13x05 - Thin Margins

[bunniefuu]

[ominous music]

Yeah, there's snow
in the mountains.

[laughs]

The cold is gonna
destroy people.

Like, it's coming.

If you're not set up for winter,

you're not gonna last.

It's just the way it is.

♪

[grunts]

Yes!

I'm really,
really fortunate enough

to get a full-size adult beaver.

This gives me food security.

Oh, my God,
oh, my God, oh, my God.

Now more than ever,
I can say I'm a hunter.

We're gonna get moved in
to this ivrulik.

I'm most afraid of never
seeing my family again.

I know there are dangers
on this land

and that I may
never return home.

Beautiful in here.

Things were feeling really good,

and then I decided
to build this tepee.

I just feel like
I've got nothing,

nothing in the tank.

I'm officially tapping out.

♪

[howling]

♪

[soft music]

♪

[tense music]

♪

[Will] We're going to be
working on the wood stove.

♪

The chimney's looking good.

There's just
a cool, old Iñupiat song

that has a story to it too.

It puts my two younger babies
to sleep every time I sing it,

so it's a really special song.

And the story is of a old man

who looks outside of his window,

and he sees
a rabbit being hunted.

The rabbit comes to
the old man's door and knocks.

The old man lets the rabbit
inside and takes care of him.

And the song goes...

[singing in Iñupiaq]

And that's a...
that's a Iñupiat song.

So yeah, we'll get to work
on the wood stove.

♪

I think I spent as much time
working on the chimney

as the entire shelter,
to be honest.

Okay.

We lost about half the mud
just walking up here.

Try to fill these holes
best we can.

[tense music]

My shelter is working
just the way as I had hoped.

It's keeping me dry,
keeping me warm.

But winter is coming fast,

and the cold will come
with that.

And I realize, without having
a fire in my shelter,

it's not going to be warm enough

going into the cold season.

Looking great, man.

I know that,
with those cold temperatures,

I need to get a way
to have fire in my shelter,

to have heat.

Just have the back
portion to do,

and I gotta mud that
outside wall

and then put mud patties
on the bottom, and it's done,

and I could get a fire going.

♪

This is one of the first things

that makes me realize
I'm really alone out here.

I can't just send a photo
of my shelter to my wife.

And this can be
a difficult thing to do,

living out here alone,
not being able to show

the ones you love
your accomplishments.

♪

My wife, the love of my life.

I think about her every day.

♪

So if I'm standing
on the mountaintop,

and I've won this thing,

the person that is going
to reveal that

I've won this "Alone"
experience is her.

♪

Looking forward to it.

♪

[footsteps crunching]

We have fire.

Oh, that's warm.

[fire crackling]

Oh, that feels good.

Look at that draft,
right out the roof,

right out the chimney.

Man, look at that go.

[whistles]

[singing in Iñupiaq]

Oh.

I don't want to get
the camera all hot,

but let's check this draft out.

Look at that.

That's right out the chimney.

Yeah.

Nice.

Oh, that feels good.

Nice.

Sleeping good now,
ready for winter.

Let's go!

[dramatic music]

♪

[Jacks]
I have to collect some moss.

Here's a good patch.

Well, until I have
a pack basket...

This'll do.

[tense music]

I'll tell you what, though,

it's definitely insulating.

[laughs]

♪

[sighs]

♪

Making progress on the shelter.

I finished weaving the roof.

Then I put on a layer of earth.

I built the bed inside.

I need to insulate the walls

because there's
a lot of holes still.

Hey.

Anybody need moss?

Moss for sale! Moss!

Oh.

♪

I didn't think that,
going into this,

this build would take that long.

Time management has been
a really big issue.

Let's do the bed. Okay.

There's a lot more
that still has to be done,

and it's definitely
getting colder.

♪

You know, I really
kind of like being in here,

so I guess
that's a good thing, eh?

♪

The most important thing
that you need

to take care of is
your core temperature.

If I cannot stay warm out here,

I am seriously gambling.

I am rolling the dice.

I want to make sure
that I get this right.

♪

I still have to ch*nk the walls,

but my shelter is in
an okay enough place

that I could walk away
from it for a while.

Cool.

So that's good.

Fat is really what's gonna
allow you to thrive out here.

I really need fish,
and I need fish now.

I need fat now.

And so recently,
I made a gill net.

♪

[sighs]
It's a marathon, not a sprint.

♪

All righty.

I want to deploy the gill net.

♪

It's taken me a while
to get to this point

where I'm getting all
my food systems in place.

Up to this point,
I've only had hare,

but now I have to catch fish.

So if my gill net is a success

and I can get
the fat from these fish,

that's what's going to allow me

to stay here for the long run.

Nature has always helped me
in times of need.

Nature has always
been there for me.

And right now,
I know that nature

is going to have my back.

♪

All right, feeling
very accomplished.

Whoo-whoo!

♪ We deployed a gill net,
gill net ♪

♪ We deployed
a gill net, gill net ♪

Catch many fishies.

Go forth and prosper, gill net.

[vocalizing]

[tense music]

♪

[Aaron mimicking moose call]

[tense music]

♪

Seeing the snow
in the mountains,

that's a pretty good awakening.

Cold is coming.

I need to be ready.

We still have fish
hanging in the trees.

But I'm trying to space it out.

Right now, it should be
prime time moose hunting.

[mimicking moose call]

And I'm just hoping
for an opportunity at a moose.

The amount of food
on these moose,

I can stay out here
for hundreds of days.

Like, I'm feeling
emotionally good.

Physically, I'll feel better
with all that food.

Mentally, I'm locked in.

I'm ready to go.

If we get a moose,
we win this competition.

There's not a doubt in my mind.

♪

There's nothing this way.

We'll go back to my shelter.

[suspenseful music]

♪

This weather, like,
fluctuates so much.

It's crazy.

Go home, Mr. Winter.

You're drunk.

[bleep] Murphy.

It's only September.

Welcome to Canada, eh?

We're gonna go check
the fish lines,

and then I want to walk
around a little bit

and see if there's any tracks,
fresh prints,

anything on the ground
to give me some kind of hope.

♪

I'm bringing the bow,
just in case.

This will definitely
get the moose moving.

Bears are probably like,
what the hell?

I'm getting worried
about the food.

I'm not gonna lie.

♪

Nothing on that one.

Canada needs to feed its only
baby boy in the competition.

♪

Please, Lord.

Come on, Travy.

I need your help.

One of the reasons why
I'm here is my friend Travis.

He was my mixed martial arts
coach early on,

and then we became
really good buddies

because of hunting
and the outdoors.

He was like a demigod
with how gritty he was

and how mentally strong he was.

He was a Canadian
mixed martial arts legend...

fought Georges St-Pierre
and just, like, the strongest,

toughest person I've ever met.

There's nothing on it.

[bleep].

He passed away about
a year and a half ago.

We had gone on
a hunting trip together.

He was rafting
into one of our hunting spots

and tragically lost his life.

♪

Losing him was unexpected.

It was tough. It still is.

I need Travis to help me out.

Put some fish on my lines.

Put a moose in front of me.

I need help here.

This is getting ridiculous.

♪

This one looks
a little bit different.

Deep water, prime bait.

Everything in the making
for a fish.

Because there's a big log,
it was going like this

like it was swimming.

What a greasy move,
Mother Nature.

What a greasy move.

[tense music]

Time to go for a hike,

see if there's any tracks
that way.

Ah, that was dirty.

♪

Holy [bleep].

Good thing
I left that running, eh?

Damn.

He's a lynx.

I gotta trap this bugger.

♪

[sighs]

If I can get him,
you know, that's actual meat.

A pound a day,
that's 20, 30 days.

♪

And he followed my tracks.

Here's my track.

There's his track.

My track, his track.

This little bugger.

♪

There's his tracks there
again, probably.

♪

See?

This mother gunner...
he runs my fish line.

Man, I need to k*ll
that [bleep] thing and eat him.

Operation snares are coming.

For the lynx, you have to use
five-strand snares.

So we got to make a couple.

♪

Pull 'em tight,
wrap 'em around your pliers.

♪

It's like everything is
against me right now.

I'm gonna hopefully snare
this lynx so I can eat him.

It's looking grim, but I'll
have to make this work.

This is all I have.

I just want to win so damn bad.

♪

Man.

He's got another thing coming.

♪

You can see there's
a little bit of a trail here,

and I've seen his tracks
walk right through here.

I don't like failing.

There's lots of things I've quit

and failed in my life,
and I don't like it.

But right now,
I don't think I'm failing.

I think there's setbacks.

I knew there was gonna be
issues out here.

I just need to find
the solutions.

I won't quit, but I don't
want to starve, either.

And now I'm starting
to think about Travis.

He made me promise him
that if I got on the show,

that I would not quit.

He says, anything that's worth
doing has got to be hard.

So I want to fulfill
that promise I made to him.

And it gives me the extra leg
I need to keep going.

We've got a couple of those out.

So if I was Mr. Lynx,
I'd be walking

right through this path

and right into the net... kaboom!

♪

We gon' get you.

♪

[suspenseful music]

♪

It's finally winter!

It is snowing.

And it's not just a light snow.

It is snow-snow.

So I can see the animal trails, potentially.

I'm gonna go check the gill net.

On our way,
I'll check out the trails.

I just did not think
that I'd be getting out

my winter gear this early.

♪

Oh, I really thought
I had more time.

♪

Wow.

A lot of activity
through here right now.

Okay, we have beaver slide.

Hmm.

It's a beaver.

Interesting.

It looks like I'm sharing
my shoreline with a beaver.

I hope that's not
going to be a problem.

Check my gill net.

♪

♪

Nope, nothing.

[sighs]

[bleep].

Damn beaver... it's scaring
the fish in this river.

[tense music]

[sighs]

♪

Okay, just gotta keep trying.

♪

♪

I'm open to the wisdom
and the answers that she has.

♪

I really thought
the net was gonna work.

It still might.

♪

Fish was my biggest
resource of fat.

♪

But there's also beaver.

♪

Maybe my obstacle isn't fish.

My obstacle is fat.

♪

Maybe it doesn't matter
if I catch fish or not,

as long as I catch fat.

♪

All right, we got
to shift gears.

♪

I'm going for the beaver.

♪

[ominous music]

♪

[Will] Uvlaalluataq.

Good morning.

I moved my head down
to this side,

next to the fire pit,

and slept really well
last night, really warm.

So this morning, I'm going out
hunting for moose and tuttu.

I don't want to wind down
to not having any food

and be like, crap, what do I do?

So hopefully I can add to that
food cache this morning.

[tense music]

It snowed, but the snowfall
has melted.

♪

I'm disappointed because

tracks are more visible
in the snow.

♪

It's important for me
to explore this land

because I need to find moose.

I need to find tuttu, caribou,
so I can harvest them,

and that can help me through
the long winter ahead.

♪

My long-term food source
is going to be big game.

So I need to try and be quiet.

♪

My hunting strategy on this hike

is to find an animal
walking, eating,

and be able to have
a chance to harvest it.

♪

It's been weeks that
I haven't seen my family.

That's a big deal to me.

Every day missed is

a day of their childhood
that I'm missing.

They're only gonna be kids once.

I find myself out
in nature alone a lot,

but sometimes
that's just because

I need to provide meat
for my family.

♪

I enjoy it, but I enjoy it more

when I'm able to teach my kids
those things.

When they're out there with me,

it's, like,
an amazing difference.

It's so much fun.

I'm tired.

Man, I'm tired.

I feel like I'm out there
doing those things

for more than just survival
because we need meat.

I'm out there to pass all this
knowledge on to my children.

♪

No signs of any animals yet.

Gassed out and tired,
so gonna be heading back.

Check the ukalliatchiaq snares
on the way back.

Maybe there's
something in there.

[tense music]

♪

No signs of any rabbit.

♪

Maybe I'll come
from the top down,

and I'll take four
of these strands of paracord.

What I like to do
is make a loop.

♪

A lot of energy used with...

you know, didn't get
anything out of it.

Yeah, that ain't going nowhere.

[bleep].

Whoa!

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

[Will groaning]

Man.

♪

Oh.

That was a bad faint.

Maybe high blood pressure,
low blood pressure.

I don't know.

Man, not good.

It's a good thing
I wasn't on the other side

of that steep river bank here.

Not good.

You gotta eat meat
and drink water.

[tense music]

♪

Don't know what's going on.

♪

My body might be hungry

and possibly
a little dehydrated,

but I've never
experienced either.

Got our whitefish stomach here.

We're gonna put it in
the pot of boiling water,

which has a grouse in it.

But we'll just leave it in
for a few minutes.

Really looking forward to this.

This is a taste of home
right here.

♪

Totally lost consciousness.

Felt like I was dead, I guess.

I mean, felt like
I didn't exist.

Once I could see where I was,
I was like, okay, I'm here.

But I didn't know where I was
until I had to think about it.

It was crazy.

♪

What scares me most about that

is my children
not having a father,

missing out on events
of their lives,

not being there for them.

That's important to me
because I didn't have

a lot of those things,
so I know how it feels.

♪

I know that I said that

I'm willing to die to win this,

but this experience has
given me a different mindset.

Winning this competition means
I can spend time

with my family,
as much time as I can,

by paying that mortgage off.

I might not have to work
a full-time job.

Maybe I could do a part-time job

and have more time with my kids.

I just need to take care
of myself better,

because I know if I do,
I can win this thing.

♪

Okay, here we go.

Whitefish stomach...
look at that.

Piping hot, baby.

Let's see how it tastes.

Mmm, my God.

Give me 100 more of those, please.

[tense music]

♪

[thud]

[Ziga] I got it.

Sorry, buddy, for this,
and thank you for your meat.

I appreciate it.

[tense music]

Actually, I never really
bow-hunted before,

but at least, for small game,

working quite well so far.

I caught, so far,
five squirrels with a bow,

which is actually quite good.

But I wish I would be
getting something bigger,

and then I wouldn't have
to take so many small lives.

That's how it is.

I think about, for example,
animals that eat zooplankton.

They eat, like, thousands
and millions of them,

taking so many lives
of small animals...

♪

While, yeah, hunting something
big, you take only one life.

But...

I don't know if you can
measure stuff in this way.

♪

[sighs]

Anyway, enough of philosophy.

It's time for shelter, finally.

[tense music]

♪

I'm going to cut small spruce
to build the frame

and dig the hole here
and make A-frame over it,

so where this smoke is coming
here, approximately.

♪

[sawing]

My focus was just food,

and so I think
I'm the last participant

who started making
permanent shelter.

But now I think I'm in
quite good position,

so I know I need to start
working very hard

and get this done before
winter really starts to come.

♪

I'm going to make
dugout type of shelter.

♪

It's actually
a traditional Slavic shelter

called zemlyanka.

♪

This is A-frame, and walls
are actually excavated.

So it's in the ground,
pretty much.

♪

That's perfect.

In the ground,
covered with tarp...

and that's one of the best
protections against wind.

♪

Comparingly to digging in the soil,

you can never make walls
airtight.

Especially for so cold
environment,

I think this is
the best way to go.

♪

What the [bleep] is this?

Permafrost.

♪

Crap.

♪

I thought it would be
deeper here.

♪

Ah, [bleep].

♪

I'm starting to think
if I should move

and look for another location.

♪

Damn it.

Damn it, damn it.

Permafrost,
it's really difficult to dig,

and it's basically
like digging in ice.

It's getting cold.

I will put my jacket on.

So you have to use
a lot of force.

And another problem is,
it's always frozen,

so that will keep
my shelter cold.

But on the other hand,

this location is one
of the best locations.

[tense music]

Despite permafrost,
I think I'm staying here

♪♪

And rather putting more effort
to make it work.

♪

[tense music]

♪

[Nero]
Getting this smoker going,

start rendering
the beaver fat as well.

♪

That fat's gonna need
a fair while to render down.

♪

I think my pot is ready...

I'm sure you see that.

Maybe not.

But that is liquid gold.

You'll see it when I pour it.

[tense music]

That took a long time
to render down.

♪

I was up till
God knows what time

this morning
just trying to render

and get that first batch done.

I got a container
that I fortunately found.

I got a second container
that I also found.

So the fat's gonna go
into those.

They're the best and safest
long-term storage that I have.

Oh, yeah.

Kind of looks like rust.

I have enough fat
still to render

to fill this whole entire
thing up.

Anyway, I'm gonna go
check trap lines.

[tense music]

♪

There's a lot of meat
on that beaver,

but the biggest thing
was the fat.

No time for fancy shots
for trap line.

It's just get out,
see what she got,

get back.

♪

I'm trying really hard
to be able

to dry as much as possible,

just to try and make it last
as long as I can.

But just with the fat alone,

there's probably 15,000
to 20,000 calories there.

There's a lot of fat.

Supplement that with the other
foods that I got coming in...

yeah, there's a lot of food.

♪

Got myself a snowshoe hare.

Whoa.

I got another one,
and it's still alive.

♪

Hey, hey, chill, chill.

Chill, chill, chill,
chill, chill, chill,

chill, chill, chill, chill.

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

Shh.

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

You're trapped up around.

You know what?

I do not need two
snowshoe hares right now.

So if you can chill...

I will let you go.

Shh, shh.

[tense music]

Shh.

Hey, hey, hey.

Don't die on me.

Don't die on me.
Don't die on me.

Come on.

I just gotta get this off you.

♪

Got you around the neck.

Shh.

There you go.

♪

Come on.

That's it.

Breathe, breathe,
breathe, breathe.

Come on.

Come on, come on, come on.

Get your breath back.

That's it.

♪

That's it.

You're all right.

♪

Come on.

There we go.

Good.

Get your breath back.

♪

I've got another
dead snowshoe hare.

I can see it down in my snare.

I have more than enough food.

You can live, little dude.

Come on.

That's it.

You good?

That's it.

Get your consciousness back.

There we go.

You okay?

Come on.

You good, dude?

And he's off.

Nice little guy.

[soft music]

♪

Live free, little one.

Yep, he's good.

I got another one
right here, which...

both successful around the neck.

This one just struggled more
and died.

There's this feeling
in my body of just, like,

I don't need this
snowshoe hare right now.

♪

And regardless of whether,
all of a sudden,

I don't get any food for
the rest of my time out here,

I won't regret letting
that snowshoe hare go.

My intention isn't
to come to the land

and just take as much as I can.

I really want to have

this respectful relationship
with it.

The right thing was to not
take that snowshoe hare.

The right thing was
to let it go.

I feel really good about that.

Thank you, big guy.

I am grateful.

That little snowshoe hare is
just hanging out over there,

just recovering.

It looks fine.

I'll save that guy
for another day.

[tense music]

♪

Right here is good.

♪ Gonna catch a beaver, yeah

♪ Gonna catch some beaver

♪

Over there, Mr. Beaver,

right where my gill net is.

The bane of my existence.

I'm gonna follow it.

[tense music]

Nothing in the gill net.

[bleep].

I want to find his lodge,

because if I can find his lodge

and set traps there,

the potential to trap the beaver

is a lot higher.

♪

I lost the beaver.

♪

Oh, there he is.

Oh, my God.

♪

Uh...

♪

I just found
a dead beaver right here.

Whoa. What do I do?

There's a live beaver there
and a dead beaver there...

live, dead.

Well, how dead is he?

I think he's been there
for a while.

♪

Oh!

Oh, he smells pretty bad.

Yeah.

♪

There could be
a lot of fat on him still,

but he's too far gone.

The risk of infection is
way too high.

♪

Buddy.

Well, I asked for a beaver.

♪

I got this dead one.

Not what I was asking for
specifically.

Whoa.

There Mr. Beaver goes.

♪

Maybe he was just leading me
to his friend,

or maybe he's saying,
look at this tragedy.

Is this what's gonna
happen to me?

I don't know.

It's kind of sad.

♪

I am starting to realize
that nature may not

always provide when you need it.

And there's going to be times
where things get dark,

and there's going to be times

when things aren't
going to be easy.

♪

These decisions and choices
that I have to make in hunting

is a part of our shared
heritage as humans.

♪

I don't want to remove
this beaver from his home.

But at the same time,
I know that

fat is an invaluable
resource out here.

I have to try.

I'm not ready to give up.

♪

But is my life worth
more than his?

I don't know.

But if I can honor him
and respect his life,

then I believe that
he is worth taking.

I'm gonna set up
a few more snares.

I have to try and get
this beaver.

[tense music]

♪

[Ziga] Today's plan:

finishing to build this frame,

make a bed, putting tarp over,

and move in.

It's nice and cozy inside.

Oh!

♪

I love it.

Let's have breakfast.

Every evening, put the meat
in a pot... or fish...

and cook it overnight.

I mean, it's nice.

It's enough food
for almost entire day.

♪

So today we have burbot head,

some fish organs,

and fish backbone.

♪

So not a fillet.

♪

It's gonna be quite fatty...

♪

So a lot of energy for today.

♪

So these chopsticks are meant
to be broken this way...

♪

So they hang together.

♪

♪

Life here is really
in abundance right now...

so much meat, so much berries.

♪

Everything is kind of good.

Mmm. Amazing.

♪

[twigs snapping]

[suspenseful music]

♪

♪

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

[cracking]

[Ziga] I shot it.

[bleep].

[sighs] Crazy.

[suspenseful music]

♪

[tense music]

♪

♪

Waiting is definitely
the best strategy.

If I would try to run after it
and put another shot

and finish it,
I'm risking to scare it.

Then this animal could run
very, very far away,

and probably I wouldn't have
a second chance to sh**t it.

But if you let it be
and it bleeds out,

it's slowly losing energy,
and there are higher chances

that it would die
or become so weak that

you could approach it
and finish it.

♪

[sighs]

[dramatic music]

♪

So if I harvest this moose,
that would definitely be

a game changer for me,
because my plan was

not to sh**t a moose
and still last very long.

If I harvest this moose,
I wouldn't have excuse

not to last
very, very, very long.

That's, of course, very high
potential for winning.

But of course,
things can always go wrong.

♪

♪

I think it is either dead

or not on this peninsula
anymore.

Ravens, show me
where this huge animal is.

[ravens cawing]

[wind whistling]

I decide to go back
to the shelter.

I have no experience with moose,

because I live in a country
with only red deer.

This is totally
different category.

It's not a big deer.

It's huge animal.

I'm definitely not confident
it won't go anywhere.

Maybe it would be dead.

Maybe it would be gone.

Maybe it would be still there.

But I want keep on checking
every hour

if it's still there because
it won't bring me anything.

I have to check if it's
still there in the morning

and then decide what to do.

♪

[tense music]

♪

It's day 18, and yesterday,

I shot this moose.

♪

I'm quite mad at myself.

♪

[bleep].

♪

I'm nervous to scare moose away,

so I should try
to approach this site

as quietly as possible.

♪

So take off my shoes
and even my pants,

because they're making noise.

♪

[bleep]!

♪

[bleep]!

♪

[breathing heavily]

Okay.

[sighs]

I was so [bleep] close.

[tense music]

♪

Seriously, how can I get...

I have only one arrow left.

♪

How can you be so stupid?

♪

[sighs]

♪

♪

[sighs]

♪

I have spent pretty much
majority of the day

trying to slowly approach
this moose,

and I have failed.

I, of course,
don't want it to die

somewhere random with all
this meat going to spoil.

I feel like [bleep].

I really feel bad,
think about crying.

But Ziga,
you can feel sorry later.

Now still try to do
anything that you can do.

I really, really want
this saga to finish.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

[solemn music]

♪

♪

Thank you.

♪

I'm sorry for this, buddy.

♪

[howling]

♪

It's gonna be a long night.

I know that
I will face predators.

Do we have any bear here?

So I will have to protect
my meat.

[Pedrosa]
This is a lot of energy.

Why did I do
so much big shelter?

♪

[Will speaking Iñupiaq]

Snow.

Overnight, the land has changed.

[Nero] This place is
gonna get harder.

You can just feel it.

[Medic] How are you doing?

♪

If this was a patient of mine,

they'd be staying
in the hospital.

♪