Mountain Men

[Doc]

Anybody watching this program on the National Geographics channel? I saw the first one the other night, and tried to picture myself living that lifestyle. I know there was a time in my younger days when I thought about it. There definitely are pros and cons.

It's kind of like "Swamp people" only it has to do with some guys who have crawled into the wilderness to make their lives off the grid by hunting, fishing and trapping to survive. It's quite interesting when you consider the penalties for failure .... lol. In my opinion, so far they have done a pretty good job of showing that lifestyle.

[First-light]

I'll wait for Bubba to comment, then we'll know if it's the real deal.

[Cabin Fever]

Funny you should mention this. I'm watching it right now! Cool show! It'll be interesting to see how they deal with winter.

I loved watching Dick Proenneke in Alone In The Wilderness pt1, pt2, and The Frozen North!! I watch these at least once per year. I would highly recommend these for anyone that likes Mountain Men!!

[Cabin Fever]

Anybody watching this program on the National Geographics channel?

BTW, It's actually on the History Channel.

[bubba]

what am I commenting on? I am assuming it is about a tv show. I do not watch much television.

[sits in trees]

its the people who watch reality TV and really believe what they are seeing that alot of folks call morons, but the people i question are the ones who have to point out "oooohh this is all phoney, its BS", that i wonder about. its another reality show and i've learned something about reality shows..you have to be smart enough to realize what they are and enjoy them for just that, or just go and watch CSI or a sitcom or something..

[fasteddie]

what am I commenting on? I am assuming it is about a tv show. I do not watch much television.

Bubba , I think he was referring to you living up North in the desolate wilderness and that you might have some insight on Mountainmen . I took it as a jest .

p.s. ---- turn on the generator and watch some TV !

[bubba]

I find tv quite boring. I was just typing because I do not see the posts of the original poster, so I was not sure what was being discussed. That being said, I am going to go do some reloading

Edited June 2, 2012 by bubba

[sbuff]

Very nice houses,one was driving a dodge with a cummings,all modern fire arms,air planes and what not. It was interseting but they are not hurting for money or food !!!

[WNYBuckHunter]

I have it set on my DVR. I missed the first episode. The thing that I like about the History and Discovery "reality" shows, is that they arent very far off from what these people actually do everyday. Sure, they might ham it up a bit or whatever, but the guys on Ax Men are actual loggers, on Swamp People, they are actual gator hunters, etc. Its nothing like watching The Bachelor or The Real Housewives of whatever.

[Elmo]

I also missed the first one but have it set on the DVR now. Pretty much all reality shows are rigged in some way. My fiance watches the Kardashians and I make fun of her because some staff on the inside leaked out that they script some of the stuff they talk about on the show. I use to watch Bear Grylles all the time but then I found out they script his stuff too. He never really sleeps in the woods, they fly him out to a hotel and then they return a different day to re-film and edit it to look as if it's the next day, etc. I always figured how much danger could he be in if there's a team of camera men right next to him. I think the only one that's real is Les Stroud's Survival Man series.

[Doc]

Gee, now I feel like I should apologize for watching TV .... lol. Actually, I don't watch these kinds of shows, believing everything I see is totally unaffected by the cameras being in their face all the time. I'm sure that the televising influences some of what goes on. However, much of what they bring up, and describe, seems to be real in terms of the kinds of challenges one might encounter when living that kind of lifestyle. For example, that guy that flys into his trapline, I'm sure really does have some concerns flying around in the wilderness at that time of year. And yes, his life really does depend on that airplane functioning in stressed out ugly winter weather. I'm sure that the necessary preparations for winter are pretty factual too. Also, the concerns about bears is likely a real concern in those locations. Much of the issues brought up on those programs are likely potential scenarios that truly are part of that lifestyle. But then, I have always had an interest in those kinds of people that have the independence and courage to head off into the wilds in a real fashion. Some like the guy in North Carolina may not get as deep as others, but many of the challenges are still there in one form or another. But in general, I would imagine that the depictions of that kind of life are pretty much on target.

By the way, I did mis-speak when I said it was on the National Geographic channel. It is in fact on the History Channel.

[Nomad]

I missed it, but will catch up. I like many of these shows,but I'm one of those guys sits in trees questions.....

Many are way phoney and most have no clue.like a certin show about a father and daughter gunsmiths.Neither of them can have a FFL due to issues in there past, so they have to work under one of there employees ffl . One employee wanted to date the daughter,the dad said her or your job pick one. Well the fact is they have been dating for 4 years before the show...

There are 'buyers" on Storage Wars who never bought a locker before beening hired for the show..

The guys on moonshiners never made any in their lives, let alone on the show .

Some are fun to watch, but i believe nothing on them.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Hahaha, yeah Sons of Guns is a joke, Will is nothing other than a puppet having his strings pulled while he pretends to run the show. I got tired of that show after the first couple of seasons. Id rather watch American Guns, where they actually show gunsmithing instead of some ding dong's relationship drama.

[erussell]

I dont really consider the mountains of NC as a mountain man, maybe more of a hick than anything. The people in Montana are way to well off to be mountain men and the scene where they were rattling for deer was a joke, Im nearly spit my drink across the room. The dude from Alaska is quite crazy and probably the closest thing to a mountain man around today atleast on reality tv. IMO.

[HectorBuckBuster]

I seen some where that Will and his daughter do not even own Red Jacket anymore and the ATF came in and found 10 guns they could not account for, so they lost their fenderal license.

[Paula]

I watched it last night. I didn't think it was all fake, wasn't what i thought it was going to be. I was thinking it was going to be more rugged? I liked the NC guy better than the Montana couple. not sure i would go out of my way to watch it again.

Elmo when the show started with Bear i watched it till he was going down river and you could see his vest under his shirt inflated, that was it for me. I never watched any of the Gunsmiths shows. I Love Swamp People!

[Dave]

Watched for the first time last night. The guy from NC were making a tree stand, looked like a couple of morons. Didn't show me much, just how stupid they seemed.

[Paula]

Watched for the first time last night. The guy from NC were making a tree stand, looked like a couple of morons. Didn't show me much, just how stupid they seemed.

The way they were bringing up the wood?

[mbucks27]

I def dont think that was the way to build that stand lol. i was thinking the same thing. Also the wood that they were using for the treestand steps didnt look to secure either. The older couple from Montana seemed very scared by the bears to be considered mountain people to me.

John

[Grizz1219]

I watched it and set the DVR... I'll give it a chance.. but the ones in Mt. are definitely way to well off... The one in NC seems to be a bit "odd" and the alaskan guy is a might touched in the head.... To me.. first job in his position should be to his family, he has a little girl. She needs a father more than he needs to be a Mtn man... He made the choice to have her... He should do that job first and not be gone... But that is my opinion... Time will tell.. I'll watch it till I get bored...

[WNYBuckHunter]

I agree with you Grizz, I watched it last night.

[Dave]

The way they were bringing up the wood?

Yes, definately. They had cut wood for the steps to climb the tree. But split wood for the main platform. They had a rope to hoist the wood up with out climbing those not too secured step. Seems like they had no clue. Whole show seems off. Family in bear country afraid of bears, what are they even doing there? Just seems like they could have found more creditable characters. Makes my tree stand look professional. HA, HA

[Elmo]

Elmo when the show started with Bear i watched it till he was going down river and you could see his vest under his shirt inflated, that was it for me. I never watched any of the Gunsmiths shows. I Love Swamp People!

There was an episode when he was in the Dominican Republic going down a jungle river and scaling down a waterfall. A co-worker of mine who is from DR recognized the area and said that it was a national park and right behind the water fall was a concrete walkway with hand rails. In otherwords, he was not remote.

I don't have as much of an issue of him taking extra safety precautions is he's showing something educational but instead, he does a lot of stuff you should NOT do. He takes a ton of unnecessary "risks" just to make the show entertaining. For example, some many times he'll wander into a cave or tunnel system with nothing but a torch during a survival situation. In real life, if you were alone in a survival situation and you wandered deep into a tunnel system with nothing but a torch and the torch goes out you're as good as dead.

[SteveNY]

I thought it sounded good, so I recorded it. I didn't care for it much tho...