Sarah Palin's "Alaska" On TLC...

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David4516

David4516

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I don't have cable but I do have Netfilx (use nintindo Wii to stream it to my TV).

Recently I noticed Sarah Palin's "Alaska" was added to Netflix and thought I would check it out. Only watched one episode (#4 I think), the hunting episode.

Has anyone else seen this? What were your thoughts?

Now based on what I've seen in the media (I know, not the best source of info) I expected her to be a hard-core, expert hunter. Watching the Alaska show, I would have thought it was her first time hunting ever.

Anyway she’s there with her Dad and his friend looking for caribou. They spot one on the second day of the trip, and Sarah is going to take the shot. Her Dad hands her rifle to her, and the first thing she says is "will it kick?". Whoa, red flag here. This indicated to me that she's never even fired this rifle before. I've never heard of a hunter taking a rifle into the field that they've never shot. Even if it's just 3 or 4 rounds to zero the thing, most everyone has at least shot their gun.

So she shoots, and misses. The animal just stands there, must have been thinking "what the heck are these stupid humans up to?". She apparently doesn't know how to work a bolt because she hands the rifle back to her Dad, who does it for her. She then takes the rifle back and shoots again... misses again. Repeat this several times. The caribou is still just standing there, after a half-dozen or so shots.

Eventually they use the Dad's friend's rifle and she kills the thing.

Lessons learned:

#1: Always zero your rifle before the hunt! I can't believe that there are people who hunt without doing this. Bet this accounts for alot of wounded animals :banghead:


#2: Don't believe the media! They had me convinced that Palin was an experienced hunter. After watching this show I don't believe that she or her Dad had ever hunted caribou before. Seemed like the family friend was the only one there who had any clue what he was doing.

Disclaimer:

This is all just my observations/opinions of course. I have zero experience with caribou and freely admit that I could be wrong. Maybe this is just how you hunt them? My knowledge is very limited here.
 
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David4516 said:
So she shoots, and misses. The animal just stands there, must have been thinking "what the heck are these stupid humans up to?". She apparently doesn't know how to work a bolt because she hands the rifle back to her Dad, who does it for her. She then takes the rifle back and shoots again... misses again. Repeat this several times. The caribou is still just standing there, after a half-dozen or so shots.

Eventually they use the Dad's friend's rifle and she kills the thing.

Lessons learned:

#1: Always zero your rifle before the hunt! I can't believe that there are people who hunt without doing this. Bet this accounts for alot of wounded animals :banghead:


#2: Don't believe the media! They had me convinced that Palin was an experienced hunter. After watching this show I don't believe that she or her Dad had ever hunted caribou before. Seemed like the family friend was the only one there who had any clue what he was doing.

Disclaimer:

This is all just my observations/opinions of course. I have zero experience with caribou and freely admit that I could be wrong. Maybe this is just how you hunt them? My knowledge is very limited here.
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The rifle was sighted before the hunt. If you watched the show you saw him fall on the rifle and that's when the scope was knocked off.

And yes, that's pretty much how you hunt them.....at least where they were hunting.

DM
 
Sarah Palin is a pretty easy target since she has no pretenses. She is what she is and she makes no bones about it.

I thought the shows were a whole lot better than any of the other "reality" shows on TV and did have educational value.

I believe it was a 300 Win Mag that her father handed her and who wouldn't ask if it is going to kick. I have a .300 WSM that I shoot, but it is not a pleasant gun to shoot but it is manageable. I warned my son before he shot it the first time it would kick more than the other rifles he has shot.

What is the big deal about asking if a gun will kick. Seems like a seasoned response to me. I have asked that same question many times before shooting a rifle that I am not familiar with.

Having seen Sarah shooting the 12 ga in bear defense practice, I don't believe she is afraid of a little recoil and she was better at the clay pidgeons than her son or husband.

As far as reality shows, they should have kept it going in my opinion instead of the garbage that they have to replace it.
 
I saw Mrs Palin on the Today show week or two ago. She ain't a morning broadcaster that is for sure. Her voice reminds me of finger nails on a chalk board.
I checked out her TV show awhile back. After five minutes of shaking my head, and commenting "how could they put this <deleted> on TV?"
I flipped the station.
I am at a loss to understand why Mrs. Palin is the darling of the tea party, conservatives, and religious folk.

Anyone with half a brain understands why Mrs Palin is doing all this.

FOR THE MONEY
 
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I have nothing aginst Palin. Heck I even voted for her (and McCain) in '08

I just thought the whole thing was a bit odd.

If you watched the show you saw him fall on the rifle and that's when the scope was knocked off
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This could explain it. I didn't realize that it was her rifle he fell with (thought it was his own).

What is the big deal about asking if a gun will kick. Seems like a seasoned response to me. I have asked that same question many times before shooting a rifle that I am not familiar with.
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It's not a big deal at the range. In my mind the difference is that I don't think she should be hunting with a rifle she's never even shot before. Am I weird for thinking it's not ethical to hunt with an un-familar rifle?

Edited to add:

I guess what I'm saying is this: I was always told that it was imperitive for a hunter to know their weapon (rifle, shotgun, bow, whatever they happen to use), and it's limitations.

I did not mean to imply that I thought she was "weak" or something for asking about recoil. I am not a fan of recoil either. I just pointed it out because if she had actually fired this weapon before, she wouldn't have to ask.
 
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I would like to go back and look at that episode one more time, but I had the impression that she was a bit surprised it was a different rifle. She seemed a bit reluctant to shoot it but did. When it wasn't accurate, she went to another rifle that I believed she was more familiar with. That was my impression when I saw the show, but at this point, I would like to go back and look at it again just to see if that is correct.
 
Here is the episode in question. Looks like the scope was simply off since she took the caribou with one shot from the other rifle. Obviously neither rifle was her own, but she did know how to shoot both of them. Not sure when they dropped the rifle but she handled the recoil and yes, perhaps she should have proven the rifle herself first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW0Xx4DXkYk
 
She is such an over the top BS person it just silly. If you want to find a real alaska girl that can do it all look up country/folk singer Jewell and read her bio growing up in aslaska. SP it just a cityfied city girl with people keep fluffed up for TV and just happened to be in alaska.
 
perhaps she should have proven the rifle herself first
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That's all I'm saying. This should be standard proceedure for anyone going on any hunting trip, in my opinion.

Has anyone here ever gone hunting with a rifle they've never used before? Perhaps this is more common than I at first thought...
 
I think Sen John McCain USN/Ret created this little monstrocity and now she won't go back into her bottle. Talk about the law of unintended consequences. All he really wanted was a pretty little trinkette to showcase against Hillary. At any rate this thread will be locked any second now, according to the TOS of THR. Take my word for it.

The two ways to prove your rifle is shooting straight after a trip, is either to shoot it again and look and see, or bring a laster boresighter with you, and compare the results on the wall against a template for a known distance like 10 feet.

The boresighter method uses 0 ammo and can be fixed indoors.
 
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At any rate this thread will be locked any second now, according to the TOS of THR. Take my word for it.
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I had no intention of making a political thread. My observations were meant in the context of hunting. Hope the thread doesn't get locked. That said, if it degrades into some kind of political argument I wouldn't blame the mods if they did lock it.

The boresighter method uses 0 ammo and can be fixed indoors.
Click to expand...

True but I don't put much faith in boresighting. Different loads will behave differently in different rifles. Heck, even within the same brand, if you get different lot numbers, you might have a change in point of impact. Best way to know is to send a couple rounds downrange from the same box that you'll be hunting with. Same goes for reloads too...
 
Not sure why everyone appears to hate Sarah Palin so much. No, I don't want her as my president, but hey, she is on our side folks as far as gun rights go. Name me any other politician who shot a wild game animal and placed the video on TV. Just ONE.

Yes, I don't agree with everything this lady does, but geez, give me a break. Her show wasn't anywhere near as bad as folks are making it out to be and I truly enjoyed getting to see aspects of Alaska I haven't seen since I was a kid living up there.
 
Sarah is an experienced hunter (though maybe a bit out of practice lately), she grew up hunting and fishing with her father and has taken more big game animals (Caribou and Moose) than a lot people here commenting about her.

In the episode cited...the rifle was previously sighted in...but suffered a mishap (father fell with it), after 2-3 unsuccessful "hits" Palin knew it wasn't HER and asked for a different rifle....upon which she immediately made a good shot.

The rifle in question was shot later and determined (as suspected by Sarah) to be off by large margin.

As for asking if the rifle "would kick", its a reasonable question since she had been handed any number of rifles in the past (growing up) and doesn't hold herself out to be a ballistics expert.

Not to mention she was given a gift one time (a 50 Beowulf), (which I've seen her shoot) and another in 50 Alaskan IIRC, anyone would want to know if a rifle "kicks" after shooting that. ;)

As mentioned...Sarah Palin makes no pretenses...and the show was aired just as it happened, good for her! A little honesty from a politician...is kind of refreshing..if you ask me.
 
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@Alaska444: Just because someone mouths some slogans that I find politically appealing does not mean that I have to ignore or stay silent about that person's considerable faults.
 
She appears to have a lot more talents than faults. She is very much unfairly maligned lady and I won't join in searching out her so called faults. She is a private citizen and I doubt she will ever venture back into public office and good for her after all the hateful things people have done to her. I won't be one of them.
 
Alaska444,

I agree that she was treated rather unfairly by some in the news media in 2008 when the nomination was made. But that doesn't change the fact that she was unprepared for national office--which was clear even through the usual smoke that the leftists were blowing. Knowings ones own strengths and limitations is an important part of character, and in my mind, she failed that test by accepting McCain's offer.

Also: I lost a lot of remaining respect for her when she walked away from the governor's office for no good reason. If you campaign for public office, it's disrespectful to the citizens you serve to walk away just because you find the job tiresome. Again, it's that character thing.
 
Well, I suspect that this thread will head to the locked and done column soon, but she didn't walk away from her job as governor in the manner you are talking about. The lefties wouldn't leave her alone and plagued her with hundreds of alleged ethics violations that she had to respond to. They even issued an ethics violation for raising defense money to address these false charges since the state didn't provide for that.

Sure, it would have been better to have hung on, but I believe she simply got tired of false allegations that ended up stagnating any sense of the duties of a governor anyway.

If you recall, they got Newt out of office using the same tactics for which he was completely cleared of all allegations after he left office.

Thats why she left and you know what, good for her, she doesn't deserve the garbage thrown at her and her family. Once again, I will not be one to judge her or her family since there are so many other people who are such experts on her "character" as you say.

If dropping out of office is her worst character flaw under extreme and targeted legal actions, then man, I wish that was my only character flaw as well.

Once again, back to the OP, name just one other national level politician who has posted a video of hunting and actually shooting and harvesting a game animal. Just one please. I say the lady has plenty of character, plenty of ability but did absolutely lack national campaign experience as they all do. Have you perchance seen some of Reagan's statements in the 1976 campaign for instance? How about how green Bill Clinton was until he had plenty of coaching on what and when to say things and in what manner as a national politician. Good grief, yes, she lacked national experience, but that does not limit her abilities.

The lady was hung out to dry and Obama got a complete pass in his campaign.

Sorry, just have to agree to disagree with you on these issues.
 
Alaska444, we're going to have to agree to disagree on Sarah Palin. But Newt Gingrich quit because the GOP members of Congress rebelled after he nearly lost control of the House in the 1998 elections, not because of any specific ethics allegations.
 
Fair enough Johannes. We will agree to disagree on SP.

Now back to the OP, my wife and I enjoyed the few episodes we were able to watch. It did give a broad up close look at several aspects of Alaskan life very much in the same manner as we lived in Alaska in the 1960's. We did live in Anchorage, although O'Malley road at the top was way out in the boonies compared to the suburbs it is today. We had a neighborhood of about 6 houses in a half mile area and then nothing but woods and trees for miles around.

I didn't realize how far out we were in the boonies when I compare it to the other places I have lived since then.

I would have liked to have seen more of the Palin series since her family and the way I lived were nearly identical in so many ways. We were always hunting and fishing and camping out. As kids in the 1960's they had two TV stations if I remember correctly in Anchorage and it didn't come in very well. We didn't grow up watching TV much at all. Instead we were always outdoors.

Once again, I would rather have that show than the garbage that replaced it on "reality" TV.
 
I watched another episode of the Alaska show last night, the one where she goes camping with Kate +8...

In the first half of the episode they show Palin learning about bear defense. I thought she seemed pretty comforatable with the shotguns they were using. They even had a bear target on a cart with a rope tied to it. They had a guy run with the rope to simulate a charging bear while she shot at it. She only had a couple of seconds but managed to get 2 good hits on the "charging bear". I thought that was kinda cool.

What surprised me about this particular episode were 2 things, neither of which had anything to do with Sarah Palin:

#1: The bear expert was showing them how to use bean-bag shells? I didn't think anyone would recomend using a bean-bag on a bear

#2: Not shooting related, but I couldn't believe how quickly Kate wimped out on their camping trip. Her 8 kids were having a blast, but she got a little cold so she packed them all up and left early. Most parents I know, even if they're not having fun, will tough it out so that their kids can have some fun...
 
Wow, I had no idea what an unethical hunter I am. My approach is that I won't hunt with anyone I don't trust completely. When my FIL hands me his rifle, I know it is sighted in and shooting properly or he wouldn't have brought it with him. I have as much confidence in using his rifle as my own. When he says it is sighted in at 100 yards, I know that it is right on at 100 yards.

There is a big difference, IMHO, between taking a pot shot at an animal with whatever happens to be laying around, and taking a shot that is within your capabilities using a weapon that you have every confidence in, regardless of whether you've shot it before or not.
 
I haven't been to Alaska yet, and I'm ignorant of what a typical Alaskan is like. But Ms. Palin doesn't match what I imagine.

Interesting woman, though.
 
Not sure what an "Alaskan" is supposed to be myself even though I grew up there. Too many stereotypes out there.

Let me give it a try. My father went up there in part for the adventure in 1958, one month after I was born. We lived there until 1968 when we left after my older brother developed medical problems better served in the "lower 48."

My father harvested at least one moose, 3-4 caribou and an occasional black bear every year. We had a large floor freezer filled with salmon year round and that was the major food source for the family. Simply understanding that aspect is enough for me to identify very closely with Sarah Palin and her family.

Subsistence hunting is a part of the "Alaskan" culture. A love of the outdoors is tantamount to being an "Alaskan." I started skiing when I was three years old and we enjoyed skiing at Alyeska near Girdwood Alaska where my father built his own A-frame cabin.

Our last two years were in Nome where we spent most of our time fishing during the summer months and snow shoeing in the winter months. We spent very little time watching TV in those years. Nome didn't even have a TV station at that time.

The dangers of Alaska were a constant reminder. One of my 3rd grade classmates lost his father who crashed his plane while doing some of his first solo flights. Another family friend died in a snowmobile accident. My father flew on the medivac flight with him trying to save his life getting him to a neurosurgeon in Anchorage.

We had several eskimo friends who had sled dogs and lived true subsistence hunting life going out on the ice pack. We learned to deal with the mosquitoes in the summer and we could see Mount McKinley from our house in Anchorage.

When I saw the types of activities that Sarah Palin did in her short lived show, it very much reminded me of my own childhood and that is perhaps why I enjoyed the show so much.

What is an Alaskan you ask, it is anyone adventurous enough to brave the elements of Alaska and thrive in their own way. That is really as unanswerable as what is a Californian? We come in all shapes and sizes and varieties and have different reasons for being there.

I am not sure about you, but I personally identified very much with Sarah Palin's Alaska. I thought it was "spot on" to borrow Tina Fey's comments.
 
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