Fans of the pay television network History Channel have certainly come across the reality show “Mountain Men”, which premiered on 31 May 2012, and is currently airing its 10th season. It stars Tom Oar, D. B. Sweeney and Eustace Conway, and follows three men who are living their lives in the wilderness, away from any populated areas. These men are able to make it solely thanks to their survival skills, which include knowing how to hunt, fish and gather various supplies in the woods, or high up in the mountains.
Besides the three main cast members, the show also features a couple of other people who are living in the wilderness, including Marty Meierotto who’s living in Two Rivers, Alaska with his wife Dominique and their child Noah, the American mountain lion hunter Rich Lewis who’s living with his wife Diane in Ruby Valley, Montana, and the American fur trapper George Michaud, who usually camps along Idaho’s Teton Range and Snake River.
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One of the stars of the show, Tom Oar, was a rodeo cowboy before he decided to change his life entirely and move close to the Yaak River in Montana. Tom and his wife Nancy work hard to be able to survive a seven-month winter, while their dog Ellie is there to help them hunt, as well as to keep them warm at night.
Tom Oar’s biography
Tom Oar was born in Illinois, USA in 1943 – his exact date of birth remains undisclosed, but his zodiac sign is believed to be Gemini, and he holds American nationality. He’s been a cast member of “Mountain Men” since its premiere, and is mostly popular due to his amazing survival skills.
Tom was raised in Illinois by his father Chike Oar, who was an actor and reality TV star, and appeared in various US Wild West shows. Tom hasn’t spoken of having any siblings, so he’s believed to be an only child, and because he hasn’t talked about his mother, some people wonder if she was around while Tom was growing up.
Not a lot is known about Tom’s life prior to joining the show “Mountain Men”. He completed his high school education in 1961, and married Nancy sometime in the following nine years. The two lived in Troy, Montana for a couple of years, and Tom spent that time serving as a combo rider in rodeo contests, from the age of 20 years old, but had to quit a few years later, because the falls endemic in that profession had endangered his health.
After accepting the situation, Tom moved to one of the most remote areas of Montana with Nancy, living in the woods all by themselves. It didn’t take them long to build themselves a warm and cozy cabin, located 50 miles (80kms) from the nearest store; Tom and Nancy don’t really need the store anyway, because they hunt for and prepare their own food every day.
They also make a lot of money, and Tom’s net worth is estimated at more than $200,000 as of early 2022.
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He has received most of this for starring in “Mountain Men”, but he’s also believed to be one of the best animal skin tanners in the US, and so also makes money by selling his merchandise. Tom and Nancy use the skin of the animals which they hunt to make trousers, shirts, jackets and moccasins which they then sell for quite a lot of money, while most of these are made of tanned deer skin. Whenever they travel to a city, the two take all of what they have to sell, and they rarely have anything left to take back to their cabin. Thanks to the popularity which the show has brought him, Tom also gets many orders on the internet, which are passed to him by the show’s staff.
Tom and Nancy have three children together: Keelie, Jack and Chad, however, they’re keeping them away from the media’s attention, and apparently don’t want them to struggle in the wilderness, which is why they’re living in Chicago, Illinois.
Tom is today 78 years old. He has long brown hair and long white beard, brown eyes, his height is 6ft (1.83m), and he weighs around 175lbs (80kgs).
Where it Tom Oar today?
People haven’t seen Tom in “Mountain Men” in a while, and have been wondering what has happened to him, and if he’s perhaps passed away.
Growing older has made it a lot harder for Tom to hunt and skin animals as efficiently as he did iwhen he was younger, and he thus chose to leave his cabin in the woods and move with his wife to Florida. He spent most of his life out there in the wilderness, but has stated that his way of living isn’t for anyone, and that he was perhaps born 200 years late.
There are several other reasons why Tom has quit living his life as a ‘Mountain Man’, and one of these is his popularity. The show has made him and a couple of other cast members famous, and in an interview which Tom had given to “Allegheny Mountain Radio”, he spoke of how people came to the cabin to talk to him nearly every day in the summer, and how they wanted to shake his hand. They all admired him, took pictures of Tom and the cabin, without realizing that one of the reasons why Tom had set out to live in the wilderness was because he wanted privacy.
To avoid people who might want to come and meet him in Florida, Tom has kept the other details of his current location hidden, and his fans can only try and guess in which city he’s living, if in a city at all; some believe that he has found a remote area in Florida to continue living in at least relative wilderness, but naturally this hasn’t been confirmed.
Another star of “Mountain Men” – Eustace Conway
Eustace Robinson Conway was born in Columbia, North Carolina USA, on 15 September 1961 – his zodiac sign is Virgo, and he holds American nationality. He’s a naturalist who’s known for two things: being the star of “Mountain Men”, and the subject of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book “The Last American Man”.
Eustace was raised in Columbia alongside his three siblings by their parents, about whom nothing’s known, as Eustace respects their privacy.
He was only 17 years old when he moved away, and started living in a tepee in the woods. Eustace has hiked the entire Appalachian National Scenic Trail, and has also claimed that he has set the world record of riding on horseback across the US, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in 103 days; this was later disputed by the magazines “Los Angeles Times” and “The New York Times”, because the actual record today is 62 days, held by Bud and Temple Abernathy.
A documentary movie about Eustace’s life was released in 2003, entitled “Full Circle: A Life Story of Eustace Conway”, while he was also featured in the 2012 documentary movie “Reconvergence”.
Eustace today owns 1,000 acres of land in Boone, North Carolina, which he’s turned into Turtle Island Preserve, where tourists come to take tours, camp in summer, and engage in workshops; “Mountain Men” also follows him working on his reserve.
He faced problems in November 2012, when Turtle Island was shut down because the area’s building codes were allegedly violated by Eustace’s traditional buildings. He was close to reaching a deal with the North Carolina Building Code Council in the following month, however, not long after that, Eustace was arrested after he had trespassed on his neighbor’s property and started arguing with him. On 12 June 2013, after the North Carolina General Assembly joined the discussion between Eustace and North Carolina Building Code, Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill into law which would exempt primitive structures from the building code, thus fixing all of Eustace’s problem.
Another “Mountain Men” star – Marty Meierotto
Marty Meierotto was born in Wisconsin USA in 1966 – his exact birthdate remains undisclosed – he holds American nationality. He’s a trapper and reality TV personality, who gained recognition only after he began starring in the reality show “Mountain Men”.
Marty was raised in Wisconsin alongside his brother Jeff,by their parents, about whom nothing’s known, as the two men respect their privacy. Marty attended a local high school from which he matriculated in 1984, and because he hasn’t spoken of his further education, it’s widely believed that he hasn’t attended college.
Not long after matriculating, Marty married Dominique, a non-celebrity American woman who can be seen featured in a couple of episodes of “Mountain Men”, and they have a daughter together named Noah.
Marty’s interest in trapping came from his father who had excelled at it, and who often took Marty and Jeff with him when he went hunting. The trio would occasionally together check the traps set by the boys’ father in the north of Wisconsin, and Marty knew straight away that he wanted to become a trapper.
Because they had tough luck catching animals in Wisconsin, Marty and Jeff moved to Alaska together, to try living in the wilderness.
As soon as the producers of the show “Mountain Men” had learned about the two men, they invited them to star in it, which was an easy choice for Marty and Jeff – Marty’s net worth is today estimated at over $250,000
Other interesting cast members of “Mountain Men”
The producers of the show have since its premiere found many other people who are trying to live in the wilderness, and have invited many of them to appear in “Mountain Men”. We’re going to mention a couple of more people who have made the show even more interesting to watch.
Rich Lewis, whom we have mentioned earlier, is today surviving in Ruby Valley by hunting mountain lions with his hounds.
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His wife Diane is mostly focused on working around the house, but is also a skilled hunter herself. The two appeared in only the sixth season, and refused to be featured in the following season for unknown reasons.
Charlie Tucker’s a fur trapper, who’s today living in Great North Woods, and can mostly be seen together with another fur trapper, Jim Dumond.
Kyle Bell lives in New Mexico’s Cimarron Valle, and is an avid hunter and outfitter; he travels across more than 45,000 acres in search of animals to hunt. Kyle has a 10-year-old son Ben.
Jake Herak is a mountain lion hunter who’s today living in Tobacco Root Mountains, Montana.
The game hunters and cattle ranchers the Youren brothers Kidd and Harry, live in Sawtooth Wilderness, Idaho.
Josh Kirk is a game hunter and ranch manager, who’s living with his wife Bonnie and daughter Eden in Wind River Range, Wyoming.
Is “Mountain Men” fake?
There’s not a single reality show out there that is 100 percent real, and “Mountain Men” is no exception. While some people have claimed that it’s entirely fake, most of the show is actually real, and is closer than any other show to depicting how people survive in the wilderness.
There have occasionally been times in the show when the producers would exaggerate certain events to add a bit of drama to it, and to make it all seem a bit more dangerous. It has been pointed out that it would be boring to watch the same people do the same things every day, without taking any risks and having no excitement.
Tom Oar has even admitted to having watched TV with his wife, even though they shouldn’t have had electricity in their cabin, at least not from the grid, but then their ingenuity apparently know no bounds!
