by SPY_VONDEGA on JULY 17, 2012 - 47 Comments in COMMUNITY
Mountain Men – TV’s usual trashy take on off-grid living
by SPY_VONDEGA on JULY 17, 2012 - 47 Comments in COMMUNITY
by SPY_VONDEGA on JULY 17, 2012 - 47 Comments in COMMUNITY
Eustace Conway – the Last American Man
Eustace Conway, one of the stars of Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America
is a lead character. The sales pitch for the series links it unashamedly to off-grid living – “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live your life off the grid?” runs the Web site. “Have you wished you could shed the complications of modern society and live in the wilderness, using only the things nature has provided? ”
And like all reality TV, the cracks are showing as viewers realise that the series is extremely unreal.
Set in the Great Outdoors, viewers love to see stars in such reality shows as Man Vs Wild and Doomsday Preppers suffer at the hands of Mother Nature – as has frequently happened to them on family backpacking trips. Unlike their suffering, however, reality stars’ woes are anything but real.
Last March, Discovery Channel fired Bear Grylls, the star of “Man vs. Wild.” It may have had something to do with the fact that Bear wasn’t spending as much time in the wilderness as viewers were led to believe.
This month you can catch “Mountain Men” on the History Channel. First you sit through a bunch of commercials for erectile dysfunction and other drugs.
Then you meet the reality how stars. “Mountain Men” features three so-called mountain men: Eustace Conway, owner of Turtle Island,a fertile couple of hundred acres in N.C.; Marty Meierotto, from somewhere in Alaska; and Tom Oar, who lives in the wilds of the Yaak and Kootenai valleys in western Montana.
Eustace, who spends most of the show feuding with an incompetent intern, nevertheless trusts the lad to sight in his deer rifle. Then he goes deer hunting and fails to hit the deer with a clean shot, then loses the blood trail.
Eustace went down to his mailbox on the latest episode of the History Channel’s Mountain Men to find a letter threatening to take his property if he doesn’t pay his taxes.
“What pisses me off,” Eustace says, “is crazy people focusing on foolish things like taking my land away that have no idea that the land is the most important, sacred thing in my life, period. The people that are suing me, I never even met the people, and yet they’re taking my land away? B*******.” But, Eustace isn’t taking the lien against his property passively. “What this land means to me is life. It’s about existence. This is home. I’m ready to die to take care of this mountain.”
Marty, who clearly has enough blubber to stay warm in what we are told is “minus 60-degree temperatures,” gets stranded 10 miles from his cabin when his snowmobile breaks down. After a harrowing snowshoe hike on what appears to be a trail packed so hard you could drive a tank on it, he reaches the safety of his cabin.
His first move is to dip drinking water from a pot. Strange that Alaskan water doesn’t freeze at 60 degrees below zero.
Then, the next morning, he packs a 70-pound snowmobile motor back to the stranded sled and installs it. It is snowing at 60 degrees below zero and Marty gets cold, so he struggles to start a fire.
Tom goes duck hunting in a Kootenai River boat, blasts one duck and sends his dog into the river to retrieve it. The dog gets lost.
Tom goes out looking for his dog and his wife gets worried and calls a neighbor on what appears to be a cellphone. But later in the show, we are told there is no cell reception in the wilds of the Purcell Mountains.
These guys could use a few tips from Bear Grylls. Maybe History Channel should snap him up.
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47 comments
Did you notice the gun Eustace (Useless) used to shoot at the deer was not even the same rifle his intern sighted in. Pretty Lame.
I watch this show to root for the bears Tom is constantly whining about. This guy lives completely on the grid in a suburban-style luxury log home, then he has the nerve to complain about bears and wolves. All I can say to the wild things is “Bon appetite!” Eat Tom.
Anyone know how Eustace’s Tax Bill got to be $85K???
I find myself yelling at the tv when I watch this and other shows like it. There is nothing real about Alaska reality tv. Aaarrgghh.
All I can say is, I was not too thrilled with Eustace to start with because I live in the mountains above him right on the Tenn state line. It is a 10-mile “ride” from Turtle Island to Boone, NC, which really is the big city to us up here, but I tell you, I’m married to real mountain man, and Eustace, honey, you just sound whiny and obnoxious to me. You are way too close to civilization to be making such claims, and I would like to know how he got the $85K tax on his property as well….
Comments like these are what take away from the show. They are living off the grid and you can’t really “fake” the things they do. They are still hunting, skinning and living off the land. And that prop plane he flies in scary Alaskan weather sure ain’t comfier than your bus ride to work.
Also an 85k tax bill isn’t hard to do if you simply never pay it and have fines levied against you. Obviously the people commenting here do not fully understand the purpose of the show. Plus people will complain about everything.
At least it isn’t trashy reality tv that we are accustomed to. Y’all need to grow up.
Right on Michael. Geez guys, hate much?
Well I don’t know what “trashy reality TV” you are accoustomed to but this is by far the most phony “reality” I have ever seen. Sixty below in Alaska but you can’t see his breath? Walk ten miles from a broken down snow mobile? Why not catcha ride with the camaraman?
I think Tom & Marty a real enough, it’s just the editing and voice over which makes them look like frightened fools.
Eustace however is definitly into playing the roll. He actually lives very comfortably, has numerous trucks & tractors fed by fuel storage tanks. The sawmill is powered by a deisel generator, not the little 2 kw hydro plant. There are normally from 10-20 people on the property, people who pay for the privilage of doing his routine country chores. The lien was not for taxes but was settlement of a law suit resulting from an accident where a child lost an eye and if you look closely at the document Useless is holding, it is dated 2006. It’s all a BS program and Useless is the biggest BSer or all.
Hell if you don’t like watching, you’re more than welcome to change it to the other “reality” tv alternatives of pregnant 16 year olds, a house full of orange ignorant jackasses from New Jersey, and white trash repo-men.
If you’re going to spit venom and hate on something, bash the concept of reality tv and the mockery it’s making of society, and not the guys in this show. And that’s just what it is…a friggin TV series, thats why the truth is left shady, to create appeal, leaving the audience to tune in. Wake up, In the end it’s always about the $.
And I agree, I’m not fond of reality tv stretching the lives and works of these fellas either. After reading the book on him a few yrs back, I was actually surprised Eustace agreed to the whole concept given his apparent fierce beliefs and psyche. (Read the book, then you can decide if he’s “playing the roll”). Even so, that doesn’t take away the remarkable things he and these other men have done and continue to do. Even with the cheesy, melodramatic voice-over guy and sound effects.
This show is a survivalist’s comedy hour. I am so glad to read in the comments what is so obvious to any truly self-sufficient individual. Aside from Marty’s constant whining, not taking survival gear when he he checks his traps with his piece of crap snowmobile, and that death trap plane that HIS CHILD should NEVER fly in, and aside from Tom and his wife LETTING THE DOG OUT OF THEIR LOG MANSION after they knew a bear was lurking, then having the stupidity to say “We’re worried about our dog” and then calling her and calling her; and aside from Eustace, who seems a peace loving sort, taking his horses onto a 4 lane highway, admitting they had never ridden there before and having nearly killed them (call the HSUS), this show is about meat eaters, animal killers, and impacted colons. Of course there’s always KALE! Just Kale, fields of it. Someone at Discovery needs to contact James Wesley Rawles and mine his contacts to portray REAL mountain men. Watching it has become an exercise in learning what NOT to do when one lives off-grid.
P.S. With all respect to herbal healing – goldenseal root can be dug from the ground and dried and ground BEFORE one becomes ill and has to crawl around with a fever to find it
Ok, here’s a question. Are any of you people commenting here truly “self-sufficient” and “off the grid”? If so, then what are you doing chatting on the internet? You all blessed with solar panels to power your computers or what? I don’t live off the grid, but I am VERY interested in doing it someday. Still doing the research. Was just curious as to how the real “experts” (critics) on here who are really off the grid are surfing the net. I can tell you that if I ever make the jump, I’m positive I’ll be leaving this computer behind!
It doesn’t really require much expertise to spot the fakery being done on this show, in fact anyone who can’t see it is a bonafide sucker. Eustace has stated in his own words that he lives on less than $2,000 per year, that selling firewood is his only source of income, that he can’t possibly pay an $85,000 debt. In fact Turtle Island nets more than $85,000 per season and Eustace is a multi-millionaire, as well as a consummate liar.
Otherwise, there is nothing at all remarkable about the lives of these people. I have lived in a tent or tipi over several winters in Colorado, Arizona & New Mexico. I have lived off the land to a greater extent than any of those on the show. I have trapped fur bearers for a living and have made and sold mountainman crafts for a living. It was nothing I consider to have been at all remarkable but I guess new age city folks might be impressed by any one who doesn’t have indoor plumbing. LOL
hey coyotejoe……how’s the internet in your tipi? if you’re leaving a comment, you have a computer and internet and since you have seen the show I assume you have a TV. sounds like a bitchin tipi.
mike, comment #12 – i was just thinking the SAME thing… i know nothing about living off the land, but watch the show for entertainment value, which is kinda the POINT of tv, isn’t it?? NONE of these guys claim to be “off-the-grid” anyway, they claim to be living off the land, and no matter what all these “experts” posting here are claiming, these guys are still trapping, working, growing food, and living off the land…
OBVIOUSLY anyone who is able to watch the show in the 1st place, and post a bitchy comment here, is not “off-the-grid” either, because i don’t think tents and teepees have dish network and internet service…
the point of the show is to see a lifestyle different from your own, just like all the other mindless “reality” programming out there. if you don’t like it, turn the channel! you can point out all the stuff that seems fake if you want, but you’re obviously NOT some 10th-degree-mountain-man yourself, either…
Actually Kimberlie, its quite common to be off the grid and on the cloud, using renewable energy to power your smartphone and receive your email and even watch TV via the smartphone
Iwas raised on a farm and we raised everything we ate my grandfather had a blacksmith shop and a grist mill he ground our corn into grits and cornmeal we picked wild greend of ll kinds in our woods and fields ,we also picked black Barry’s dewberries and elderberries and made a copper kettle fill of apple butter band applesauce.i think myself having done many of the things eustace does and watching my father and grandfather and helping in the blacksh and mill eustace is the real deal.my mother also doctored up with herbs and many home remedies you have to live it to love it and I have .
Is living “off the grid” so boring that you waste your time online, complaining about (profit focused) “reality” television? Shouldn’t we all be bettering ourselves and learning some badass skills?
I will have to say that I agree with most that was written on here. Even opposing comments. This is a TV show created for entertainment. As most shows today that are over dramatized, “produced” and poorly edited but people still watch. Tom, Eustace and Marty may or may not be living “off grid” but they do seem to be living off of the land which is much harder. I’m from a family of farmers in Texas and some have chosen to live off grid for various reasons but all live off of the land. We raise various animals as well as farm the land. We do have tractors as well as horse drawn implements that has been passed down through the family. Truly living off of the land is very hard work especially if you have a family to raise. You work from sun up to sun down and for all of the vegetarians out there a 6000 calorie a day diet is not unheard just to maintain the work. You can not get that from veggies alone and my family live long and productive lives. Most living well into there 90s some still going. I do wish that the show was more of what was advertised but it seems the producers have decided to make this show for people that don’t now what living off of the grid and or living off of the land is really like. Not to mention the drama junkies. Have fun with the show or watch something else. If enough people decide the show is to ridiculous to watch then it will be cancelled. It is sad though. The History channel did have a good idea.
Everyone complaining about the Mountain Men program – slowly, and I mean SLOWLY, back away from the TV. Reach around and slowly pull the power cord from the socket. When completed, turn 180 degrees and walk away to a better life. Problem solved.
The only thing more ridiculous than some of the shows are some of the comments on here. However, the shows ARE entertaining, compared to regular network TV.
As an individual stuck in the everyday living of city life, who never gets to see or go to the places you see in the mountain men show, I do truly enjoy watching these episodes. Gives me a chance to see things I would otherwise never see in my life. regardless of all the negative comments here i will continue to enjoy such shows.
Claims against his land? When is Eustace the millionaire going to pay back that kid for his lost eye? This guy sounds like a real con artist.
Well I like the show and I’m not a mountain man but I was born in the country and we had no running water and heated our house with wood. We also hunted for food my dad said if it was worth killing it was worth eating so you didn’t kill it unless you were going to eat it. My life would not have made a good movie so I can see how they would need to change it to make it more enjoyable to watch.
Hey Fuz. Ditto what you wrote. I like the show too and I live in an old log cabin on 40 acres in the Ozarks, without city water or electricity. These old boys on the show are OK in my book. Ya know I wish I knew why people spend so much time and effort putting down programs like Mntn Men. If they don’t like it they can always watch something else.
easy
I live in the country born and lived here all my life I hunt,fish and work my ass off every day I eat every thing I kill deer turkeys rabbits fish alway have its a way of life every one around here does the same we live off the land as well as we eat from walmart if they would like to film me I will take there money like the mountain men do thats what make the world go around
Obviously there is a lot of “acting” and “recreating” going on here! These guys are getting paid to do this show – who wouldn’t jump at the chance? It is an entertaining show, and I like it. Yes, there are elements of reality here – as well as a lot of fantasy. Eustace kind of bugs my ass – he is the most fake of the three – but even so, what he has done with his property is downright amazing in spite of that! What I am hearing on here sounds a lot like jealousy to me. Like so many have said, if the show bugs you so much, just turn it off.
You guys are funny……All of you
Eustace’s land is on prime property very close to Boone NC. Sure it may not have been worth a mint when he bought…but it is now. Prime land value where he owns $$$. There is no law in most states that your property taxes cannot well exceed what you paid for the land or home. So as your property appreciates…so does you tax bill. You can get behind in a hurry on 1000 acres. CA home owners lost homes due to inability to pay property taxes as home value went way over what they ever paid or could afford. CA now has a law where you will only pay property taxes based on what you paid so at least you know what your taxes will always be. CA finds other ways to tax by making sure taxes have always been high. Yet CA is still broke.
Business sense for Eustace…Sell your land or have it taken by the government unless the History Channel or viewers want to help him out. We are paying taxes for the ammo that can be used on us later. How ironic.
Eustace ……rhymes with useless
Biggest piece of manufactured crap EVER…..
Asssssssswipe …pretend
I doubt that if my snowmobile broke down in the bush that i would haul a 70-pound snowmobile motor back to the stranded sled on foot!
Useless has a mailbox…… in the middle of nowhere?? RIGHT!
This is as bad as that show called “moonshiners”.
Dolly Parton is a mountain gal, ain’t she? Grew up in a one room cabin in the Great Smoky mountains of Tennesee. Frankly I would rather they set up Dolly and some of her extended family in a log cabin in the mountains and get them to demonstrate the self sufficient life style. It’d be a sight more interestin than this staged rubbish. Disappointed.
Is it me or does that guy useless just get everyone annoyed? there is a part in one of the episodes where he blames someone for not aligning his rifles sights..well the last time i messed with weapons we did a thing called zeroing the weapon..that being that each person as there own weapon and also their own individual way of holding it and firing it…this being the case you then keep firing and adjusting your weapon as you fire at the target..once you start hitting the intended target spot on you have then zero,d your weapon..that weapon is unique to you ..someone else can fire it and be way off because of how they hold it and all different mannerisms……so useless knows sweet cock all about weapons and that kid got told off etc for nothing that was his fault!!!!!!!!!
Well said survivor,I hunt deer with rifles and he is lying if that’s only the 2nd deer he’s wounded.its not a thing to brag about but it’s certainly his own fault for not zeroing his own rifle,every batch of bullets and even out carrying your rifle on a vehicle/horse or just bashing it up and down trees can slowly alter the point of impact.
YouTube is what I spend my time watching that is real reality tv,and you can fast forward and skip the crap.
I actually just sent an email to Turtle Island to find out if they have any kind of funds to send kids to their camp…. it’s $1400/2weeks…. and then, I came across this…. Although I know my little “mtn baby” would love this kind of living, I’m gonna look into some other kind of camp for her this year….. I was so hoping that he was the real thing…. All I can say is “God Rest, Popcorn Sutton”, cause I’m thinkin you were the only real Mtn Man….
OMG . . .quit whining and change the channel if you don’t like it. You obviously have too much time on your hands!
Janice – 28. You got it right . . . sounds like jealously to me!
What shows to watch on TV? A low bar. When alone I often turn it off and read. Still love the difficulties of cold weather
I live 75 miles from the Yaak where Tom & Nancy Oar are in Montana. I have never been to the Yaak (Cabinet Mountains) but I know exactly what they go through. I go through the same situation. I’m somewhat off the grid myself. These days you need electricity for multiple things. Unlike the city life, living in the mountains, wheather in Alaska, Montana or North Carolina it’s not an easy living. Alot of you know nothing only what you see on tv! I live in the mountains miles and miles from a grocery store. I burn firewood as my only source of heat. I live in a log cabin and it’s not luxury.
Eustace and his throwback existence on turtle island makes you want to root for the next tornado. And is he trying to look as stupid as possible with that hair and beard? I don’t mind the idiots up in the colder climes limping around pretending to chase wolves — at least they look presentable, no matter how worthless they’d be against a half dead wolf; or the gomer riding around alaska on his snowmobile loosing his glasses.
Useless is a bonified douchebag, Tom is a rich dope, and Marty all alone ? Who is holding the camera with a light on it in his dark cabin !? If any if you morons think for a minute anything on television is real …. You ought to check in c
Somewhere go a long time. If you are turning on your tv waiting to see real men live in real conditions in the wilderness you are stupid. Real men living in the woods DON’T have cameras on them ….. You are all fucking idiots
Evil chop needs to take a chill pill and live life instead of judging others. Hmmmm wonder what you are doing and how much money you are making??? Hmmmm. And what would you know about real men. :-) :-) :-)
you all need to realize that tv shows will spin a story however they want to make it interesting. just because the show says eustace owes this money in property taxes doesn’t mean it’s the true story. and do you really think it was eustace’s idea to blame his intern for incorrectly sighting his rifle while using a different one for hunting? don’t you think it could have been the ignorant editors back in the city just trying to piece together a story? and turtle island is a non-profit organization whose summer camper tuition goes directly back into the preserve to maintain and improve the grounds and everything needed to run it. the prices are competitive with any other well-run summer camp out there. if you get off your butts and turn off your tvs and computers and actually come meet the man and see the place you’ll learn a whole lot more about the reality of his life and goals, and yourself, than the screen will tell you. his intention in coming on the show was to spread the word about his way of life, to let others know they can do it, too. and there have been plenty of motivated and intelligent people who did decide to come out here and see it first hand. unfortunately there are still too many of you sitting around in your comfortable boxes complaining about the misinformation that’s fed to you, and blaming it on the men who work harder then you’d ever even think about.
Well I grew up in rural countryside. We did not live off the grid – my dad had a regular job – but we did live with very few conveniences. We had electric light but that was about all. And my mom was a farmer’s daughter so we were self sufficient in many ways. Cooked on solid fuel, grew our own food etc. One thing about country people is their sturdy common sense and that is what these Mountain Men guys seem to lack. I doubt they do really, just the way they are set up by the tv company, as though they have been asked to recall some difficult situations they have been in and then reinact them, You can see why, daily life rural style can be very tedious, not enough action for a tv show, but so much of it seems set up for the tv series it seems stupid. I much prefer Yukon Men – set in Alaska on the Yukon river. Seems much more genuine about the toughness of a self sufficiency life style to me.
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