The new season of YUKON MEN premiered on Discovery Channel last night–and just because they are far away from “civilization” does not mean that the residents of Tanana, AK, do not have the problems we all have. They just have a few special issues that don’t affect most of us in the lower 48!
Tanana, Alaska. It’s a village on the very edge of civilization – less than 100 miles from the Arctic Circle. Life here is harsh. The 200 villagers face an ever-changing landscape with everything from fierce weather to wolves at their doorstep. The isolation of living in remote Alaska is real and tangible.
Last night, the residents of Tanana found themselves fighting a wolf problem, with the hungry hunters roaming all around. This will no doubt be an ongoing fight for Tanana this season.
Residents were getting their traplines and dog teams in order last night, mostly in the dark, as the long “Dark Days” were upon the town. Afternoon hours plummet into darkness as pure as midnight during the Dark Days, and it makes working even harder–and the temperatures even colder, going from -20F in the early afternoon to -32F after the sun goes down only a couple hours later, around 4 p.m., for a 20-hour stretch.
“You don’t want to breathe too hard,” resident Joey Zuray warned of the night temperatures, “or you’ll actually freeze your lungs.”
Family is important in the region, and last night Joey honored his grandmother with a special dinner, thanking her for the land and home she passed down to him, and to show her how he had been caring for it and improving it. It was a nice moment on the show.
Charlie Wright was working away in the dark, as well. He is still working on his new trapline, after losing his to the return of an original family member. “The Dark Days is a nocturnal predator’s world, and it does play on your mind,” he said, speaking of the dangers.
Wolves are always a danger to be respected, but last night residents were feeling particularly vulnerable, with all of the close howls and many tracks left in the snow. Moose carcasses were found, clean as a whistle. “They love to hunt in the dark,” Charlie said. Courtney Agnes was finding a lot of tracks, as well, less than a mile from the family kennel. A town meeting revealed that multiple wolf packs were around, and the residents decided the best defense was a barricade of traps. Stan and Joey set out traps in the north, Charlie and Bob worked in the west, setting a wall of traps donated for the job by residents to secure the town’s borders from advancing wolves–drawing a line in the snow, so to speak.
Courtney was out working with her father, Pat Moore, last night, getting the kennel going, trying to get sales up (although, frankly one has to wonder if their falling sales have more to do with the dogs or with the family’s general unpleasant attitudes). Pat’s wife, Lorraine, is still healing from an aneurysm, and Pat is focusing most of his attention on his wife, leaving him less time for the family business. So, it will be up to Courtney, and possibly her cousin, Nations, to step up and have dogs ready for buyers.
Stan Zuray was out working his traplines last night–no mining for gold this season, apparently! He’s not having great success this year, he indicated–things don’t seem to be going well for a lot of the Tanana residents in general this year, actually–but he continues on, hoping his trapline will pick up as the trapping season goes forward.
YUKON MEN is produced for Discovery Channel by Paper Route where Alan LaGarde and Brian O’Toole are Executive Producers. Kyle Wheeler is Executive Producer and Lisbeth Lozano is Coordinating Producer for Discovery Channel.
It’s a long, cold winter in Tanana–and viewers can catch the action on Discovery Channel’s YUKON MEN on Tuesday nights at 9/8c.
Image: Courtesy of Discovery Channel, Used with Permission