Life below zero Muskox hunt.
General Topic
Anyone watch Chip Hailstone kill a Muskox on Life Below Zero ? It was one of the most unsportsmanlike thing I ever saw. Chased them down with a snowmobile, then shot at them with a muzzleloader rifle several times, then chased them some more with the snowmobile. Shot several more times with what looked like a muzzleloader double barrel shotgun. Then finally they showed a dead Muskox.
There are a couple good hunters on that show but most are poor shots and not good hunters. They also are always cutting firewood in the deep snow. Have to have it or freeze. Why in the heck don't they cut some in warm weather and stack it up ahead of time? I think the script is written by writers that don't want it to be real but made up.
The Hailstones, "not good hunters," is an understatement.
I think Sue is the best on the show, now that's a woman. Not an attractive woman but a woman. I also like the lone guy, he seems legit. Don't care for the rest of them on the show.
Chip Hailstone is a convicted felon, and remains on felony probation, which is the reason his wife does all the shooting. I've never even seen a rifle in his hands on the show (but I haven't watched the latest episode).
http://www.thearcticsounder.com/article/1249noorviks_hailstone_sentenced_seeks_appeal
(edit note: Watched the Muskox episode (I DVR the series) and seems Chip explained himself quite well. Still, the man has no business shooting anything unless he can shoot it accurately. This guy could care less how much an animal suffers, and that makes everyone else look bad.)
I've posted to "Life Below Zero" Facebook page numerous times about they (Hailstones) have -0- respect for animals, and she hasn't a clue about how to shoot straight. Just wingin' 'em out there hoping she hits something...makes me wanna puke. She has no business pointing a rifle at anything!
Chip also does some trapping, but HE HASN'T A CLUE about how to properly set a trap. Guy takes a 330 Conibear, barely gets it set, and then lays it flat hoping something will fall in it.
Sue does nothing but talk about herself, and I can only take a few minutes of her at a time.
What makes the show worth watching? Andy Bassich and Glenn Villeneuve..great guys who respect the land, and have a clue about how to live on it.
None of those shows have anything real in them, however if one was actually living that way, I don't think they would be worried about sportsmanship, and I'm sure they would actually be able to shoot. I've watched that show and some others a few times, it's funny how dumb the scripts are, if people were actually that unskilled I doubt they would make 1 year in a place like that.
Sue needs to work on here shooting skills as well!
That's muskox hunting I hear. The way they react to danger is to form a circle with the young in the center. Works pretty good with wolves but not so well with gun or bowhunters.
Very few are killed in spot and stalk since the terrain is so flat. I think you need to hunt them in the simmer when they are in the rolling hills to be able to hunt them spot and stalk. Paul Brunner hunted them this way.
they were not sport hunting
they were shopping for meat Alaska style.
the two are unrelated activities
and no...........if you hunt muskox even in the snow, it need not be done that way. it can be done more sporting than that.
They are killing for survival not because they have a week off and hunt for the trophy. As far as Chip shooting the ox several times, I'm sure many hunters with more powerful rifles have done the same. I have watched Agnes drop a caribou on the run several times, which is not easy to do. I would like to see all the ones who critique the Halistones and the rest live that life for a year and see how you survive. There is a major difference in being a sportsman and surviving. You have the luxury to go buy supermarket food if your weekend hunt doesn't produce. I have not seen one of the characters on that show exhibit any disrespect for the animals they harvest. Question? what's more disrespectful, an individual who depends on animals for living taking multiple shots to kill that animal or someone who hunts mainly for sport, shoots an animal and then jumps around whopping and hollering and fist pumping and saying that you smoked him, or wacked him or you gave them a dirt nap, all while giggling like a school girl? Give me a break.
I really liked the episode when Sue tries to harvest ptarmigan with a .22 and the fox that hangs around her land kept chasing them off hahaha.
I love the Hailstones,. Great family and really living off the land. Those that are dinging them so badly evidently have not done so and when talking about Agnes'shooting skills evidently did not see her dumping a couple of caribou on the run with an old military rifle with iron sights.
Sue on the other hand is one tough old gal but is scared to death and truly is one lousy shot.
Chip showed little knowledge of the black powder guns but it is what he could use. He did stay with the one animal until he finally got it down. We have no way of knowing if it was bad shot placement or simply poor penetration or killing power. He may have even been using the wrong bullets like round balls/ for the job at hand. Under loading ect with powder. Its obvious he did not have much familiarity with the weapons.
Glen is great. I enjoy the show for what it is. Entertainment.
God bless, Steve
That pretty much is how the Natives hunt in my limited experience. Sue might lack shooting and equipment skills but is tougher then most men (mentally), She's a unique individual for sure, of parse I don't watch much TV!!
When the guy was shooting the muzzleloader, I kept wondering how he knew which one he had already shot at, whether he hit any of them....
It was bad. Very bad....
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Relax guys. Don't believe everything you see depicted on "reality" tv when it comes to Alaska.
Then again, hunting for food in Arctic Alaska is just never going to fit your narrative for hunting for entertainment (food as a secondary reason...) in the Lower 48.
Your criticism is misplaced.
Pete
These shows have to stop. Life Below Zero and Yukon Men have really portrayed the ugly side of living a sustainable lifestyle in a harsh environment. Alaskan Bush People is probably the biggest farce ever pulled on TV viewers, and Discovery Channel should be ashamed for ever giving that family one minute of television exposure.
It's all scripted for entertainment, and the episode being debated was horrible. I have no idea how many muskox Chip shot at that day, but I can guarantee it was more than one. That dude and his wife are clueless and really do a dis-service to the those who truly live a subsistence lifestyle.
Alaska used to be a place of wonder and amazement. These shows along with Alaska State Troopers have shown just the opposite. Very sad...
I went along with a rifle hunter on my first bou hunt last winter and watched as two guys on a snow machine ran down a small herd we were about to stalk and the guy on the back of the snow machine shot into the herd while they were doing around 35 mph with a semi-auto AR-15. He emptied his magazine and one animal fell and 2 more limped off, obviously gut-shot.
A few weeks later, while at work, I had a guy tell me about how he goes out in the middle of winter to his "favorite spot about 50 miles from the village" and shoots "about 30" bou from a perch and just leaves them to freeze and takes 2 home at a time on his sled and leaves the rest till he runs out of meat.
When I asked him if the foxes, ravens, and wolves get them, he replied, "yeah, they sure do chew at them. I just flip them over and saw off the good parts with my saws-all."
And they just closed all the federal land in the unit to all but subsistence hunting even though the NRs take about 600 bou/yr and the locals take 11,000.
Living off the land! What a joke. These people are being paid good money to pretend that they are living off the land. Reality TV ceases being that on day 1 when the first pay check is cut. This is reality TV about as much as Gilligan's Island is a documentary of people stranded on a deserted island!
Ollie,
Always amusing to see someone from a small, flat, warm state passing judgment on how easy it is to live and survive in a small Alaska village! Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom.
Pete
"Don't believe everything you see depicted on "reality" tv when it comes to Alaska."
So Pete, how is what I said any different than what you said? I guess those of us who live outside of Alaska are too dumb and too uninformed to have an opinion of what we see on a "reality" tv show.
Id be happy to spend time with any of them honestly...
Damn, I'm glad I have never watched any of these " reality " shows y'all are talking about. Sounds like wasted time to me.
I did tune into Lone Star Law a couple times to see if I had ever been arrested on camera though.............
Don't believe all those BS shows on AK. I know of 3 shows in particular that are only made for money making purposes and not about how life really is.
The one regarding buying homes in Ak is total BS. I know a guy that was on one episode: "he bought his own house".
Yeah those producers are idiots and most people believe what they see on tv
Idyllwildarcher- was your experience in alaska yes?
Ollie,
You said: These people are being paid good money to pretend that they are living off the land.
Knowing a bit about the Hailstone's situation, I'd say that your contention that they are pretending to live off the land is a bit condescending. My guess is that you have very little idea of what it takes to live in a village in Arctic Alaska.
If you do actually have that life experience, I apologize. But if you are sitting in a small, warm, flat state just assuming that they get paid a bunch of money to "pretend" to live off the land, then my criticism stands.
Regards,
Pete
I saw the episode the other day, this was after reading the original post on this thread and a few others with the same view. I say if you're living in Alaska and above the arctic circle, you gotta do what you gotta do to stay alive, there is no "sport" in survival.
I don't know much about Chip Hailstone but Heimo Korth is the real deal.
The ratings are what counts, and yes it's about making money. Both the TV producers and the characters make a living, as I'm sure most of you do when you go to work. Regardless if it's 100% true or not it's for entertainment for the folks who don't or can't go to Alaska. I'm sure 99% of you would take that deal if offered to be on one of those shows, and would do so without hesitation. The down side is all the attention these shows bring to Alaska, will attract more and more people which ultimately changes the way of life.
I live in Palmer, Ak and can only comment a couple of these shows. The first is "Buying Alaska", as reps from that show were in our office "looking" for a couple to act as lower 48ers to act in an episode. I also know two people whose homes were on the show, one supposedly sold however it never did, no offer was ever made, it was all fabricated. The second was Off Road Warriors. In fact I wrote the permit for them to film on certain properties. It was a fabricated "competition" about guys racing across Alaska in modified 4wds. The last one is the Alaska Bush People. I was hunting in the bay where their "homestead" is down near Hoonah in May. They weren't there, they live in town and only come out for filming. The network had a truck on their property for hauling equipment around. So much for the off the grid stuff, you could get from their front door to Hoonah in about 25 minutes. I also know people who have been involved with two other shows. I cannot however say the names of the shows because they are so descriptive it would be very easy to figure out who the characters are. My friends are still under contract to keep up their fake personnas for up to 3 years. They are both total and utter fabrications.
It's all as real and legit as anything on the outdoor channel. Or any other channel for that matter. Editing creates controversy, which in turns creates gossip(hence this thread) gossip gets the channel changed, which increases viewers. They have people with degrees to ensure this chain reaction happens. Don't get to emotionally invested in what you see on TV guys. On a side note, never seen sport hunting in a village. They call it "catching". Filling freezers. Spent some time with a guy that helped film a few episodes of LBZ, you'd be sad if you heard the behind the scenes details just watch the show and enjoy being ignorant to reality!
So now I have to admit to my wife that she is right when she says, "why do you watch that crap on TV"
I always wonder why the Hailstones have brand new snow machines, but cant get a better rifle or at least some type of tripod so she doesn't shoot offhand.
I do like that guy Marty on Mountain Men, seems like a stand up guy. I also like watching some of the others on life below zero, Yukon Men and Alaska, the last frontier. I may not take it all as real, but its pretty cool to see some of it. The fish wheels they use for salmon are pretty cool.
What did I miss here? They are not hunting in the same way as most of us think of hunting. They are harvesting fish, animals and eggs for their food value. Rules are very much different. He had to kill the ox with black powder due to the issues outlined above. This is in no way a "hunting show". Regardless of how you feel about the accuracy of reality programming IMO the point has been missed.
