MARVIN AGNOT: Akhiok, south end of Kodiak Island.
Been a subsistence village for,
since I was a kid, even prior years.
We still harvest off the land, but I can see the times change.
Ice used to be two, three feet thick.
The tides are higher than before.
We got to go farther away to get our red salmon.
Sometimes, we don't think that they're even gonna show up.
In the bay, there used to be so much halibut.
Native ways are dying off.
Now, subsisting depends on how far we are willing to go.
♪ ♪
MARVIN: I think we're ready, buddy.
Today is day that Justin and I
are gonna go across the bay to Sulua Bay
and go do his goat hunt
that he's been wanting to do for a long time.
I'm not a goat hunter, but I'm looking forward
to enjoying the adventure with him.
JUSTIN PHILLIPS: Marvin is my uncle.
He's basically the village uncle.
Everybody knows him as Uncle Marvin,
and everybody respects him.
And if anybody needs help with anything,
he's always there
with a helping hand no matter what.
MARVIN: I'm getting prepared because it's a long ride.
Couple hours in this wind and it gets very cold and wet.
Are you ready?
We're gonna get wet.
There's a bear right there,
I saw with a cub right there on the hill.
You can barely see him inside the grass, walking.
We're going up into their country now.
Where they'll be hibernating is where the goat will be around.
JUSTIN: I am nervous of coming across bear,
because we've had a few experiences with them
in our past hunts.
They're pretty curious
when you just stumble across them
and they're un-expecting it.
We got some big ones.
There's the cabin we're staying at.
MARVIN: This cabin where we are going,
it's a friend's place.
Our culture, native Alutiiq, we always help each other.
JUSTIN: See if we can fire up the stove
and get it nice and warm in there.
MARVIN: Huh, light.
JUSTIN (off screen): Plan is to go up this ridge,
the mountain right here, you can see the trail going up,
and we are gonna just keep to the right a ways.
MARVIN: Yeah, I'm not a goat hunter because of age.
It's pretty steep out there and very treacherous hike.
I hope we find some, hope some up in that area up there.
Justin is not one that's gonna just say it's too far.
He's gonna over and get it.
JUSTIN: Alright, I'll see you when we get back.
MARVIN: Okay.
Fish, deer, goat.
He's one guy I'd probably send out first
if we were starving,
'cause he'd come back with something.
(laughs)
TIG STRASSBURG: Nothing ever goes the way you want it out here.
We just gotta roll with the punches
and try and figure it out and make things work.
-EVAN STRASSBURG: What's that? -TIG: That's called a chop saw.
TIG: Alright, firing up.
(whirring)
TIG: Woo, almost clubbed you.
Traveling in the springtime is pretty hard,
especially when you got seven kids.
(kids laughing)
TIG: A lot of country that I want to show them.
So I've decided to build
a little cabin on top of my sled.
Sort of like an arctic minivan.
It might not be the prettiest damn thing in the world,
but your sisters will love it.
EVAN STRASSBURG:
TIG: Over to 45
and now we are going to have a 45-degree cut.
Two 45s equals what?
-EVAN: 90? -TIG: Yeah.
I'm not totally sure what this thing is gonna look like.
I'm not a carpenter.
I'm just trying to do the best I can do with what I got.
So that's the part I'm stuck on, is what angle is this gonna be.
Well, let's check out our blueprints.
Come on, boys.
Let's see, hey,
three inches right there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
See, that's how I see them do it on movies.
We're spot on, boy.
Make sure it's flush.
This stuff is super-expensive.
(saw whirring)
Alright.
As I was growing up,
I was a little rambunctious kid,
and I was always moving and had to do something.
So when I was a kid, my grandparents, my dad, and all of them,
they'd always load me up in the sled and bring me to camp.
I like it, boys. I'm liking it.
EVAN: It is, nice and solid.
TIG: They didn't have a nice little cab for me
like what I'm building my kids.
This is so we can frame in the window right here.
I got the wood.
My sons, they might not look like the biggest guys around,
but they are very strong.
(saw whirring)
You don't got a lot of lumber out here.
It's very expensive. It's hard to get.
We definitely gotta make sure we take our time
and we don't have to re-cut anything,
'cause we can't just go to a store
and buy some more lumber.
-EVAN: Whoa. -TIG: Like a glove?
-EVAN: Yeah. -TIG: Like a glove.
(drill whirring)
Go ahead and get these windows cut out
and make some frames for it.
The back door where you can climb in.
Climb in, boys.
Your little sisters are gonna fit right like this.
They'll be just like puppies. Head in the wind.
Make our entrance. Grand entrance.
Dun-dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun!
(ululating cry)
Looks good.
JOEL JACKO: You know, even a bad day, running around in the woods
is a better day than in town.
I guess Tracker is gonna come.
You gonna ride? Let's roll.
(engine starts)
I feel we can find some birds,
so I think we'll just travel around on the lake.
It's about 10 miles on the ice.
You really have to go with the seasons
because it dictates what you can do
and how you can travel and how you can hunt.
Now that it's spring, we're gonna have to,
you know, do some springtime hunting.
My name is Joel Jacko.
I am part of the Water Tulchina Clan.
And I've lived in Pedro Bay for most of my life.
A lot of the stories I heard growing up out here
is kinda how the Athabascans
in this area were like warriors.
So being an Athabascan in the 21st century,
I joined the Marine Corp. and traveled the world.
Came back to Alaska after the Marines,
I realized it's definitely where I want to be.
So far, the ice has been pretty bad.
It's, there's like a layer of slush
on top of, like, half an inch of ice.
And you keep breaking through it,
so it's kinda melting faster than I anticipated.
We'll give it a go, see what happens.
Saw a spruce hen fly up in the woods over there.
I'm gonna see if we can go get him.
Alright, Tracker.
(clicking)
There's a couple birds sitting over here.
(gunshot)
Damn it!
I missed, they took off.
I think my scope is way off here.
Well, I missed twice
because my scope is having some problems.
It's not holding its accuracy anymore.
(singing) I think my gun has kicked the bucket.
Hopefully, we can find some more.
(gunshot)
Pretty close.
Let's go see if we can find that bird now.
Damn it!
JOEL: Oh, he just went back down.
This is like work.
Well... see him.
(gunshot)
Only took 17 bullets.
At least, uh, I'll have a good dinner.
It's no head shot, but it's good.
Let's see if I can go find the other one too.
No, no.
Think I'm gonna go back down to the beach,
maybe he's sitting on the beach again.
The more I'm out here, the more you kinda get to know yourself
'cause you have to become more reliant on yourself.
You become a better provider and mechanic
and whatever, plumber, you know,
you just have to become everything out here.
Oh, he might be long gone.
Where's he at, Tracker? Huh?
-(wings flapping) -Oh, there he is.
I knew he was in that tree.
He's gone.
I knew he was in that tree though.
Should have been a little more sneaky.
I was like five feet from it.
I could have thrown the gun at it and hit it.
But it's pretty, pretty frustrating when the bird's,
you know, looking at you.
One bird's not much meat.
Be nice to have, like, a dozen or so, you know.
Throw a couple in the freezer and then
make a good pot of soup or something.
This fall, he was chasing a spruce hen and it flew into the shop,
and he ran in there and he was able to get it.
And ever since then, he thinks he's some great bird dog now.
Best dog I've ever had.
JOHN PINGAYAK: These rivers, this ocean, and our land
is our resource
to keep the native people of Alaska alive.
JOHN: Look at my eyes.
You have to understand what I'm gonna be telling you.
This is between life and death.
In this land,
it can be beautiful, and it can be harsh.
You always have to be prepared.
I'm training Sonna Boy, my grandson.
He has to be able to survive in this land.
Go check the ice down there.
Do it fast.
I trained him since the time he was 12 years old.
As long as I'm able to travel on the tundra,
I'll keep training him.
Come on, Sonna Boy.
Don't you ever expose your hands
on the snow like this when it's blowing snow.
It'll take less than two minutes to freeze my hands.
My grandfather have told me,
don't assume that you know how to do it...
Go and run around just like you're warming up
your feet and your body.
...because you just saw someone do it.
I know how to do it because I did it with my two hands like this.
JOHN "SONNA BOY" PINGAYAK III: I see clouds above them.
JOHN: That'll tell you...
...there's strong winds or storm coming.
So what you have to do when you see that,
you go home, for safety.
SONNA BOY: My name is Apanuugpak.
That's, uh, Great Warrior in Cup'ik.
And named after my grandfather, John Pingayak III.
When I hear stories of Apanuugpak back then,
he had a really big name,
and I feel like I should live up to that,
and it just, like, really challenges me everywhere I go.
JOHN: I'm gonna train you
how to make a shelter out of snow.
The most dangerous thing that you're fighting against,
is exposure.
The wind coming or hitting your body,
but you never, never panic.
SONNA BOY: I want warmer.
JOHN:
SONNA BOY: Right now?
JOHN: Take your parka off.
SONNA BOY: I really love learning
everything that my grandfather is teaching me.
JOHN:
This area is where the current goes
from there to that other lake.
And it has a slough that goes out to the river.
And so here, Sonna Boy.
Blackfish.
I set these blackfish traps for a week or so.
I'm 73 years old.
This is what I eat.
And you, Sonna Boy,
you got to learn to eat it for the future.
You're learning how to survive right now.
SONNA BOY: This is priceless then, ah?
JOHN: It is priceless, that's right.
SONNA BOY: Alright.
JOHN (in Cup'ik language):
(in English): Okay, I'm gonna set this up.
What?
SONNA BOY: Sun's going down pretty fast.
JOHN: Okay. We'd better go.
MARVIN: Since I was a kid,
our beaches got steeper, the tides are getting bigger.
You gotta work harder to get more to make ends meet.
JUSTIN: This is not the goat country,
this is more of the bear country.
It is a little bit more nervous
walking through super thick stuff like this
when you can't really see 50 yards ahead of you.
We have to order our meat from Kodiak,
which is a 45-minute plane ride,
so getting fresh meat is always a plus.
I can see where a bear paw print is,
so we are definitely using the same trail as they are.
Going the same way as us.
MARVIN: See if I hear any gunshots.
Justin likes to get up and do things.
That's what I miss.
Being around Justin brings out a little more energy in me.
Look like he was standing up right there at the very peak.
But if not, I'm seeing things. (laughs)
JUSTIN: We're about halfway, a third way up the mountain.
We're just getting up to the cloud line here,
you can see the cabin.
Can't see too far, 200 yards right now.
We can see up, but once we get up into the thicker of it,
it's gonna be a bit harder to see.
The goats, they're white, they can be dirty gray, whatever.
Same color as the clouds practically so...
There's also snow up there.
It just makes it even harder to spot the animal.
Once we get up higher into that fog and the snow,
it's gonna get colder.
MARVIN (off screen): I see the wind coming, I hear it.
It's snowing up there where Justin is.
Got a good snowstorm.
It's pretty steep out there
and very treacherous hike.
There is a very big concern about where to go out there.
They're in the cliffs and rocks,
yeah, there is a lot of danger in goat hunting.
JUSTIN: Who knows what's on the other side though.
Hopefully, we get enough visibility to spot something.
A lot of snow up here, at least an inch.
Just about to the top where it levels out.
We should hopefully come across a mountain goat.
Maybe.
MARVIN: You know, one little slip or something out there
and to be that far away from home
with just a radio to call for help,
that's always a big concern.
One person, where am I at?
JUSTIN: This is definitely not ideal hunting weather.
MARVIN: Kinda hoping Justin's in a good spot for goat.
JUSTIN: Plus we're still quite a ways from the cabin.
We ain't gonna get down their till dinner time.
We've had some good visibility, for a little bit.
We got to glass around, but the snow came back down.
Warm cabin, dry.
Definitely looking forward to that,
but hopefully, still looking forward to a goat.
MARVIN: They're up there in the fog right now
but didn't take 'em very long to get up there.
Probably pretty slippery up there.
You have to adapt and overcome out here.
We work around the weather and the tide.
Accessibility to getting things.
Out here, you just... have to make it work.
JUSTIN: Here we are,
on the top of the mountain, behind the cabin.
I was kind of hoping that we'd have a good advantage
of seeing what could be on the other side here.
They're definitely gonna know I'm here
so just hope they don't get too spooked.
In the village, there's only about 55 people max,
including the children.
A lot of the people here, they wouldn't prefer hiking up
to the top of the mountain for their meat.
Unless you just really want to, like me.
It's a tough hunt, but I love it.
MARVIN (off screen): Maybe he's on his way back down,
walking back to the trail over here.
Maybe he got one.
JUSTIN:
just always so unpredictable
and be nice one minute and clear the next.
Can't really see much on the other side,
but it looks a lot more snowy than the other side
that we just came up on.
Zero visibility right now.
I decided that I'm just gonna head back.
Yeah, definitely not the ideal hunting weather for goat.
If it was clear, it would have been a whole different story.
TIG: The elders always talked
about prophecies saying, "There's gonna be a time
"where we have to live a subsistent lifestyle
and completely live off the land."
Alright. Go ahead, Terry.
-TERRANCE STRASSBURG: Trace it out? -TIG: Yeah.
What are you doing?
Are you drawing smiley faces and stuff now?
Graffiti?
TIG: For the sled,
and all we gotta do now is to get the door done.
Even I can fit.
Look at that, boys!
EVAN: Whoa.
TIG: Cut out the windows.
EVAN:
TIG: Yeah. Plexiglass, they call it.
I'm enjoying my time with my boys.
They seem like they're learning.
They're picking up on little things.
I don't got a whole lot of carpentry skills to teach them
but what I do know, I want to pass down to them
and hopefully, they can start cutting up some wood
and making their own types of things, too.
-TERRANCE: Yeah. -TIG: You good to flip it?
Hey, it fits.
Well, how about you go grab your little sisters
and we take a look at it.
(indistinct chatter)
Alright.
Climb in, Momma, your new ride.
LOUISE MOSES: I couldn't even imagine what he had in his head.
TIG: Hi, Momma.
LOUISE: It looks amazing.
I'm really happy with how it turned out.
It's big enough for all the kids.
TIG: You girls all set to head to camp.
So let's load up and let's go check out camp.
I do try and carry on the tradition
of living a nomadic lifestyle
and so springtime, I start taking my family down river
to our fishing camp and family allotments back there.
Feet up forward so make some room, Sophie.
Feels real good to have this sled finished for my children.
Uh-oh, Sooga.
Alright. We're all loaded up, we got the babies loaded up.
How's everybody?
GIRLS: Good!
AMIYA STRASSBURG: Good.
LOUISE: Can't wait to get started.
Get out to camp. Get away for a while.
TERRANCE: I'm really stoked to go on the sled.
TIG: Alright, hang on.
(engine revving)
Before Allakaket was a town, my family used to live
in The South Fork, got a cabin up there.
It's only 33 miles to camp.
With these girls in the sled,
I figure we're gonna be doing about 15 miles an hour
and it's gonna be about a three-, four-hour ride.
It's very important to get my children
out to camp right now at this young age
and away from the TV and away from wi-fi
and all of this and get them connected with the woods.
TIG:
LOUISE:
TIG: Check engine light keeps coming on.
And when it does that, it cuts out the motor
and I ain't got no power.
TERRANCE: Will we make it back, Dad?
TIG: Um, I hope so.
TIG: Let me check it again.
No, see,
that's not supposed to be on right there.
Then when I'm driving, it tells me to stop the engine.
Go home now, it tells me.
Look like a part of the piston shot through.
You can spend days and weeks planning a trip
and then once, once you get into it,
you know, plans are going to change, just instantly.
It just so windy and rugged out here,
it isn't the right conditions to work on anything.
I don't want to get stranded out there in the woods
with seven kids and a dog and my honey.
You know, we're gonna be a long ways out there.
We gonna have to go home, and I gotta work on it tonight.
HAZEL: Okay.
TIG: We'll try again tomorrow.
Everybody gonna be okay.
-HAZEL: Yeah. -SOPHIE: Yeah.
Oh, my God.
TIG: Uh, this is a difficult life, difficult country.
It gets cold and extreme and everything.
But, you know, the kids,
they're acclimated to the temperatures.
They're not used to anything easier,
and this is just their everyday life.
They're strong kids.
JOHN: When I tell my story
to my grandchildren, it becomes real,
and it makes these young people strong.
JOHN:
LIANA PINGAYAK:
Um, this is for your hands, like this.
JOHN:
SONNA BOY: I'm taking the cover off
from the hole so...
it will be a lot easier for me to get in the blackfish.
See how easy that was for me to hit the water.
Until sixth grade, I was living in Fairbanks
and just sitting around doing nothing and then I come here
and I'm just busy with my grandparents.
Every trip is something new to learn.
To carry on tradition when I have a kid of my own
is kinda scary for me.
Because I don't want to forget anything that I've been taught.
JOHN: Yeah.
When I'm no longer in this land,
they're going to carry that tradition.
It's like Paiciteq.
It's like a gift.
JOEL: It's not just the elements that slow you down.
Just being away from civilization slows you down.
Ohh!
There's way more snow back here than I thought there was.
Going right through the bottom.
I'm actually on the old native dog sled trails.
This is like the main trail
to get from village to village or house to house.
People used to use this all the time.
I mean, it would be like their highway basically
before they had vehicles and boats.
Most people don't even know where it's at.
So it's just kinda, just kinda sad, I feel like.
You know, people just kind of lost
the art of hunting and living off the land.
That's why I want to keep it open
so people can still use it if they want.
It's a lot of work to cut a trail out
that hasn't been maintained in years.
Come on.
(gunshot)
Headshot.
Oh.
This frickin' gun!
You gotta be kidding me.
Oh, my God.
(gunshot)
JOEL: Neck shot.
There's at least one, one more over there.
Leave these guys here.
Come on.
Fly, I heard them fly.
It's very fulfilling being able to provide for yourself.
It's nice just, you know, being out in the woods.
It's nice not having to worry about
relying on the grocery store.
Relying on your own wit, basically.
-(wings flapping) -There it goes!
(gunshot)
Oh boy.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, I like Pedro Bay.
Good time.
MARVIN: Out here, times change,
but our way of living hasn't.
♪ ♪
MARVIN: What a beautiful day.
Nice up in here. Really nice.
JUSTIN: Yeah.
So our next goal, plan is to go to Olga Bay
to just go and track other mountains and hopefully one's there.
MARVIN: Hunting is the easiest way to live out here
to make it easier on finances.
Where did you guys see them last time you were up here?
JUSTIN: Right over here.
MARVIN: It is just so hard to see now.
The snow.
JUSTIN: I see one in that steep ravine right there.
MARVIN: Alright. Where we see one, we'll see more.
JUSTIN: After spotting the goat,
you have to come up with a gameplan to get them.
It can be pretty tricky sometimes
because there's cliffs everywhere.
And you gotta find a beach
that can land a skiff with no swell.
And then from there, find a spot to get up.
Two different groups,
I could see that one low... guy standing out right there.
That's the one I'm probably gonna go for.
Soon as we get to the beach here,
the skiff is banging around on the rock and making noise.
I look up on the hill, and I noticed
the goat are already looking at us.
MARVIN: Yeah, I'm just gonna go up there on that beach.
-And see if I could-- -JUSTIN: Good spot.
MARVIN: I'll just distract them so that they watch me.
-JUSTIN: Alrighty. -MARVIN: Good luck.
JUSTIN: See you when we get back.
MARVIN: While Justin's hiking up the hill there,
I'm gonna go along and hope that goat watch me here
so I can keep them distracted
so they don't pay attention to him hiking up the hill.
No protection and it's pretty open,
and there's nothing to really hide
and stalk up to the goat.
Once I hear a shot, I'll know he got one.
JUSTIN: I see a couple down really low
to where we're trying to get so,
so far I'm doing good.
They don't know I'm here.
Okay.
MARVIN: There they are right there.
I see one there, two, three.
JUSTIN: It is pretty white.
Who knows? Deer, bear, possibly even a goat.
They're starting to move a little bit,
so I'm gonna see how close up I can get to them there,
without spooking them too much.
You see that bottom one that just came out?
I think that might be a nanny.
Okay, that nanny right there stood up now,
so I'm gonna try to take a shot at it.
(gunshot)
JUSTIN: The little tiny nanny.
Seeing if we can get to him now.
I got really lucky, ended up right on the ledge of a cliff.
It's a tough hunt, but I love it. I love every bit of it.
I love getting out, and I can't wait till
my sons get out here with me.
And I know they're gonna love it.
MARVIN: Hills goats are pretty tough animals.
They don't have very much predators here.
Where they're at, it's pretty tough
for even a bear to even get at them.
No natural predator but the bear and Justin.
JUSTIN: I think that's really important
to have all the stuff that we have now
and that we're passing on, that Marvin passed on,
that we both pretty much learned together.
This should last us till next season.
I think it'll be really useful in the long run for my kids,
their kids, and hopefully it keeps going on from there.
MARVIN: I used to be around a lot of the elders growing up.
There's a lot of respect for those old timing people.
How they made our village what it is today,
and what we still carry on here.
I want to help the village as much as I got to offer,
which is a lot.
You got his goat, kids will be happy.
Hell yeah.
We will overcome.
That's got a lot of meaning to me, we will overcome.
We just face east.
(laughs)
TIG: Round two, we're gonna make it this time.
Sound the drums.
Come on, you girls, sound the drums.
Well, Momma, I think we're all set,
you know, our big machine, it didn't hold up on us
but thank goodness for Uncle Charlie,
he let me borrow this one, so let's do this.
(engine revving)
Oh, oh. Better not leave my honey.
(birds chirping)
TIG: Woo!
Woo! We did it, girls!
Our place.
We made it, girls.
Welcome to camp.
Hi. Home sweet home, my boy.
Allakaket's just where we stay,
but this is our home, my boy.
This is where we're from. That's why you're so happy.
That's why you like it so much already. It's in your blood.
This river runs in you, all of us.
Let's get you in the house, my boy, get the fire going.
TERESA PINGAYAK:
Do you like blackfish, Asher?
ASHER ULROAN: Yeah.
Look at their skin.
TERESA: Do you know, Asher,
I had two blackfish pets when I was a little girl
and I put them in a jar in my sod house.
-Then, you know what happened? -ASHER: What?
TERESA: One day, I went to inside the house,
and my mom was cooking my two blackfish pets
for my little brother, and he fed it to him.
(Teresa chuckles)
What is that?
Look at that.
John and I, we had gained some weight,
and our cholesterol and sugar was high.
So we had to completely go back to our native food,
and it was just amazing
how our body reacted to
when we just started eating our native food.
And what do we need to put on it before we eat?
-ASHER: Seal oil. -TERESA: Yeah
ASHER:
TERESA: Is that what you learned today?
It means sit and be quiet, be quiet.
JOHN: Sometimes, when you sign a song,
somebody from another village will sing it.
They come by the wind, by the spirit.
(singing in native language)
JOEL: When I was in the Marines and we were in Iraq,
I, like, missed Pedro Bay.
'Cause I feel like Iraq was basically
as far removed as you could get from, like, this place.
The colors are brighter when you come back.
Even, like, rotting salmon in the fall,
it just brings back memories.
Oh, man, that's good.
Dang.
It just feels like home.
I feel like this is where I belong.
It does make you appreciate, appreciate the land more.
(singing in native language)
MARVIN: My mission is what I am doing right now.
When we were brought up,
we didn't read a book on our native way of subsisting.
We were just taught from our elders.
We're gonna be the next elders of our village.
You know, that's very big for me.
Happy.
TIG (off screen): These guys got a lot of pent-up energy.
Even though that long ride to camp,
that's not gonna burn off these boys' energy.
Ready to get some work in.
LOUISE: How many can you hold?
SOPHIE STRASSBURG: Uh, six.
TIG: This is a small family I got, seven kids.
Been a long time but I wasn't so much, uh,
it was just normal family.
LOUISE: You a little camp baby?
TIG: And all of them were raised
inside a cabin smaller than this,
this size or smaller, you know.
Bigger families than what we got.
Once you got kids, your life should just be
all about your kids and making them happy.
It's all worth it once I see those smiles on their faces.
JOHN: You need to find time to beat your drum
and get your people alive, once again.
And go forward to the uncertainty of the future.
And battle what we need to battle
before we even get there.
(speaking native language)
(in English): Thank you for listening.
Captioned by Point.360