AMELIA_STRASSBURG AMIYA_STRASSBURG ANA_HOFFMAN AVERY_HOFFMAN GAGE_HOFFMAN GLYNDARIL_WHITE HAZEL_STRASSBURG JAMEY_JOSEPH JAZMINE_AMODO_WHITE JODY_POTTS_JOSEPH KID LOUISE_MOSES MARCELLA_AMODO_WHITE MARVIN_AGNOT SOPHIE_STRASSBURG STEVEN_TIG_STRASSBURG STOSH_HOFFMAN AVERY HOFFMAN I'm driving? GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah. I'll shoot the first beaver. AVERY HOFFMAN You ready? GAGE HOFFMAN Let's skedaddle. AVERY HOFFMAN Could be anywhere around here, just gotta keep our eyes open. Dude, I'm getting beaver fever, I'm getting ready. GAGE HOFFMAN My name is Gage Hoffman. GAGE HOFFMAN My Yup'ik name is Ciquy'aq. AVERY HOFFMAN My name is Avery Hoffman. AVERY HOFFMAN My Yup'ik name is Tuntull'er. GAGE HOFFMAN I am 25 years old. AVERY HOFFMAN Twenty three years old. GAGE HOFFMAN And I'm from. GAGE HOFFMAN Bethel, Alaska. AVERY HOFFMAN The lifestyle my brother and I live out in Bethel is an adventurous one. Always on the river, flying, hunting, fishing. GAGE HOFFMAN It's a great feeling when you're able to provide for your family and for elders in your community. We grew living a subsistence lifestyle, learning the language and the other arts of the culture. I went to Stanford, and one thing I did at school actually was start the first Yup'ik class at Stanford. Fifty years ago, my family wasn't allowed to speak the language, and now here I am teaching it. Once I graduated, I came back to the community. AVERY HOFFMAN Our culture's still here and thriving and just being able to nurture it and protect is all that I want to do. GAGE HOFFMAN It's hard. It's a way of life that I lead that heavily depends on my brothers help, my dad's help, my mom's help. AVERY HOFFMAN Everything's a family effort. GAGE HOFFMAN The rivalry between my brother and I is always good natured but ultimately, we're a team. AVERY HOFFMAN I look up to my older brother. We've always worked together. We can communicate without using words. GAGE HOFFMAN I trust him with my life. When we're out there, that's essentially what I'm doing. AVERY HOFFMAN This is our grandpa's land right here, Gage. In this slough. Keep your eyes peeled, Gage. AVERY HOFFMAN Gage, beaver! GAGE HOFFMAN Where? AVERY HOFFMAN On the land. Right there. Oh, that is a duck. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah, it's a duck. AVERY HOFFMAN Dang it. GAGE HOFFMAN Don't scare me like that. I always enjoy hunting with my little brother, Avery. AVERY HOFFMAN We can laugh at each other when we mess up. Hey, look, a moose! Moose straight ahead on the bow. Right at the bow. GAGE HOFFMAN Oh, yeah. AVERY HOFFMAN Cow and a calf, cow and a calf. Two calves. GAGE HOFFMAN Cow and a calf. AVERY HOFFMAN Two calves. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah. AVERY HOFFMAN Look at it. Look at it just looking right at us. Good eyes, Gage. GAGE HOFFMAN Hopefully, we see some beavers. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Everybody's ready? HAZEL STRASSBURG Yeah. AMIYA STRASSBURG Yeah. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Little captain. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Our salmon population, it's really declined. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG It's declined so much that the state fish and game, they told us that we can't fish anymore. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG It's been two years since we were allowed to catch king salmon. We got seven mouths to feed, plus ourselves. Without being able to fish, it's not easy. It's sad, every summer for hundreds of years, my family, we all came together. There was enough fish in that river for all of us to eat and it's just not like that no more. This year, they finally opened up to where we're able to fish for chum salmon. It's not very tasty of a fish, but that's what they're allowing us to get so that's what we gotta do nowadays. All right, everybody. You guys know where we're at? AMIYA STRASSBURG Yeah, Gran Christine's camp! STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG �Kloweka�. Grandma Christine calls it �Kloweka�. It means, where we go to fish. Any tracks around, you guys check the mud? See who's visiting camp. No bear tracks around here anyway. HAZEL STRASSBURG Yeah. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG But let's go up the bank and check. Wait, wait. I gotta go first. What if there was a bear waiting up the bank for you guys? Oh, my goodness. AMIYA STRASSBURG Whoa! STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Man, we haven't been able to fish in over two years now. See, it's all overgrown. Usually, we come down every year and cut the brush and the grass and, you know, without fishing, we got not much of a reason to come down here. LOUISE MOSES All kinds of stuff to do. So, girls, you're gonna have to help watch the little ones for me and dad cut brush and everything, okay? HAZEL STRASSBURG Okay. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Go watch the babies, go watch the babies. Not me, go watch them. Usually, we can see all over the place and its pretty safe camp for the kids. Like any other fish camp, there's always bears around. Bears love fish so we like to keep it cleared out so we can keep an eye on the little ones. All right. When we got here, it was a jungle and now after some hard work, it looks a lot better. So now, we gotta clean the net. Clean out all the little sticks and get it all untangled. It's gonna be a lot of work but we'll get it done. AMELIA STRASSBURG Dad, can I help Amiya? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yeah, of course. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Hi, Storm. It's a good day to be Indigenous, huh? Jamey and I are headed down river today to look at an area that we're planning on moose hunting this fall and hopefully find a good spot to set up our moose camp. Last year, we went into winter without salmon because we're not allowed to fish. Then we didn't get moose. JODY POTTS JOSEPH It's a stressful feeling going into winter without meat, so Jamey and I are really gonna be out there for weeks on end and hopefully we'll be blessed with a harvest. I like this spot right in here, Jamey. 'Cause look it, there's the mouth of the river. JAMEY JOSEPH You could look right down there. JODY POTTS JOSEPH You can see. JAMEY JOSEPH Yeah. JODY POTTS JOSEPH You can see if moose come out of there real easily. JAMEY JOSEPH All right. I'm gonna go to shore and we'll take a look. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Okay. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Can you grab my rifle, babe? We'll walk up and then just kinda check out some spots. JAMEY JOSEPH Yeah. JODY POTTS JOSEPH So, Jamey and I are scouting a flat area to set up moose camp. I'm looking for a good vantage point and it's gotta have good access to the river. This little spot wouldn't be too bad, for a wall tent. Moose camp is a place where we're gonna just kinda base out of while we're moose hunting. JAMEY JOSEPH Nope. We don't have a good bank here. JODY POTTS JOSEPH In Jamey's home territory, he knows all the rivers. But here, Jamey's kind of in discovery mode on my traditional land. Man, it's a mess back here. JAMEY JOSEPH I mean, this wouldn't take too much to cut out right here and there's a good bank right here. But kinda shielded. Let's just keep walking down, keep doing the same thing. I mean, I don't want to working on a spot that's, we'll know when we find it. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Mm. JAMEY JOSEPH Huh? JODY POTTS JOSEPH I like that spot up there. JAMEY JOSEPH Let's keep on looking. I don't know. It looks pretty rough. JODY POTTS JOSEPH We just searched this whole side of the island and came back to our first spot that we came to in the very beginning. And then it started raining so it's kind of a sign. Must be. We're gonna start our wall tent and camp. AVERY HOFFMAN How old do you think these barges are? GAGE HOFFMAN These two are from the, when there was gold mining around here. GAGE HOFFMAN That one in the back looks like an old commercial tender boat where we used to sell our fish on the river. GAGE HOFFMAN Big part of Bethel's history right here. AVERY HOFFMAN Bethel is a hub of many communities around the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta. Bethel is the biggest town here. GAGE HOFFMAN If you need any it has to come through barge or plane. AVERY HOFFMAN Bethel is one huge community. My family's related to a lot of people. Anywhere I go, people ask me who my parents are and they're like, Oh, I'm related to you. And I'm just like, Cool. Just pretty heartbreaking that they can just leave these here, not our cultural way to leave things out in the land. GAGE HOFFMAN Feel like the beaver's gonna start coming out now, upriver. Let's get outta here. AVERY HOFFMAN Looking for big ears and something brown swimming. GAGE HOFFMAN They really like these sloughs, I wonder why. AVERY HOFFMAN Yeah. I don't know. We always see beavers in here. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah, just a lot of sticks. AVERY HOFFMAN A lot of sticks to eat. GAGE HOFFMAN Slow down! We could check this beaver house real quick. AVERY HOFFMAN It's fresh. GAGE HOFFMAN And there's new trees on there. They're somewhere. AVERY HOFFMAN What do you see up there, Gage? GAGE HOFFMAN Nothing. If it's not a new den, it's at least got new sticks added to it so, you know, there's definitely beavers in here. They're not around at the moment. You wanna grab that oar and do a couple slaps. AVERY HOFFMAN That was a good one. If they're on land, they'll come back to the water. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah. The Yup'ik people are very observant people so anytime they're out on the land they're always watching for what's different. Being able to pick up on those cues can really save your life. GAGE HOFFMAN It's probably out. GAGE HOFFMAN Out on the kuik. AVERY HOFFMAN Right there! Right there! Straight ahead, he just went down! Get in, get in, get in, get in! Push, push! [COMMERCIAL BREAK] AVERY HOFFMAN Get ready, get ready. I'm gonna turn off the engine. GAGE HOFFMAN Turn it off, I need to hear. Look behind you. AVERY HOFFMAN I'm watching. GAGE HOFFMAN Smells really moosey in here. AVERY HOFFMAN Uh hmm. There's a moose right there, holy cow! You can see it right in the grass. Oh, man. GAGE HOFFMAN I didn't see and horns on it. Okay. Avery. AVERY HOFFMAN Hmm? GAGE HOFFMAN You watching behind? AVERY HOFFMAN Uh hmm. Gage, this side! This side! Shoot right here. Shoot right here. Shoot from right here, shoot from right here. GAGE HOFFMAN High. AVERY HOFFMAN High? GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah. AVERY HOFFMAN Here, I'm gonna turn around. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah. AVERY HOFFMAN Dang. It'll come back up, it'll come back up. GAGE HOFFMAN This boat's a little rocky so stay steady. AVERY HOFFMAN Yeah. The beaver knows that we're tracking him down and trying to shoot him so the beaver will come up really stealthy underneath trees and he'll sit right on the water. GAGE HOFFMAN Hear that? AVERY HOFFMAN What is that? That's a muskrat. GAGE HOFFMAN It's a beaver. AVERY HOFFMAN Oh, shoot is that? GAGE HOFFMAN Oh, there's two. AVERY HOFFMAN Hold on, hold on. That's a muskrat. GAGE HOFFMAN Oh, it's a muskrat. AVERY HOFFMAN Muskrat. GAGE HOFFMAN We don't need muskrat. We also hunt them for their fur, we don't eat them though. Beaver's a little bit bigger and we eat them. It's still right there. AVERY HOFFMAN The beaver are very important to the Yup'ik because they're really good meat and they make really good fur for Malagg'aayaq hats, gloves and ruffs on your parka. AVERY HOFFMAN There's a lot of beaver houses in here, another one right here. Muskrat, muskrat. Oh, beaver, beaver, beaver, beaver! High. GAGE HOFFMAN Ah. AVERY HOFFMAN Right there, right there! Shoot! High, high. GAGE HOFFMAN High? AVERY HOFFMAN High. It's gonna pop up on your right a little bit. Oh. GAGE HOFFMAN That was quick. AVERY HOFFMAN Keeps diving. He's pretty quick. GAGE HOFFMAN It's gonna make it to the house. AVERY HOFFMAN Right there, right there, right there. You got 'em, I think. GAGE HOFFMAN Hold on. AVERY HOFFMAN Oh, you got 'em! GAGE HOFFMAN Oh! Let's go. Pretty good size beaver. Mom will make a good hat with that one, huh? AVERY HOFFMAN I'll have a matching one just like you. Good shot, good shot. Keep shooting, you're doing good. GAGE HOFFMAN Good. KID [inaudible] KID [inaudible] MARCELLA AMODO WHITE Pinky, stay still. Sit. We like to, once in a while, let the chicks get out and free roam a little bit. MARCELLA AMODO WHITE Let the kids mingle with them. We've had them for about two weeks now, so they should be just over three weeks old. It could be quite a challenge getting food out here, especially, you know, fresh fruit and fresh produce, and of course, fresh eggs. If we were to get these chickens to start producing eggs and such that will be a huge accomplishment. Food is not free, it all, it's, it's all hard work. Life is not free for sure. But the bear activity is quite wild. GLYNDARIL WHITE Yeah. Unc, the bear came back here, right where the doghouse is over here eating Ruger right down in here. Right by his doghouse. MARVIN AGNOT The poor dog. GLYNDARIL WHITE Since the bears have woken up outta hibernation they've been quite hungry. And unfortunately, my neighbor's dog got eaten. MARVIN AGNOT Look at how close it is to your house, at night, you can see, you know, it's a very blind spot. It's too close to home. GLYNDARIL WHITE We were going to put the chicken coop here, but due to the bear issue right here. MARVIN AGNOT Oh, yeah. GLYNDARIL WHITE We're gonna put the chicken coop right here in this patch of green. MARVIN AGNOT Yeah. At least you got something to see but over there you got no windows to see nothing. We're trying to become more self sufficient out here, the only way we can do that is just take the risk of what we're putting together. You know, otherwise, we just fail and give up. Okay. Just drop it from here? Oh, deadly? GLYNDARIL WHITE Doorway right here, you walk in. All this will be green down here. MARVIN AGNOT And have a window over here? GLYNDARIL WHITE That's how I envision it. That's how I'm seeing it. Gonna put an electric fence around the fences on the outside. MARCELLA AMODO WHITE Chickens are gonna be spoiled. MARVIN AGNOT Time to start building here. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Definitely looking better. Puttin' in the work, that's for sure. We're a couple weeks out from moose season and Jamey and I have a ton of brush to clear so we can set up a couple of wall tents. Have a campfire pit, you know, a bench looking over the river. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Just a real simple camp where we can stay warm, be comfortable and be out there on the land in the area we want to hunt. This land is super choked off with the willow overgrowth. Really hard to even walk through. And this is actually just really good moose country, we just have to spend time here. Getting a moose is food security for our family. I mean, it's really important, I think, especially with not being able to catch the king salmon in the Yukon. It's really important for us to be able to get a moose, so we'll be here and, I guess, just give it our best stab. JAMEY JOSEPH Uh oh. JODY POTTS JOSEPH What happened? JAMEY JOSEPH Uh, a limb. Moving too fast, I turned to my left and I was looking for something to cut and something got me. Limb, limb got me in the eye. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Let me see. Look up. Oh. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] JODY POTTS JOSEPH We should go back to the village and see the health aid. JAMEY JOSEPH All right. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Is it, I don't know. I don't know anything about eyes. We'll just head out right away. This feels different than if he cut his hand. His eyes, it's just something we have to definitely get taken care of ASAP. I'm gonna help you up. JAMEY JOSEPH Donk. JODY POTTS JOSEPH His eye looks pretty messed up. Basically, the fear is infection. If the fluid behind his eyeball gets infected, he could go blind. Poor guy. It's not punctured but the doctor said put him on antibiotics. JAMEY JOSEPH That could have been a lot worse. Safety glasses. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Yeah. Safety glasses is the key. JAMEY JOSEPH Recommended safety glasses. JODY POTTS JOSEPH All I care about is that Jamey is safe, and his eye heals so moose camp can wait. I can make some soup and tea. Tea and soup. JAMEY JOSEPH We have time to go through a drive through? MARVIN AGNOT I'm just trying to show you so you can do it. Glyn hurt his back before the project started. MARVIN AGNOT He's a person that helps around the village and he takes care of our generator. Hauling fuel and that�s a lot of lifting. I will cover up the flat. Let me show you how, buddy. Okay. GLYNDARIL WHITE Now there's a wall. JAZMINE AMODO WHITE Hi, daddy. How are you guys getting along? GLYNDARIL WHITE Doing a lot better now that you're here. GLYNDARIL WHITE We need muscle. MARVIN AGNOT And height. GLYNDARIL WHITE Yeah, muscle, muscle and height. MARVIN AGNOT There you go. That's what you want to. GLYNDARIL WHITE Thank you. MARVIN AGNOT Yeah, we gotta lift these up here pretty quick here. Oh. Okay. GLYNDARIL WHITE All right, we got the window, we got the door measured, we going to get 'er done. See, Jojo, that's going to be you next, you're going to be the muscle after Jaz. JAZMINE AMODO WHITE Where am I going? MARVIN AGNOT Let's check out our window. Oh. Like a glove. So cool like that huh? Are you happy, huh? The chickens are gonna be able to just watch you. Come and get my eggs come and get my eggs. So, I work with my nieces and nephews because of what I got to teach them. Good job. When you start young then you instill a work ethic into them. Oh, look at that. Geez. Is that so cool? We don't have enough people; they come and go and we're left out here is next generation. It's gotta start some place. And I, like I said I'm very happy to be a part of where it's starting. We're putting it together now. Woo! GLYNDARIL WHITE Oh, yeah. MARVIN AGNOT Are you gonna sleep with your chickens tonight? GLYNDARIL WHITE Yep, Jojo you can sleep with the chickens. MARVIN AGNOT You guard them tonight; you can let us know when the bears show up. Bring your gun! One gun! GLYNDARIL WHITE Ow. Oh, no, don't make me laugh unc. AMIYA STRASSBURG If you can catch me dad. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG I almost catch you. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Like a little king salmon. Have to let you go. Well, girls, me and your momma, last time we set this fish net, river got high and it was full of sticks. And we barely got it out of the river. So now, we gotta clean out all the little sticks and get it all untangled. This was me and your momma's first salmon net we bought. By time salmon came they tell us we can't salmon fish no more. LOUISE MOSES Aye yai yai. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG It's all tangled up. LOUISE MOSES Pull. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG The net is ready. AMIYA STRASSBURG We see now, little frog. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Ah, a little frog? Go set it and forget it. All right, ma, we're all set. You'll be up front releasing the net. I'll get in, I'll reverse out. When it gets down to anchor time, let me know. LOUISE MOSES You're gonna put the anchor in? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG I'll run up and help you throw the anchor in. All right. The fish, they come into these big eddies. The current comes rolling and then they rest and then they swim on their way out and keep going up the river. When they're leaving, you get 'em caught, hypothetically. LOUISE MOSES Oh, it's all going in one time, dad. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG It'll straighten out. LOUISE MOSES Okay, getting to the anchor! Oh! STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Woo! LOUISE MOSES Okay. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG It's set. Perfect. Couldn't done it any better myself. We should let that set for the night and check them again in the morning. Good job, momma. See any movement? LOUISE MOSES I don't know. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Oh, it's jerking! [COMMERCIAL BREAK] LOUISE MOSES That's a fish, I think. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Oh, yeah. LOUISE MOSES Wow, look at that. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Couple chum. See that you, kids? LOUISE MOSES It looks heavy. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG What we call chum salmon right here. Holy cow. SOPHIE STRASSBURG A lot of fish we caught! STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yeah! Ah! He bit me. LOUISE MOSES See it? SOPHIE STRASSBURG Looks gross. LOUISE MOSES Ah, don't say that. AMIYA STRASSBURG Would we eat chum salmon? LOUISE MOSES Yeah, we eat chum salmon! That's our food girls, that's what we eat we don't get to catch king salmon. You should be very thankful we're catching it okay. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yeah. LOUISE MOSES So, you say baasee' when you see it, okay? You see it. AMIYA STRASSBURG Baasee'. LOUISE MOSES Yeah. SOPHIE STRASSBURG Baasee'. LOUISE MOSES See, that's quite a bit right in the beginning huh? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yep. LOUISE MOSES We got a half a tote I can't even lift it. Look at the you girls. They got big teeth like they're gonna bite something but they're not gonna bite anything. You can't even get them to bite hooks. It gets all these teeth when they clump the spawn. They're whole jaw comes up here to go back up here when they're born. Lay their eggs or protect them for as long as they can. They can do some damage if it tried to bite us though look at that. Try to touch it. They're still sharp even though they're tiny. Okay, girls, we better not let this fish sit too long. We'll get back to camp we'll work on the fish. You girls will find something to do. HAZEL STRASSBURG Yep. GAGE HOFFMAN She's getting pretty overgrown. AVERY HOFFMAN Really overgrown. GAGE HOFFMAN Holy cow. Sometimes I get scared looking in these windows here. GAGE HOFFMAN When we're out here my brother and I, we visit a lot of historical sites. Moravian Mission Orphanage Bethel Alaska. We come and look at the children's home, try to at least once a year. You remember who started this Moravian church? They would, you know, �civilize� the Yupik kids. GAGE HOFFMAN It mainly was for kids who were orphans. AVERY HOFFMAN Uh hmm. GAGE HOFFMAN But our great uncle he came here, and he wasn't an orphan. Although this was an orphanage, our great uncle was here. When my great auntie found out she made my great grandpa go get him. GAGE HOFFMAN So he used a Qayaq. GAGE HOFFMAN And qayaqed all the way up from Tunt which is way down river. Picked him up, put him inside the kayak and went all the way back. Lotta church and a lotta learning going on here, I guess. Is that the cost of losing. AVERY HOFFMAN Losing. GAGE HOFFMAN Losing your sense of your culture. AVERY HOFFMAN Yeah. GAGE HOFFMAN Losing part of who you are. There's mixed feelings when we do come. But we're kinda reclaiming it by coming here and speaking our history. AVERY HOFFMAN We are in a time of rebuild and growth and embracing our cultural ways again. GAGE HOFFMAN And I'm glad we're a part of it. Ready to go beaver hunting? AVERY HOFFMAN Yep. GAGE HOFFMAN Whenever we get to practice our subsistence way of life it connects me with my culture and with my ancestors. Oh, watch out, watch out! AVERY HOFFMAN Let me get closer, let me get closer. GAGE HOFFMAN Oh, right there, right there! AVERY HOFFMAN Is it, hold on, hold on. You can shoot this far? High. Two feet, a foot (60, 30 centimeters). GAGE HOFFMAN Okay. GAGE HOFFMAN Should of came up by now. AVERY HOFFMAN He's right here, he's right here. GAGE HOFFMAN Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. AVERY HOFFMAN He's right here. Low. GAGE HOFFMAN Are you serious? AVERY HOFFMAN Uh hmm. Right there, Gage, I see him! Give it to me. I have a good shot. Right there, right there, shoot! Way low, way low. GAGE HOFFMAN I was on him. AVERY HOFFMAN Way low. GAGE HOFFMAN My brother and I usually kinda flip flop shooting. Just depends on how the shooters doing. AVERY HOFFMAN Sometimes if they miss a couple times quite terribly, we'll, I'll say switch and nothing the shooter can do they're kinda, Agh. Missed my chance. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah. AVERY HOFFMAN But, behind you right there! High. GAGE HOFFMAN High? AVERY HOFFMAN Yep. GAGE HOFFMAN God. AVERY HOFFMAN Again. C'mon. Again. GAGE HOFFMAN Oh! AVERY HOFFMAN You have one shot, Gage. [COMMERCIAL BREAK] AVERY HOFFMAN There you got him, there you go. Finally, we're switching. GAGE HOFFMAN Huh? AVERY HOFFMAN We're switching after you get him. Grab the net. GAGE HOFFMAN Hold on, hold on. AVERY HOFFMAN Hold on. There he goes. You see him? GAGE HOFFMAN No. This guy, dude! Dang. AVERY HOFFMAN Well, not much you can do. GAGE HOFFMAN We'll have experiences with beavers where when they're about to die they swim down to the bottom of the river, and they grab a hold of the grass, and they actually die holding it and their hands. We're big believers that animals provide themselves to us and for some reason I guess this animal didn't wanna give it'd self up. I hate when that happens. I hate wasting meat I hate wasting a good fur so. These rivers provide everything for my family so we're very thankful and we show our respect by respecting all the animals. Never letting any meat go to waste and also respecting the land. AVERY HOFFMAN Wait stop, stop. GAGE HOFFMAN Got him. Nice! GAGE HOFFMAN How'd you see that? AVERY HOFFMAN Dude I can see everything. GAGE HOFFMAN Straight ahead, straight ahead. AVERY HOFFMAN Here we go. Okay. GAGE HOFFMAN Sweet. You see how it has grass in its paws here and how it's all clenched? AVERY HOFFMAN And they curled yeah. It must've tried to grab some. GAGE HOFFMAN It's gonna be some good meat some good fur and, uh, make sure to use every but of it. Yeah, good job. AVERY HOFFMAN Thank you, you too. Good job. GAGE HOFFMAN Two beavers, mom will be happy. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Okay, my hands aren't exactly clean but. JAMEY JOSEPH Thank you. JODY POTTS JOSEPH I'll be your nurse any day. JAMEY JOSEPH Oh, yeah. It's been a couple days since, uh, I took a limb to the eye. I'm better and I've been check out and good to go so back to work. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Jamey! Where's your glasses?! JAMEY JOSEPH Uh. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Don't make me tell you again. JAMEY JOSEPH Yes, ma'am JODY POTTS JOSEPH Watch out, Stormy. The camp is looking really good but before moose season starts, we need to build a rain shelter and set up our wall tent. This place is also really significant to me and my family because my great grandma Blind Kate was born up in those mountains over there. One of the mountains there is called Squaw Peak. Was called, formally called Squaw Peak and that's a very derogatory term with an ugly history. Our tribe worked together with the national park service and had Squaw Mountain renamed to a name from our language that holds more honor. Perfect. JODY POTTS JOSEPH And so, we chose J�jezhuu Tr'inj�a Mountain. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Which is Indian Woman Mountain in English. We're really proud of that. That's gonna be a primo house babe. It's a mansion in paradise. It's really important for us to still maintain a connection to place. You can't expect to keep these lands healthy if our people aren't on the land as the original stewards and keepers of these places. Huh, solid. JAMEY JOSEPH Now just a matter of getting that top one is gonna be. JODY POTTS JOSEPH No more injuries. JAMEY JOSEPH Think it'll hold me? JODY POTTS JOSEPH No, it's not. JAMEY JOSEPH It's not. Okay, watch yourself babe. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Where am I gonna watch myself? JAMEY JOSEPH Ugh. There we go. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Nice, now get down. Woo. Good job babe. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Grab one of these bad boys. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG All right. First you wanna hack off the head. LOUISE MOSES Girls remember how it starts. SOPHIE STRASSBURG Yeah, cut off the head and then you cut the fins off. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG You learned that a long time ago. They're all the families there wouldn't be no one left in Allakaket right now everybody would be at fish camp doing the exact same thing we're doing right now. Maybe someday we'll build keep king salmon again but not right now. AMELIA STRASSBURG Dad? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Hmm? AMELIA STRASSBURG What does fish mean? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Fish means a good healthy lifestyle. Now that we got all this chum cut it's time to head back to the net and see what else we got. See some movements. Might have snagged a fish or two. Looking kinda foamy. LOUISE MOSES Yeah, I just think it's the same thing. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Excuse me, baby doll. Woo. LOUISE MOSES Whoa. Whoa! STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Four chum right here. LOUISE MOSES Right in the front? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yep. LOUISE MOSES I was just thinking, it looks heavy. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Okay, right here. LOUISE MOSES Look at that, man, they're getting old. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Whoa ho, woo! LOUISE MOSES Sheefish! STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yeah! LOUISE MOSES Look it girls, a sheefish. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG That's what we want. I thought it was a king salmon hell yeah. Look at that bad boy. LOUISE MOSES All right! You think you got eggs? STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Yeah. Woo! LOUISE MOSES Wow! STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Look at that thing, you kids. LOUISE MOSES Oh, my goodness. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG A sheefish. This thing is heavy too. LOUISE MOSES How exciting. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Look at that belly full of eggs you guys wanna eat sheefish eggs? LOUISE MOSES Wow. SOPHIE STRASSBURG Yeah. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Baasee�, Enaa baasee'. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG That is the true lifeline of our people you kids. Whoa. You kids come look at this. Holy (bleep). [COMMERCIAL BREAK] LOUISE MOSES Woo! Oh! STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Woo! Ho, ho, ho, holy (bleep). We gotta let this big mama go. AMELIA STRASSBURG It's the king one? LOUISE MOSES Yup. King salmon is red, you never seen one? That's what a king salmon looks like. SOPHIE STRASSBURG Why can't we eat it? LOUISE MOSES Can't eat it because there's not enough in the river baby. The law says we gotta let it go. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Ugh, come on, big mama. Go up stream have your babies. You gotta make it, you're gonna make it. Will one of you kids give it mouth to mouth. Oh, Oh. LOUISE MOSES Wow. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Gotta let her go. If we let them go today, she will swim upstream, have her babies and, in five years when her babies come back you guys can catch them maybe. Be free. LOUISE MOSES It's been like this for a few years, having to let the king salmon go. It's necessary to take care of what's out there. It's our way of life, you know, releasing this one king salmon, hopefully it'll go on to produce many more fish, that's something we have to teach them, you know, take care of the land and it'll provide for us again someday. Wow. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG All right, you guys see those big sheefish. AMIYA STRASSBURG Yeah. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Huge. These guys they come up the river just full of eggs. Try to lift it. With two hands. LOUISE MOSES You're okay. AMIYA STRASSBURG Heavy. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Lift it up. Up. LOUISE MOSES That's you lifting it? Woo! Heavy. AMIYA STRASSBURG I gotta wash my hands. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG think we ought a head back to the camp and get these two cut up. Mama, you get the pan ready we're gonna fry up some eggs and eat some sheefish meat. LOUISE MOSES Oh, boy. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG We'll have a damn good meal. LOUISE MOSES Awesome. GAGE HOFFMAN Usually, we're fishing all summer now that we're limited to when we can it's nice that we have other alternatives to get out there and still get meat and fur. AVERY HOFFMAN Yeah. Half the size as me look at this man. GAGE HOFFMAN Feel like you need to get a hat. AVERY HOFFMAN A professional like you. GAGE HOFFMAN There you go. AVERY HOFFMAN Nice thick guard hairs, long. GAGE HOFFMAN All right should we, uh, go get mom to process these beavers? ANA HOFFMAN Good job, I'm glad you guys got beaver. [speaking Yup'ik] Used to say the that beavers were what they would rely on, reliable meat. GAGE HOFFMAN Cultural survival means the passing down of our language, our arts and crafts, our hunting and fishing. And I think my mom and dad are a good example of that. They practice their culture and now they're passing that on to me and Avery. ANA HOFFMAN This is one of the few places left in America where Native people can hunt and gather the way they did before. I'm so glad that you boys know how to gather. GAGE HOFFMAN Well, we appreciate that you cook them after. ANA HOFFMAN We'll have beaver for dinner. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah. ANA HOFFMAN Okay, sounds good. ANA HOFFMAN All right, quyana pissurtutek. GAGE HOFFMAN Uh hmm. AVERY HOFFMAN Uh hmm. GLYNDARIL WHITE The chicken coop is really just to keep chickens out of the weather. The fence around it is protect from the fox and the weasels. The electric fence is that's for the bear. JAZMINE AMODO WHITE What if eagles eat them? GLYNDARIL WHITE Um. MARVIN AGNOT Well, you can pick your chickens and we can see if they�ll wanna move into their new home. And I figured they'd be so happy to get them out of here. MARCELLA AMODO WHITE Yes. It's smelling like a garland. MARVIN AGNOT Smell like a garland. MARCELLA AMODO WHITE You know my kids, they're pretty good at knowing that what they do today they might not see the results right away. MARVIN AGNOT There they go. MARCELLA AMODO WHITE But it's setting them up for future endeavors. MARVIN AGNOT We are done. JAMEY JOSEPH Got it. JODY POTTS JOSEPH If that was a moose, I would've hit it. JAMEY JOSEPH You would've hit it. JODY POTTS JOSEPH It�s hard to describe the feeling I have when I�m here. My great grandma was born here, and our family is still coming here and that�s powerful. JAMEY JOSEPH Got some moose. JODY POTTS JOSEPH Our lands are not void of our people. LOUISE MOSES You wanna try? AMIYA STRASSBURG Okay. LOUISE MOSES Okay. JODY POTTS JOSEPH We have not been made extinct we're still here practicing our traditional ways of life. Even through the changing world. STEVEN TIG STRASSBURG Woo, sheefish and eggs. Be careful it's hot. Good dinner. Hundreds of years ago my family found out that this is a good fishing spot. This is the type of stuff that's passed down in our families is fishing spots, hunting spots, traplines, stuff that's going to ensure the longevity of the blood line. You know, the blood line that my family left us is good enough to have this much kids that's how bountiful land they left to us is everything we need right here. GAGE HOFFMAN The reason I wanna stay in Bethel is because that's where my family's from. ANA HOFFMAN Amen. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah, this looks really good. STOSH HOFFMAN Yeah, good job guys. First beaver of the year for us. I'm glad you guys went out. AVERY HOFFMAN Uh hmm. GAGE HOFFMAN Yeah, it was worth it Avery. AVERY HOFFMAN Uh hmm. GAGE HOFFMAN I wanna play my part and ensure our culture is thriving and that it stays alive. I'm excited to kinda be the wise elders one day sit down with my brother and pass on all these stories to the next generation. [SNAP IN] MARCELLA AMODO WHITE My dad had an old beaten up truck that he turned into a chicken coop. It's a struggle living out here. I hope that this project can bring the village closer together. Anybody's in need of eggs you know, hopefully, I have a bunch stocked up. Being able to help others, you don't see a lot of that. Not as much as we used to. I think it's quite crucial to try and bring those qualities in a village back. GLYNDARIL WHITE I want to put some windows on the backside of the chicken coop. MARVIN AGNOT Yeah. GLYNDARIL WHITE Yeah, guess found some windows at our thrift store, our local thrift store. MARVIN AGNOT Thrift store. Well, let's go get our windows, huh, mighty mouse. Going soon we'll get those windows. Look at the fox right there, Glyn. He's found some food right there. Not even scared. GLYNDARIL WHITE Just like the bear, not even scared. MARVIN AGNOT Just like the bear, yep, not scared. GLYNDARIL WHITE We're gonna go get our window for the chickens. So, we're going to our local thrift store but we call the dump. MARVIN AGNOT Well, the wind is picking up a little bit. GLYNDARIL WHITE We repurpose everything there. MARVIN AGNOT Seen windows right there, saw windows, Glyn. There just for us to repurpose because, you know, they're gonna come in handy. GLYNDARIL WHITE Old house window becomes new chicken window. MARVIN AGNOT There you go. GLYNDARIL WHITE Oh, yeah. MARVIN AGNOT All right, Glyn. GLYNDARIL WHITE Let's, uh, let's go get our tools and, uh, get to work.