Mountain Men (2012– ) User Reviews

"Is it live or is it Memorex" (dead give away of my age! LOL)

[wvmafia · 8/10 · 23 April 2017]

I understand the "negative" comments about the "staging and scripting", but I would challenge ANYONE to find a "Reality Show" that is or was 100% true to life without staging or scripting. Some have been so fake that it was found out that there was more scripting that REALITY.

What this show does show is the lifestyle that some people live and some things that people do to "survive and thrive". Is it staged? Sure, some of it is, but as far as I'm concerned is when I become a fan of a reality show, its because I like its ENTERTAINMENT VALUE and like the things I can learn. I'm a lifelong city boy, so real or staged, many of the things on Mountain Men offers me a chance to learn something I didn't know before.

Happy Viewing Brian

Stop the freaking recap

[auman-82987 · 6/10 · 15 December 2018]

I'm enjoying the subject of the show, but the constant recap gets extremely annoying. 2/3 of each episode is recapping content of the current episode.

Entertaining show!

[spamfreein2003-1 · 8/10 · 12 August 2014]

@ bg_7774 from Tennessee...you are incorrect. An opossum that gets into your coop will target eggs and young chicks, but they are certainly known to kill adult chickens as well. Small chickens are especially at risk. When they kill adult chickens, they will take one or more, and leave remains quite similar to what a raccoon leaves: the body or bodies will usually be left where they were killed, rather than carried away.

The show itself is entertaining. I like the different locations that are portrayed. I like men too. They all bring their own unique flavor to the show.

Sometimes the events seem scripted, but I can look past that as they are produced for engaging the audience.

I like it!

Tom Oar

[kimberlymackie · 9/10 · 11 July 2020]

Tom is Awsome! He is the real deal, he is committed to always doing the right thing and works so very hard. He is an encyclopedia of knowledge and loves his lifestyle. Tom is my fav!

Great show

[wolfmoon2682 · 10/10 · 19 July 2013]

I seen the rating on here and was pretty shocked with how low it was. I love the show and haven grown up in the mountains in upstate NY i can say it is pretty accurate. I'm no mountain man but i am no stranger to the way of life either. The show is authentic so ignore any haters.

The only thing about it that i find annoying is that they repeat themselves way too much. I lost track of how many times i heard bears are dangerous. Or you can't fight the weather... Other than that small gripe i enjoy it very much.

I think more Americans need to learn how to survive and live off of the land, i fear we have become far too separated from nature. The show might help to actually teach people a thing or two. Nothing too complex as there is an element of drama for TV.

Hopefully it will spark some interest in the freedoms out country should be enjoying rather than the hustle and bustle of the average 9-5 wageslave. These men are truly free. You have to respect that!

Excellent Show

[PartialMovieViewer · 9/10 · 13 August 2013]

I watch TV and movies for entertainment – and this is first class entertainment. Is this all real, you say? Bah! Well of course it's all real. Are there things missing that might make it more entertaining? But of course. They could have a Blue Ridge Mountain Pawnshop; or Alleghany Alligator Anglers (this is TV – sharks can fall from the sky – why can't there be Alleghany Alligators?), or how about, 'The Kardashians Styling-up the Catskills'? The possibilities are boundless. I only kid about that stuff above…those may not fly – but I don't know…I may watch any of those. Anyways, this show has a lot to offer dealing with the hardships of mountain living or living off the land. I could do without the staged events. Most episodes carry themselves without any added 'drama' of the self-spun fables. When my B.S. detector goes off – so does the show. I imagine these folks do a lot of paint-watching during bad storms and crappy weather. I can handle that better than dreamt-up filler. This is a fine program about some pretty independent people who are highly skilled at self-preservation. This show is a keeper.

Entertaining show

[ktteraji-64213 · 7/10 · 29 January 2022]

I would watch a Morgan and Margret show. They are/were new to off the grid living. IMO, most of the fans want to do what they do. There was a lot of doubt in the beginning but they worked through it. I find the other actors as fluff pieces. "they're pros, they're great, only they can do this, they've done this for whatever years and are the best." another bothersome criticism, when the actors and Sweeney are saying misfire. Maybe the term means something different off grid but firing and missing your target is not a misfire in my upbringing. The other actors it's always how great they are at what they do. That's a fluff piece for someone's ego. But it's still an entertaining show. BTW. The filming angles just shows how each shot is scripted. Never the less, just wish they they gave more airtime to Morgan and Margret. They're doing what I want to do.

Awesome Show!

[kristienoel · 10/10 · 23 August 2019]

Love the cast! My favorites are Marty, Tom, and his brother Jack. These guys are very skilled and interesting to watch! Tom and his brother are the last of the great men, besides the original settler's and pioneers, of this country, who brought back the knowledge of how to survive by using these vital skills. It's too bad these skills are being lost today! American heritage should not lost but taught to today's generation. The country would be a better place!

Senseless

[coxjason-12980 · 22 September 2019]

Ive watched this show for quite awhile but just saw the episode where one guy took a hunter to shoot a kodiak. But all they took was the hide. Was pretty brutal. I understand that they kill them too kihei the numbers down but can't the meat be used? I have watched my kart episode of this brutal shoe

Mountain Men

[anitaleib · 6/10 · 20 June 2021]

Please remove the mother and daughter team. They are not mountain men, if I have to hear that whining woman one more time, I'll never watch the program again.

We like Tom and his wife. He is a true mountain man. Good move, getting rid of Morgan.

Frustrated

[poppy-58001 · 3/10 · 28 June 2019]

I've watched the show for years but the cut Away to different segments has gotten old And they take forever to finish a segment because of commercials and cut sways and Recaps . It's just bad editing and continuity Can't keep watching

Love this show except for one

[mleese-48147 · 9/10 · 21 August 2019]

I love the stories of all the Mountain men's journeys and learning how to survive and make a living in the mountains except for one. The cougar chaser. Who cares about how someone makes a living chasing cougars up trees with his dogs to get them to move on to another area? Its the same thing over and over with these 2 guys. The original guy is no longer on the show and we were happy, but now they found another one to take his place. He just gets them to move on to another area why? Maybe so someone else will call him to get it off their property?

not bad but could be lots better

[coyotejoe70 · 5/10 · 8 August 2013]

It's funny how they tell us this is about people who live off the grid but none of them actually do. Marty is off grid when on his trap line but his home is quite modern, as are the others. While the voice-over does over dramatize and exaggerate the "danger aspect" for the most part we do see an honest portrayal of how Marty, Tom and the others live. The one exception is Eustace Conway who's story is total fiction. He does not live off the land but off the people who pay good money to visit his land. He in truth raises almost none of his own food. He claims to live on less than $2,000 per year and that selling firewood is his only source of cash income but check out his website, Turtle Island Preserve. You can visit Turtle Island and get a 2 hour buggy ride for $65 or take a half-day course on how to carve a wooden spoon for $95 but to send your kid to camp is $700 for 7 days or $1400 for 14 days. He claims to live like Daniel Boone but did Ol' Dan have his own website? This phony is a great disappointment and promoting such an obvious phony makes one question the whole series. Eustace is like a televangelist begging viewers to contribute when in fact he is in no need of help but is actually rather well to do. Very disappointing indeed.

Love this show

[pwalker-26061 · 10/10 · 25 March 2022]

Love this show not on enough you keep taking days off in the week. Want to see more and the seasons to grow or go on please bring it back at least all week long.

Chasing mountain lions

[brackinkayden · 8/10 · 26 January 2024]

That's this is the only thing I don't like about mountain men is this young guy with the beard and the other old guy I can't think of his name, but they chase them mountain lines through the mountains and they trim and then they run them to the out of the area and that's it. That's not a mountain man, that's the most boring part of the show to me. I don't like it. I think that should be done away with it and that makes no sense. I understand the purpose but it's not very interesting. I like Eustis Marty and I really like Morgan a lot and I like the blacksmith. I can't think it's Jason I believe but I don't care much for the chasing the mountain lions.

Great show but way too drama added

[Deerslayer3971 · 10/10 · 14 September 2023]

I love this dhow especially Marty snd old man Tom I just hate when they make it so over dramatic.

I dont think they need to do this.

Just tell the story and leave the dramatics and staged scenes out.

I would love to see a just Marty show. Show how hard it is to be a real trapper and to tend multiple trap lines.

Marty is tough as nails and is a poster man for a true woodsmanship. . Tom should have a seperate dhow and dhoe follow the same suit but, shoe how tough it is to live off the land in the rockies.

In my opinion Eustice was the worst snd a awful one to have on the show.

Always whinning on how hard it is to pay bills.

Everyone pays their bills and taxes Eustice is no exception.

I skip all of Eustice's segments after the first season.

The whole dramatic riding the horse through town to the courthouse was so staged and dramatic.

If thr show was based on Eustice i would have stopped watching a long time ago.

Good series, but marred by too much staging and repetitive padding

[laurenthoutent · 5/10 · 24 July 2013]

Great series, but needlessly staged, over dramatized and much too repetitive.

Why create such an atmosphere of danger and stress? We know there is a whole camera crew there at all times. We see Tom and his friends go duck hunting, a duck is shot and the camera shows the dead duck. With a camera crew next to the bird, the hunters can't find it? Embarrassing.

A grizzly is lurking at night in the yard, Tom fires a shot then goes on his own, armed with a torch to investigate. Come on, we have archive footage of a bear, then a probably armed crew goes filming in the yard.

The voice over keeps reminding us that Marty is all on his own, no mention of the cameramen, sound technicians etc. When he breaks down at night "10 miles away from his cabin", are we really to believe that a heartless, sadistic crew would film him unarmed, walking to exhaustion for hours, gasping for water, with bears and wolves marauding? Same when using the plane - will he / won't he make it, shouldn't fly in this weather etc, with his plane being filmed from another aircraft. The loss of his glasses (series 1 -06) to add tension to him being on a very tight schedule ("with no one around for hundreds of miles") was a silly staged situation; search for a couple of minutes, then "oh there they are", camera zooms and miracle! his brown frame, brown oval rimmed spectacles have become white frame white square rim "broken" spectacles!

Eustace owes a fair bit of money and claims he is broke. Is he really staring in two TV series pro bono? The chase for the alleged poacher was not credible. Two mountain men moving silently, but accompanied by a full camera crew stomping in the woods. Any poacher would have heard them from miles away.

The persistent over dramatization is embarrassing. Will he make in time / will he crash / will the bears or the wolves attack / is he lost in the snow etc etc

Why are we shown the same clips half a dozen times during an episode, going back and forth in time? As for the archive footage of hungry bears and wolves (wolves can weight up to 140 pounds we are told zillions of times), perhaps it made cheap padding, but very boring by the end of the series.

Very interesting series, but one gets the feeling that it's produced for an audience of primary school children.

Different producers different fakeness different results

[clibat · 4/10 · 23 January 2021]

It's hard to rate this series because some of the talent is cursed with terrible fake production and others are good. Each segment deserves its own rating. The Hawk family could be a good segment but winds up being the worst because of the terrible set ups by the production staff. The scenes with them noodling for catfish were so fake it should just be skipped over. The best segments are with the Tom Oor. Second best are Eustace. Anything with the hunting dogs are fast forward worthy.

Animal treatment by Harry. Aired on March 24, 2021

[dmchiquita · 1/10 · 25 March 2021]

I was concerned with what happened to Harry's horse on this episode. The horse took a fall while carrying a load. That should be considered animal cruelty and not allowed. Poor horse.

The addition of another Narrator is counter productive

[william_reznor · 3/10 · 31 August 2017]

I have been a fan of this show since its inception but I am growing irritated by the narrator who states the obvious while serving no purpose and adding nothing but frustration to the viewer. If you were trying to serve the Blind it might make sense but you can't possibly be doing that if you understand the industry in which you belong. I hope the decline in viewership will cause you to take notice and I suggest my review comments might be the heart of the matter.

Created Drama Uncalled for killing!

[bg_7774 · 1/10 · 16 June 2013]

The mountain man of North Carolina show I know from experience is so pumped up for ratings I guess... it's laughable. Killing as was done to an small opossum that was in the hen house was totally uncalled for... I live in the mountains with wildlife not killing them. First secure the hen house so nothing can get in.. it's simple and easy. Preventative can be done by using common sense...lazy and being uneducated bring killing for no good reason. Second an opossum does not go after chickens, only the eggs so the dead animals were killed by something else. This is a show pumped up with drama but not the way life is lived by the ones who love nature and wildlife. What is done for reality shows now a days is just stupid.. all for the drama.

Worst Of The Worst....

[smithdean-22092 · 1/10 · 30 October 2019]

I love everything on The Travel Channel but my goodness... This show is completely unwatchable! It's all staged with fake acting! And no one can talk into the camera without SCREAMING! Walking around with fake shotguns with blanks. Terrible stacked upon more terrible.

12 heifers are worth 8400 at best.

[jpfugate · 1/10 · 22 March 2021]

Dude is chasing 12 heifers saying they are worth 30k. If that were true I could retire.

So upsetting...

[bigclowe · 1/10 · 26 September 2021]

Watched this all the way to season 4. It looked like it was staged "and is" but I gave it a chance for entertainment value. Now it's just unwatchable. So lame and fake it's frustrating to watch. It would be cool if reality shows were actually reality but this is what we get these days. Just put a disclaimer on the show so people don't have to go through the nonsense.

A job for a stock footage editor

[wsitgm · 3/10 · 13 November 2019]

2 weeks of real footage cut and spliced with stock footage and repeated dozens of times....even Life above the artic circle wasn't this repetitive and faked.