Life Below Zero

I like to come up here and look around

at this time of year.

Gives me a good view, gets me up above some of the trees,

I can see further.

Up in these mountains several miles from camp,

there're dall sheep.

And in a couple a months from now,

I'll be hunting those sheep.

There's a lot of country up there,

and the sheep are spread out, all over it.

So what I need to do at this time a year,

in preparation to hunt for 'em, is to go out and scout for them.

I'm not looking for just any sheep.

The ewes, the young rams, the lambs, those are left,

to reproduce to maintain the population.

I'm looking for a big ram like this one.

This is the last sheep I killed in these mountains.

But to find a big sheep like this is a real challenge.

Whenever I go out this time of year, I always carry my rifle.

Without a rifle I'd be defenseless,

and there are bears around here.

For Glenn Villeneuve, scouting animal behavior

in the Brooks Range is key to harvesting meat and protein

for survival.

In the fall, dall sheep hunting season will be open,

and locating them now is a priority.

I'm gonna head up into the mountains

this morning, spend a few days walking around,

finding a promising area to hunt a couple a months from now.

Hunting sheep is the most physically demanding hunting

I do. I have to walk further, in more difficult terrain,

and spend more time seeking out sheep than any other animal

I hunt.

Sheep like to stay up high,

where there're rocks they can escape to escape to

when the predators are around, that's how they get away

from wolves, that's how they get away from me.

I'm gonna head up this ridge, see what I can find up there.

We're getting up above tree line now,

I got to start thinking about being quiet.

Gotta start thinking about the direction of the wind.

How it's carrying my scent.

And I got to start using terrain to conceal myself,

'cuz the sheep are very cautious animals.

This is a sheep trail right here.

There's sheep scat.

There's a beautiful sheep track right there.

This is a path the sheep walk regularly on this mountain.

Scouting for sheep is the same thing as hunting 'em.

The only difference is, I'm not gonna shoot it when I get there.

But I'm trying to stalk as close as I can to any sheep.

And anytime I'm out, I'm gaining experience.

These are all sheep beds right here.

This is where sheep has laid its scat.

There, here.

This is more of a summer scat, when they're eating

more succulent vegetation.

In the winter, it'll look more like this in the wintertime.

We're seeing lots of sheeps on this mountain,

so I'm hopeful I might find some sheep up here.

Things are looking good.

To me living out in Alaska is all about

being able to take care a yourself.

Just got done having my morning cup a coffee and down here

I can see the river really start dropping last night.

Dropped a couple feet.

I'm gonna head upriver, make sure my fish wheel is not

high and dry.

I can't afford to just let a functionable fish wheel

go to waste.

So, the water's been high for about two weeks now,

it just kind of like planed out in the last couple a days,

and just dropped overnight. Just like that.

And that's how this river is.

It's constantly changing.

Jessie Holmes relies on the resources along

the Nenana River to maintain a subsistence lifestyle.

Getting his fish wheel up and running is crucial to feeding

himself, and his team of sled dogs, for the year ahead.

So fish wheel is made out of spruce log rafts

and it floats out in the river.

What we do is we take it with big logs and push it far out

into the river, into a deep channel.

I drop the axel down,

and the big baskets dip through the water.

It's turning with the current, as it scoops down,

the fish have no place to go, so they swim right into the scoop.

Scoop's em up.

Now the purpose of a fish wheel is to put up a large amount

of fish.

I can put up 900 fish in a day if the fishing's going good.

I need to be catching fish and feeding the dogs fish right now

because it's the most cost effective way for me to be able

to keep these dogs.

This could be a real big deal to me to not be able to use

that fish wheel.

My main goal is to not fall in the river.

It's one of the fastest navigable waters in the U.S.,

the Tanana River is.

There's just tons a silt in here.

The minute you're in there, the silt starts filling

your pockets, filling your clothes, filling your boots.

Little things can become big things quick.

This thing's definitely up on the sandbars.

The river's dropped a couple feet here.

Yeah, it definitely looks like I got my work ahead of me.

If I don't get this thing out here on the water current soon,

it's gonna' get a lot worse, 'cuz the river's dropping fast.

If I wait any longer on this, it could put me out of the season.

It is stressful. The stakes are high.

And like, it's very easy to mess up with a fish wheel,

there's a lot of things going on.

You got the current, thousands a pounds, I mean,

this is gonna be one hell of a job.

Every minute that goes by is a minute wasted,

and another couple an inches of water lost possibly, so,

it's time to get to work. Bust this thing out.

Get onto the next process.

It's a lot of work but it provides a lot of food

for the dogs.

There we go, she's moving.

Your creativity, your ingenuity,

and your ability to improvise.

The mind is the most important tool any of us carry around.

Not feeling a hundred percent.

Just pushing it too hard. And it's showing.

I'm exhausted, all of my stitches hurt.

All of the things I've been lifting, pushing and pulling,

the body is kicking my ass saying that I shouldn't.

Kavik River Camp serves as a remote

fueling station and bed and breakfast for bush pilots.

Thank you.

To sustain her business during the busy

summer months, Sue Aikens takes on a heavy workload.

All right.

But an injury has restricted her ability

to run Kavik on her own.

And with clients set to arrive soon,

she must call for reinforcements or risk losing crucial revenue.

This is my windsock, and um,

it's just another one of those things

that I can't do right now, by myself.

Part of being successful is being brutally honest

with yourself.

And to be brutally honest with myself is to look

at my abilities and disabilities.

Acknowledge them, and work with them.

It's summertime.

These tracks have to come off.

These are 500 pounds or so each.

I do something this heavy over my limits,

and I'm gonna be back in the hospital.

There's just so many things I can't do on my own.

I've got to get help.

All right, this is where I decide to throw up

the white flag and go from tough to fluff.

I'm gonna call my nephew, and see if he wants to come up

and help out his Auntie.

There's way too much to do

and I am incapable of doing it right now.

Hey, Jessie, how's it going?

I'm doing good, how 'bout you, Auntie?

Um, well that's kind of why I'm calling, uh,

I'm trying to get everything running up here,

but there's just so much stuff that I can't do.

You wanna come help a gimpy old woman out this summer?

Yeah, that sounds perfect.

Just let me know when you want me up there and I'll go.

Can you be ready by tomorrow?

Yeah, give me a couple hours to pack

all my things and I should be up.

All right, love you. Thank you so much.

Uh-huh, I love you too, Auntie.

All righty, bye bye.

I have a nephew Jessie.

He is one of my brother's sons.

He's a good young man.

Uh maybe untried, he's a little green around the edges,

when it comes to remote camp life.

He knows how to work on machinery,

but this is gonna be a test for him.

The world of Sue is tilting.

People need this camp, people need this service.

It's an important dream to keep alive,

but I'm only gonna keep it alive if I bring on help.

Some people are about quantity.

I'm about quality.

I want quality food.

I don't want numbers.

I want results.

Jon and his oldest daughter

should be coming in soon.

This is kind of exciting.

We haven't seen our grandbaby since winter.

The Hailstone family has a limited opportunity

to hunt for seals,

a vital resource for the long winter ahead.

Seal hunting is a Native tradition