They hunt. They trap. They battle blizzards, mudslides, wolf and bear attacks! Sounds like a scene right out of the Old West. But these mountain men live in America’s wilderness—today.

From Alaska to Montana to The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Eustace Conway, Tom Oar, Marty Meierotto and Rich Lewis strive to live off the land, independent and free, like their ancestors before them, to provide food, shelter and security for their families.

When the weather forecaster calls for snow, kids might anticipate a day off from school. Adults might prepare for a longer commute and snarled traffic. They might rush out to the grocery store to stock up on bread, milk, cereal, hamburger or other essentials. For these modern day mountain men, living off the land and off the grid is not merely a challenge; it’s a matter of survival. For the North American Wilderness can be brutal, and in the battle against extreme weather and predators there is no overall victor, one man who conquers all. There’s hard work, danger, split-second life and death decisions, meeting adversity and obstacles head on, in trial after trial for the privilege to live a free, self-sufficient, fulfilling life.

Meet the Mountain Men

Eustace Conway

Picturesque. Majestic. Awe-inspiring. The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina is where Eustace Conway calls home. On his property named Turtle Island, Eustace lives a self-sufficient life using ancient survival skills and techniques and primitive tools, as he fends off predators, poachers, scavengers, sickness and other challenges to his very survival.

Tom Oar

Cold enough for you? Most say that phrase just a few months a year. Not Tom Oar and his wife, Nancy. For this former rodeo bronc rider, living in the remote Yaak River Valley of Montana, the frigid winter looms for seven long months. Tom ensures his family’s survival by trapping, hunting for food, and tanning hides.

Marty Meierotto

If winters in the lower 48 aren’t harsh enough, try living a hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle—in Alaska, where sub-zero temps are the norm and hitting zero might be considered a heat wave! But you’ll find Marty Meierotto braving the frigid climes in his rustic, one-room cabin, during trapping season, awaiting the few hours of light so he can head out to set and check his trapline. The sale of the furs helps support his wife and child who live in town.

Rich Lewis

Rich Lewis isn’t your average hunter. He sets his sights on the big cats in Montana’s Ruby Valley, where he lives with his wife. His passion is tracking mountain lions with his pack of well-trained hounds.

Morgan Beasley
Margaret Stern

Morgan Beasley and Margaret Stern make their home on the Alaska range. Whether hunting caribou or setting a trapline, they are in their element in the frozen north. Morgan has a degree in Environmental Science and has worked as a trail guide. Margaret holds a degree in Botany and Natural History and is skilled in farming and taxidermy. Both are expert horsemen.

Jason Hawk 

For decades, Jason Hawk has fiercely pursued a life off the grid. A skilled bladesmith for over 20 years, as well as a hunter and survivalist, he he can forge an axe from found materials, stare down a ferocious bear, and hunt to ensure his family’s survival in the wild Ozarks of Arkansas, where he has a homestead with his wife Mary and kids.

Jake Herak

Born and raised in Montana, Jake Herak makes his home at the base of the Tobacco Root Mountains where, using his highly-trained walker hounds, he hunts the area’s most dangerous predators—mountain lions. As the lion population increases and encroaches evermore on nearby ranches, Jake’s skills are in big demand, especially during the harsh winter months.

Mike Horstman

A master bear guide, Mike Horstman has lived alone in a remote cabin near Eagle Harbor on Kodiak Island, off the southern coast of Alaska for more than forty years. His home base is accessible only by boat or plane. Over the years, he’s built a reputation as one of Kodiak’s most legendary mountain men, surviving off the land where harsh storms blow in at sometimes 100 mph. For a mere 11 weeks out of the year, Mike earns an income guiding bear hunts. Living alone in this kind of rugged wilderness in frigid conditions with 3,500 brown bears as your closest neighbors is not for the faint of heart.

Josh Kirk 

Josh Kirk lives with his wife and daughter in the wilds of Wyoming, at the feet of the Wind River Range. He’s a homesteader, hunter and ranch manager, and his passion is keeping from extinction, one of the most dangerous animals associated with America’s west—the iconic American Bison. Unlike relatively docile cattle seen on ranches all over the west, bison are a different kind of bovine altogether. They’re smart. They’re untamed. And when threatened, that combination makes them deadly. As if the bison are not challenging enough, Josh and his family must battle a rough and rugged landscape, wicked weather, and vicious predators.

Kidd and Harry Youren 

Some siblings find it hard to sit at the same dinner table for an hour, much less live together in the wilderness where their very survival depends on each other! But for Kidd and Harry Youren, survival in the harshest conditions is in their genes. Indeed, they are the last in a long line of frontiersmen tracing back to pioneer days, and they’re determined to keep their rustic, survivalist, mountain men lifestyle alive. From clearing trails to herding cattle to traversing raging whitewater to hunting, they meet danger head-on, doing what they were born to do.

Martha Tansy

Single mom to daughter Elli, and designated hunter of the native Athabascan people, Martha Tansy endures the harsh elements of south-central Alaska to harvest wild game for her community’s survival. A lifetime of honing her wilderness, elite off-road driving, and mechanic skills, plus five years serving in the U.S. Army, where she learned outdoor survival and sharpshooting, Martha puts all her knowledge and instinct to the test as she treks deep into the backcountry to hunt moose, caribou, and a variety of other big game. Against an unforgiving environment, brutal weather, and under the watchful eyes of predators that stalk her as prey, Martha shows grit and steadfast determination to complete her tasks for the good of her people, no matter what.