Along with watching pretty much all sports, my husband got me interested in the show “Mountain Men,” airing on the History Channel. We DVR it and watch as we relax after night barn chores. I put my book down, no matter how good it is, when this show starts.
They showcase six guys from Montana, Alaska and North Carolina. They all are as tough as shoe leather, assertive, very earthly and use their God-given intelligence in a profound way. They just make things work. And if it doesn’t work, they find a way to make it work, usually fighting nature’s elements along the way.
My personal favorite is Tom Oar. He is an old jigger, weather-worn and seasoned by the relentless environment of the Montana wilderness. Together, he and his wife live off the land, along with their faithful dog. Tom is amazingly intelligent. There’s nothing he can’t do, from trapping beavers to getting rid of unwanted varmints to tanning a deer hide to bringing down a 500-pound bull elk for food to last out the cold winter. His tenacity and ingenuity astonish me.
Then there’s Eustace Conway and his helper Preston, making their living by building their own lumber operation deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. He modified a truck to operate with a wood-burning engine! It was phenomenal. We thought he’d blow himself and Preston to Kingdom Come on one of the episodes. He uses a huge work horse to haul large logs down the mountain. His soothing voice makes that magnificent animal turn on a dime. It’s astounding.
Marty Meierotto traps in the Alaskan Revelation Mountains. He flies his own plane and one season he built a log cabin with his own hands, hoping to have his wife and daughter visit, and to set himself up with a larger trapping operation. He is resourceful, strong and calmly determined to make a living off the Alaskan wilderness.
Kyle Bell resides in New Mexico’s Cimarron Valley. All by himself he partitioned off a parcel of land with fence and secured a fresh-water supply with the intent of raising cattle there. Occasionally his 11-year-old son, Ben, is in episodes and together they’ve hunted antelope and killed rattlesnakes. (Where’s the mom?)
Morgan Beasley is the one I find rather puzzling. All by himself, this guy completed a 300-mile trek by foot across the Great Alaskan Range to claim a piece of the last frontier. He battled white-outs, avalanches, the cold and hunger to get to this piece of property. I turned to my husband, baffled. “Why didn’t he just hire a helicopter?” This guy was nuts.
Finally, there’s Rich Lewis, who makes his home in Montana’s Ruby Valley. He has a rickety old truck that he hauls his hunting dogs around in. He is another old bugger who’s as tough as nails. Just recently he was guarding a herd of Black Angus cattle against wolf attacks. He set a couple of large brush piles on fire and kept watch the whole night long. He talked about the newborn calves being most vulnerable, and wouldn’t you know, the film crew caught a live birth on camera. It showed the momma going off on her own, lying down and delivering a calf right then and there all by herself. Rich was watching from a distance, making sure she didn’t need assistance.
After the mother gave birth, Rich came over and using a small twig, poked into the calf’s nostrils to clear the afterbirth, making the newborn snort and cough to get her lungs cleared and heart pumping. What we are blessed to witness often here at our own farm was amazing to see on TV.
“Mountain Men” provides entertainment and much enlightenment. It amazes me how creative they are and how they can make a living with what they find right there on God’s good earth. They are simple, no fuss, earthy men who are humble and content with where they are and confident with who they are. I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere!
(“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5)
I’d like to pause here and wish my husband of 36 years a Happy Anniversary on Oct. 27th! I am truly blessed to call you my best friend as well as soul mate. Divinely patient, you are there for me through thick and thin and in good times and bad as together, we pray our way through it all. Here’s to sharing many more years, dearie! I love you!
Categories
