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  • - I'm Coyote Peterson, and we've all seen me

  • in this position before, no sock on my foot,

  • and the sock being used to draw in a predator.

  • Check this out.

  • (makes a repetitive animal sound)

  • Whoa, that right there is a baby red fox.

  • (makes a repetitive animal sound)

  • Come here.

  • (intense music)

  • Working with animals can be incredibly difficult,

  • especially when you were hoping to encounter

  • them in the wild, and have an up-close interaction,

  • that is captured on camera.

  • The crew and I have visited many locations

  • over the course of filming Breaking Trail.

  • And if you have ever wondered which location

  • has been the most difficult so far, I would

  • definitely have to say it was Alaska.

  • This far northern state is considered to be the last

  • true frontier, and trust me when I say,

  • the environment posts incredible challenges.

  • From the vast lakes, which we explored by kayak,

  • to the rushing glacial melt streams,

  • that were nearly impossible to forge,

  • without getting soaked by icy, cold water.

  • Then there were the incredibly dense forests,

  • built with ancient trees and thick plants,

  • this habitat provided the perfect

  • hiding places for native wildlife.

  • So, I climbed on top of this stump here,

  • searching the forest, check out this vantage point.

  • Wow, that is just trees as far as the eye can see.

  • So, what becomes the game plan when finding

  • animals in the wild is next to impossible?

  • Simple, we work with ones that have

  • been rescued, or raised in captivity.

  • Today we will be working at Steve Kroschel's

  • Wildlife Sanctuary, which is home to many

  • different mammal species, including moose,

  • weasels, and even a wolverine.

  • In my opinion, mammals are the most difficult

  • animals to work with, because they very rarely

  • want to be held, and getting them to sit still

  • for the cameras is next to impossible.

  • And while in the past I have worked with

  • giant grizzly bears, ferocious badgers,

  • and spring loaded bobcats, nothing would challenge

  • me and crew more than an incredibly

  • adorable baby red fox named Lupine.

  • One of the toughest things about working with a fox

  • is that a fox wants to move around as much as possible.

  • So right now, we're inside of Lupine's enclosure.

  • And you can see that this looks completely natural,

  • you can barely even tell that we are in her

  • enclosed environment, and here she comes, Lupine...

  • (makes repetitive animal noise)

  • She's very excited to have us in here...

  • Come here, come here you.

  • As soon as she starts to calm down,

  • I have a good feeling that she'll probably

  • come close for the cameras, but at the moment we have

  • to let her get acclimated to us being in here.

  • (makes repetitive animal noise)

  • There you are, are you gonna come hang out with me?

  • Right about now, I'm sure you are wondering,

  • what in the world are those noises Coyote is making?

  • (makes repetitive animal noise)

  • Well, they're fox calls that Steve taught me.

  • You see, Steve has the uncanny

  • ability to speak with animals.

  • Now Steve, I hear you making this little sound...

  • (makes animal noise)

  • Sounds like a turkey noise.

  • - Well, I'm talking mink language now.

  • - That's mink?

  • - Yeah, yeah, mink language, you might try it.

  • - Okay.

  • (making animal noises)

  • - Gotta go faster.

  • (makes animal noise)

  • Pretty good, pretty good.

  • - And he said that if I can master the

  • language of the fox, I would likely become one

  • of the skulk, which is a group of foxes.

  • (snapping and whistling)

  • There you are, hello.

  • You havin' a good sprint?

  • What do you think?

  • How about you and I have a conversation

  • about your 12 vocal calls.

  • I know you have 12 things to say to me.

  • My fox lingo was a bit off, so then we tried a fox toy.

  • Just a simple duck wing tied to a stick.

  • That is what you call fishing for a fox right there.

  • Woop, you almost had it.

  • I'm doing my best to keep her attention.

  • Hi, good afternoon.

  • Keeping a fox's attention in front of a

  • camera is far easier said than done.

  • And before we knew it, Lupine was

  • back to running laps around her enclosure.

  • Hey, Lupine, come on back here.

  • (making animal noises)

  • Next, we tried to get her up-close to the

  • cameras by pretending my hand was a mouse.

  • What I'm gonna do right now is turn my hand into a mouse.

  • I'm gonna actually put it down in this hole,

  • and bury it in the grass trying to make

  • some mouse noises, rustle this around,

  • and see if I can get Lupine to

  • come and pounce on me, you ready?

  • - [Camera Man] Yup.

  • - Let's try this.

  • (rustling noises)

  • (squeaking noises)

  • Oh, yup, it worked.

  • Ow, she bit right down to the tip of my finger,

  • only to find that it isn't actually a mouse.

  • Well, that was pretty cool, all right,

  • well, apparently I can speak mouse.

  • Haven't quite yet learned how to speak fox.

  • We had some pretty good success at first,

  • until she figured out that she couldn't eat my fingers.

  • (squeaking)

  • (laughter)

  • How cool was that?

  • Every single time she thinks my finger's a mouse.

  • That's such a great hunting instinct

  • for this baby animal, to be able to

  • learn that this is how I catch mice.

  • It is very, very difficult to hold

  • onto this baby fox because she wants

  • to run around in the enclosure.

  • So, one tactic I used with the ocelot was to take

  • my sock off and get its attention with that.

  • (making repetitive animal noises)

  • Lupine, here we go, got her attention.

  • Oh boy, look at that, oh, sock is good.

  • It worked wonders with the ocelot in Costa Rica,

  • so, I figured, why not try it with a fox?

  • (fun music)

  • Get that sock.

  • Now, if I was one of her litter mates,

  • and I found something out there in the wild,

  • like a hunter who left a sock behind,

  • this would be a great toy to play with.

  • This fox is incredibly playful,

  • and at this age, that's natural, but even adult foxes

  • you'll see runnin' around out in fields,

  • prancing, hopping, playing fun games.

  • Anything that she can potentially get

  • her claws and her teeth on is fair game.

  • And while tug-of-war seemed to hold her

  • attention at first, like any curious baby animal,

  • she soon lost interest and went back to

  • going everywhere except in front of the main camera.

  • Mario, you made a buddy.

  • (making animal noises)

  • - You're so cute, you're such a cutie.

  • - Well, she's over there, rolling around on her back

  • with Mario, and he's got that big, fuzzy microphone

  • on the front of his camera, and I think she's

  • attracted to the shininess of

  • the lens, or, the microphone cover.

  • It's almost impossible to keep her in one spot.

  • I'm gonna put my boot back on, and one of my

  • favorite things to do with the animals

  • that we work with is to actually follow

  • them around with a Go-Pro camera.

  • So I've got the Go-Pro set up on a gimbal,

  • and let's see if we can track down the baby red fox.

  • (repetitive animal noises)

  • (fun music)

  • The red fox is one of the most elusive animals in the world.

  • And I would say in my lifetime I've probably

  • only ever seen five fox in the wild.

  • And even when you do see them,

  • it's only for a brief second,

  • so if you do happen to encounter a fox,

  • consider yourself lucky.

  • This right here, gettin' to play with

  • a baby one, whoo, it's absolutely exhausting.

  • If there's one animal that has really

  • worn me out, it's definitely the baby red fox.

  • This thing's got more energy than

  • any animal we've ever worked with.

  • For nearly 15 minutes, we attempted to follow

  • Lupine around her enclosure, and for a brief moment,

  • she rolled over on her back for a belly rub.

  • (making animal noises)

  • Oh, there she goes, that's about

  • the closest we've been all day.

  • Pretty cool, pallin' around with a baby red fox.

  • I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave,

  • stay wild, we'll see ya on the next adventure.

  • Like I said in the beginning,

  • filming with mammals is incredibly difficult,

  • and after two hours of following this fox in circles,

  • the crew and I call it a wrap.

  • Getting to pal around with Lupine was one

  • of my fondest memories from Alaska.

  • And if there's one thing I'm confident

  • we can all agree on, it's that this

  • baby fox is about as adorable as it gets.

  • If you thought using a sock to play with a fox was savvy,

  • make sure to go back and see how well this tactic

  • worked when I got up-close with a wild ocelot.

  • And don't forget, subscribe so you can join me

  • and the crew on this season of Breaking Trail.

  • (sound of an explosion)

  • (wolf howl)

  • (birds chirping)

- I'm Coyote Peterson, and we've all seen me

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