INTERVIEW: While moose hunting, Ricko DeWilde follows his mother’s lessons on ‘Life Below Zero’

Photo: Ricko DeWilde shows his son, Skyler, around the Selawik Hot Springs. Photo courtesy of BBC Studios / Provided by Nat Geo press site with permission.

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Ricko DeWilde has been a member of the Life Below Zero team for quite some time, and he cherishes the opportunity to appear on the hit Nat Geo show because it showcases traditions from his Athabaskan heritage. One of those traditions has to do with moose hunting, a frequent activity DeWilde partakes in on the hit reality series, which returns Monday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m.

Taking a moose is a long process that requires a lot of physical and mental preparation, DeWilde said. For example, this time of year, when the summer season is quickly leaving and the cold winter weather is on the horizon, there are many tasks and chores that need to be accomplished before the snow comes in high quantity and the rivers freeze.

“Well, my boats are in Fairbanks, the big city, so I’m getting some stuff set up on it as far as the welding shop so I can put a four-wheeler on and off of it,” DeWilde said in a recent phone interview. “The other boat I have I’m getting the fuel tanks set up, and then I’m getting ready to bring them 130 miles back to the Yukon River Bridge outside of Fairbanks, north of Fairbanks, kind of like an Ice Road Truckers road.”

After that, DeWilde planned to drive with another person to his remote village and use the fuel for some fall hunting. He was also picking up freezers in Anchorage, a city he calls “down there.” While he’s in town, he needed some ammo for a rifle because one of his children is entering the world of big game hunting soon.

For viewers of Life Below Zero, these tasks may feel quite far from their own personal and professional lives, but for DeWilde, this type of preparation is all in a day’s work.

When this subsistence hunter goes out into the woods, he often sticks to the animals that Alaskan Athabaskans have been searching for for generations. Bears are on the list, but his mind is often focused on moose, the largest ungulate (or hooved animal), an animal that provides sustenance and protein for him and his family for an entire year.

“Every cast member on the show has a different area, and they do different stuff for fall hunting,” he said. “But for us it would be moose and if we’re lucky bear, but we’re superstitious about bear. So I don’t even like to really say, ‘I’m hunting,’ but that’s what I’m planning for, especially with bear. I don’t like to speak too far ahead on those because you’ve got to be real lucky to run into them in my area. … It’s a little different than a lot of other native tribes, but about a month after bears come out in July, they’re in season. So right now they’re flavor changes to a good flavor from all the berries, so they’re on the menu for sure.”

Even though he was hopeful to find a bear this season, DeWilde was quick to characterize moose as #1 for the Athabaskans. This large animal, which is in the deer family, is sometimes elusive in the big woods of the great north, but over the generations the Athabaskans have become skilled at finding them and bringing home some meat for the village.

“It’s real good,” DeWilde said of moose meat. “I guess some people would say it’s tough, but there are tricks to making it not so tough. If I were to shoot one up close in the head area — I like to try to do that, call them up close and get a neck-head shot — then I let it sit for like two hours, maybe make a little fire by it because a lot of times there’s flies around the back part of their legs, the ones that bite. I try to clear out the flies because they’ll start to attack you while you’re working on it, and also bears and wolves [will attack]. You don’t want the smell of that animal sitting there, especially when we open it up. That’s when you’re worried with the smell of blood, but once it cools down, gradually for a couple hours, it’s more tender. You’re going to be eating that moose for the next six months, so you’ve got to make sure you’re doing the best possible job, like no sand on the meat as you’re cutting it up, just take my time and make sure I do it right.”

DeWilde, who has several children who often help with hunts and winter preparations, said that moose steaks are a favorite, but he’s also a fan of moose soup and moose stew. The family uses the bones and ribs for many dishes throughout the season.

“Moose leg bone soup can be boiled for like four hours,” he said. “A lot of oils come out of the bones, so you get real rich soup that way. … We also make dry meat or what we call jerky.”

When DeWilde and his family go moose hunting, they often try for the big bull. These are the majestic animals that often sport large antlers, hanging like giant’s palms on the side of their head. He would rather not take a cow because that female moose might be pregnant with a future calf. On occasion, he said a barren cow, one without child, can be taken, but he’s always cautious.

“A barren cow is a cow that doesn’t have calves, but that’s not what we go for,” he said. “Fall hunting is all about bull, and the bull is going to be fat right now. He’s been eating greens since spring started. All through the summer, he’s eating out of the lakes and eating out the willows … and all the fresh green stuff coming out. He has fat throughout his body, and that’s the primetime to eat him. It’s kind of like when you eat beef. High-grade, high-dollar beef steaks have that marble fat in it. That’s what’s going on with the bull. You don’t want to get a bull moose in the winter because they’re real skinny. As September rolls around, they’re going to start rutting where they get the velvet off their antlers, and then they’re starting to quit eating and go into the mating part, which goes on for about three weeks. And they lose completely all their body fat within that time, the bulls do. The cows never go through that cycle, but they do lose body weight when they have calves in the spring. And what we’re trying to do is get them before the end of September, and then after that, we leave them alone.”

Moose hunting is just one of the many activities and traditions that dedicated viewers of Life Below Zero tune in to experience week after week, and these fans of the show are quite dedicated. The series has been going strong for many seasons, with no signs of slowing down, and there is even a spinoff — Life Below Zero: The Next Generation. DeWilde, Sue Aikens and other stars of the show have become household names, in many ways.

For DeWilde, the opportunity to be on the show is an opportunity to share the Athabaskan traditions with a wider audience. One of those traditions is subsistence moose hunting, an activity not meant for everyone and one that makes many people uncomfortable, but an activity nonetheless that brings much-needed meat to DeWilde and his family.

He remembers the first time he harvested a moose.

“I was 15 years old,” he said. “I was looking a lot for a moose, and I felt like there was no moose around. I was down and out. I really wanted to get one. I guess in any society that’s kind of a step to manhood or adulthood. … My mom told me, ‘Take a ride with your younger brother, go up river and get some firewood.’ I went up river, and I ended up seeing a moose in the middle of the day just out of the blue. And I got one. That was my first moose, and it was a big deal. I remember just how excited I was. I did the traditional thank you to the animal. It was a huge, huge moment in my life for sure.”

He added: “I remember when I got home, my mom told me about a native way. You don’t try to look too hard or think about it too hard because the animal has a sixth sense, and they can tell when you’re after them. You have to calm yourself down. Don’t say you’re going out hunting when you’re actually going out hunting. … When you’re going out hunting, say, ‘I’m going to go upriver and look around,’ or ‘I’m going to go downriver and look around,’ or, ‘I’m going to go upriver and go get some firewood.’ ‘And that’s the way you have luck,’ she said. The animal will bring itself out. That’s what happened. I was driving up the river, and the moose was standing on the side of the river. It was a simple moment. In our native way, they give themselves to you. That’s what she explained to me. Don’t think too hard about it, and don’t feel like it’s all over. That negative feeling is what pushes it away, so just calm yourself down. Be out there in the land with the animals, and one of them will bring themselves to you. It was a big moment for me, as far as achieving the goal, but also learning the native culture behind hunting.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Life Below Zero, featuring Ricko DeWilde, returns Monday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. Click here for more information.