ASHER_ULROAN BEATTUS_DINO_MOSES_JR BERTHA_ULVI CHRIS_APASSINGOK DEBORAH_APATIKI EVAN_STRASSBURG JAMEY_JOSEPH JODY_POTTS_JOSEPH JOHN_PINGAYAK JOHN_SONNA_BOY_PINGAYAK_III LIANA MIKE_APATIKI NALU_DANIELLE_APASSINGOK NICOLE PANITA PAXTON STEVEN_TIG_STRASSBURG TERESA_PINGAYAK NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Woo wee. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Pretty chilly. CHRIS APASSINGOK You're gonna shoot over there. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Okay. There hasn't been a lot of game this winter. The ice has been plugged up. There's not a lot of seals or walrus and our freezers are pretty empty. People have seen reindeer near the village, so my brother and I are gonna go and do some target practicing before we go actual hunting. The game out there can look pretty small, sometimes you only have one shot. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I don't know if I hit it. CHRIS APASSINGOK My dad used to be the captain of the boat. CHRIS APASSINGOK Now he's getting a little bit too old and now it's time for me to take over. Teaching all my crew members what they need to know. I let my sister know that. Right there, right there! We're the providers now. All right, man. She hit the black dot. Yeah, that's still good. Right on the money! NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Really? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yup. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I really thought that I'd be doing all of my first time hunting with my dad, but now that my dad's retired, it turns out to be my brother and he's a really good teacher. CHRIS APASSINGOK Let's go find some game. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Yup. CHRIS APASSINGOK Let's roll out, man. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Woo hoo! JOHN PINGAYAK Keep jigging. JOHN PINGAYAK Upward. JOHN PINGAYAK Go slowly. JOHN PINGAYAK Sonna Boy and I have been scouting around to find fish. JOHN PINGAYAK Trying to get food for the winter. JOHN PINGAYAK We might have to check down river. JOHN PINGAYAK I don't think there's fish here. When we have a lot of north wind. JOHN PINGAYAK It pushes the water down to the ocean, and that's why it's unpredictable where the fish are. The place we usually catch fish is, there's hardly anything, nothing. Let's check another spot, okay, Sonna Boy? JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III Uh huh. JOHN PINGAYAK And see if the fish are running. My name is John Pingayak, I am with the Kashunamiut Tribe with my wife Teresa. We're the Cup'ik people. And we are hunting, gathering, subsisting, it's a family affair. JOHN PINGAYAK Let's go. The Cup'ik people of the southwestern tundra of Alaska, we've never migrated from anywhere. We were put here by our creator. JOHN PINGAYAK Wherever I go, I'm part of it. It's inside me. JOHN PINGAYAK And I see life even if it has nothing. JOHN PINGAYAK Just ice and snow. JOHN PINGAYAK There's life in it. This is my home. JOHN PINGAYAK Right there. Yeah. Sonna Boy's my grandson. My wife Teresa and I, we nurtured Sonna Boy, since he was 12 years old. JOHN PINGAYAK Now he's 19. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III I'm just really proud to be under my aata. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III I got my Cup'ik name Apanuugpak. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III That's a great warrior. JOHN PINGAYAK I taught him already how to survive out here. JOHN PINGAYAK Now he wants to join the National Guard. JOHN PINGAYAK We can't hold him forever. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III Fishing teaches you a whole bunch of things. You gotta be patient. Teaches you how to be smart. You gotta know where you are, and where the fish are. A waiting game. JOHN PINGAYAK I think the tide is not coming up. Tides and the winds, they determine where they are. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III Do you think if the tide is higher, we'd be able bring them out? JOHN PINGAYAK I think so. In about two or three days later, I can go again. Pack up and go back. Before the sun goes down. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Let's go! JODY POTTS JOSEPH Good job, Sunny. Good job, baby! JODY POTTS JOSEPH My name is Jody Potts Joseph, and I currently live in Eagle Village, Alaska with my husband, Jamey. I'm of the Raven Clan of the H�n Gwich'in people. Ravens represent wisdom, but they also are a trickster animal. Hey, how nice of you. JAMEY JOSEPH Hey! JODY POTTS JOSEPH I'm indigenous to this land, I'm connected to this place. Hunting, fishing, dog mushing, I mean, all of it is just such good medicine. It makes me a better person and have a higher quality of life that I can't really find anywhere else. Good dogs, good dogs. JODY POTTS JOSEPH I'm thinking about the best location to move my dogs to where I could see them from out the window. JODY POTTS JOSEPH In the past, I've had bears come into my dog yard, even porcupines, which can be really dangerous for dogs, that's happened. JAMEY JOSEPH Yup. JODY POTTS JOSEPH So, it is important that we take care of an issue before, you know, our dogs are harmed. So, we're recycling and old smoke house that was on this property and turning it into a puppy pen and then the other thing is also my out trails of mushing. It's really hard when you're, like, taking off with the dog team and having to take any corners when they're going Mach 10. So, I really want to put a trail in straight out to around like down there. So, we have a lot of brush to clear. We have trees to cut down. Gonna take quite a bit of physical labor but, together, we can knock a lot of work out in a short period of time. Nice. Thank you, babe. Think that'll pretty much do it, it looks really good. JAMEY JOSEPH Yeah. You can mush right on out, right on over to the lake, to the river. JODY POTTS JOSEPH And now it's time for a puppy pen. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG After the first little bit of snow the rivers and lakes start icing up. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG The bears start going to their den. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG You get extreme cold temperatures for long periods of time. Instead of being hungry we go out bear denning. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG The elders used to say that's our pig meat, that's where we're gonna get all our good nutrients and fat. This is an old, old tradition. Being able to shoot a bear, that showed the community you were old enough for the next step. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG It's upon myself and my children right now to keep this tradition going. This used to be your late great grandpa Tony's trap line. Before your late great grandpa Tony died, he requested to Dino that he shows me this bear trap line. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Dino's the last one to know this trail. If anything, God forbid, ever happened to Uncle Dino, this trail would go with him. BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR Okay. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG All right. Yeah. BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR Yeah. We can just get up the bank here and then start walking too. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG All right. BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR There's a leaning cotton tree. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Sounds good. Dino, he's raised the traditional way, out in the trap line in the country, living in wall tents. He's got a lot of knowledge inside his head. That's what's passed down to us. That's our inheritance. BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR It's not that far. BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR The cottonwoods gotta be on this ridge right here. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Uh hmm. BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR At least it ain't snowing. BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR Thank you, good Lord. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Bear denning, it's on the last steps that I've got to teach Evan. These bear dens, they're not just a one time use. When he's passing these down, you know, he's passing down something real special. That's why it's important for my son to keep on the tradition. He starts building up dens in his head right now. By the time he's my age, he should have a good amount. You always gotta have an axe 'cause, you know, a gun will misfire. Click, click, click. Axe won't misfire. You don't use this end. You don't use the sharp end you use that blunt. You hit him with this side, your axe will get stuck in it and it's just going to take off, then you're going to be stuck with nothing next. EVAN STRASSBURG It's really important for me to learn the old ways so I can teach my friends and the younger ones. Not a lot of people nowadays go bear denning, trapping, and hunting. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG I think I found a den. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG You see that leaning� STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Cottonwood that fell over that he was talking about? [COMMERCIAL BREAK] STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Doesn't look like anybody home. See how there's moss on top? EVAN STRASSBURG Yeah. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG If it was in there it would be fresh mud right there. This is what it's like when you're looking for dens. A bear's gonna make his den in the absolute roughest place possible. He's not gonna ever put his den in some place where we can easily walk up to it. Keep on looking, can't get discouraged after one. JAMEY JOSEPH Well, the plan is, to turn this old shed into a puppy pen. JAMEY JOSEPH We're gonna take the roof off because it's leaning and we're afraid the snow might tip it over. JAMEY JOSEPH But first, I'm gonna move everything out. It's different being upriver, a lot more mountains. We have some hills down where I'm from but mostly in the flats, lot of lakes. I'm sure it's gonna take me a little bit to get used to it, but a happy wife, happy life. JAMEY JOSEPH Roof coming off. I learned a lot from my grandfather. He taught me you have to be versatile. If we didn't have the tools to do it, would there be another way? There's always another way. JODY POTTS JOSEPH It's really important here in Bush Alaska to be resourceful and not let anything go to waste. A lot of things can be repurposed and could also save you some work. Hey! Surge! JAMEY JOSEPH She's bringing them inside 'cause they're wandering. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Oh. JAMEY JOSEPH They're starting to venture off farther and farther every day so just in the nick of time here. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yup, it is. JAMEY JOSEPH Wolf, lynx, marten, all just right here in the back yard. JODY POTTS JOSEPH And all those predators with loose puppies, yeah, we gotta get these little guys safe. Nice. And then that side has a little gap, but we'll just put a board there. JAMEY JOSEPH Yeah. I've got some scrap left from the balcony. We'll just use that. Yeah. That'll work. JODY POTTS JOSEPH It's really nice having a strong partner who you can just kinda work seamlessly with. We see something that needs to get done and one of us just automatically just steps up. This looks good, it'll work. This will keep them out of trouble, and this will keep them safe from all the predators. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Woo. Kinda nervous. Never been reindeer hunting before. So where are we going? CHRIS APASSINGOK We're gonna be going to uh, Tapghuq. It's about 22 miles (35 kilometers). CHRIS APASSINGOK Hopefully the deer are still there, from what we heard of the other hunters. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Growing up I always wanted to be a hunter, be out in the water or on the land. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Traditionally, it's the guys that go out hunting. I just need my gun and bullets. Kinda paving the way for future generation of women. Feels really good. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Wow. So beautiful out here. CHRIS APASSINGOK Already I see two herds. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Do you? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah. Right down there. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I wanna see. CHRIS APASSINGOK Right there, that line over there. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Oh, I see them. CHRIS APASSINGOK Okay. Let's go. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Subsistence hunting is very important to the village of Gambell. Eighty percent of our diet is from the sea and the land. I feel a huge responsibility to provide for my family and my community. CHRIS APASSINGOK Unzip your gun. You gotta kinda lead, shoot it in the body if you have to. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Me first? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah! NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I've never done it before! CHRIS APASSINGOK Just drive up to them, catch up to them, wait till you get close enough, and then you gotta be real fast, pew. Let's go. Nalu! [COMMERCIAL BREAK] NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Woo! Holy (bleep), adrenaline rush. Woo ho ho ho. Can I do anything? CHRIS APASSINGOK No. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Do I just watch you? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah, just watch. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK When I watched you separate this one from the herd, I felt more confident. That was really cool. How fast do you think we were going? CHRIS APASSINGOK I don't know man. I was having too much fun. A lot of people usually hide from the cold and stuff, don't go out or anything, but we, uh, call it normal. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK We're thankful for the cold. Winter is the best time to hunt. Reindeer hunting and walrus hunting, seal hunting, whaling. Best time of the year. CHRIS APASSINGOK Probably gonna have a good share off of this with my grandparents. Lot of people are hungry out there, so gotta try and get the most. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Still got lots of daylight, huh? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III I'm just getting the family sled ready for, uh, manaq ing. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III This is my, uh, nana's sled. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III We can also put my, uh, little cousins in the front or if they're cold, you can put them down here. JOHN PINGAYAK From this to this. JOHN PINGAYAK In Cup'ik, fish is neqa. ASHER ULROAN [speaking Cup'ik] Neqa. JOHN PINGAYAK Yeah. JOHN PINGAYAK Not straight yet. So, I. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III I'm just gonna savor all these moments for now 'cause it's gonna be a while before I get back from basic training. This is going to be like the longest I've spent away from my grandparents. A little hard on me but I, I hope they'll be good though. JOHN PINGAYAK Come on. No, there you go. That's really good. You did it. Someday you're gonna say like this I remember my aata was making a hook and I kinda know how what it's like and I'm gonna try. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. ASHER ULROAN I know. JOHN PINGAYAK Yeah? When we're in the camp we do that. ASHER ULROAN You can always wash it. JOHN PINGAYAK Yeah. ASHER ULROAN You can always wash it. JOHN PINGAYAK Yeah. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III All right, it's ready. BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR There's a hill facing north, that's where they make dens on this side. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG So, we're on right side anyway. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG All right, I'll just keep pushing around this way and try to make it to that hill then, huh? BEATTUS DINO MOSES JR Yeah, I'll stay behind you. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG It's important for Dino to hold back and just kinda give us the general direction and find the den on our own. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG We're gonna retain this information a lot longer instead of us following his footsteps and just watching where he walked. Let's go, boy. EVAN STRASSBURG Do I need a rifle? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yeah. EVAN STRASSBURG 'Kay. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Looking around at the trees and looking at the hills, that's how we travel out here. We travel by the lay of the land. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG See these little humps on this bank? EVAN STRASSBURG Yeah. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG It's all good potential area for a den. Might see a little hole through the snow underneath. There'll be some frost coming out of it. So that's what you're looking for, keep an eye out for. EVAN STRASSBURG Why would there be frost around the hole? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG 'Cause of their breath. The heat from their breath coming out, it makes that frost around the hole. Bear meat is just a staple of our diet. Nothing's gonna go to waste. We eat the bear paws, we eat the head, we eat the heart. This is our farmland out here. Nothing under that one, my boy. These old timers tell us where a den is. They aren't gonna pull out a map. It's just word of mouth from elders to elders, generation to generation. Seems like we're getting close to the right area. EVAN STRASSBURG Is that frost? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yeah. Did I check this one with a stick? EVAN STRASSBURG I don't know. I don't think so. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG You gotta make sure you got your axe close all the time, my boy. All right. There's nothing soft. We kinda coax them to come out, but we're not gonna sit there and, you know, make him agitated. Whenever we do anything with these animals it's, you know, with the upmost respect. Keep looking. There's gotta be a live one running around some place. EVAN STRASSBURG How many dens do you usually check for a winter? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG As many as you can or as many as it takes. If you have some success, you can stop. No success, you gotta keep going. It's a powerful animal that we're looking for. Well, he's the most powerful spirited animal that we got in our woods right here. Holy (bleep). Evan, come over here. It's a big one. Caramba. Hold that gun. Oh, man. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Watch that stick now. See, this is a good den right here. You see how big this one is? EVAN STRASSBURG Yeah. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG This might be a grizzly bear. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Stick's not moving though. No fresh sign on this tree. Sometimes you can see bear hair. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Old timer said it's here. It's here. Just doesn't feel like anybody home. EVAN STRASSBURG Dad? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Huh? EVAN STRASSBURG You ever see a bigger den than this one? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yeah, like that first den I ever checked with my late Grandpa Harvey, there was four big black bears inside that one den. EVAN STRASSBURG Jeez. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG He sent me into a bear den with a pistol, a rope, and a flashlight. And he told me, If the bear moves, shoot it. If it doesn't move, put the gun down, lift the head up and put this rope around its head. Once we see your feet kicking out, I'll pull you back out of the den. Yeah, it is a little bit scary. I was a little boy, but that's how you make men. It's a good den. Look in there. You can kinda see the scratches in the back. Four big toe marks on that back wall. EVAN STRASSBURG Whoa. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG He might have another one not too far from here that he's sleeping in. If you ever get lost in the woods and you need shelter, do not ever go inside of a bear den and sleep in there. EVAN STRASSBURG How come? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG What the elders told me when I was a kid. From what I was told, a kid done that. And they searched and they searched, that boy's dad never did quit looking for him. And that spring, that boy walked home and everybody is surprised. They asked him where he was and how he was able to survive all winter. And he said he got lost in a big snow storm. And so, he crawled in a den to get away from all the bad weather. He got sleepy, he passed out, and he didn't wake up until spring time. Well, it would look like a nice place to get out of the elements, but our elders say to never ever do that. We did it, boy. We found this one anyway. No luck in there, but that is definitely a bear den. So, you remember the direction this den is facing. Remember the type of trees it's around. And continue on, keep looking. BERTHA ULVI Hi, Jo. JODY POTTS JOSEPH [speaking H�n] N�jit d�honch'ee? BERTHA ULVI [speaking H�n] Sh�jit h?z??. N�nn y�'? JODY POTTS JOSEPH [speaking H�n] Sh�nch'aa, sh�jit h?z??. BERTHA ULVI [speaking H�n] Sh�jit h?z??. Uh huh. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Uh hmm. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Auntie Bertha is my mom's best friend from here in the village and I grew up with her as one of my close aunties. Look at my puppies. BERTHA ULVI Ooh, so cute. JODY POTTS JOSEPH I gave them all H�n names. BERTHA ULVI [speaking H�n] W?zr�'? BERTHA ULVI What's their name? JODY POTTS JOSEPH Okay. JODY POTTS JOSEPH [speaking H�n] W?zr�' zh�h. BERTHA ULVI [speaking H�n] Zh�h. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yep. BERTHA ULVI Uh huh. Snow. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Snow, yeah. BERTHA ULVI [speaking H�n] Jii cha. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Jii cha? What's that mean? BERTHA ULVI Jii cha, and this one. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Oh. [speaking H�n] Jii cha sree. BERTHA ULVI [speaking H�n] Sree. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yeah, knife. BERTHA ULVI Uh huh. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Right now, among our people in Eagle, there are only six fluent H�n language speakers. It's really important to us today as a modern native people to revive our languages. JODY POTTS JOSEPH [speaking H�n] Sh�r ts�ll. JODY POTTS JOSEPH A lot of, I think, what we do is to carry our culture on into the future generations. BERTHA ULVI Only way we could travel those days was by dog team. Every family had dog teams. JODY POTTS JOSEPH So, I'm moving my dog yard. BERTHA ULVI Uh huh. JODY POTTS JOSEPH And so, we cleared all this and we put a trail in out that way to the lake. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Then right here is our [speaking H�n] l?yy gah zhoo. JODY POTTS JOSEPH A little puppy house. BERTHA ULVI Oh, that's gonna be nice, Jamey. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yeah, that's what we've been up to. BERTHA ULVI Oh, good. You're doing good. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yeah, I'm happy about it. Jamey and I work pretty good together. BERTHA ULVI Good, keep him working. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yeah. You hear that? Auntie said. JAMEY JOSEPH All right, tea break. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Tea break. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Been a slow year for you guys, huh? Will we catch up to the herd if you're done butchering this one? CHRIS APASSINGOK Yeah. We'll try to go find them again at least. CHRIS APASSINGOK Our freezers have been empty and. CHRIS APASSINGOK Haven't really gotten food to eat. We have to hunt to survive. So, it's pretty much important to get reindeer in the winter. CHRIS APASSINGOK They're coming, Nalu! NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Hide. CHRIS APASSINGOK They're coming. Come right here. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Holy (bleep). CHRIS APASSINGOK Get ready to shoot! NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK [speaking Akuzipik] Anagta. CHRIS APASSINGOK Go chase them! [COMMERCIAL BREAK] NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Woo wee! My first reindeer! CHRIS APASSINGOK Hey! You got one! NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Yes! I believed in myself and I wasn't gonna give up. I feel like a bad ass. CHRIS APASSINGOK That's a big buck. I'm very, uh, proud of my sister. She got her first deer on the first day of reindeer hunting. Pretty sure that she's gonna be doing things on her own now. Bringing home food, that'll be exciting to see. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Yeah, my first forever thing with you. Reindeer, walrus, seals. Everything's been a first with you. I'm really grateful for my brother, to be teaching me all the stuff he's learned from my dad. Are you proud of me? CHRIS APASSINGOK Are you proud of me? I do. Yeah, I'm proud of you. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK You catch all the time. This is my very first. I feel really proud of myself. I get to provide for my family and on top of that, I get to be a role model for future hunters. Woo wee. CHRIS APASSINGOK Nalu's gonna bring the hindquarter to our grandparents. It's a pretty much a choice meat from the reindeer. All done. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK High five. CHRIS APASSINGOK High five. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK What a great day. JODY POTTS JOSEPH I'm pretty happy with how it came together so, time to move the dogs. JAMEY JOSEPH Oh, look at this. Huh? Oh, don't worry the rest of them are coming out with mamma, look. There's mamma right there. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Come here. JAMEY JOSEPH The dogs definitely have different types of personalities. Some are skittish, some are totally playful and just want to be around people. Some of them will run off and do their own thing, call them and they won't want to come back. They're pretty fun. Last one. A shy one, this one. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Welcome home Ninjuu. That's a good puppy pen. Man, I'm so happy. We got the puppies in and they're secure in here. We just have to move all the dogs into their new spots. I'm gonna have my dog line up how I'm gonna hook up my dogs, so have the leaders kind of out in front. Read Tank? Ready to go? It will just make it quicker and easier for just hooking up and getting out on the trail. Tank, come here Tank. Tank, come. Wow, this is a good dog area babe. They're all just all chilling in their houses, checking out their new spot. Can't wait tomorrow, hook them up, straight out to the lake. TERESA PINGAYAK Make sure my forehead doesn't freeze. Finally have good weather and gonna bring up the whole family. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III Manaq ing. Ice fishing. We're almost ready. TERESA PINGAYAK Okay, there you go. TERESA PINGAYAK Okay, sit up there. JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III Takes forever. TERESA PINGAYAK Okay, the kids are good. TERESA PINGAYAK John and I like to take our kids and grandkids out. PANITA Before we leave, pray for our trip. JOHN PINGAYAK Cali man'a tumput assircareluku. JOHN PINGAYAK Kituggluku ayagvimtenun. JOHN PINGAYAK Neqkaneng llu cikirniarpekut. JOHN PINGAYAK Jesus am atrakun amen. LIANA All right, let's go. TERESA PINGAYAK Are you excited to go fishing? ASHER ULROAN Yes! TERESA PINGAYAK There's something very special of when you're, with your children or with your grandkids when we're doing things together. TERESA PINGAYAK We call it, building memories. JOHN PINGAYAK I'm gonna try to see if I can snag a fish. JOHN PINGAYAK But, it�s at the bottom. JOHN PINGAYAK Here. Try to snag something. It's important for me to teach my grandchildren how to survive out there in the tundra. JOHN PINGAYAK It's my responsibility. I have to teach them. JOHN PINGAYAK We nurtured Sonna Boy to survive on this tundra. PANITA Sonna Boy has always been my dad's right hand man. PANITA It'll mean our boys are gonna step up. Help fill part of Sonna Boys shoes when Sonna Boy's not here. NICOLE They were kinda big shoes to fill. PANITA Yeah. TERESA PINGAYAK Any kind of fish right now would be welcome. PAXTON I felt a tug. TERESA PINGAYAK That's no fish. TERESA PINGAYAK Not even moving. JOHN PINGAYAK Sometimes when we go out, we don't catch anything but we enjoy the weather. We have good fresh air and tomorrow, I can go again. TERESA PINGAYAK Hey, are you ready? Oh. Are you okay? ASHER ULROAN Yeah. ASHER ULROAN I have a lot of stuff on, you know. TERESA PINGAYAK Are you okay? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG This is completely snowed over. Evan! EVAN STRASSBURG Yeah. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Grab that axe and bring it up. The bear knows that we love them so much that we're gonna go through whatever we have to go through to try and get them. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Stomping through snow, it's not easy when you're cold, hungry but showing the animal that we have a big respect for it. They're gonna feed me. They're gonna feed my community. They're gonna feed my sons. They're gonna sustain life for a lot of people. Ouch. Ah. EVAN STRASSBURG What happened? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Oh, a branch smacked me right in the eyeball. Oh [bleep]! EVAN STRASSBURG You okay? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG No blood, it pushed into my eyeball. Ouch. This isn't the life for everybody. It puts your body though a lot. Puts your mind through a lot. Puts your soul through a lot. You gotta pay your does if you want to out and be successful with the animal. Keep looking. Give up, that's not in our language. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] JODY POTTS JOSEPH They'll get hooked to there. We just need this one section. The dogs are just rip roaring ready to go. I'm gonna have Coralee and Tony lead those two for my team. Jamie's going to have Tank and Lee lead for his team. Really excited to have a nice straight shot to the Yukon River. Go ahead. Thank you, babe. Good dogs. I love traveling by dog team. It's my preferred method of winter travel. I'm really able to take in more of the land around me and I'm seeing things that I wouldn't see if I was going by 40 miles (64 kilometers) an hour on a snow machine. JAMEY JOSEPH Good boys, good boys. Good boys. DEBORAH APATIKI Hi Naluwaaqaghhaq. DEBORAH APATIKI Sameng tagisinga? DEBORAH APATIKI What did you bring me? NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK A surprise. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Growing up, I always had to go like berry picking or what they say is for the women and I just didn't want to. DEBORAH APATIKI Quyngighsuggaq. DEBORAH APATIKI The first reindeer. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK I've always loved hunting and I've always wanted to do it and I'm glad that I have this opportunity to do it now. Feels really good. DEBORAH APATIKI Thank you so much. MIKE APATIKI That will feed us for two months. MIKE APATIKI You're a great hunter. My grandchildren, they've been feeding me for years and years and years. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Now I get to. DEBORAH APATIKI When you're a hunter, you're a hunter. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK It feels really good like it feels like I'm meant to do this. MIKE APATIKI Oh my. Thank you, Nalu. MIKE APATIKI Great hunter. DEBORAH APATIKI Love you. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Love you guys. Okay. DEBORAH APATIKI See you. NALU DANIELLE APASSINGOK Bye. JOHN PINGAYAK [chanting native language] JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III It was a really great day to go out with my family. I definitely made happy memories. JOHN PINGAYAK [chanting native language] JOHN SONNA BOY PINGAYAK III Out here, in the land is a world I know. I'm a little nervous and excited to go beyond my world and do some new things. JOHN PINGAYAK [chanting native language] The legacy that I have taught him, it's embedded in his heart. Wherever he goes, he'll never forget, Chevak is home. [chanting native language] STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Baasee' daa?tl'edze. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Maybe next winter you'll bring me luck. A lot of times they're gonna be empty but it's something I'm gonna be able to use all my life. I'm only thirty six years old and I know maybe a dozen den up in most but I'm hoping by the time I'm to Dino's age I'll have at least a hundred dens in my head. In our culture, our tradition, a man that got a hundred dens in his head, then he's rich. Nice night. Someday this will all be yours. I'm just a steppingstone for this trap line. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG This is a tradition that's never ever gonna die with us. JOHN PINGAYAK [chanting native language] TERESA PINGAYAK It's important, we need to sing our own songs in our language. JOHN PINGAYAK [chanting native language] JODY POTTS JOSEPH We have language warriors, and we have culture bearers and we're fighting to reclaim our culture, the way of life and our identity. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG As long as there's men like me with sons like I got, we're not gonna let this die off. This is just something powerful and we fight hard not to lose this tradition. [SNAP IN] JAMEY JOSEPH All right. I'll head over the lake to the river. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Well, we cleaned up a lot, huh? JAMEY JOSEPH Yeah. About ready to start moving dog houses here. Moving the dogs over. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yeah. Let's get this party started. JAMEY JOSEPH The brush, all the slash we call it. It's a hazard, a fire hazard, so we're gonna have to get rid of that stuff. JODY POTTS JOSEPH We really put in a lot of work clearing this land. Knocked down a few trees, cleared tons of brush, actually we knocked down a lot of trees. So, this nice pile here that's gonna burn all night, probably huh? JAMEY JOSEPH It'll burn a while, yeah. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yeah. JODY POTTS JOSEPH We don't really burn brush piles in the summer because it could cause a huge forest fire. Everything's just way too dry. This Alaska Boreal Forest is just like, man, fire just rips through here like nobody's business. The winter is the safest time to burn brush piles. Everything's kinda frozen up. It's just the safest and best time for us to do this. It's really getting hot. I just really appreciate Jamey. He's a huge help. For so many years, it was just me and my little kids doing all this kind of heavy work. So, I'm just really appreciative of his effort and also his strength. JAMEY JOSEPH I feel a sense of accomplishment cause this was completely covered in trees, all grown in and, uh, we got it done. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Feel good about it. Put in some work, huh babe? I'm really gonna enjoy being able to see the dogs from the comforts from inside my warm cabin. Gonna be nice having them just right here, be a good home for them. JAMEY JOSEPH The goal is to keep them safe from the lynx and fox and wolves that are coming through here. JODY POTTS JOSEPH For sure. Now it's time for a puppy pen.