[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Veteran trapper
Tom Oar and his wife Nancy
have lived off the
land in the Yaak Valley
for more than four decades.
 This is an old
skid road in here.
NARRATOR: But this
winter, they're
battling an urgent threat
to their food supply.
 They love to walk
on these roads.
NARRATOR: The coyote population
is exploding across the Yaak.
And with predators
on the rise, the game
animals that Tom
and Nancy survive on
are getting harder to find.
TOM OAR: Deer population is
going down because of the--
the coyotes.
NARRATOR: Today, Tom
and Nancy's mission
is to check the traps
they've set on the perimeter
of their property.
TOM OAR: If we can keep the
predator population down,
the deer population will
hopefully jump back up.
 You have a set here?
 Yeah, trap is
buried right there.
 Oh, I see.
 I don't see no coyote.
NANCY OAR: I don't go on
the trap line a whole lot.
But we're getting kind of
old, so snow is slipperier
and logs are higher to get over.
And so we help each other out.
 You can just set
that right here.
This trap's been set at
for about a week now,
so I'm going to relure it.
NARRATOR: With so much
coyote activity in the area,
an empty trap is a bad
sign that the coyotes
are onto Tom's tricks.
So he's doubling
down on the lure.
TOM OAR: Coyotes are
real spooky, you know,
real spooky critters.
Hard to get them to come
into something like this.
But any coyote coming
down this trail
will be able to smell this set.
Whether we'll fool him
enough to come into it,
that's the chance you take
when you're a trapper.
 We'll get more traps.
 Lead on, baby.
 Here we go.
I got another one just
right up here a bit.
Ha!
Nancy, we got one.
We got one.
 All right!
TOM OAR: We got a coyote.
A nice one, too.
I've been trapping for 50 years,
and it still gives me a thrill.
 Now you got work to do.
NARRATOR: The catch isn't just
good for the deer population,
it's also good for
Tom's bottom line.
Once it's processed,
the coyote pelt
can be sold for a good payday.
TOM OAR: The big
thing with coyotes,
you want to try to skin them
the same day you catch them.
They've got real bad intestines,
and they start bloating
real fast after they're dead.
 All right, here we go.
 Let's go.
NARRATOR: Two coyotes
are just a drop
in the bucket when it comes to
stemming the predation problem.
But in the hands of a
master craftsman like Tom,
their pelts have added value.
 I'm going to turn this and
start doing some combing.
 Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: Tom can make
$100 for a raw fur,
and even more if he turns
the pelt into a craft.
TOM OAR: Really
what we're doing is
we're skinning this toe bones
out all the way to the claw.
 Tom caught this
coyote last week.
So we skinned it and
we tanned it, and--
and then you go
to combing to make
it be as pretty as it can be.
OK, this one's combed.
 Good job.
 Thank you.
Make you some coffee.
How's that?
 All right, that sounds good.
 Don't cut any holes.
 OK [INAUDIBLE]
NARRATOR: Tom's technique
requires precision,
but he's also racing the clock.
The longer the hide
remains on the body,
the greater the
chances it will rot.
 All right.
And now we're going
to hang this up,
and we're going to finish
skinning out the rest of it
here.
This is what's
called a cased skin.
TOM OAR: You cut
down the hind leg
and pull all that hide all
the way off like you would
a T-shirt.
NARRATOR: But the
moment of truth
comes when he reaches the
midsection around the gut.
 This part of the
belly right here
is just starting to turn a
little bit green already.
I mean, you wouldn't wanted to
wait 24 hours to do it, yeah?
NARRATOR: The hide
isn't damaged,
which means Tom can
use the pelt for one
of his high-priced crafts.
 Salting, it pulls the
moisture out of the leather,
and it makes it except the
tanning solution much better.
It's hard to believe that
this used to look like that.
All right, we're going to
take this to the house,
and we're going to
make a hat out of it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: The labor it takes
to make the hat increases
the value of the fur five-fold.
 We're going to
draw it out on here,
and then we're going to
cut it out of the hide.
 Ta-da.
 This is nylon
thread, and we wax it.
Now when you pull
that up tight, the wax
will actually seal the spot.
All right, I got it.
 Oh, you got it.
NARRATOR: The most distinctive
part of the hat is the tail.
 We're going to mount the
tail on the back of the hat.
And I'm going to bend
this over, and I'm
going to sew this into a loop.
NARRATOR: The final
step is to sew
all the pieces together
with a rawhide brim
and soft felt liner.
 OK.
 Liner?
 Got some of these
remains left that I'm
going to make a fur hat band.
You want to race?
 Well, I guess.
 I'm getting closer.
Uh-oh, he's got the scissors.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Let's see it on you.
What a couple of
furry old folk we are.
TOM OAR: I mean, there
seems to be a lot of coyotes
out there still.
The population is kind
of hard to control.
But at least I can make money
off the fur that I catch.
 I'll go start supper if
you bring some wood in.
 I got to get firewood too?
 Yes.
You ready?
 Oh, I'm ready.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
