11x02 - Opportunity Cost

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

I'm not tapping out.

I'd rather die.

[eerie howling]

[exhales]

Here goes nothing.

Whoa.

Yes!

[bleep].

♪

This is the harshest
location possible.

We're 125 miles
in the Arctic Circle.

Ahh!

Never had an environment make me

feel like a complete
amateur before.

Everything is
against us out here.

Mother Nature went
and b*tch-slapped me.

It looks like got grizzlies
and wolves as my neighbors.

Holy crap.

They're just
hunting the shoreline.

Mother Nature is about
to dim the lights on us.

We're heading into
total darkness.

Hey, bear.

The cold and the dark is
going to sap people's souls.

Really makes you
wonder if it's worth it.

There is no camera crew.

There's no support system.

I'm completely alone.

Yes!

People go in one way...

Stop bleeding.

And they come out
entirely different.

Ahh!

This is the most
difficult survival

challenge in the world.

Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!

$500,000, that's completely
life-changing money.

It's beautiful.

Whoever can thrive the longest.

Stay out here,
ought to be afraid of me.

Whoever can push
through it wins.

I hope I made the right
choice coming out here.

♪ ♪

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

Sounds like I can
hear wolves howling.

That is definitely wolves.

[sighs]
Damn it.

I never really trusted
wolves that much.

They are K*llers.

My energy level is really low.

I need every little
calorie I can get.

Whoo-hoo, another one.

Got these two with a stick,
shockwaves, you know?

I think my nose is bleeding.

I wonder if has something
to do with my berry diet.

Everything at ate looked
pretty familiar.

Stop bleeding.

I just heard something move.

♪ ♪

Hey, bear.

Every step is difficult.

You can't see 5 feet
into the thicket.

You wouldn't know if a grizzly
was 10 feet away from you.

♪ ♪

[shouts]

Arrow in the leg.

It slipped out of my quiver.

And just stepped right into it.

Ohh.

The realization that my
chance of winning this is over

is absolutely devastating.

♪

[helicopter blades whirring]

I told myself
I wasn't gonna cry.

Oh man,
but what an overwhelming...

wow, wow.

Oh, my God.

I'm here.

I'm finally here.

♪ ♪

This is crazy.

This is amazing.

Day one, minute one, I've got
a long, long road ahead.

♪ ♪

[laughs]

Oh, wow.

I'm so excited.

This is the real deal.

[laughs]

♪ ♪

I am now truly alone.

Wish I could just
spend more time

just living in this moment.

But, you know,
there's work to be done.

♪

[laughs]

All right,
so there goes my ride.

And I won't see
them boys for a while.

But this is exactly
what I've been waiting for.

[helicopter blades whirring]

Firstly, I'm gonna
get my safety kit going.

I hope I don't have
to use any of this stuff,

because that would mean
that a grizzly bear is

up in my business.

But I'm gonna have it with
me all the time just in case.

Because more than winning,
I promised I'd

bring myself home to my wife.

♪

My legal name is Timothy.

But I just never
liked the sound of it.

When I got my first paying
job, it was cutting timber.

And then some people
started to call me Timber,

and I just went with that
because I like it.

I remember as a kid, an old
Kentucky old-timer came over

and showed me this method.

I grew up connected
to a group that

was really anti-government.

The whole group
tried not to exist

on paper or anywhere else.

So we all grew up
completely off grid.

Here is my passive
water filtration system.

During the days, we would
train for emergencies

and combat situations,
asymmetrical warfare

and insurgency tactics...

Whoo, baby.

And to survive and to react
in a harsh environment.

Now I have achieved luxury.

Me and my wife
and our two little boys,

we work in humanitarian aid.
- Hey.

So we're in many countries
the bulk of the year.

For the past few years,
it's been almost

strictly conflict zones,
meaning evacuations, medical.

Excellent.

My family and I really love it.

But it's taking a toll
on my kids, on my wife,

on our health.

And so the money
could do a lot for us.

"Alone" is a huge
opportunity to leave

some inspiration some legacy
that my sons will be proud of.

I love you.
- Bye.

I'll tell you one thing, it's
hard to do a good approach...

[arrows rattling]

Like that.
Hear that noise from my arrows?

This brush is pretty thick,
practicing stealth

in this terrain,
a real challenge.

Hopefully the game
here is not very wary.

Experience in conflict zones
taught me

that tension zone
between life and death

can make you much more
alert and aware.

Awareness is key in survival.

So you want those instincts
tuned, tuned really sharp.

You know, you don't want
to miss opportunities.

♪ ♪

I see some big old tracks.

I see moose tracks
right off the bat

and grizzly bear tracks.

♪ ♪

Look at this,
plenty of grizzly bear here.

I'm seeing more moose sign
than I expected.

And these tracks indicate how
frequently they come through.

♪ ♪

[squirrel chittering]

Oh, squirrel right there.

♪ ♪

I think I got him.

Yeah, I got him.

This is excellent, excellent.

I've got this squirrel already.

And that means that I'm not
gonna go hungry tonight

or probably tomorrow because
I'm gonna use this guy

mostly for bait for pike.

Now we have to feed the beast.

Don't worry.

♪ ♪

This is my tradition.

I have to feed the teeth
every time I draw blood.

♪ ♪

This is good.

This is my first day.

This is my beginning.

[exhales]
Thank you, God.

♪

OK.

♪ Doo-doo

Ooh, maybe I'll keep this.

I could hang my pot.

Can you see me?

Yep, I think I'm in it.

And how about you?

You, I can't tell,
because the screen is off.

♪ ♪

Hmm, I'll get a hang of this

video thing sooner or later,

I swear.

Battery low.

Rookie mistake.

This whole self-filming thing,
it's one more challenge

to meet and beat, I guess.

[camera beeps]
Get that rolling, yep.

I think we're ready to go.

Thanks, Bud.

My name is Sarah Pointer.

I live in remote Alaska.

And I own and operate a
fishing lodge with my husband.

There you go.

I am originally from
St. Petersburg, Florida.

And I met my husband,

and we decided that to be happy,

we needed to get into the woods.

Here's my house hiding
behind those trees.

We walked away as a family.

And we've been broke
and happy ever since.

Whoo.
- Whoo.

But just to live
is a full-time job.

Probably about minus 22-ish.

Bear prints.

Out my door,
I face risks every day.

Gotta stay on my toes.

I can hunt and feed myself.

I can fish and feed myself.

Fence for my fish trap.

My foraging skills
are fantastic.

Finding myself
a little morel delicacy.

♪ ♪

To win this money would allow
my husband and I to retire.

[laughs]

In the past few years,
my husband

has gone through some
serious health issues.

And so I had to step up,

or we would have
lost our livelihood.

Rainwater brought it up.

Had to go check the boats.

I think it's
my mental strength that

takes me above and beyond.

Wamp-wamp, I think this
will work fine for tonight.

Let's go explore a bit, huh?

See if I can find
some berries and boletes.

I'm not gonna take my bow.

I don't think I want to weave
through these woods with it.

I think because I live around
the bears and the wolves,

I'm not afraid of them.

I'm concerned
about how I'm going

to be able to sustain my body.

Quick shelter was a priority.

Now, my primary
focus is foraging.

Where are the berries?

I need to gather the
carbohydrates and sugars that

I can before the snow falls.

[gasps]
I found berries.

Oh, hell yeah.

As soon as it freezes, I'm
gonna lose access to a lot

of those carbohydrates.

That's a bolete.

And that's the fuel
that's gonna keep me going.

It makes me very, very happy.

♪ ♪

My plan is to graze
like a moose.

♪ ♪

Here we go,
a little bit further,

and then I'm gonna have
to cut back towards camp.

♪

Huh.
It's a lake.

♪

This looks promising
for fishing over here.

[water splashes]

Holy [bleep], it's a beaver.

Oh, hell, yeah, badass.

I have a limited amount
of weight I can lose.

Harvesting a beaver would be
protein and fat that can

carry me for weeks out here.

God, I just regret
not bringing my bow.

I need this.

It would relieve
so much stress and anxiety

on how to feed myself.

Look at you,
all protective and territorial.

[water splashes]

[chuckles]

Yep, I'm totally
intimidated, dude.

I'll head on.

Don't you worry.

You did it.

I'm scared [bleep].

♪ ♪

But I am gonna find
where you're working,

and then I'm gonna sh**t you,

and then I'm gonna eat you.

[water splashes]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

I have to be really,
really careful about not

getting lost out here.

A person could get
lost out here easy.

Sometimes you can't
even see the sun,

so you can't use it
as a way to get back.

Get back, get lost out here,
and lose all your stuff.

♪

Bunch of berries...

♪

Rose hips.

♪ ♪

I'm being picky about where
I'm putting my shelter.

Man, walking through
this horse tail,

this makes me think.

When I get back home,

I'ma mow the hell
out of my yard.

[laughs]

Got a little rubber worm.

My name is Dusty.

I live in Arkansas,

and I'm a welder.

Gonna have frog legs tonight.

I grew up rough.

My town,
we really don't got much.

Just a couple houses.

And this is about it.

You had to make your own fun,

and my fun was the outdoors.

All right.

The difference that I'm gonna
bring is my hillbilliness.

I've been a hunter
ever since I could walk.

I k*lled my first deer
when I was eight years old.

Deer track there.

Fishing-wise, if there's a
mud hole with a fish in it,

I'll catch it.

Nice little rainbow.

I'm a big-time trapper.

I hit this,
and there you have it.

The Arctic Circle
is a whole new environment.

I've never been in negative 40,

but I've always been
a really quick learner.

And got a lot of skill.

I don't give up.

I got a lot of fire in me,
a lot of push and go.

You can put that on
an arrow shaft and use it.

♪ ♪

There's some of the squash.

My wife and kids,
they're my everything.

If I won the $500,000, I
could better my family's life.

I'd get a better place.

Be a big thing to me.

Here we go.

Never really had
opportunities to go

on an adventure like this.

So this is an
opportunity that I've

always wanted all my life.

I'm here to stay.

Y'all's gonna have
to come get me.

[laughs]

All right, I'm going
for it right here.

I found me a spot.

♪

Right off the bat, I'm gonna try

to get my shelter.

Because it just gives you
a good, safe feeling.

♪ ♪

h*, h*, h*.

On the design, I really
don't got a name for it.

But it's kind of
a lean-to log cabin.

Small, but it's put up in
a very fast, efficient way.

[whistles]

Close that time.

One log at a time.

♪ ♪

You need to get your hardest
labor done quick as possible.

And that way, the only thing
you have to worry about

is catching fish,
mice, squirrels,

rabbits, picking berries.

♪

We're 125 miles
in the Arctic Circle.

We're gonna be dealing
with some extreme colds,

extreme weathers.

And the cold
kind of got me on edge.

That's a big thing too.

Especially when the freeze out comes,

you get wet,
that could be death to you.

♪ ♪

Couple more logs
the roof will be done.

This is an opportunity
that I've always wanted

all my life.

And I can't give it up.

Yeah.

Ha-ha.
[chuckles]

pretty sturdy.

Proud of it so far.

But I got gaps.

But I'm gonna fill them in,
put a tarp on it.

♪

That's a squirrel.

♪ ♪

Got squirrel guts.

♪ ♪

All right, I'm gonna get
to work on a temporary shelter,

which will keep me
for a few nights.

All right.

♪ ♪

For my temporary shelter,
I have very

few critical requirements.

I need some good spacing
between the trees

so that I can fix things
how I have in mind.

But ultimately, I just find
a spot that looks homey.

I follow my instinct there.

Good, good, good.

I grew up in the woods.

And I learned, if your
instincts are properly tuned,

nature actually
guides and drives you

to the right things.

I have to get this work done
because opportunities are

gonna present themselves.

♪ ♪

Yeah.

All right, let's go
check those fish lines.

[panpipe music]

♪

Fish, fish, fish,
I've got a fish right here.

♪ ♪

Ooh, might be a nice one.

♪ ♪

Fish, fish, fish,
fish, fish, yeah.

♪ ♪

Wow.

Good Lord, it is a nice one.

Look at that. Look at that.

Yeah!

I need to start cooking.

♪

Now, I've got a problem.

Here's my squirrel.

And I've got my big old fish.

I simply will not have time to
start doing meat preservation

while it's daylight.

So I'm gonna cook it all up,

and I'm just gonna eat
like a hunter.

♪

Fishy, you are amazing.

♪ ♪

One of the biggest reasons I
want to do this is my family

has reached a point
in our work that I don't

know if we can continue it.

The stress levels have
become almost debilitating.

We're always in
different places,

sleeping in different beds,
different countries.

Now for the pike.

With that money, I could
build a house in the States

and provide my family
with the baseline security

for when my boys are wondering
where home is in their hearts.

I'm gonna eat my red squirrel

while this is cooking.

♪ ♪

Oh, finally, yes.

I think about that money,
and I think

I'll do just about anything.

I'll injure myself.

I'll wear myself to the bone.

My wife keeps assuring me

we'll be fine without the money.

But I know what I want
to set them up with.

I'd like to get that money.

Look at that big white,
fluffy, flaky fish.

♪ ♪

Mmm, now there's a real supper.

There's a real supper.

Mmm.

Pike on day one,
very pleased with that.

♪

Mmm.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Oh, good morning.

First night in the books.

I slept... I got a
good night's sleep.

That's for sure.

The first full day,
I was a little confused.

So I was exhausted yesterday.

The priorities for today,
priority one,

enjoy the sunrise.

Look at that;
that is absolutely amazing.

Priority two,
I got to get some water,

get a fire going,
so I can boil it.

Continue the search for
a permanent shelter location.

All right, let's get started,
a lot of work to do.

One more sunrise.

♪

Boil some water.

Don't want to get sick.

Oh, there goes.

Nope.

The ground here
is wet, soggy, sandy.

There doesn't seem to be
a lot of dry firewood.

And I know that's gonna
make getting a fire hard.

It keeps... it lights up
for like a second,

and then it just goes out.

I'm really concerned
about dehydration.

Well, there goes...
no, going out again.

I've never had
so much trouble getting

a fire going in my life.

♪ ♪

Damn it.

♪ ♪

OK, I'm gonna pause this,
take a step back.

I'm gonna pack up this tinder,
keep it in pocket.

Maybe that'll dry it out,
try again in a bit.

All right, let's go explore.

My name is Peter Albano,

and I am a librarian.

I love the idea of being
this keeper of knowledge.

Being a librarian
makes me well-suited

for this challenge.

You have to be creative
and learn really quickly

to make the most out of
very little resources.

There we go,
super-easy foraging basket.

I don't fit the typical
mold of a survivalist.

I volunteer with the local
search and rescue group,

and I also do
Alpine rescue stuff.

Look at the size
of these tracks.

I have a black belt
in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

It's as much a mental game
as a physical game.

It's a great way
to learn how to deal

with stressful situations
and keep your cool.

We're out in the woods,
best place to be.

Most of the skills I have,
I've taken from books.

When I was 12 years old,
I discovered

the "SAS Survival Guide."

And there was how
to build shelters

and how to build traps.

That sort of really
set me off on this path.

Fully functional bushcraft door.

♪ ♪

My family means
everything to me.

That's the whole
reason for existing.

I've come here to prove to
my kids that you set a goal,

you can achieve it.

I tell my kids all the time,
every problem has a solution.

You just have to
approach it logically.

And you'll find it.

And don't give up.

First try, score.

My perseverance
and my outright stubbornness

are what's gonna
take me to the end.

♪ ♪

Cool, these are all
kettle lakes,

technically, not ponds,
but they're called kettle lakes

because of the way
they're formed.

I bet on the bottom
of your screen

right now there's a definition
of a kettle lake,

which is cool.

I was telling my son there
was kettle lakes in the area.

He suggested I name one
teapot lake

because he has
an amazing sense of humor.

So ladies and gentlemen,
let me introduce you

to Teapot Pond.

♪

Hope you like it, Ethan.

All right, I'm heading back,
feeling dehydrated.

But my wife
made me promise never

to drink untreated water.

What I always planned
was to find a location

for my permanent shelter
as quickly as possible

so I can start on it right away,

and then after that, look
for opportunities for food.

But yesterday was tough.

It was just me
second-guessing myself.

All the things to do
can get overwhelming.

Even this morning,
it's still there.

♪

Look at this
beautiful game trail.

Oh, what's this here?

♪

That is a big bear.

♪ ♪

They're old.

But still,
I'm definitely not going

to be building
my permanent shelter

very close to this trail.

♪ ♪

I feel like I need to focus.

There's a sign of
grizzly bears in my area.

More bear tracks.

And I'm really
concerned about how

fast winter is gonna come.

And you know, in a fight,

you don't really have a lot of
time to second-guess yourself.

If you hesitate,
then you get hit,

and then you're gonna
lose the fight.

All right, I've had this
in my pocket for a while now.

Let's see if we can
light it on fire.

In a fight,
you need to move quickly,

and if you're gonna adapt
to something

that's not going your way,
you have to do it fast.

Oh, there it goes...

nope.

I know that once I start
building my permanent shelter

and getting a fishing
line in the water,

then I'll be able
to refocus and just

get to the mission of winning.

♪ ♪

Ooh, it's going.

Come on, come on,
come on, come on.

Oh, yes, fire.

As you can see,
I'm not a complete amateur,

even though it may
have looked like it.

[chuckles]

I got to gather
a bunch of this tinder,

keep it in the shelter.

♪ ♪

Here I am eating rose hips.

Well, it ain't too bad.

Man, I was really hoping
blueberries would be around.

I haven't seen ones yet.

[smacking lips]

[laughs]

[munching]

Let me get a bag out here.

I'm gonna gather
some of these up.

Pretty good little patch
of them here.

Since I've come here,
I'm focusing on the terrain.

It's all new to me, all of it.

Just the berries alone here,
there are so many varieties.

Ooh, that toothpaste.

A lot of these trees, I've
never even seen, you know?

That's the big thing to me
is seeing new stuff.

You live in a spot and stay
there as long as I have,

you kind of get
bored of everything.

Just watching the ground
leave like that,

and then when you
get up so high,

you get above the clouds,
and it just looks like

cotton candy,
you can walk on it.

So a whole new environment.

It's like a whole new me
kind of.

All right,
we got rose hips for supper.

Like to have some meat
to go with it.

I am a meat eater.

[squirrel chittering]

I keep hearing
squirrels over that way too,

so get my snares out.

♪ ♪

♪

Well, one squirrel pole's set.

I'm not gonna
play a starving game.

One way or the other,
we'll get something.

All right, I'm gonna boil us up
some water.

I'm gonna cut
some firewood real quick.

[squirrel chittering]

Man, look at that.

I'm gonna go for it.

I gotcha now.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

There he is.

♪ ♪

[laughs]

Gotcha.

All right,
thank you, little buddy,

for your giving me yourself.

I appreciate you,
you don't know how much.

Thank goodness.

All right, I'll skin him down.

What we do here,
punch it through his back.

Pull his a little britches
off here.

When I want to draw my bow back,

it was just like I was aiming
at a big buck.

I got so excited.

There we go.

It's kind of hard
to breathe, my heart

just boom, boom, boom,
over a freaking squirrel.

But I guess that squirrel
means a lot to me out here.

Man's got eat, you know?

I don't need to be
a-thinkin' about it,

but it sure does

remind me of my little girl.

She's just now getting
into squirrel hunting.

♪

I grew up in a hunting world.

I'm gonna get him
ready to cook up.

My mama, my grandpa,

[bleep] I squirrel hunted
since I was

seven, eight years old.

And I mean, that was our lives.

Made the person that I am today.

I think Sir Fuzzytail's
ready to eat.

It's a different
ballgame out here.

But I was raised
for this type of situation.

[blowing]

Mmm, squirrel.

[laughs]

Oh man, oh man.

It's good.

♪ ♪

Ouch.

Ow, yeah, that's brutal.

Pretty much trying
every object I brought

to see if it brushes hair.

So far, no.

It just rips it out, everything.

One of the past contestants
mentioned losing hair.

And I thought it was
because of malnutrition.

But I'm starting to suspect
it was from lack of hairbrush.

This is a game for short hair.

All right, back to work.

♪

Spending a lot of energy
today building up a shelter.

For my permanent shelter,
I'm building a wickiup.

A wickiup is a winter version
of a teepee.

Instead of an animal hide
as the walls,

it's debris to help
hold the heat in.

♪

I picked this spot for
its proximity to the lake.

And I'm protected from the winds

with this massive
alder bush forest around me.

♪ ♪

[exhales]

It's coming along,
slowly but surely.

All right, let's take a break.

Trek over to the lake.

Got a date with a beaver.

♪

Maybe he'll come close again.

The last time I came over here
without archery equipment...

There's a good chance
I could have eaten him.

[exhales]

Nobody to blame but myself.

Where'd you go, little feller?

That beaver would carry me
a long ways.

Protein, fat,

it'd be a game changer.

♪ ♪

Nothing.

That's what I get.

Got to be prepared
for anything, always.

♪

[bleep].

♪

See if he comes over here.

♪ ♪

See how close he'll swim.

♪ ♪

Oh, that's pretty close.

♪

Oh, my God, did I get him?

Oh please God,
let me have gotten him.

♪ ♪

Oh, my God.

My heart is [bleep] pounding.

♪

From my vantage point,
it looks like I hit him.

Oh, my God,
arrow hasn't moved at all.

Kind of tells me it's probably
impaled to a sunken body.

Am I gonna have to go swimming?

[exhales]

I'm gonna risk it.

♪

You got to be smart about this.

I can't go hypothermic and die.

♪

Today would have been a good
day to wear underwear, huh?

Holy cow, it's really cold.

I don't have any of my
fire-making stuff here.

I haven't gotten any other
source of protein,

so I need the beaver.

I can't believe
I'm about to do this.

♪ ♪

Mind over matter.

There are so many traps
in the bottom of this lake.

I know I'm gonna trip.

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

Ooh, ouch, oh man,
I hope I get a beaver.

Did I get him?

Oh.

I missed him entirely.

[bleep].

I thought for sure I had him.

♪ ♪

Woo, woo, woo.

Got to get
out of my wet clothes.

♪ ♪

[sighs]

It's disheartening.

I can't believe I flung
that arrow at that beaver.

I know better, know better
than sh**ting into the water.

See if I could see him.

Desperation makes you
do dumb things.

♪

No disturbance
anywhere on the lake.

Nothing in the nearby vicinity.

♪

All right, back to my shelter.

♪ ♪

I think I just got excited.

I thought I hit him,

but I obviously didn't.

I'm trying
not to let it get me down.

I'm not doing
super great at it right now.

I'll get there.

♪ ♪

I want to win this so bad,

but I need to make sure
that I don't make mistakes.

Another opportunity lost at
eating that I did to myself.

♪ ♪

[exhales]

♪

Just before I...
turning the camera back on,

I saw a gyrfalcon buzz.

It looked like an adult male.

[bird squawking]

Well...

It's amazing to think
three weeks from now,

they're gonna be 4,000
miles away in Central America.

And I'll still be here.

[laughs]

For 15 years,

I've been
a professional falconer.

I specialize in falconry-based

bird abatement,
which is hunting predating

birds to protect crops.

I'm gonna add
a guide to my fly rod.

My dad taught me everything he
knew about wilderness skills.

And so I've been a hunter
literally since the time

I could walk.

Pretty good group.

I'm a fourth-generation
fly fisherman.

And I've never been on
a river that I couldn't fish.

It's a great big sucker.
[laughs]

I've never been
in an environment

where I couldn't find food.

Oh, he's so fatty.

And I've never
been in a situation

where I could not make a fire.

I don't think
anybody has the skill set

and the desire to do whatever

is required the way that I am.

Wait, what is it?

Oh! It's a...

[laughter]

I'm the father
of three children.

And my number one
responsibility in life

is being their dad.

I went through a divorce.

And in order for me
to maintain shared custody,

I had to dissolve my business
and seek employment locally.

But I lost about 3/4
of my income doing that.

So for the better part
of a decade,

my kids have
watched me struggle.

And I think
it's important for them

to see what
I'm capable of doing.

[exhales]

I lost my fishing line
out of my backpack.

A side zipper came open

while I was busting
through the brush.

I have spent
the last three days looking

everywhere for that line.

Walked,
I don't know, several miles.

And I don't know if I'm
ever gonna find it again.

I don't have a net,
so I've been tying one.

♪

Losing my fishing line
is embarrassing.

This was the tool that I was
going to rely on the most

to provide food for myself.

But the thing that I've
learned over the years

is that the less time that I
spend wallowing in my shame,

the better, because
then I can throw myself

into solving the problem.

That's the thing about survival.

It's not survival
of the fittest.

It's survival of
the most adaptable.

♪ ♪

All right, I'll go
and get this in the water.

♪ ♪

All right,
so I'm gonna lay it in here.

♪ ♪

Water's really shallow,

but it's the only
water I've got.

♪ ♪

If I can get something here,
that would be incredible.

♪

Well, that was graceful.
[laughs]

[dramatic music]

♪

I don't know if you all
at home are ready for this.

Check out this hunk
of man right here.

My kids are lucky
they look like their mom,

I'm telling you.
[laughs]

♪

I'm just working on my shelter,

my permanent shelter.

Gonna be very small.

Kind of like
a dome-type structure,

not much bigger than me.

So I think I'll build
my bed first

and then build
the shelter around it.

Here we go,
last post for the bed.

♪

This is the spot
that I've picked.

These spruce trees will give me

some shelter from the snow,

the wind, the rain.

♪ ♪

There.

[claps hands]

So 8 feet long, 6 feet wide
is what I was going for.

That'll give me enough space
for a workspace,

the bed, the fireplace.

Anyway, I'm gonna keep going.

Most of this area
is covered in moss.

And I don't want to build
a shelter on the moss.

These first two down here.

The permanent
shelter location has

a harder packed, muddier ground

that's better to walk on.

It's gonna be drier when I
get a fire going inside of it,

and I'm gonna be able
to dig into it.

Into the muck.

♪ ♪

Oh, yes, oh, yeah.

I wanted to build
a shelter where I can

put stakes into the ground.

And it's just easier
to do that there.

You kind of see
how the dome is forming.

That looks perfect.

♪ ♪

It's starting to cool off.

♪ ♪

Well, I'm so happy
to be starting on this.

It's gonna be
a huge stress-reliever.

♪ ♪

I'm basing my shelter
off of a qaluurvik.

It's a traditional shelter
of people in this region.

It's made with green alders
and willows.

It's built in a way where you
stick one end of the alder

into the ground
and you bend it over.

And then you do the same
thing on the other side.

And you tie them together, and
you end up with a dome shape.

♪ ♪

It's super simple.

Wish you could feel
how much stronger

this is just from doing this.

I chose this kind of shelter
because we're in a place where

next week, there could be snow,

and it's going to be efficient
to heat up in the winter.

First batch, spruce boughs.

It's easy to make
in terms of calories used.

I don't have to fell
any big trees.

At the end of the day,
this is a game of calories.

I put on a bunch of weight
before coming out here

to have some reserves,

and I have to budget
them wisely.

When I put my green tarp
on here,

it's gonna look
like a turtle shell.

I might have to call
this the turtle lair.

It's not in the sewers,

but you know,
it's still pretty cool.

Oh, what a good feeling.

It's coming together.

♪ ♪

Oh!
[laughs]

Typical.

I just busted out a fire.

And it took me about a half
an hour, but I finally got it.

I decided to not bring
a ferro rod,

because I knew that
there were other ways

that I can make fire.

And I wanted to free up an item.

Now that I've lost
my fishing line...

[laughs]

I'd say hell yes,
give me a ferro rod.

But what I want
to be able to do now

is not have to do
a friction fire every day.

Takes too many calories.

And it takes too much time.

So in my pot here,
what I am processing

is dry rot wood.

And what I'll have left
is pure charcoal

that I can use to catch
a spark from my belt buckle.

♪ ♪

That is exactly
what we were going for.

And this is
gonna help tremendously

in fire starting for me.

It's gonna be really important
to keep humidity

out of all that charcoal.

So I'm gonna make a container.

So I've got some birch bark now.

And this is what I'm gonna
make my container out of.

♪ ♪

So I'm taking my spruce root,

and I'm stitching
this whole thing together.

♪

There... oh, there we go.

♪ ♪

So I've cut two plugs,

a bottom and a top.

On the bottom one,
what I'm going to do

is drill a series of holes

and then drive pins in those.

♪ ♪

There will still be
a little bit of gap in there,

but I'm gonna do enough
to make it pretty tight.

And all I want to do
with this is make a handle.

This method for
making a tinder box

has been used
for thousands of years.

In fact, when they found
Otzi the Iceman,

he was carrying one of these.

It was a really good
window into the past.

♪

I think that'll work.

Turned out pretty good.

Here's my belt buckle.

[laughs]

I'll give you
a close-up view of it.

This belt buckle is made
out of carbon steel,

and I think I can
start a fire with it.

Here's our nice little piece
of quartzite that I found.

And then all we got to do
is throw a spark into that.

Ooh, there, done.

Can you see the orange
starting to spread in there?

♪ ♪

There we go, finally.

♪ ♪

And this is gonna make life
a lot easier going forward.

♪ ♪

It's perfect.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

I'm hungry,

so I'm gonna go check the net.

Putting a net out in the water,

there's a lot of luck involved.

And so it was kind of
a blow to lose

my fishing line on day one.

♪ ♪

But I need to provide food
for myself,

and I know that there's
going to be a period of time

when the river starts to freeze

that fishing is gonna be
off the table.

Empty net.

[sighs]

No fish in it.

I'm gonna put
my energy elsewhere.

♪

Oh, that's a beaver.

♪

The way we're gonna
get him into bow range

is by making a bait.

And all you need to do that is
a young willow full of leaves

and drop it right off the bank.

♪

He's cruising around,
and he'll see it,

and he'll come to it.

♪

I see him way up there.

He's about...

Just waiting for him to
make his rounds back up here.

♪

That beaver would be a great
source of food right now.

He's got a lot
of protein on his body,

and he's got a lot of fat.

And I'm worried
that my body will

start fatiguing and
becoming weaker and weaker.

♪

Still waiting for this beaver.

So I honestly don't know
if he's coming back,

and I really may have messed up

by not sh**ting him
right off the get-go.

[exhales deeply]

Boy, what a fail.

♪

I've got something
I want to show you.

It is pretty cool.

Being able to store water,
so I don't have to boil it

every time, is real critical,

so I've made this quiver
to help me with that.

I'm gonna take my arrows out,

and they won't be carried
in there anymore.

I've got another solution
for carrying my arrows.

♪

I've sealed this with beeswax.

This is a brand-new quiver.

Now I'll take the rest
of this water that I've boiled,

and I'll store it in here

so I can cook or boil
a second batch of water.

♪ ♪

Still perfectly waterproof.

So I like that.

This is gonna be my canteen.

I think it's gonna be
a great help to me.

♪ ♪

So my big thing right now
is to get a bow quiver made.

♪ ♪

Every time I carry these
arrows around with my bow

without them being secured,
I run the risk of cutting

the string of the bow,

so I can't have that.

So I'm gonna construct a
bow quiver out of my arm guard.

I've got two little sections
of holes punched,

and I'm gonna cut out
each of those sections

into a rectangle.

♪ ♪

Now, here's the idea...

fold this leather,
make a couple of cuts,

so that the arrow
clicks into the hole

through the groove
made by those cuts.

The holes align.

And there's a little slit
to go into each one.

It's gonna be four arrows
carried in this.

I have to affix them
here and here.

So to do that,
I need a T-shaped branch.

I'm gonna use
this wire to sew it on.

♪

Throughout my childhood,
every moment

that I wasn't chopping wood,
hauling water,

doing the things
that off-grid living requires,

I would get away
and bushcraft and dream

about being a frontiersman.

That's two.

My frontiersman adventures
would take me all

over the northland, this land.

And that's where
I lived in my mind.

So for me to be here
in reality right now,

my mind is just
tearing it up out here.

And that's why
I don't want to mess it up.

♪

All right,
so there's my bow quiver.

That'll make it
a lot easier for me.

When I need to pull one off,
it's fairly easy.

I think that'll sh**t just fine.

All right.

♪

Look at that shadow.

That's the shadow
of a warrior hunter.

♪ ♪

Here I go.

♪ ♪

There's still a lot of
bear tracks here on the shore,

mostly a little old.

The most sign
I've seen of anything,

of any animal out here
besides the red squirrels,

is predators.

So wherever there's that many
predators, there's big prey.

Oh cool, cool,
fresh moose tracks.

Check this out.

That's a good sign.

♪

My hunting strategy
is very simple.

Be opportunistic.

I really want big game.

Because if I get big game,
I can relax about food.

I can do all the other stuff
that this

survival life requires.

And I'm thinking,
you get big game,

you win the show.

♪ ♪

Oh my gosh, far across my swamp,

I see a moose,
a bull moose laying down.

It's way, way, way out there
where a tip of my bow is.

If I could make
a play on this moose,

oh my goodness,
I'd be silly not to.

So the wind is kind of
coming on to my left ear.

So I'm gonna go down
the river that way,

or through the willows that way,

and keep an eye on it.

♪ ♪

I want to see if I can call out
to him once I get

into a good position.

♪

I'm gonna approach it
from a different side,

where the brush
is thicker near it.

Just circle around it.

♪

I've got a little screen
of willows between me

and it at the moment.

I'm gonna...
I think I'm gonna try

calling to it from right here.

[moose call]

And the moose just stood up.

He's looking in this direction.

♪ ♪

I think it's coming.

♪

There it is.
There it is.

♪ ♪

I can't believe it.
I can't believe it.

[tense music]

And the moose just stood up.

♪ ♪

There it is.
There it is.

♪

I can't believe it.
I can't believe it.

Oh, it's trying to go away.

♪

It's steadily walking away.

♪

[moose call]

He's just standing there.

He's unsure of what to do.

So am I.

♪ ♪

[moose call]

♪

I can tell you one thing,
I'm burning up

all my calories
just with my heart beating

and watching this play out.

♪ ♪

This is the hunt of my lifetime.

But it's hard to be still
and not call a lot.

Maybe I'm not calling enough.

But I have a tendency
to overdo things,

so I'm taking it slow.

He's stepping this way.
He's stepping this way.

I would say 500 yards.

♪

Please, come to papa.

♪

♪

[silently]

♪ ♪

♪

[moose groans]

Oh, my gosh.

It's standing there
in the brush.

OK, I got another chance.

I want this moose as bad as I
wanted any animal in my life.

♪ ♪

[bleep].

I can't even...
because one arrow

dropped right under its chest,

disappeared into the grass.

And my next arrow
was looking perfect,

and a twig I didn't see,

about 10 feet in front of it,
caught my arrow,

and I just saw it
dart off to the right.

And he booked it out of there.

I've never had that much
riding on an arrow shot,

never even close.

♪ ♪

I cannot describe
how much I wanted that moose.

♪ ♪

That was my
golden ticket right there.

That was a golden ticket.

♪ ♪

And I mucked it so bad.

♪ ♪

The feeling of defeat
is deeper than I can tell you.

♪

This failure has me numb.

I mean,
I've hunted enough to know

the odds and probabilities.

So I'm smart enough
to know that that

was a special chance,

and it's gone.

Probably the biggest opportunity

I'll have all winter.

♪

I've got no words.

No words for today.

♪

[bleep].

Oh, there's ducks coming.

♪ ♪

Oh, ooh.

Oh, my God.

Oh no, he got off.

No, no, no, no, no, no,
you're not going anywhere.

[grunts]

[coughs]

I feel kind of sick.