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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98 Responses
The worst review of anything I’ve ever wasted my time reading. It is obvious, you did not watch, nor did you listen to anything, but what was already in your mind. Of course there is some fake drama, seriously, look at your article, being full of drama.
Ask his neighbors, Eustace Conway is the biggest fake out there. Locals call him “Useless”. He doesn’t ride his horse to town…he drives….on paved roads. LOL He can walk to a paved road in 20 minutes if he strolls, 10 if he rushes. His land is am embarrassment of rusting old trailers and cars and trucks,…and he is polluting the land badly, with oil and gasoline spills. He also mistreats his animals. Go within a mile of his land and stop and ask at any house. They will confirm.
It’s like watching cartoons it’s a good laugh… Narrator in season 2 talks about Eustases rifle as being home made……..I know a Lyman when I see one and there made in Italy ………….mindless stuff to make you sleepy before bed ?
Sorry I can’t stand to watch the show. The premise is, or should be, living off the grid is really something special. It looks like nothing but a bunch of trouble for these guys. I live alone with fewer amenities than most people. The number one rule one must forever hold in the forefront of the mind in situations like mine, and even more so in theirs, is to plan ahead. These guys stumble from one problem to the next as if they are missing half their brains. Why would anyone live like that? If this was real they should all be dead already and the show should have been over long ago. Wah wah wah! I’m gonna die any minute. Sheesh! Go live in a development somewhere.
OH yeah, just remembered. Two of them are out, ‘lost’ or far away from settlement, in a snow storm, and one of them decides to start a fire. They (the narrator explains) need to start a fire (to survive) and they do so via friction between two sticks. WTF? Two issues here. Who, who live in the wilderness, leaves home without matches, or a lighter? And of them who do, who can start a friction fire, in a cold snow-covered landscape, in minutes? And they were so casual about the ordeal. “It was getting late, so (Mountain dude’s name) decided to start a fire” and the show Mountain dude with a small handful of twigs in the snow, rubbing two sticks together, and POOF – fire. History channel – Learn to understand what is reality, and what is not.
Funny, I searched for a sight about this show just to raise a point – and after reading some of the comments, I’m confronted with other points, such as the ‘stranded snow mobile’ ordeal. OK, first run, the guy get stranded on a broken sled 10 miles from home, walks home, returns with a new (80 lb, congrats on the 10-mile trek with an 80-lb motor) motor, starts driving home, and it breaks down again. Dude is supposed to walk home again, but what abut the cameraman? The same dude who was filming you drive your newly-fixed sled home? Couldn’t have you used the film crew’s sled, or truck, or whatever? Surely a film crew didn’t expect to get a ride back to your cabin on one newly-fixed sled? People. Anyway, watched the show tonight for a second time. There was a point I found totally stupid which I wanted to post about, but after ranting about the first point that I recalled from my first watching, I forgot what stupidity brought me here in the first place, so, grrr. Whatever, what a farce. Kudos to these guys who live in inhospitable places, but anti-kudos for the network to portray these guys under totally false circumstances. I grew up in the back woods of New England, and I know what nature, especially in the winter, is all about. I call BS History channel, these guys know what a typical day is in the cold. Stop embellishing.
Love all of the self sufficient outdoor shows! But, lets all admit, that some of the stuff from some of the shows gets a bit exaggerated! Not that I don’t respect everything that any of the individuals go thru…but, “TV” does like to throw an unrealistic mix into it, which I am not particularly fond of! If it’s “reality” I like to see reality!!!…Regardless, I enjoy the shows and respect, and am envious, of the people for living how they do!
well folks,i will say i like them all. mountain men yukon men life below zero you name it. i have been doing what they have been doing for over 40 years now and would never ever forsake the outdoor life for anything. when i watch these programs its like watching brothers ans sisters of the like same mind set. i live on 8 acres of western mountain land and they live on the land also. all i need to say is ride on reality tv. keep it coming it truly is refreshing. and if any one wants to disagree email me i will talk you down thats for sure.
All you city people don’t know anything about living in the wild. More power to the mountain men.
Jeff, Iroquois is a language spoke by multiple tribes, while yes, there are many that inhabited the northeast, there were also some that through migration and conquring of other tribes moved to what is now NC, Iroquois is a blanket name for the language they spoke just like many of the other tribes you know, Cherokee Ojibwa etc. As for the other countless people claiming to know more, and that they truly live “off the grid” you do realize that that means not having internet. Sure solar panels and smartphones can allow you access to the Internet, but having a phone, which pings off towers is being on the grid. Having cable to watch this show you all seem to hate is being on the grid. if this show is somewhat scripted?! There is nothing real left in this world except the wilderness these men live in, and guess what they and the producers are making money off of you watching it, even just once, while you’re “off the grid” doing “real mountain man stuff.” To finish, this show isn’t about being “off the grid.” Its about living a simple life filled with hard work and satisfaction that you aren’t a slave to shit forums like this.
Mountainmen, along with other reality shows filmed in Alaska show a lifestyle most of us pampered, electronically dependent city slickers can only live vicariously through. Not only the human stories but the awesome landscapes, the animals and the basic survival techniques used to subsist are what I love about the series. Let’s not nitpick the obvious but enjoy the show, the history and National Geographic for presenting another hit program.
Mountain Men is our favorite T V show. It’s what life is all about. Looking forward to next season. Thanks for making this available.
Ronnie Fulton
Bay St Louis, MS
“predator” episode. The narrator said that the blue ridge mountains of north Carolina were settled by the Iroquois tribe. Really? Do some fact checking first. The Iroquois nation lived in upstate New York.
I can’t believe all the negative comments. Why invest so much emotion in something you are obviously not into. I find all the characters interesting in different ways and admire the way they have chosen to live. Marty is hard core and Eustice is odd but he’s the real deal. Check out his wikapedia page. Few men have accomplished things he has, like setting the record for riding a horse from NY to CA in 64 eays. Over 3000 miles! So I watch the show because I like it. Those that don’t should just find something better suited to their taste.
Eustace’s gasifier is fake. He is using PVC rated at 140F, and the wood gas needs to be over 400f to work.
The show is entertaining. Real life is boring unless you are actually doing the task at hand that is being portrayed on the Tube. So what these guys may not be as legitimate as we are led to believe. It does encourage us and give us a focus on a dream many of us seem to have, “living at living”. Scenery is beautiful. Some of the concepts are interesting and lay a foundation for me to investigate further. Heck even if these guys did start out as they are portrayed they have to be paid for their work and so would take that payment and buy materials that make their lives easier. It’s a great show, hope it lasts a long time. Will always watch it.
Instead of “beating a dead horse”, how about showing us what real off-grid living is? We, for the most part, are too dependent on modern appliances and the grid which powers them… why doesn’t some off these “off-gridders” put on their own show or make some videos to go viral? We can only learn if the purpose is to educate not entertain.
All these self credentialed “mountain men ” backing these shows up as “real” because you “burn wood for heat”, grow vegetables, and hunt and fish…absurd. Here’s the bottom line-They have electricity, computers, and modern tools and machines they aren’t HISTORICALLY accurate “Mountain men”. Being an outdoors-man or living in a rural setting doesn’t make you a “mountain man” or even a survivalist. This garbage is idiocy, a waste of good program time. “Eustace” is even a proven fake of the highest order. And John-living in the South has its own challenges and its a moot point to the conversation, the show is staged, fake, and nothing but low quality entertainment. And all the “if you dont like dont watch” posters- we want GOOD REAL tv, we cant turn the channel, its all that’s on other than reality stars like the kardashians. We have aright to express dissatisfaction with the programming we watch.
Please type the name of your town and state next to your comments or most likely complaints. Cause most likely these people would outlast all you complainers from the warm winter south.
I love the show and do understand that things are stretched and “set up” to make for a more interesting take. But it still celebrates unique and different lifestyles which is refreshing. I am happy to look at other ways to live and challenge coorporate type consumerism. Line up and keep ensuring you line the pockets of the billionaires! No thanks I think if nothing else it at least allows us to question modern living for lack of a better term. If you don’t like the show don’t watch it! You have to discern what’s real and what’s not real but these men and women still live interesting lives!
You would think people would learn from shows like Nat Geos Doomsday Preppers that these people are made to look like idiots and everything is made to look perilous and dangerous and non stop problems because of the way the producers push the show and the way they edit the clips.
Hi All, I live in England and would love the opportunity to live off-grid, but here land isnt so plentiful or cheap as the US, so unless your a millionaire you have little or no chance of doing it. I accept that many of the scenes are contrived, but as mentioned by others, the scenery and ideas for living like that are very appealing to dreamers like me, so i for one will keep watching and wishing for a lottery win!
I think the point of the show is to show elements of living off-grid. And, of course, to entertain. I think anything you can do to bring yourself closer to the land and being more self sufficient is a good thing. Even if it’s just growing a garden. Consider a neighbor that has a garden and all the food they grow. Is it easier to go to the store. Sure, but the bounty is far better out of your own garden and can be economically sustainable. What are most folks gonna do when the power goes out?!
yes i agree with you Viv, but some people have to complain about everything. I love it & will watch it everytime it is on. I prefer it over many stupid shows i have seen like duck dynasty, omg you talk about a unreal one, that is it for sure.
I love Mountain Men….it doesn’t matter if some of it is contrived. It is fun! Sure does beat the Kardashians and the Duggars. Anyone who doesn’t like it should just change the channel. Don’t be such a pain in the rear! Enjoy life!
I like this show, because it gives me ideas on how to live. I’m a disabled 57 year old woman, who grows my own veggies, has chickens, turkeys, ducks and rabbits. I am trying to live independently, and I think I am doing pretty good so far.ineven give veggies and eggs to my neighbors, who are not disabled.
I love this show. The scenery is beautiful and it makes me realize how much time I’ve been wasting indoors. It inspires me to travel, and thanks to this show i’ve become intuned to my natural side!
Its entertaining. That’s all it is meant to be.
Anyone who knows anything about the outdoors knows your mountain men are idiots and I am surprised they are even still alive. If you are going to advertise a show about survival and living outdoors at least make sure the people know what they doing.
Wow, I’m actually surprised to see so much negativity towards this show on the net. Personally I like it and of course it’s going to be somewhat scripted. It’s a friggen TV show and I’ll accept that, especially when you look at the other real garbage that is on the tube these days- Survivor, Kardasians, Ice Road Truckers, Pawn Stars, just to name a few! Come on folks. I just like the fact that these guys live in the 21st century and they are still trying to carve a living out of the land. Who cares if they are retired or have some money or have the resources, whatever in order to live the life they desire! I have to say my favorite guy on there is Rich with his dogs! Alot of people hate on that guy but by far he is the most entertaining to me! He may not be much of a people person but he still tries to help out his neighbors by running off those cats and he is just hilarious to listen to because he’s just a crusty old country boy! Me and my love him and Tom who seems to be a really great guy who is living his retirement the way he wants and we love how he makes traditional items on the side to supplement his lifestyle. I have to give Mary some credit to because he is just crazy to be doing that stuff by himself way the hell up there in Alaska! If you think about it, regardless of a the show or not I’m thinking that these guys would be just making their living regardless and I have to say that I’m pretty much impressed with their self sufficiency to say the least. Remember this isn’t the 17 or 18 hundreds, this is now and it is inevitable that they may have a few modern conveniences here and there, I mean hell, they’re on TV! Let’s not concentrate on that and just look at the entertainment value (especially compared to the REAL garbage that is on TV) and look at the things they do and who knows, you might even learn something constructive! Just my 2 cents.
I grew up in in the hills of Kentucky we lived in a holler we had no running water or bathroom we drew water from the well used the cross cut saw the grocery store would drop our groceries off at the mouth of the holler blow the horn we would go cross our swinging bridge us 4 girls we grew our own food oh did I mention we had no phone no TV. Our electric bill was 5dollars a month I like watching the show I know it is not all real because I haves lived it but I just enjoy nature.
Ever wonder if a true mountain man would be intrigued by the life of a soft skinned city man?
Assuming he wasn’t one before heading into the wild.
I just started watching this show. I love the ‘stars’ of this show! Beautiful scenery! Makes me want to try it! Grew up in the best state, Colorado, but have moved to Texas! Want to go back to Colorado and get back to the mountains and a cleaner, more friendlier place! This show makes me homesick! But love this show and hope it stays on! Like the previous people said, if you don’t like it, CHANGE THE CHANNEL!! Get a life!
I wasn’t able to watch. After six episodes, spread out over about a month, I was done. I was hearing a breathy drama-bent announcer saying, as I got into my car to go to the grocery store, “And if he doesn’t get to his car quickly, then wolves and a bear may eat him, He’s seen tracks of an unknown animal lurking in the flowers on the side of his property. With the recent demands by the city to take the garbage cans back to the house within a day of the service picking up the trash, local animals are starving and may attack. Also, if he doesn’t remember to take his debit card, then he will have to make the harrowing five mile trip again – with nothing to show for his efforts. Will he make it to the store? We can’t tell, but with hundred plus degree weather, if he breaks down between his house and the store, then he will have to battle dehydration and sore feet as he hikes the five miles back to his house.”
At the end of the sixth episode, I was literally growing the mother of all headaches and wondering if I could slash the tires of the announcer and make him late, so that they have to film the next episodes without him. I just wanted him to SHUT UP!
I’ve watched portions of the show a couple of times. It kinda creeps me out. I grew up in MT, I’ve lived in a cabin with only wood heat and an outhouse. I’ve watched people handle dog teams. The guy with the dog team seemed really clueless. He looked totally out of shape, huffing and puffing whenever he walked, and his dogs didn’t respect him or listen to him. The issue with the teepee being torn seemed lame. My guess is at the close of the show each day he toddles back off to his RV with generator and spends all his time inside watching movies and eating TV dinners. Yes, lol there really are people who live like that out in the woods….locked inside their trailers eating processed foods and watching movies. I never got it myself, why not live in an apartment in the city? – but I’d bet money this guy is one of those.
Did anyone else notice that Marty’s cabin is “moving” in the background? This is after he hangs the moose meat in the tree. He turns and walks back to his cabin. If you watch carefully, you’ll notice that the roof is still, but the rest of the cabin looks like it is “shaking” as if it is an image of a cabin on top of the background you are showing.
Clearly 1000 acres in NC is not the middle of nowhere. But it is country, NC mountains aren’t exactly city living and I know people who are from the mountains and no there is not always city water or cell service. Who said it was? And as many have said it is t.v. of course they try to make it dramatic. And if you don’t like the show, don’t watch.
My problem with this reality crap is the fact that there is no alternatives. There is no history on the History channel, no Learning on TLC, National Geo is garbage, hell even the weather channel barely gives you damn weather. TV has turned into fake crap, making fun of southerners or anyone that does not follow smart urban living. Wake up people, they are dumbing us down.
Yes, History channel manipulates the circumstances to try and add drama, and yes they edit like mad…because it’s TELEVISION people. No one person can perfectly embody the perfect “mountain man” life, but I think the men on the show are truly living their lives close to the land. It seems petty and juvenile to make sweeping judgments about people based on what you saw on TV and to call another person nasty names based not on who he is, but what you watched between commercials. Imagine what your neighbors would believe about you if they saw your life distilled and edited through a few minutes of television every week–think it would be accurate? Tom and Nancy Oar blow my mind. They live the life they love in the mountains; Tom obviously knows more about mountain life–like brain-tanning hides and hand-crafted bows. (How many of the haters could do that? If you can, why waste energy name-calling?) And you’re going to dis Eustace and Marty for their appearance? Wow, maybe you should be cruising for Kardashian sightings. We can all learn things from each other, if we keep our minds open. Why be negative and MEAN when it doesn’t take any greater energy to be postive and take the attitude that other people have value. I’d bet that Marty, Tom, and Eustace could teach y’all things that you don’t know–no one knows everything, after all.
I agree that people like Eustace and Marty are amazing and great people, and they agreed to take part because they know the value of publicity – although for Eustace it was mixed because then the County gave him a hard time.
Its not the Mountain men we were having a go at, its the way TV people have to dumb everything down, create fake jeapordy – like they are saying we are too stupid to watch something if it does not have a high spot every five minutes
Very interesting how “wanna be” (obviously, if you believe the comments) off the grid people can do that much better and know exactly what is, and what is not fake…. My husband and me are living in a cute camper on a couple of acres, we have all kinds of chickens, pigs, a horse, dog, cat and a big vegetable garden … We don’t know much about being self sufficient! What little we have gives us just enough to bring down the grocery bill, plus the solar panels and not paying for sewege helps out a lot. BUT it’s interesting how soo many people obviously know about surviving off the grid/land… “talk the talk, and do t forget to walk the walk”
damn you people are bad haters! it’s called TV if you don’t like it go back to your American idol or kardashians. I find this hard work interesting and eustace you are one of my faves! life below zero is fake to to all you real people should avoid that one to! jerks
Jane #17, with your lack of punctuation, I thought you said you ate your Grandpa! :-)
The show is pretty phony. I’ve only seen it once. That’s all I could take.
Im entertained.it is a tv show and therefore is given the tv edit treatment! When not being filmed im sure these guys are genuine hard working. Men that hunt, farm, fish And do their best to live off the land and shop at walmart! best to
Eustace’s tax bill is so high because his land is worth a fortune. Search real estate in North Carolina. I lived there for twenty years and buddy, it’s high dollar. But we all have to pay our taxes. At a thousand acres, even at $1000 an acre, it’s worth a million easy.
Well; I do not live off the grid and fake or not, these guys are really doing at least what is shown on TV. Do I believe they are totally out there on their own? No. Anyone who doesn’t bother to protect their garden and at the same time, have bird feeders all over the place is just asking for bears to ‘come on in and help your self’…but it is interesting to at least see a few things that they do to ‘try’ and be self sufficient…all the while keeping in the back of your mind; at one time, there were really people who did this, years and years ago-it was just living life. And I am sure there are in fact ‘real’ mountain people out there who make it a point to stay out of the camera’s clutch. So although these guys may not be ‘authentic’ Mountain Men; if you have to watch something, well, it’s a little better than watching a bunch of shallow princesses obsess over themselves. As the one person already said, it is ‘TV’ after-all.
Eustace is a complete, total, phony.j
I’m still waiting for people to realize that the guy in Alaska has TWO snowmobiles. One has a messed up windshiled and is always breaking, and the other looks pretty new. Also they way they always act like his palen is about to crash, yet you can see the cameraman’s leg in the back on the side shots and they have duct tape over the window so you can’t see his upper body or the camera. They aren’t gonna like some camera man die in a plane crash for this show lol. I also like the way they show MArty on some little trail wrecking every 5 minutes, then in an interview a few minutes later he is on a trail that is wide as a highway going miles off into the distance. The editing is just horrbile. Watch when Marty is on. When they cut from scene to scene he is on different snowmobiles. And when Useless is pulling the truck up the road with the horses, it’s running even though they say it’s broken down lol. Bunch of bs.
I grew up in the country, and knew men like Tom and Eustace. Men like my grandfather, who would make these men look like tenderfoot amateurs. However, they did it because they HAD to. That was the onlyway of life that supported their family, especially in the hills during the depression. These modern day’off the grid’ mountain men who do it not out of necessity but as some exotic lifestyle seems about as real as ‘modern big game hunters’ who are actually wealthy stock market dealers who pay to shoot man-raised game animals on a fenced in hunting park. We invented electricity, washing machines, telephones, gas furnaces, cars, tractors, supermarkets and FDA approved slaughter houses so we wouldn’t Have to live off subsistence farming, hunting, and back breaking labor. All the REAL mountain Men of old who had to live in harsh conditions would have quickly given their teeth to have these conveniences, and see this ‘off-grid’ types for what they are; ridiculous wannabes and idiots. Join the modern world boys. The days of shittin in the woods is long gone, and thank God for progress!
Its TV you idiots!! What i see here is a group of morons thats ither jealous r jus simply retarded. These men n women live more OTG than you will ever imagine. When the oklahoma indians aquired rifles to kill soilders, did that make them any less of indians who lived off the land? When the cajuns aquired out board motors for ther boats, did it make’em any less cajuns that lived off the land? Most of you will never have a clue of what it is to go out an harvest your dinner besdes going to the local walmart. You peps would not last one week out there. Wtf cares if they have cell phones, wtf cares if his plane is a little worn? Were is yours? When i go out an harvest a great buc with my bow each an every year, i feel good about not spending my money for meat at the local store! But then i haul ass back to my house an reach for the thermostat. Get a life bit&@€£.
I LOVE THE SHOW IF THE ONES WHO ARE COMPLAINING DON’T LIKE IT THEN DO NOT WATCH IT
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.
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.
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. :-) :-) :-)
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
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.
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.
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
Janice – 28. You got it right . . . sounds like jealously to me!
OMG . . .quit whining and change the channel if you don’t like it. You obviously have too much time on your hands!
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….
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.
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!!!!!!!!!
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.
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”.
Asssssssswipe …pretend
Biggest piece of manufactured crap EVER…..
Eustace ……rhymes with useless
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.
You guys are funny……All of you
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.
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
easy
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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 .
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
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…
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.
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
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!
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
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.
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.
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.
Right on Michael. Geez guys, hate much?
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.
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….
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.
Anyone know how Eustace’s Tax Bill got to be $85K???
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.
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.