Predator Control | Life Below Zero
My name is Eric Solitaire. I'm a registered guide outfitter, and I operate two lodges in Alaska with my wife, Martha May. We're gonna go ahead and try a little bit longer distance here and see if we can be comfortable at a 35-yard range. Holes are my same bullseye.
"Hey Sean, ya been practicin'? Up here, see if I can't catch me a bear with the bow. The state of Alaska is encouraging sportsmen to go out and harvest brown bears and black bears so that they don't predate upon the moose calves. Individual bears can kill an astonishingly large number of moose calves in a very short period, and that really puts the hurt on the moose population."
I'm gonna throw my stuff together if you throw a little food together for me. "How many days? How many days worth of food?"
"Oh, I'd say if I don't catch anything in two days, I'll come home."
What's challenging about this hunt is that you're not shooting with a rifle anymore; you're shooting with a bow. So you got to get closer. You got to practice a lot more. It's totally different. You got to be comfortable with the bow and confident, which is hard to be.
"Well, the fog lifted."
"Yeah, actually it burned all off. So, oh, this is a lot nicer than it was yesterday. I've seen all kinds of planes flying around this morning."
"Yeah, let's go dump the stuff out by the airstrip."
"I got some extra arrows and my pack, and I got my frame pack and a knife in a sleeping bag. I got a tent."
"Here comes Matt!"
"I was the weather on the way over."
"Beautiful, good an awesome trip! Thanks. Load up and get going."
"Oh, you better be careful with my bow now. I know how you pilots are."
"All right, guys, hopefully we'll be seeing you in a couple of days."
"All right, y'all buckle in back there."
"I'm good to go."
"All right! Well, Eric and Mater are gone doing their hunting thing. I'm gonna hold up the fort here just doing day-to-day chores, taking care of fishing clients and facilitating whatever needs to be done."