BELLAMY_SARVELA CHEVIE_ROACH CLARE_MORRISETTE_CALVERT INARA_SARVELA JACK_RAZO JOHNNY_ROLFE KATIE_SARVELA KYLE_SARVELA MARIO_QUEZADA RUDY_HAMILTON RYDER_ROACH


RYDER ROACH
See you, Dad!
CHEVIE ROACH
I'm just leaving my house.
CHEVIE ROACH
Rudy called me. He's got a black bear in his porch. He's trying to come in. He don't like killing stuff, so I gotta come over. See what's going on. He said it may be a messenger. I don't know what any of that stuff means. I'm going to check.

CHEVIE ROACH
Nothing. What the hell?
RUDY HAMILTON
Desperate times.
CHEVIE ROACH
I don't see it out here. I'll just wait a little bit. It'll come right back.
RUDY HAMILTON
Yeah.
CHEVIE ROACH
Did it try and come in this window?
RUDY HAMILTON
Yeah.
CHEVIE ROACH
This one?
RUDY HAMILTON
Yeah.
RUDY HAMILTON
You can see where it, uh�
RUDY HAMILTON
�went right up to the window.
RUDY HAMILTON
You can see the marks.
RUDY HAMILTON
I went to make my tea. You know.
RUDY HAMILTON
I have plants outside.
RUDY HAMILTON
It's just standing right there.
RUDY HAMILTON
Almost had a heart attack.
CHEVIE ROACH
I'm going to keep on looking. Dark spot right there. I think that's him. It's right there those trees. Just waiting. That's not him. I don't think that's him. I'm gonna head back now. It's just a waiting game. I'm just gonna get inside here and just see if I can just wait this thing out and see if it comes back.
RUDY HAMILTON
See, he's trying to climb that upstairs window too.
CHEVIE ROACH
Oh, is that what he's looking at, the upstairs window?
RUDY HAMILTON
Probably. See, he's climbing down the tree there.
CHEVIE ROACH
Oh, yeah. Didn't it come right to the window?
RUDY HAMILTON
Yeah.
CHEVIE ROACH
Oh, yeah.
RUDY HAMILTON
Right here, yeah. See, he's trying to come in the window now.
CHEVIE ROACH
That's a good shot right there.
RUDY HAMILTON
Yeah. And then I heard the back door fall. This is called a messenger. And I don't know what kind of message they give you, but things to come yet. That's why I didn't want to fool with it. You're not really supposed to kill these things. Somebody else could but not me.
CHEVIE ROACH
He's trying to tell you something, huh?
RUDY HAMILTON
Yeah, I think so.
RUDY HAMILTON
I didn't want to go out and meet it because, you know, if it's not a messenger, then you're too close.
MARIO QUEZADA
Alaska is the place for me.
MARIO QUEZADA
And it'll always be the place for me as long as I can sustain myself from the resources that we have.

MARIO QUEZADA
Wow, look at that.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Beautiful.
MARIO QUEZADA
Wow.

CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
That's some powerful water moving.
MARIO QUEZADA
Just be careful, okay?
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yup.
MARIO QUEZADA
It's pretty steep.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yeah.
MARIO QUEZADA
Clare and I got here just in time for the midnight opener of the Copper River dip net season.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
You good?
MARIO QUEZADA
Yeah. It's an incredibly rewarding experience.
MARIO QUEZADA
But it's also very dangerous, and it can actually cost you your life. To the edge of the cliffs, baby! We gotta make sure this rope is nice and tight because if you go in that water, you're gonna get swept away, and the only thing that's gonna save your life is this rope, so.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yeah, totally.
MARIO QUEZADA
All right, good luck! What you're feeling for is really just any sort of bump on the net. When you feel that, you kind of give it a little jerk to see if you can't get the salmon in the net. This time of the year, the sockeye salmon are coming through the Copper River to spawn.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Here fishy fishy.
MARIO QUEZADA
Clare and I are allowed to catch 35 fish, including one king salmon and we have a 96 hour window to catch our salmon for the year. Sometimes you pull your net out of the water just to move it, and you've got a fish, and you don't even know it. It's just a wild card game out here. You never know what you're going to get, but most important rule is to just keep playing, you know? So.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Oh!
MARIO QUEZADA
That was huge!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
It was.
MARIO QUEZADA
That was huge!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
It was. The one that got away. All right.
MARIO QUEZADA
Did you get one?
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
No, I felt like I did.
MARIO QUEZADA
Oh, I thought I had a hit too.

JOHNNY ROLFE
I need a good protein source to fuel me up these mountains, paddle and canoe all these lakes, to walk all this tundra. Finding a food source out here is the most important thing for me to do. Mmm, good girl, Java. Eat up, it's gonna be a long hike.
JOHNNY ROLFE
So right now I'm just gearing up for a hunt. I'm trying to get a little food in my belly. It's gonna be nice to get some meat in camp because when I first get here, there's no protein. It's just whatever I bring on my back really. It's beans, rice, quinoa. So, I gotta go get some meat. You got food in your belly. This is the most important part of a hunt right here. My rifle. It's a 30 aught six and I like the bigger caliber. Because I spend a lot of my time here in the winter where grizzly bears aren't that big of an issue. But this time of year, the bears are out. And it's nice to have something that I know I can take down a caribou. I can take down a moose. I can take down a grizzly bear. So, anything that's either food or predatory. The way you just hover over your bowl, you're just expecting more food. I think you ate more than I did. Come on. Which way you want to go?

JOHNNY ROLFE
So, this is one of the most important hunts of the year to get the winter's meat. Ideally, I get two, three caribou. Just got to hope that they're around. I'm going to start covering as much country as I can and read the sign. Put all those pieces together, kind of build a little bit of a puzzle in my brain of where the caribou have been, where they're coming from. And see if I can kind of find a spot to intercept them. You see all this white right here? That's what they eat. It's just like this moss. They just come in these big herds and just sweep it all up. They eat the mushrooms, they eat the, the lowbush cranberry, which is this green, and then they actually eat the berries too. I do too, they're damn good. Come on, Mamas! Good girl. Hey, hey, hey, you stay behind me. Hey, come here. Come here. Hey. So, there's a, a lake there, I call the pond because it's small, and there's this lake here. The caribou come down this mountain and sometimes they cross the little bridge between the two. So, I'm going to see if the tracks go that way or that way. You can see tracks right in this mud, they're just a week or two old. I'm not trying to catch up to any caribou, but it'll kind of tell me like where they're headed. Because what caribou tend to do is they just kind of go where the rest of the caribou have been going. They just follow each other's tracks. Their objective is to get to the winter grounds. My objective is to hunt one before it gets to its winter grounds. The good news is that these tracks, they're small. So, these are cows and calves. It's right before the rut, right before mating season. Bulls, they come through a little bit aggro. Tells me they haven't been through yet, because I'm not seeing any big tracks. Damn. You know, I often put too much stress on my shoulders, like, is this too late in the year? Is it too early? Because you just don't know what the animals are doing. Ah, caribou, man, they give me a run for my money. I love it, though.
KYLE SARVELA
Being on the ocean definitely has its challenges.
KYLE SARVELA
It's unpredictable.
KYLE SARVELA
But it puts food on the table.
KYLE SARVELA
It helps us survive. We got really lucky with this spot.
KATIE SARVELA
Being able to fish right in front of our house.
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah, being able to fish right in front of the house too. Pretty awesome. Get some cohoes today.
KATIE SARVELA
You're going to bring the buoy over to me?
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah.
KATIE SARVELA
Okay. I'm going to turn this off while we get it set up.
KYLE SARVELA
All right. Probably should get the running line too going.
KATIE SARVELA
Okay, well let's run the net and then we'll put the running line out. Ready?
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah. We're going to go out today and do some silverfishing. This will be nice. During low tide, we can set our nets dry, and then we'll go out there during the high tide.
KATIE SARVELA
Is that one set?
KYLE SARVELA
Go out on a boat, drive to each of the buoys, and then, all right. We'll just start fishing.
KATIE SARVELA
Oh, yeah. The tide has definitely started to come in. This is about the time that the silver run hits, so. If we hit it really good on one day, that's just one really good day is all we need to fill the freezer.
KYLE SARVELA
Let's do it.
KATIE SARVELA
There you go. Perfect.
KYLE SARVELA
All right. So we got all of our nets in. Let's get a hold of Jack and see if he can bring down the boat.
KYLE SARVELA
Now it's fishing time. Just enough time to get all of our nets set. There's Jack.
KATIE SARVELA
Perfect. Jack is our neighbor. He happens to have his own fishing permit, so we decided to team up together. When you use the boat, it has to be a two person job. So Kyle and Jack are going to go out.
KYLE SARVELA
Hey, what's up, Jack? Are you good?
KATIE SARVELA
Neighbor means such a different thing out here than it does anywhere else.
KYLE SARVELA
Here we go, here we go.
KATIE SARVELA
There you go. Hi, Jack.
KYLE SARVELA
As long as we keep it pointed in, we're good.
KATIE SARVELA
Yeah. Then it'll suck.
KYLE SARVELA
I'll just hang out in here. I wonder how much water got in here. Those big waves suck, man. Calm, calm ocean. Settle down. Come on, baby. Be good to us.
JACK RAZO
Come on, now.
KYLE SARVELA
The recoil's gone out, huh?
JACK RAZO
Yeah. This is not how we want to be doing this.
KYLE SARVELA
No.

KYLE SARVELA
All right. Well, I mean, we can pull it over to the net and just pull ourselves out and disconnect it and let Katie pull it in.
KATIE SARVELA
Yeah.
KYLE SARVELA
Do you want to hold that for a sec? Just kind of keep it pointed that way.
KATIE SARVELA
Whoa, you okay?
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah. Oh, she's gonna get swamped doing that. All right. I'm gonna try to get it over there. I'm gonna try to kick it.
MARIO QUEZADA
Up here in Alaska, if you're willing to make the effort, you walk away with not only food, but a lot of memories.

CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Is it the current or is it a fish? Oh! Oh!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woo!
MARIO QUEZADA
Good job! Woo!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Fish on, baby!
MARIO QUEZADA
Good job, Claire! All right.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woo!
MARIO QUEZADA
All right. I gotcha!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woo!
MARIO QUEZADA
Hang on.

CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Gills out.
MARIO QUEZADA
Yeah, gills out. All right.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woo! Nice!
MARIO QUEZADA
Get your net back in.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woo!
MARIO QUEZADA
Good job, honey.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yeah, looks great.
MARIO QUEZADA
All right.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Fish one down.
MARIO QUEZADA
Fish one down. These fish that we catch, they're invaluable.
MARIO QUEZADA
And so we're going to be putting them on a stringer to keep them fresh. All right. This guy's good to go.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Okay.
MARIO QUEZADA
The cool water keeps them nice and fresh while we catch the rest of our salmon. All right. Let's get back home!
MARIO QUEZADA
That was awesome, Clare. That was so awesome.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Just casually pulling it out.
MARIO QUEZADA
Good for you. It's like you're just out here and you forget that it's 100 in the morning and that you need to sleep. And you forget all these things because it doesn't matter, you know what I mean? Imagine how miserable you'd be at a grocery store at 100 in the morning? I remember the first time we got to Alaska, we landed, had somebody, oh, had somebody get, meet us at the airport with a truck and we pretty much went straight to the river and caught a couple of salmon in like 30 minutes. It was our first experience up here together.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Uh hmm.
MARIO QUEZADA
Got one. Oh, yes.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woo! Nice job.
MARIO QUEZADA
All right.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woo hoo.
MARIO QUEZADA
I felt that sucker hit. Fish on, baby! That's a big boy!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yeah, it is.
MARIO QUEZADA
It's all in the hips, baby. Clare, the salmon's, like, stuck. Gosh darn it. Oh, no!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
What?
MARIO QUEZADA
I lost the salmon!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
No!
MARIO QUEZADA
That first one got sucked into, like, a rock, and it got pulled off of the stringer. Sad to, to waste a fish, but, you know, sometimes it just happens, so. Damn, that's a shame.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yeah.
MARIO QUEZADA
We still got that, that one big one.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
No worries.
MARIO QUEZADA
I think it's good now.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Okay.
MARIO QUEZADA
That's embarrassing.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
It'll come back.
MARIO QUEZADA
I hate missed opportunities more than anything.
CHEVIE ROACH
Oh, oh. Look what it do. It tried to mess up your.
RUDY HAMILTON
Oh, dammit. That's it. Shooting time.
CHEVIE ROACH
It tried to mess up your gift that the kids got you from the Redwoods.
RUDY HAMILTON
Now it's personal.
CHEVIE ROACH
I want to control the narrative. Our kids go over to Rudy's house all the time.
CHEVIE ROACH
You don't want to leave it up to that bear to dictate your kid's fate.
CHEVIE ROACH
It's trying to get into the house.
CHEVIE ROACH
Right now, we're just trying to get this thing out of here, but it keeps on coming back into his porch.
CHEVIE ROACH
It's been coming down right here, and he's been seeing it in the front of his house on that bird feeder too, so the thing I gotta pay attention to is always looking behind me, right in here 'cause it could go all the way around 'cause it smells me good, the wind's blowing the wrong way, the wind's blowing up this hill. So, you know damn well that it knows when I'm here. So, I just gotta wait. Be quiet for a while and just listen. They can hear really, really well, so. This is how I like to spend my Tuesday mornings. It's right here. He's right there looking right at us. I got a good shot right here but there's a road that goes by right here. People are walking out there. There are four wheelers. There's a house right there. I can't shoot him that way. These big bullets, they can run right through that bear and just keep on going. In a situation like this, everybody's safety comes first before getting this animal.

RUDY HAMILTON
What's the shooting war all about?
CHEVIE ROACH
That's a nice sized blackie, that's going to make some really good sausage and a nice hide.
RUDY HAMILTON
Same one?
CHEVIE ROACH
Oh, yeah. Shot it once and it was down but I wanted to hit it one more time, I don't want to be chasing the damn thing around town.
RUDY HAMILTON
Wait until it clears the snow machine?
CHEVIE ROACH
Wait until it clears the snow.
RUDY HAMILTON
What are you going to do then, drag it out of there, or what?
CHEVIE ROACH
I'll probably back that six wheeler all the way up right here.
RUDY HAMILTON
Oh, okay.
CHEVIE ROACH
And put it in the back that way we don't get blood everywhere, you know?
RUDY HAMILTON
Yeah. Yeah, fine.
CHEVIE ROACH
My father in law, he has his reasons for not wanting to shoot these animals, and I don't question them. Just roll them up, huh?
RUDY HAMILTON
Yup.
CHEVIE ROACH
He lives by a code, and he's serious about it.
RUDY HAMILTON
Whoa.
CHEVIE ROACH
That's all right, we got him on this one. He believes the old school way. I respect it, and that's his way of, of living. But it's not mine. He respects who I am, and the way I do stuff. And we work together.
RUDY HAMILTON
You hurt your back? Then I'll pull that, get it out.
CHEVIE ROACH
Okay. [bleep]. That's more work than you needed to do today.
RUDY HAMILTON
Ooh, boy. Well, I'm glad we got it, though. No more [inaudible] these things. Anyway, good job.
CHEVIE ROACH
Okay. We'll see you again.
RUDY HAMILTON
Yeah.
KYLE SARVELA
Our beach has one of the highest tides in the world.
KYLE SARVELA
We have a lot of movement of water. You really got to be prepared because when it starts coming in, it comes in fast. Hey, we got to get, we got to get angled this way.

JACK RAZO
It's getting hammered. Absolutely hammered.
KYLE SARVELA
This is gonna take forever, dude. I can pull with my truck, maybe.
JACK RAZO
Yeah.
KYLE SARVELA
Here, I'll just go grab a truck. [bleep]. I was hoping the motor would work. It would've been nice. But it didn't happen that way. For whatever reasons.
KATIE SARVELA
Hold up! You gotta go more in the water.
KYLE SARVELA
You can't get me on it?
KATIE SARVELA
Actually, here. No, just hold on!
KYLE SARVELA
My contingency was just to walk the boat over. But these waves, I can't do it, so I have to get the truck.
KYLE SARVELA
What we're going to do is we're just going to take the truck and just keep towing it to each line. We'll pull ourselves up, unhook, and then we can pull the nets in.
KATIE SARVELA
There you go. You're good.
KYLE SARVELA
Good?
KATIE SARVELA
Yup. All right. You're on. [bleep]. 
JACK RAZO
All right.
KATIE SARVELA
Oh, [bleep]. Dang it. And this is why I don't like boats. They never work when you need them to.
KYLE SARVELA
Now you're going the wrong way. Oh, we're good. Here we go. Yeah, we got some fish.
JACK RAZO
Oh, yeah.
KYLE SARVELA
There we are. Hi, fishy! Fishies. Three fishies. Five. Fishes, dude. All right, I'm gonna release it. All right, one that's free. Yeah. Really nice. I'll pull it up to the second one.
JOHNNY ROLFE
You can see a lot of signs along the lakes. All these sights and smells and sounds. They're a gift from nature. They give me information to become a better hunter. But they also just give me peace of mind.

JOHNNY ROLFE
That's a nice game trail right there. You can see. It's kind of old looking. But they use the same trails over and over again.

JOHNNY ROLFE
This is moose right here.
JOHNNY ROLFE
It's a tough life out here for these animals. Look at this eye socket. It's massive. It's like one of these teeth is like the volume of all my teeth combined almost. Little fleshy under here still. I'd say, I'd say it's probably from the winter. The wolves are just so heavy in this area. And it's because the caribou are kind of around right now. But, if there's a lone moose standing around, wolves are going to take it down. This trail is really heavily used. I'm going to just glass with my binoculars for a little bit. Because there could be a moose right along the shore somewhere. Come on, moose. I'm not seeing any signs of caribou or moose. This is why I'm out here, to read the signs and that's what I'm going to do. No [bleep] way. I think I see a [bleep] beaver. I've never seen a beaver here before. Oh, right there.

JOHNNY ROLFE
It's a muskrat. I see two. That's awesome. I've never seen muskrats out here before. They have good fur, they have good meat, they're tasty. A muskrat would be a meal, but there's only two of them here, and I'm going to guess that they're a breeding pair. So, if I take one of them, I gotta take both of them. And there goes the muskrat population on my lake. So, I'm going to leave that muskrat be. Hopefully they create a little population. And then I can have a sustainable harvest of that resource. I feel the pressures. Pretty soon this will start to freeze, and the ice will be too thin to support the weight of the caribou. Two, three weeks, there won't be any more caribou around for months. So, I gotta get it now, or I'm kind of [bleep] out of luck. Oh my god, look at these bulls. They're on the ridge right there. It's really hard to see, you gotta have these high powered binoculars but, my god, those are giants. Damn, do they look beautiful. As they say, work smarter, not harder. I think that's kind of bologna, I think sometimes working harder is smarter. And if it means I gotta go up the mountain, I gotta go up the mountain.
MARIO QUEZADA
I quite honestly feel a lot safer hanging off a cliff over a river catching fish than going to the local supermarket.
MARIO QUEZADA
Can't really tell it's two o'clock in the morning right now.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
No.

MARIO QUEZADA
Look how fast that water moves.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
I know, it's crazy.
MARIO QUEZADA
It's definitely a foot higher this year than it is last year.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yeah.
MARIO QUEZADA
Yes! Got one! Oh, that's a big one! That's a king, I think.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yeah, it is. That's a king, yep.
MARIO QUEZADA
That's a king. Yeah, that's a nice king. Yes, yes.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Let's go, baby.
MARIO QUEZADA
That's a nice king. There's our king. This is huge.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Wow, how much do you think it weighs?
MARIO QUEZADA
Oh, probably 20 pounds [UNIT CONVERSION
9 kilograms].
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Wow.
MARIO QUEZADA
This is the only one that we're allowed.
MARIO QUEZADA
They're getting endangered, so it's really important that we do what we can to make sure these fish keep coming back. So look at this guy. It's a really beautiful fish. You can see the difference here between the sockeye salmon and the king salmon.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Some big gills. Woo!
MARIO QUEZADA
All right, let's get back in it.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Back in position. Oh! Oh! Oh!
MARIO QUEZADA
Oh, good job!
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Just pulled him right out!
MARIO QUEZADA
Fish on?
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Fish on!
MARIO QUEZADA
Man, we're crushing them. That's five, I think. Growing up, I didn't really know that this kind of lifestyle existed. I tried this way of life because I romanticized it a lot from my time in the military.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
There's a fish in here, there's a fish in there.
MARIO QUEZADA
Oh, fish on, fish on, fish on. But the more that I live here, the more that these experiences reassure me. I finally found a home here. God, that's a big one. That's a nice sockeye, Clare.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Yeah, beautiful.
MARIO QUEZADA
Yep, that makes 19.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woohoo!
MARIO QUEZADA
Get us number 20.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Great.
MARIO QUEZADA
Lucky number 20 for us, honey.
KYLE SARVELA
You can't predict Alaska weather.
KYLE SARVELA
There's a lot of danger involved in just being out here. But I'll do whatever it takes to put food on the table.

KATIE SARVELA
This is the most chaotic day we've ever had out on the water.

JACK RAZO
Got it out?
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah. All right, we're just gonna, we're just gonna disconnect it and let Katie pull it in. Yeah.
KATIE SARVELA
This is my least favorite part of fishing, when all of the nets get tangled up. We do have some fish in the net. That ought to make it all worth it.
KYLE SARVELA
Dude! We are littered with fish. Finally, the tide is working in our favor.
KATIE SARVELA
That's me blood, not fish blood. Caught myself on fish teeth and gills.
KYLE SARVELA
Oh, yeah. That's the last net, right? Oh dude. I'm gonna hop out. I think. Right? Yeah.
JACK RAZO
Get our safety line on it.
KYLE SARVELA
Oh, [bleep], we're getting swamped.
JACK RAZO
She's getting hammered, yeah.
KYLE SARVELA
Uh, thoughts? Uh, let's, uh.
JACK RAZO
Nail it?
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah. Oh, [bleep].
JACK RAZO
Whoa.
KYLE SARVELA
Oh, yeah.
JACK RAZO
Oh, no.
KYLE SARVELA
Get It, get it turned this way. Yeah. Yeah. Let me get over here. Hey, watch.
JACK RAZO
All right.
KYLE SARVELA
Damn. Dude.

JACK RAZO
I usually don't get this wet! [Laughs] Oh, no! Man, we're, we are swamped, bud!
KYLE SARVELA
Mother! It's a good thing I'm wearing these waders. We got to wait for the tide to start going out before we can bail this out.
JACK RAZO
Yeah, there's no way we're.
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah, there's no way we're getting it. I think we should.
JACK RAZO
Tie it off.
KYLE SARVELA
Tie it off.
JACK RAZO
Uh, maybe get a net out.
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah. All right, yeah, let's just get these all picked out. I'll take this one. We caught roughly around 40 fish. It's not a horrible day. I mean, it's always worth it at the end of the day, but for the amount of effort and work we put into it and struggle, it's crazy.
JACK RAZO
Seven fish.
KYLE SARVELA
We'll get the smoker going tomorrow.
JACK RAZO
Uh huh.
KYLE SARVELA
We'll get some fillets.
JACK RAZO
Yep. Perfect.
KYLE SARVELA
Yeah, it's good to go. Not bad for our maiden voyage. [laughs]
CHEVIE ROACH
You're born with certain instincts.
CHEVIE ROACH
But the skills and the knowledge that you learn is taught. And it's our duty to be able to pass that down or else it could be lost forever. Out away from town a little bit.
CHEVIE ROACH
Skinning this black bear that was in my father in law's yard.
CHEVIE ROACH
First time I met him, you know, while I was dating his daughter type of deal was Sonta and I came out here in the summer to go king salmon fishing. And, uh, that was 20 years ago, man. That was probably, yeah, 17 years ago, that was a long time ago now that I first started coming out here and spending time with him. And I remember him talking about messing around with these animals and browns and tracking wolves and just being mesmerized by the knowledge. Like, how the heck could this guy, how does he know this? You know, us as the next generation, we'll never be able to do those things, but you could at least grasp the professionalism of it, you know. This stuff that we're doing with this animal is, is, is stuff that Rudy taught me. And, um, I really try to just do those things just out of respect for Rudy and his culture and knowing that his blood runs through my kids, you know. You know, I got a little boy who's, uh, Deg Xit'an Athabaskan and was raised on here and it's my responsibility to help pass that culture on to them. By doing stuff the way that they do it here, it's, it's respecting the animal, it's respecting my family, and it's okay to take a moment and appreciate something like this. All right, here's the final step here. My instructions from Rudy. Put the skull up on a stick. Facing east. And, uh, my luck with that animal will continue. And the work here is done. It's been a good day. I'm gonna head home and, uh, get on some dry clothes. There you go.
JOHNNY ROLFE
Caribou aren't necessarily hard to track. They're just hard to predict. But it's not going to stop me from going out and hunting.
JOHNNY ROLFE
My eyes and ears are ready to absorb anything that this land is ready to tell me.
JOHNNY ROLFE
Hey. It's like a buffet right here. There's blueberries, moss berries, cranberries, all in one little spot.

JOHNNY ROLFE
Envision it now, nice caribou roast. Make like a wild berry jam. Pour it over the top. Got the berries, but I don't have the caribou yet, so I can't get too excited. I'm antsy. It's my first time on this mountain. It's my first time hunting caribou above the tree line. More caribou shed. I usually find them running around the lakes. But I haven't seen any down there, and I need the meat, that's a nice one. Come on, Java, let's go get to the top. There's a caribou up there. Looks like two of them. It's hard to tell because of all this fog that's rolling in. So, I'm gonna go try to put a little bit of stalk on them. But it's gonna be pretty hard because it's very open country. Once they see me then it's game over. You ready? No? You ready? Come on. The caribou have spotted me. They see me. I was probably walking too fast. Come on. I gotta act really slow and cautious. I'm just walking at like small increments to show that I'm not a threat. I see like another like four over there too. Six big, full caribou. That's a lot of meat. Coming up above the alpine was a good move to make, but, I gotta just figure out a place I can go hide. I'm just gonna go like, 30, 20 yards [UNIT CONVERSION 27, 18 meters] from here. Just trying to inch my way to them. They're spooked. Slowly go down. They see me. You cannot move.

JOHNNY ROLFE
Dammit, how the [bleep] did they hear me, man? I can't believe that, the wind's blowing this way, they can't smell me. I have no idea how I just spooked them. I was walking right toward them. They were walking right toward me. I get low. They couldn't see me anymore. And I pop my head up. And I just see their white asses running away from me. How the [bleep] did I blow that? They're gone. They're still running. I'd never catch up, but if I did, I'd have to walk really fast or jog. That would scare them. You know, honestly, I really just came up here to explore and see if there's sign of caribou up here. That's confirmed, man. There's caribou up here. The big bulls are up here. So, now I got to just figure out a plan and not be spotted by caribou. Because right now this method I'm doing ain't working.
MARIO QUEZADA
Let's enjoy a nice dinner before we head out.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Ooh, Look at that color.
MARIO QUEZADA
There it is.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
Woo! Beautiful.
MARIO QUEZADA
Yeah. Clare and I have caught over 20 fish. That's a lot of food for us, and it's all worth the effort.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
You got it?
MARIO QUEZADA
Yep. As long as we come back home safe at the end of the day. It's been a year since really we started our huge adventures, you know, out here in Alaska.
CLARE MORRISETTE CALVERT
I know.
MARIO QUEZADA
You know, this time out here means a lot to us. It's nice. We'll always have these memories and we'll continue to cherish these places together.
KYLE SARVELA
You want to skip some rocks with me, Narnars? This is good, uh, rock skipping right here.
KATIE SARVELA
I feel absolutely lucky to get to have the ocean as my front yard and raise my family out here and fish right in front of our cabin. And then just get to hang out with my family all day long, every day.
KYLE SARVELA
So, the whole point of it is like, do it really hard. Harder than that, like as hard as you can. Whoa!
KATIE SARVELA
Wow, that was a lot!
CHEVIE ROACH
Got my meat hanging here. When they're like this, I like to put a little bit of smoke on them, just for a little bit of flavor. I never ever want to speak on behalf of Athabascan people, and definitely not people from this region, because I'm not them. But it is my responsibility to respect it. And teach my kids what Sonta's dad teaches me. Because that's a family thing. One last piece of firewood. He wants his grandkids to know this stuff. This is the way he wants it. And I respect that. Cover this thing up. And the only way to explain it in the right way is to practice it.
JOHNNY ROLFE
If you look at the scheme of things, the more mistakes you make, the better you become. A beginner has only had enough opportunity to make a few mistakes. A master's had enough time and opportunity to make a lot of mistakes. And that's what's made a master a master.
CHEVIE ROACH
When I was growing up, you know, I didn't really think that my life would turn out like this.
MARIO QUEZADA
Might as well eat a little bit of it. You don't go to the grocery store and not hit the hot deli, right?
CHEVIE ROACH
I thought I would be just working the nine to five and doing what everybody does. But as I learned about the woods and animals and people, um, they each have a mind of their own and I like the inconsistency.
KYLE SARVELA
It was some very hard earned salmon. We did what we had to do. Got the nets out of the water. Got some fish.
CHEVIE ROACH
I like that every day is different. And when there's an obstacle, there's always a way around it or a way to figure it out.
JOHNNY ROLFE
This area I'm in now, it's just too wide open. Every caribou can see me, can see Java. But maybe a way I can kind of duck behind something so nothing can see me.
CHEVIE ROACH
It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, it might be in ten years, but just know that there's always an answer.
JOHNNY ROLFE
Look at that, man. I got another caribou coming right toward me. After all that.
CHEVIE ROACH
Let time help you. And your answer will come.
JOHNNY ROLFE
Two of them.

JOHNNY ROLFE
That's pretty far away. But they seem to be moving on that high ridgeline. And every one of them on that ridgeline can see me down here. So, if I get up on the ridgeline, I'll have a little bit of an advantage. It's just real tricky. It's real tricky. Let's go Java.

[SNAP IN]
KATIE SARVELA
Okay, which one do you guys want first?
BELLAMY SARVELA
I want the big fat one.
KATIE SARVELA
The big fat one? Oh my goodness, okay. So I'm gonna cut this one 
BELLAMY SARVELA
And then we to the small one 
KATIE SARVELA
And then you guys will cut the next one, okay? So, look. Behind the fins, and then we cut their heads off. The way that we're going to preserve these fish is we're gonna can some, we're gonna smoke some and we're gonna fillet some to put in the freezer. And then we're also just gonna eat some fresh on the beach. There we go. Throw it in the bucket.
BELLAMY SARVELA
Ooh, look, look! Look it's a, it's a girl.
KATIE SARVELA
Yeah, there's eggs on that one.
INARA SARVELA
Mom, that's a egg!
KATIE SARVELA
Bellamy, I want you to open me a fresh jar with nothing in it, okay? Are you guys ready for the next part?
BELLAMY SARVELA
Yeah. Ew, it's guts.
KATIE SARVELA
Yup. Now, hold it over here so I know how much fish to cut up. On top of the fish? Now I know I can fill it to here, so back up. So I can put this much fish in there.
BELLAMY SARVELA
And the same with the other parts?
KATIE SARVELA
Yep. Look at that, he fits perfect.
INARA SARVELA
I want to try.
KATIE SARVELA
There we go.
INARA SARVELA
Yay, it cut!
KATIE SARVELA
Because we are remote it's kind of hard to just go get things from other people. Okay. So in order to provide for ourselves out here, cut, I want to teach the kids to do as much as possible with all of our projects. Because I think it's good for them to learn life skills. So as much as they're interested we try to allow them to do and teach them safely. I'm gonna pour water and vinegar in here now. And that's probably good.
INARA SARVELA
Stop, you smacked that.
KATIE SARVELA
I know, you ready? I'm gonna put the lid on it. Are you guys ready to go eat fish on to the beach with dad?
INARA SARVELA
Yes.
BELLAMY SARVELA
Yeah.
KATIE SARVELA
All right.




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