up that one, Dad?
ROBERT: Yeah, bud.
Halibut, five minutes, one halibut.
RJ: That's like a 30 incher. ROBERT: Those are good eaters.
There you go.
Nice, this is a good one.
Bleed him, throw him in the box.
RJ: Yeah let me get my line down.
ROBERT: With chum trail it's very similar to a hyena and
there's a dead animal, and it starts to stink pretty bad.
I imagine every hyena within five miles down wind of that is
gonna come in and investigate.
Well, halibut are the same way.
They're gonna come investigate because they're always hungry
and they wanna eat, too.
RJ: There we go, ready, Dad?
ROBERT: Sometimes it takes an hour or two to the chum these halibut in,
and sometimes you just get lucky and catch 'em right away.
I got a little one on, chicken.
There it is.
I got my limit, I'm gonna eat that one for dinner tonight.
That will be a good family meal right there.
Well, we limited it out on halibut and, and sea bass.
RJ: Yup.
ROBERT: That wasn't too hard,
but today I had a lot of fun with you RJ.
RJ: Good, I had fun with you, too.
ROBERT: All right, pull this anchor and get out of here.
Maybe tomorrow we'll get a bigger one.
SONTA: Fishing is one of the things that we want to make sure
our kids know about, care about, yearn for.
It's our livelihood, it's something we really enjoy and
it's something that we want to instill in the kids as a really strong value.
Part of who they are.
SONTA: Ah, this feels nice.
Pretty warm out right now, I like that.
CHEVIE: It is, it is nice out.
SONTA: Compared to the rainy cold,
I mean this is foggy but it's pretty warm out.
CHEVIE: 50 degrees.
Just another day on the Innoko,
we're just happy to be on the river right now and, uh,
be able to check the net.
So I'm really, really looking forward to it.
What are we gonna get in our net today, kids?
EMERY: Whitefish! RYDER: Pike.
EMERY: Whitefish, whitefish, whitefish, whitefish.
Whitefish!
CHEVIE: You know what I'm always hoping for is no driftwood.
SONTA: There we go.
So every day's a different day out on the water.
You know, one day we get all driftwood in the net.
Some days they're just a bust, that's one of the things that
comes with just fishing.
So we hope for fish every day, we weren't able to get that
many this summer so we're setting our, our net in the water,
checking it every day and slowly over time we're gonna
increase the number of fish that we catch.
Increase the number of fish we have in our freezer which is
none right now and just put it away for the winter.
Okay, let's see what's in this net, guys.
Sydney you're gonna help me?
SYDNEY: Uh, yeah.
SONTA: Let's see what's in this net.
Come on, Bean.
Hopefully we got more fish than we do drift,
it looks like we got some drift in the net.
SYDNEY: I thought that was a fish or something.
SONTA: Okay.
Yeah, so this is definitely not fish and definitely not alligators but
we got some major drift in the net.
Oh, what do we got here Chev?
SYDNEY: What is that?
'S in this net.
Oh, what have we got here, Chev?
SYDNEY: What is that? SONTA: Oh, there we go.
What kind of fish is that?
SYDNEY: Look, it's a pike. SONTA: There you go.
Pull that pike in.
Good job.
Keep pulling it.
There's only one way to teach and that's getting your hands
in there and getting busy.
Pull it hard.
And then you start wiggling it out.
Nice.
It's been great just to watch Sydney learn.
She was out there getting her hands in the water,
getting her hands on the fishnet,
getting more aware of her surroundings,
and kinda what's going on.
SYDNEY: I think we should be careful with that fish, Mom.
I see that the net's not fully around it.
SONTA: That's okay.
It's probably caught in the gills.
This is really called a gill net.
It's 'cause it gets caught in the gills.
SYDNEY: True.
Is that whitefish, Mom?
CHEVIE: Yeah, that's a whitefish.
SONTA: Whitefish. SYDNEY: Yes! I was right!
SONTA: Hold on, I'm stuck, there we go.
It's coming in, Emery.
We got your whitefish for you, hanging on by a gill.
After you get really good at this, Sydney, you'll be fast.
Here you go, babe.
There's your whitefish, Emery.
Yahoo! Still alive.
Nice and fresh, this is exciting.
It's a good spot.
We could be here all day, just back and forth.
Checking this net.
(laughs)
I think there's a lot of people that think
they can do this kind of work.
And it just takes being on site and learning how to do it.
And so that's really how we teach.
And Sydney's doing great.
We're really proud of her.
There you go.
Okay, it'll start to straighten itself out here.
Good job.
All right Sydney, so we got about what, four fish?
SYDNEY: Um, yeah.
SONTA: Four fish is, um, kind of what we expected actually.
Um, this is starvation time.
Things are hard right now and so we're happy with what we got.
We'll get these in the smokehouse and get hung and start drying.
Cool.
Okay, Chev, we're good.
Good job, all in a day's work, kids.
Let's get this fish cut up.
JOHNNY: Subsistence hunter, gatherer, fisherman, butcher,
chef, logger, craftsman.
All these different jobs in order to thrive
and subsist out here in the wild.
No other job I've ever had requires me to have that many job titles.
And I think it's pretty cool.
(imitating moose calls)
JONHHY: Yeah, I wake up today so ambitious to get out hunting.
And what I wanna target is moose.
But the first thing about hunting,
my game plan is generally to just let the land speak to me.
Let the land tell me what I should be hunting.
You're doing good, Java.
The wind's blowing this way which is excellent.
'Cause, 'cause it keeps my scent away from where I think the moose would be.
There's a little tundra behind, like,
right over there.
And I think moose would be hanging out there.
I just gotta listen and I got to stay quiet.
So it's kinda finding the balance,
trying to figure out, what do I wanna hunt?
Because if I go out there with a closed mind,
thinking this is what I want from nature,
nature won't give it to me.
Nature's gonna tell me what to hunt.
Nature's gonna tell me what animal to go after,
and I'm going to listen to nature as I always do 'cause
nature's never steered me wrong.
I think I see caribou swimming across the lake right now.
See, that's the problem with calling for moose in caribou country,
is that they're going north right now.
But this time of year, caribou go south.
So, that means they came across the lake,
probably heard me calling for moose,
and they bailed 'cause they're swimming fast.
They wouldn't be swimming fast for fun, you know?
They're swimming fast to get away,
because they probably heard me.
(bleep).
It feels like I just blew my caribou chances by focusing on moose.
That's a bummer.
I think I'm gonna see if they go left or right.
If they go left, they're gonna go along the lake.
And I'm gonna head this way and intercept 'em.
Yeah, I got one going this way right now.
Let's boogie.
Java, come on.
Let's go. Come on.
Caribou are incredible swimmers and that,
that lake's over a mile wide.
They're just swimming across it like it's nothing.
Seeing caribou scared and swimming across the lake isn't a problem.
To me, it's a solution.
It's finding answers by listening to the land,
by paying attention to nature.
It's telling me, abandon the moose hunt.
Go for caribou.
ROBERT: My family has been in Sitka, Alaska,
for 10,000 years.
It's in my blood and I think there's generational muscle-memory that's passed on.
I was able to pick it up and continue with modern technology,
and I think that's awesome.
Today we're out here, we're gonna head out and
try and get some halibut.
Fill up my freezer and try to feed some elders at the same time.
It's gonna be a great day.
We're gonna anchor up here for at least a couple hours.
See if we can catch a halibut to take home.
Just waiting for the boat to settle down a little bit here.
I think I brought RJ fishing when he was, uh,
probably less than six months old with me.
He's been coming ever since.
He knows his stuff out here really well.
I couldn't imagine having a better fishing buddy than my son.
It seems like every time I pick up the phone to say,
"Hey, you wanna go fishing?"
For some reason my son's number is on speed-dial and
that's the only person I call.
Three-pound lead today.
Let's see if we can get down there with that.
All right, going down.
I'm excited.
Going fishing.
We're going after the big boys today.
Get it to go through all, through all the sharks.
It's at about 90 feet right now.
Fish on! We got a ripper.
RJ: There he goes. ROBERT: Big one over here.
It's still taking line, look at that.
RJ: Hell, yeah.
(grunts)
ROBERT: We got a shark.
Them things are strong.
(bleep)!
I am having the hardest time.
RJ: Here I'll, uh, help you out with that.
ROBERT: I can see the hook. It'll be an easy release.
Watch your hand.
Good job.
What do you think that was, a 40-pound shark?
RJ: I don't know. Two and a half feet?
ROBERT: That oughta do something.
Come on fish. I know you're down there.
RJ: Holy cow!
(laughs)
ROBERT: Are you on?
RJ: Yeah, I'm on. ROBERT: We're fishing now.
Got a big one on. At least 100 pounds.
RJ: I can't even get him off the bottom.
ROBERT: Oh, you're gaining on it now.
A little bit.
Oh, there it is, color.
What is it?
RJ: This thing is a monster.
♪ ♪
ROBERT: What is it? RJ: This thing is a monster.
I think it's a big freaking huge halibut.
ROBERT: Oh, my God.
Maybe 160 pounder.
RJ: Yeah, 160, 150.
ROBERT: There's gonna be a lot of food there for the freezer.
RJ: Definitely. That's a good sized keeper.
If I can, oh, he's peeling now.
ROBERT: Good job, RJ. RJ: Well, we're not there yet.
They come off just as easy.
You wanna grab it over on this side?
Nah.
ROBERT: Just hold him here, right?
RJ: Yeah, just keep his head under the water.
Make sure he's got hooks in.
ROBERT: We didn't get the other one on the other side, RJ.
That was, that gap straightens out on you.
RJ: Woo! Nice! ROBERT: Yeah.
RJ: That's a nice 'but. ROBERT: Hey, girl.
What do you think?
That thing can kick your butt if you're not careful.
RJ: Yeah, that's probably... ROBERT: 130?
RJ: If I take a good guess, he's probably about 57, 58 inches and
I'm gonna say probably 120, 130.
ROBERT: 130? Yeah, that's about right.
RJ: I think you and I will both be set,
as well as a few old ladies in town.
ROBERT: Let's go home, bud. RJ: Sounds good.
Let's call it a day. Nice work.
ROBERT: Good job, bud.
It was a good day.
Awesome.
CHEVIE: Every year's a new year with kids.
Stuff that you taught 'em last year is just a stepping stone for this year.
The learning here takes place on the land.
And that's where we're gonna be,
and that's where our kids are gonna be.
CHEVIE: All right, Ry-Ry, we're gonna look for cottonwood
for the smoke house.
It's kinda fun to do stuff with just me and you, huh?
Yeah.
Hey, look at that cottonwood right over there, Ryder.
That, that one looks pretty good.
That's a, its leaves dead at the top.
There's our, there's our cottonwood right there, Ryder.
And look it, we got this nice little place to tie our boat up here.
Let's go up there and have a look.
You're gonna have to grab that one.
That one over there.
RYDER: That one? CHEVIE: Yeah.
Let's see if this chainsaw starts.
I haven't started it in a while.
RYDER: Can I try? CHEVIE: Yeah.
RYDER: You just pull it? CHEVIE: Yeah, rip on it.
(chainsaw rumbling)
It's nice to be out with my boy, you know?
And, and to have that father-son relationship.
Sometimes I can be hard on him.
Sometimes it's not all fun and games.
You know, so I wanna make sure that I create times that are fun,
that we get to have, where it's just one-on-one.
Um, and, and I can help him learn a few different skills and
he can enjoy those times, and I can enjoy those times.
On the shoulder?
There you go.
Thatta boy. Thatta boy.
This is gonna be a nice little load.
This will get us smoking fish for four or five days.
I thought we were gonna get a bunch of rain,
get all wet, but it actually turned out to be
a really nice evening for doing this.
JOHNNY: When you're hunting for food and not for sport,
it's a very different feeling.
Kind of primal instinct just takes over me.
And I feel like this hunter-gatherer that's been shot into the future.
It kind of parallels the way that people lived for thousands of years.
JOHNNY: This is caribou droppings right here.
And there's actually just a little bit of snow around it.
'Cause I keep getting this kind of like on and off snow.
Sleet.
Where it melts in the middle of the day.
They're in the area but, uh, exactly where is the question.
Java, come on.
Caribou swam across the lake.
So, I'm hoping to kind of come around and intercept them.
And if the timing's right, I'm thinking they'll be
somewhere over in this end of the lake.
Time's ticking, man.
Java, nice and easy girl.
Hey.
I thought I heard...
Everything sounds like an animal.
Come on.
I got a caribou.
I got caribou right here.
That's a big bull.
(sighs)
He see, he sees me.
(gunshot)
(bleep).
(gunshot)
JOHNNY: He's down.
One caribou's not gonna carry me through the winter.
I need two, I need three caribou.
And that little herd that was here I shot at,
they just went around the corner and they're still there.
So I'm gonna try to get another shot at them,
get another caribou down.
(gunshot)
Go down, buddy.
(dog whines)
We got down a caribou.
(sighs)
That's it right there.
That's two caribou.
We got bull caribous.
A little bit bigger than the cow, so it's a little bit more meat.
So two of 'em is gonna get me a pretty good distance into
the start of winter.
You know, one caribou will last me about six weeks,
so having two of 'em is a pretty good head start.
I don't know if I'm gonna see these animals again.
It could be months before I see 'em again,
so it's, it's important to get more than one.
And that's the only way I can guarantee myself meat and food this winter.
And it's just, it's a tough, tough place to live without meat.
It, it's just you can't do it,
and I've been eating rice and beans,
and it's just, it's not sustainable, it's,
I'm just hungry all the time and,
I got a lot of work to do, Java.
You're excited though.
You couldn't even keep your cool.
I just never know what's gonna happen and every day I walk outside
things change and you just gotta be open to change.
And I like the challenges of that.
I like the challenges of, of adapting.
I like not knowing what the hell's gonna happen out here.
That's essentially how I live every day.
When the bounty's good, you take it.
When it rains, you put your buckets out.
But, at the same time, I'm also realizing that I've got
a lot more work ahead of me before that sun goes down.
Just love all the life happening out here.
Sometimes with life comes death.
WOMAN: Oh, Robert. ROBERT: Look what we got for ya.
WOMAN: Oh, my. That is beautiful.
That is really gonna help me out.
(speaking in native language)
ROBERT: Thank you. WOMAN: Welcome to come over.
(speaking in native language)
ROBERT: Oh, thank you.
(speaking in native language)
WOMAN: Robert, for all you do.
It really helps out us elders.
And I'm so glad that you're continuing, both of you.
Both of you.
Because that's what's gonna keep us going.
ROBERT: Yeah.
WOMAN: Is our younger generation doing what we used to do.
And I appreciate it so much.
(speaking in native language)
ROBERT: Giving this meat to the elders,
my son's following in my footsteps.
I'm so proud and so happy that he gets to live that same lifestyle.
'Cause it's brought me so much happiness in my life.
And I know it'll do the same for him.
I see him with the love and passion for this land.
That is priceless.
This was a great day.
SONTA: Good job.
You guys did really good today.
I'm proud of you guys for working so hard and
getting fish put up.
You guys definitely learned some skills this year and
built on what you learned last year and the year before.
Ultimately, our kids will know who they are.
They'll know their relationship to the land and
they'll have a much stronger bond to the place here.
I think about it in terms of generational knowledge.
I wanna be that continuing thread to the next generation,
so that our kids learn how to live this way.
CHEVIE: This year is just definitely a different year with the fish
and the timing and, but we're still just doing what we can do to fish this year.
SONTA: It's always a nice thing to have a little bit of fish
put away for the winter and...
One less thing to worry about.
CHEVIE: Yup, everybody did really good.
SONTA: Everybody did really good.
CHEVIE: And those eggs are gonna be delicious.
EMERY: How dare you steal it.
JOHNNY: It's hungry country.
You know, everybody out here's hungry.
And today I'm not.
It's a good feeling.
It feels good to just kinda stop a little bit in order to
reflect on that hunt.
Think about the animal's lives and what that means to me,
the gratitude.
This is what hard work tastes like right there.
Alaska's the playing field.
And what you choose to do with Alaska is entirely up to you.
You know, hardships, pain, suffering,
all that eventually goes away.
But what you're forever left with is the experiences and
the lessons learned.
PAT: Oh my goodness sakes.
ROBERT: Enjoy it. PAT: Thank you, Robert.
ROBERT: Thank you. PAT: Thank you, RJ.
RJ: Thanks Pat.
JOHNNY: The hardest, toughest moments in life.
Typically become the most memorable moments in life.
Hell of a day.
Come on.
And it's magic.
You know, that's what keeps me, uh, coming back out here.
That's what keeps me continuing the hunt,
continuing the search.
Because at the end of the day,
it's not me that's in charge, it's nature.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.