Living in Montana, I do have a prospective on the 2 men from the Yaak and Ruby Valleys.
What they are doing is not uncommon, for the man in the Yaak, I know several folks in their 80's+ that still live on their farmsteads way back in the hills. Northwest Montana is pretty remote anyway with a lot of dirt/mud or gravel roads.
Don't let age fool you either. My 90 year old uncle still hunted elk, worked with my father in his sawmill, skidded logs with horses, and helped build our cabin until he passed away.
Folks that live like that usually have neighbors that help them from time to time, just as the folks will reciprocate and help if someone needs it. It is usually an interdependent community where folks take care of each other because there is nobody else there to do the job. So if one guy has a cat or grader, he will maintain the private roads, somebody else will pass out garden stuff, when there is a cow or hog butchered, the meat is shared, when somebody takes wild game, you might get invited to a barbeque or over for supper while when there is a fire or flood or blizzard, the whole community checks on the older/weaker residents to make sure they are safe and shelter is offered in others homes for those that may be impacted. Everybody joins in on the firelines or building dikes while the womenfolk make sure everybody is fed and has a safe place to sleep at night.
Folks that live that lifestyle have to be tough to survive. My father for instance after having open heart surgery was caring for his livestock within 3 days of the operation. He got home and took a walk to the top of the hill behind the house (about a mile round trip), just to check the doctor's "plumbing" skills and make sure he did a good job
The guy in the Ruby Valley in SW Montana is pretty typical for folks in that area. Beaverhead County is about the size of some of the smaller eastern states,(like New Hampshire) but there are only 6 Deputy Sheriffs to cover it so the folks there are pretty self reliant and independent. They don't appreciate interference from outside.
It is also a long ways from anywhere, at least a couple hundred miles from the nearest large hospital for instance.
While the show is dramatized, the way the guys live and speak is fairly accurate. The guy in the Ruby Valley for instance is probably what is called here a "government trapper" who is licensed by the state Fish Wildlife and Parks to handle problem wildlife.
The reason I say that is because it is illegal to harrass wildlife unless it is for a specific licensed purpose.
Away from the towns, those guys aren't that different from a lot of folks. I enjoy watching the show, but take it with a grain of salt because it is edited for dramatic effect.
To answer another post:
evan83 They probably have criminal records or are sex offenders.
Troll comments without any basis in fact or evidence are slander.
It is very doubtful that they would be criminals of any sort. Most are highly intelligent, hard working people who simply want to live their lives as they want to.
It wouldn't be a good life for a child molester, too far from places where you would find kids for one thing, for another, most of those guys would rather die than hurt a kid or a woman. They usually live by an old code of taking care of each other and respecting women and children.
Most would rather loose a hand than take anything they didn't earn or buy. I have seen men with hard calloused hands carrying a small screw or bolt to the cash register to pay their 8 cents rather than stick it in their pocket.
To steal would besmirch their honor and good name. They might not have much, but their pride keeps them the most honest and straightforward people you will ever meet.
It is a very alien concept to some city folk, but these guys aren't that different from the people that settled here 150 years ago.
They are decent and honorable men and women.
Usually when we get a crackpot like the Unibomber living here, he came from acadamia and the city and brought his mental health issues and problems with him.
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