I dont havbe a TV, nor have I seen all the shows. Some were on youtube, some not.
Where'd ya work in Kotz, Goon?
"The Wolf" went down much like this;
We were riding down a ridge off a mountain, in a place where 4 creeks, steep and narrow converge and animals are funneled up to, a quite perfect Hunting spot for centuries now, much like steps on stairs, and we saw them eating on a Caribou, about 3 of them. We got off the rides and the wife went to the 'edge " of the step' and useing her VKT M-39 for about the 10 th year now, you take only reliable, accurate rifles on trips like this, and she shot at one thats head was down and eating. Turned out to be about 300 yards and a perfect shot. You'll likely have noticed its bloody 'undertail'
When you see her shoot, its actually down a slope.
Thay all were gone into the terrain in about a second, and that when we left the camera men behind, as he blew a belt on his ride.
We got down to the Caribou and stopped, had a look and thats when a Wolf came running up the other side of the creek. I went a bit further and looked down ito the creek and the one she shot was laying down, so she took off around the hill infront of us (the 'good' Wolf was running up) and the wife went south and around to let him come to her, while I drove to the already hit Wolf. i though t it was dead, but Wolves are tough, and It got up from where it was laying, and went about 200 yards and layed down again, and theres a shot of me closeing up on it with my snow machine, and ,of course, they omitted my dispatching it with a blow from my Ax, quick and certain to the back of his head.I left it there and went looking for the wife, as she was not to be seen or heard.
Then I got on the wifes trail and she was comming back to me, as the creek the second Wolf ditched her by jumping off a small cliff to a creek bed below that was viewable from above and we discoved 5 more running helter skelter up the other side, away from another kill, so we gave 'em up and the camera guy filld in some more Wolf shots. Then we all gatherd (film guys and us) and went back to the shot Wolf and retrived it, and you 'll hear me say "He's been dead for an hour or so", because he was, and he was freeezing. We always meet back at where we dropped off our sleds, a good way to meetup or at least track down someone who hasnt shown up yet, and brought em up there to skin and drink hot tea.
Every day we saw Wolves and Wolf kills, its quits normal, and 'why' we go there, and in some years have left with a couple dozen, most years 6-10 depening on how it go's....... For natGeo, they were interested in "one" aswell, with Eric trapping, they downplayed my trapping, which was cool with me. The one overnight set I made for Fox in town on the second show, and snapped the next morning (kids in town) was really the only trapping set they showed me doing.......
They cant get the drama out of us as in words, nor can they relate the feeling of Cold, so they want to show its not easy and theres a couple edit'd in "misses", especcially on Caribou. They show us takeing home one, rather than the three in the first hunts we did, and only showed one from the dozen we ended that hunt with, but , again, tthey dont want it voiewd as a "hunting " show, they wanted to show that its not as easy as some would think. That sled load of Meats we took home after catching 'the Wolf' made the whole hunt proitable enough in trade at home, yet un shown........kinda like the 26 Caribou I lanced (and posted here) in the Fall Last year, they were trying to make it look like we lived off whitefish or something. We got that "gonna die" additude out of them pretty quickly, though.We had some words over makeing us look like we were on some 'brink'
Actually, weve been talking to the story line guys and getting it hammerd out to show the end results of our hunts and such, aswell as the Greens, Berrys and other Fish we catch, and the skin tanning, cutting and sewing that make the majority of our $$. So season 2 will have alot more of that such.
The funniest one was a shot of the wife and I by a tree, shes actually shooting a Fox, yet edit it in as a "miss' on a Caribou.Theres a scene or two in the intro that shows me carring that Fox up the hill we were up on.~~LOL!!~~
I have a hard time relateing that because were not on the 'brink', nor are we poor, nor are we unsucessfull, and with a deeply ingrained family as well as being happy to be here, theres no need for anyone to EVER tellme that I have some option to move. Hell no way, I love it here, and here loves me back. The danger is in ignorance, and we thrive here.
She uses a rifle with open sight to good effect. At -20, a scope is a hinderance, with fogging, shattering, misalignment and such, after a 120 mile one way trip over Ice and Tundra, open sights are mighty fine. Weve been at this long enough that we know what works.
Hauling a camera crew along IS a MAJOR PAIN to stalking animals, I'll tell you that!!:banghead:
But, as long as they get some good shots in for some episode material, they are happy, and then we still carry on. 4-10 days to make our 15 or so minutes, and the editors are still figuring out how to avoid the mistakes, or "Moos-stakes" as weve come to call such...
A Muskrat skin thats tanned could get 5-10$ and maybe a Fox thats tanned, but not in raw fur prices, no way. We tan all ourt skins at home and sew them, thats where the value is, and the wife sells plenty, and our daughters are stedfastly learning the same..
