"Terrible Island" Alaska 3.12.13

Another supposedly “reality” show misleads everyone about Alaska, once again. These shows repeatedly embarrass Alaskans with their lack of reality. I am very disappointed with the Discovery Channel not having taken the time to look for and feature Alaskans who truly live in the bush and live a subsistence life style. Alaska has some amazing people who truly possess the skills needed to live off the land and that is more likely what the viewers want to see. But instead these shows are often based on misleading film shots and their version of what life in Alaska should be, not reality. This time Discovery Channel  episode “Alaska The Last Frontier” dished Montague Island, renaming it: “Terrible Island”. That alone shows Alaskans what little the Discovery Channel knows about Montague Island (or maybe they do know better and feel the viewers are gullible enough to fall for it…?) The show is based on a local Homer family that lives off East End Road in Homer - not exactly what Alaskans consider the bush since it is on the road system and has as much businesses and services as a town of its size in the lower 48. The legend of “Terrible Island” episode follows Atz Lee Kilcher and Eivin Kilcher on a deer hunt to Montague Island during the early bucks-only season. Several times during this hunt the Kilchers complain that there are no deer to be found. Of course they made a common ‘first time in Prince William Sound’ deer hunting mistake. When hunting in the Sound during the bucks only season, you must go to the top of the mountains, not mill around the foot of the mountains and along the beach. The deer like the grasses on the upper slopes and the fresh growth along the edges of the melting snow. Also, on the open upper slopes, the deer can easily detect predators in the open terrain. They also complained incessantly about bugs. Clearly the Kilchers didn’t do any home work, or they would know that August is the height of black fly season. Have you ever wondered why there are so many honey dew plants on these islands? The honey dews eat black flies. The only way to protect yourself at that time of year is with bug nets and gloves. I got a good laugh when the Kilchers claimed they saw black bear tracks on Montague Island. I hope they informed the Department of Fish and Game about this sighting as they would be very interested to know that black bears have recently moved onto Montague Island! Once again, some basic research would have informed them that there are only brown bears on Montague Island. It is a good idea to do your homework before hunting an area you are not familiar with. If they had just ‘googled’ black bears on Montague Island or checked out the ADF&G web site, they would have known there are no black bears on Montague Island. The Alaska Department of Fish& Game has a lot of information on their web site on everything related to hunting and fishing. If they had looked at the web page on spotting scopes and binoculars they would have realized how dangerous it is to use your rifle scope for spotting game, as they did throughout the episode. I am glad I wasn’t hunting the same area as these guys at that same time! Oh, one tip for the Discovery Channel crew, if you don’t want boats driving by your camp, don’t hang a red jacket along the shore. Most boaters and aircraft will interpret that as a distress signal. I wasted my time and gas thinking you were in trouble but since you didn’t monitor the VHF radio, you didn’t hear the entertaining ‘cheechako’ jokes from the local hunters who also thought you needed some kind of help.

Throughout the hunt, the Kilchers kept commenting on how they must harvest some deer so their family can make it through the winter. Let’s get a little closer to reality here. Sitka black-tailed deer are not going to fill the freezer like a moose or caribou, even if you harvest your 5 deer limit. Boned out, these deer produce 35 to 45 pounds of meat each on average. 10 deer (2 people’s limit) totals 450 pounds of meat. This would give you 3.75 pounds of meat a day for 120 days. In over 25 years of hunting Prince William Sound, I have never seen a first time deer hunter in Prince William Sound max out their limit in the bucks-only season. Most Alaskans realize that if you are trying to feed a family on what wild game you harvest, you must consider the costs of acquiring the game. In the Kilcher’s case, they took a water taxi from Whittier to Montague Island. They would have had to spend at least $2200 in water taxi fees if they had chartered the least expensive water taxi out of Whittier to get to Montague Island (which they did not do.) Then add to that the cost of driving to Whittier from Homer, fuel for their raft, ammo and all the supplies needed to maintain a camp out there. Taking just the water taxi fee into account, their harvested meat would be at least $5 a pound if they had limited out (but more than likely closer to $7/lb taking all expenses into account.) You can get meat packs from  Mikes Quality Meats at around $3/lb. That would give you over 730 lbs of meat at the cost of the water taxi alone. That would end up at 6 pounds of meat a day for 120 days. Going to their local butchery, the Kilchers would not have had to shoot their prize cow to make it through the winter. But let’s talk reality: most Alaskan hunters don’t rely on deer as their only source of meat. Most deer hunting in Alaska is for the sport and the meat is a bonus. Many enjoy being in the wilderness and the camaraderie of their friends. If you are looking to live off wild game only, you should look at moose or caribou to fill the freezer. As for the Discovery Channel, shame on you for not doing your home work. You should have taken the time to find Alaskans that are experienced in the bush and also shame on you for giving Montague Island a bad name. This is not the first time, nor do I expect it will be the last time these so called reality shows of Discovery Channel mislead the viewers about life in Alaska. They are nothing like National Geographic, but more like the tabloid news papers at the grocery store checkout stands with lots of entertainment and very few facts. I can’t believe there are tax break incentives for these companies to film in Alaska when all they do is mislead viewers in their portrayal of life in the last frontier.