I ABSOLUTELY HATE THAT PEOPLE ARE "EXPERIMENTING" KILLING THINGS ALL FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES. I WATCHED THE EPISODE WHEN THEY WERE TRYING TO KILL A GOAT. FOR WHAT? ALL THE SALMON THEY ARE CATCHING COULD BE FOOD FOR BEARS WHO USE IT TO SURVIVE THE WINTER. THIS SHOW IS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS AND I AM SOOOO ANGRY THAT PEOPLE FIND THIS KIND OF SLAUGHTER ENTERTAINING! IF YOU EVER THINK YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE WILDERNESS, FOR GOD'S SAKE....WATCH LES STROUD OR EVEN BEAR GRILES. THESE PEOPLE NEED TO GO BACK HOME AND GO SHOPPING. ALASKA IS A BEAUTIFUL WILDERNESS IN THESE AREAS AND CERTAINLY NOT A PLACE FOR SOME HAIRBRAINED TV SHOW. FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL BLEW IT!
There is a thing called the circle of life and humans are a part of that circle. The few salmon caught didn't starve any bears and the game taken didn't hurt anything either. State Game and Fish give out hunting/fighing licenses for a reason.
As for shopping instead of hunting. Hunting is much cheaper and if you buy meat you are advocating the killing of animals so that is no better, actualy I feel it's worse.
If they go shopping, they will buy meat from animals that were slaughtered. Animals from slaughter houses are raised and butchered in sometimes deplorable conditions. Hunting an animal and killing it with 1-2 shots is much more humane than buying slaughtered meat from a grocery store. The animals killed by hunters lived their lives roaming free instead of being raised in tiny pens and transported in trucks without being given food or water the entire length of the trip to slaughter (sometimes a 2 or more day trip). Hunting is much more human than buying meat from a store.
They killed a goat to eat it. Would have been bad if they killed it for fun and left it there but they didn't. They ate it. If you think the salmon they are catching is starving a bear then you are nuts! You think Bear Grylls and Les Stroud never killed animals for food? They do it all the time. There is no difference in what these folks are doing. Maybe you need to just turn off your tv and go shopping! Just don't buy any meat or fish, vegetables (that feed animals), leather products, wool, or water (because the bears might go thirsty!)
There is no significant risk to impacting the environment in any way whatsoever. The volunteers are a disgrace and thank goodness the human race isnt depending on these inept individuals. We dont believe for a minute that these muppets are killing goats from great distances after a limited introduction to hunting. The hero of the show is clearly Dennis Wise. His sickeningly rude and ungratefull daughters should be left behind once the crew leaves for an attitude adjustment. Well done Dennis- your patience is impressive. The show should inspire a book, possibly titled "Dennis Wise and why I didnt shoot them..." Classic Discovery film work, Doug Allen must have been in there somewhere. Brilliant arial footage. Shame about the choice of volunteer.
Catydid - I respect your opinion but disagree. I feel these teams create very limited if any impact on the Alaska Wilderness or the animal population. The salmon they are catching come to spawn. After that they die and rot on the bottom of the creeks and rivers. Removing a few has no impact on the food chain. Besides, with the skill most of these teams displayed at catching them, they have no impact at all.
As for the goat hunting, all of this is regulated by Alaska game laws. If the State of Alaska thought this was impacting their game herds, believe me it would not be getting done.
I am certainly not against hunting per se. (although I never would) and I do eat meat. All I was objecting to was this show as "experiment". Why do humans always have to intrude on wilderness to this extreme? We already know how tough it would be to survive in Alaska if you are an office worker from potunk,usa. It would be so much more interesting to follow the Inuit (sic) and see how they survive . That would be interesting!
catydid.. that would make an interesting show on the life style of the inuit. I believe there has been some programs to that effect. The movie Snow Walker was a good movie as well.
I can understand you feeling that this was not necessary. But the cabins were there, people have been living in these areas and visiting these areas for countless years. I believe the producers just came up with this idea of something that might interest the average person who always wondered.. could I make it there? It must have worked as the show seems to have a good following, and the message boards, and commments, both good and bad about the show and how it is run, are increaasing every day.
catydid is obviously very naive and perhaps needs some more education on how we all survive on a daily basis, and it's not like some public access channel just went out into the wild and started filming people with little or no regard to their surroundings, gaming laws, etc. All of that stuff would be taken care of and followed. Also Paul Clos would make sure that if people were disrespecting the land, not obeying gaming rules, etc. that they were put in their place (including the producers).
So anyway, my comment isn't for catydid, but for indeep... Calling the volunteers disgraceful and inept? That's ridiculous! Where do you get off, what's your reason, etc? And, saying that Mr. Wise is the only person worth his weight? Mr. Wise needs to man up and put his daughters in their place. He obviously didn't do a good enough job raising them, as they are SO disrectful, rude, disgusting and more.
Calling all of the other volunteers disgraceful is a disgraceful and disrespectful act on your part indeep.
Catydid's post makes me think: how about an "Experiment" in the city. Send some suburban types into the deep inner city, with 50 bucks, a Rolex watch, and a cardboard refrigerator box. Let's see how they do in the Ghetto! They'll have to sleep in the Subway, negotiate some panhandling, dumpster dive, find a toilet, submit to a "mugging" (by producers of course). the goal is to "Get home".
Catydid, before you put down some one for what they are doing, try doing it yourself. This is a more realistic view of life in Alaska unlike most shows. It can be hard living up here, not to mention dangerous. I hope others who are watching take note of how hard it can be before they come up here to "find themselves" or to "get away from it all".
How can anyone post something they apparently know so little about? Buying meat at the supermarket increases your carbon footprint on the planet, however, hunting does not. Oh my gawd, do you really think that by catching salmon in Alaska is going to make the bears starve? What a joke. That would be like claiming that mowing the lawn will make the cows and bunnies starve. This is a great show! It is great for us seasoned Alaskans to watch and chuckle over. It does portray how difficult it is in the bush and people need to stop, think and admire the native Alaskans who have lived like this all their lives. Get over yourself!
It seems that some poster's sense of outrage is constrained only by their imagination.
It is true that humans have been "living off the land" and hunting animals for tens of thousands of years. Now, this activity, which is completely natural to our species, is considered an offense of the worst variety.
Sounds like you've attended one too many Al Gore Save The Environment rallies, Cat. There is nothing unnatural about hunting and fishing. No bears were deprived of their chances at surviving the winter. (To be sure - the volunteers were hardly skilled enough to present much of a challenge to the fish). Mt. goats fall to their deaths and are crushed under avalanche - are these also wrong? It's just part of being - the cycle of death and life. Would you have been offended at the bears if they had used a volunteer to fatten up for the winter? You might find the notion offensive - but the bear would find an unarmed human much easier to deal with than an elk. Point is - put your eco-feelings away. Learning to respect AK requires going there and standing in awe of her - both terrible and beautiful - and doing what she demands to live on.
Originally posted by catydid: I ABSOLUTELY HATE THAT PEOPLE ARE "EXPERIMENTING" KILLING THINGS ALL FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES. I WATCHED THE EPISODE WHEN THEY WERE TRYING TO KILL A GOAT. FOR WHAT? ALL THE SALMON THEY ARE CATCHING COULD BE FOOD FOR BEARS WHO USE IT TO SURVIVE THE WINTER. THIS SHOW IS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS AND I AM SOOOO ANGRY THAT PEOPLE FIND THIS KIND OF SLAUGHTER ENTERTAINING! IF YOU EVER THINK YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE WILDERNESS, FOR GOD'S SAKE....WATCH LES STROUD OR EVEN BEAR GRILES. THESE PEOPLE NEED TO GO BACK HOME AND GO SHOPPING. ALASKA IS A BEAUTIFUL WILDERNESS IN THESE AREAS AND CERTAINLY NOT A PLACE FOR SOME HAIRBRAINED TV SHOW. FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL BLEW IT!
what really wrong with you it is part of life even you will do same thing if you get stuck in there someday and that how the your past generation survived in first place stop worries about it it is life!so stop complain man .
This message has been edited. Last edited by: mod_ivy,
Catydid & Indeep, I feel sorry for your shortsigtedness. The producers/creators of this show have taken a valid idea and gone to great lengths to give us/public a realistic view of life in the "wilds of Alaska". They should be appaulled. I would like to see you two people take part in a 90 day experiment like this...I am sure "mother" would give you both a rude awakening. As was stated previously, all fish and game laws were followed. The "houses" were either already present or set up for this program. Simply put, if you don't like what goes on with this program, DON'T watch it. I for one, would go in a heartbeat and volunteer to participate in this "Experiment". Cheers...
I would like to see you two people take part in a 90 day experiment like this
I like this idea. Perhaps those who object to hunting and fishing, or even the idea of trampling across the pristine Alaskan wilderness in efforts to gather fierewood, for example, might demonstrate, by volunteering for the experiment, how best to survive absent these activites.
If a zero impact approach to survival is possible in the remote wilderness for extended periods of time, maybe they can bring it to light. I would tune in.
Perhaps they might uncover an approach that has gone unnoticed to humanity in its tens-of-thousands of years old struggle for survival against nature.
Catydid....I guess you are getting flammed for this one...Killing for food is not bad. Where do you think you got any of your meat from. Someone had to kiil that animal for you to eat it. The people in this experiment are not do this for our entertainment, they are doing it to survive. I can't help but laugh when you said " they need to go back home and go shopping..." To be quite honest they are shopping...they shop each and everyday for the wood, food and water they need to live on. I guess you can say they are shopping in Mother Nature's Pantry. We all have became very dependant on our stores for food, clothes and I do think we all have running water at home. We all take the things we have for granted at times. Just as little as 80 to 100 years ago we had to go out and find our own food. I have been camping, hiking, hunting, fishing all my life and I would never take any of it back. I would do this if I had the chance in a HEART BEAT !!!
