Caribou Blanket | Life Below Zero

miss caribou hides going to make a nice
blanket
you don’t just rip a caribou hide off of
the caribou and start sleeping on it’s
got to be cleaned up there’s still fat
on here these warble fly maggots that
I’m cleaning off warm flies lay eggs on
caribou and their fur and summertime
eggs hatch little maggots born under the
skin down the legs usually then they
migrate up to the back kind of a pain
because they degrade the hide some
people find it kind of tedious buddies
have to work taking all that stuff off
you want to hide the last you don’t want
any fat or junk that’s going to be
rancid on it without cutting holes
through the hide that’s the big thing
it’s a very delicate operation the goal
is to get the hide
flexible soft after it dries mostly it’s
by scraping sometimes chewing on it
because what you’ll see is you’ll
actually see it turning the leather like
right here if you just chew it a little
bit you know the whole days people use
to hide all the time saliva actually
helps it a lot of people don’t get to do
stuff like this anymore
everybody used to do this everybody used
to work on hides that was just a normal
way of life it’s a special feeling when
you’ve got your food and your bedding on
a mountain that you can see right out
the window while you’re in your cabin
that’s what subsistence living is it’s
just nice just like doing the dishes
it’s like chopping firewood working on a
hide you see the results right in front
of your eyes look at that and that
beautiful
that’s going to make a beautiful blanket
I like it