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Mountain Men Season 14 Episode 13
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00:00The man, the myth, the legend. I think I was born to be a mountain man. A mountain man for more than
00:27half a century. I tend to live in the past. I was born a hundred years too late and maybe
00:33200 years too late. Tom Orr is a master of living off the land. When we first moved up
00:40here, there wasn't any jobs for a person to make a living up here. With skills perfected
00:47over a lifetime of lessons. You've got to keep pushing all the time to just survive out
00:53here.
00:53Hunting. Looks like a good one. Tanning. All right, we've not got this. Trapping.
01:05That's a big sucker. These are hard-won skills. But true mastery lies in passing them on.
01:16That's these beaver casters. It's a set in the land.
01:23From Montana's Yak Valley, these are Tom Orr's survival secrets from a life lived wild and
01:33free.
01:33I've lived the life that I wanted to live. And I'll be a mountain man until the day I die.
01:40What does it take for a modern day pioneer to thrive in the wild? The list is long. But
01:57it all begins with one essential skill. Hunting for wild game. Because in the mountains, those
02:05who can't feed themselves don't last long. After 40 years in the Yak Valley, I've learned
02:12some valuable lessons about life. Hunting is one of the major skills people need to know.
02:20And if you can't feed yourself, it's going to be a little hard to live up here.
02:29A successful hunter must know their surroundings and be able to read the land. A skill Tom Orr
02:35forged through decades of harsh winters and deep snow.
02:38We're looking for a whitetail buck. We'll harvest 100 pounds of meat out of that. It'll feed Nancy
02:47and I into the spring, you know.
02:49Hunt after hunt has given him the knowledge and experience to turn even the toughest conditions
02:56into an advantage.
02:57The new snowfall on the ground, you can see where all the critters are moving at. A lot
03:02of sign, even some scrapes and stuff that I found. So that means the bucks are starting
03:06to come into the rut. So they're up moving more in the daytime and stuff rather than laying
03:12down in the day.
03:14The rut is breeding season, a prime window for hunters to secure their winter meat.
03:20They're a lot easier to hunt when they've got sex on their mind.
03:26There's a bunch of deer. Looks like they might come right through here. Here's a buck, here's
03:38a buck. Looks like a good one. On the left, right through the brush.
03:45Oh, they're all moving.
04:11Even when the shot is true, a buck on the run can still get away.
04:16Did I not hit that shot? I did check him out here.
04:25A lot of things run through a person's mind when you pull that trigger.
04:32And there's blood, yeah. Looks like we put a bullet in him.
04:36Well, he splattered, didn't he? Makes a big difference to have a freezer full of free
04:42meat. There he is.
04:45All right, buddy. Sorry to do this to you. We needed you.
04:57It'll feed Nancy and I for several months, you know what I mean?
05:01Not only is there food, but there's a hide to tan that'll bring money.
05:05The antlers will make beautiful knife handles for my stone knife blades.
05:09It's a big benefit to us.
05:19Hunting's never a sure thing. It demands time, patience, and instinct.
05:25Over the years, Tom's found his edge in an age-old method.
05:30Handcrafted bows and arrows.
05:34I really like the bow hunt.
05:36I guess it's because of the primitive background that I'm interested in.
05:42There's a connection there that really appeals to me.
05:48The Kootenai tribe that originally settled the yak used wild rose stems to fashion arrows.
05:55Future arrow shaves.
05:57Because the wood is lightweight and pliable.
06:00You pick out the straightest-looking ones and you cut them.
06:04Montana has separate seasons for rifles and archery.
06:09Hunting during both can increase your chances of success.
06:13If you know how to handle each weapon.
06:16You want all your arrow shafts to be the same size around or else they won't fly the same.
06:26I use bare grease and heat and you heat these arrow shafts and you bend them and hold them into place while they cool off and they'll actually straighten out on you.
06:48You see, you can find lots of old arrow shafts in museums that have the teeth marks still in them.
07:07After I get them straight though, then I have to deal with putting the flections on them.
07:13The feathers keep the arrow going in a straight line when it's firing from the bow.
07:19And then you have to put points on them and cut nocks in the ends of them.
07:26I usually paint all my arrows also.
07:30The color makes it a little easier to find your arrows, especially in a snow condition.
07:35Tom's homestead is surrounded by the Kootenay watershed.
07:39An intricate river system that attracts wildlife year-round like elk and deer.
07:44And where, over the years, Tom's perfected his archery skills.
07:49There's quite a few deer that move through here.
07:54So, I'm gonna go check this out.
08:01Fresh tracks there.
08:04Fresh snow makes tracking easier, but it can also make sneaking up on prey a lot harder.
08:14The snow kind of crunches, and them deer will hear that noise.
08:23And their first thing is to get the hell out of there.
08:30I've gotta get within 20 yards with a bow in order to even take a shot.
08:36And you gotta make a good one.
08:46That is a buck taxi going on down towards the river.
08:51Tracking is a really neat deal if a person really knows what they're doing.
08:56Tells you a whole bunch about the animals.
08:59Every little track has its own little story.
09:02Finally, there was the buck.
09:22God, that sucker.
09:24My arrow fired straight and true.
09:32And I hit him.
09:34Oh, sorry about that.
09:36And we've got meat in the frying pan.
09:40I want more, can I say?
09:42Nestled deep in the northern Rockies,
09:47Montana's Yak Valley is one of the most remote pockets of wilderness
09:53in the country.
09:54While its natural resources are abundant,
09:58surviving here requires determination and skill.
10:02Something Tom Orr has honed since he and his wife Nancy moved here more than 40 years ago.
10:12We needed some way to make a living up here.
10:17While Tom quickly perfected his hunting skills,
10:20it didn't put any money in his pocket.
10:22Learning how to tan hides was critical to his staying power.
10:26The problem being you couldn't make enough money by selling the raw hides to the fur people.
10:34There just wasn't enough money in it.
10:36And so when that started happening, we started canning the furs that we caught.
10:47Canning's been probably the biggest thing for us up here as far as making a living.
10:53All this started when I bought a $3 book.
11:00In 1973, Tom discovered a 16-page $3 book on the shelves of an old trading post.
11:06Inside, he found the secrets of the ancient art of brain tanning,
11:11a technique that Native Americans have used for centuries.
11:14But becoming a master tanner didn't happen overnight.
11:19This was a very hard road for me to learn, you know, through that one little $3 book.
11:25After I learned, I started teaching and tanning to lots of people,
11:29but one of my favorite students has been Sean McAfee.
11:36Several winters ago, Tom taught his friend and business partner Sean McAfee the secrets to his trade.
11:42And the first step to tanning any hide is to harvest the brains.
11:48I've got two skulls, and we're going to take the brains out.
11:55Tom often uses the brains of mule deer that he harvests in the fall.
12:00The oils that are in the brain softens the skin until it's broken down and soft.
12:08What a doctor we'd make, huh?
12:11Lobotomy.
12:13Bear!
12:14They're going to take a while to thaw these suckers.
12:20The active ingredient in animal brains is an oil called lecithin that softens and seals the hide.
12:36It takes about six ounces of brains to tan and scan.
12:43All right, this is what it'll take.
12:51Round and round and round it goes. Don't smell bad if you hold your nose.
12:55Once the hide is fleshed.
13:02With brain tanned skin, the epidermis is taken off. That's the layer of skin that's underneath the hair.
13:11It's soaked in the brain solution.
13:14And Tom's learned the hard way that every pore and fiber must be fully saturated to craft leather strong enough to last generations.
13:22You can go to a museum and you can find a 200 year old war shirt that's been brain tanned and that's still soft and flexible and tough and tight.
13:34All right, gotta make sure all these grains all soaked in. Then we'd stick the ringing stick in it. And we're gonna get rid of all this excess water.
13:48Ring it.
13:57They're considered to be wrung?
13:58Yeah, that's pretty well wrung. And then we'll finish your wrap. Let's do it.
14:05While Tom's tanned nearly every critter in the yak from muskrats to wolves, one of the biggest challenges he's ever tackled is a bison hide.
14:13Buffalo hides are a big, big project compared to deer skins.
14:20But they're worse than I love to do.
14:23Each bison hide can fetch up to $3,000 if tanned correctly.
14:28But the process is labor intensive and they're always a gamble.
14:33The hide only fetches top dollar if it's tanned with the fur intact.
14:37The thing I've got to do is just shave it all down and thin it so there's just enough hide to hold the hair on.
14:46When this hide come the other day, of course it was all covered with meat and fat and gristle.
14:54Tom uses the same brain tanning solution on bison hides as he does on deer, but it requires a lot more.
15:00Fortunately, his wife Nancy also knows the secret recipe.
15:06A woman with a bucket of brains, huh?
15:09Right, smart woman.
15:10What a girl. I'm just about ready for them brains.
15:16All these brains have to soak all the way through the whole hide, all the way to the hair.
15:21Once it dries out, we're going to cut the hide off the frame.
15:27Well, she's coming.
15:32All right, we're getting here.
15:38The skin is always stiff from tanning.
15:43But for Tom to sell it, it has to be broken in.
15:49All right, so now I've just got to work it over a disc blade.
15:55The disc blade breaks down and softens the skin so it can be folded and worn.
16:01And the bigger the hide, the more effort it takes.
16:04Most tanners don't have a very long life of tanning.
16:10Usually their shoulders go out on them from working hives and pull up and stuff.
16:15So there aren't very many old tanners.
16:18I'll bet I'm one of the oldest going here, really.
16:26I think we did it.
16:30I think we did it.
16:34There wasn't no spots on it where the hair slipped out.
16:39So I think we've been a real success.
16:45Now I can get after all the other stuff I've got to do.
16:49I mean, you've got to keep pushing all the time to just survive out here.
16:55But at least we're living here in the woods doing what we want to do.
17:04We're living here in the woods.
17:08In the rugged wilderness of western Montana, survival isn't given.
17:13It's earned.
17:15One meal.
17:17And one pelt at a time.
17:19For the mountain men who carved a life out of this land over a century ago.
17:25Trapping wasn't just a trade.
17:28It was a way of life.
17:30And when Tom Orr put down roots here as a young man, he quickly honed the skill that has sustained frontiersmen for generations.
17:36Back in Illinois, before I moved here, I started beaver trapping.
17:44There were lots of beaver back in Illinois.
17:47But in the Kootenai National Forest, we have two million acres of land.
17:51You've got to try to make that animal hoodies foot within an area like that.
18:01Yeah, that was one of the things I had to learn to do to make a living out here.
18:07I make good money off of beavers, though, because of all the things I do with the animal after I trap them.
18:14So beavers are real good for me.
18:15Beaver are beneficial to the ecosystem.
18:20But if the population gets out of control, they wreak havoc by damming up streams and destroying trees.
18:29Fortunately for Tom, his relentless dedication to the craft earned him a reputation as one of the best trappers around.
18:37Because he put in the long hours and mastered a skill few could rival.
18:41Lots of hard work involved with traveling. I mean, it's hard going.
18:50One winter, he braved the treacherous North Fork of the Yak River, chasing a nuisance colony that promised a big reward.
19:01But it required that he put every trick he'd mastered to the test.
19:08All right, this is the trickery of the whole deer right here, boys.
19:18And this is what the beavers do. They come up on the bank, they'll grab a bunch of grass and mud off the bottom.
19:23They'll put it up here on the edge like this, and then they'll climb up on top of it, and they'll excrete this beaver caster onto it.
19:33Well, this beaver caster that I'm using here is from a different place.
19:39The caster gland on the beaver is used to mark territories.
19:46About the same kind of deal as a dog coming up and peeing on your tire.
19:50So now the beavers that live here, they'll come swimming along, and they'll smell that.
19:57They got hell of a noses on them.
19:59He'll come here to check out this new guy in town, piss him off. He'll be mad.
20:06He'll come and investigate it, and I'll bet you we'll have a beaver here.
20:11You can see the beaver dam here. Right in the middle of it is what they call the crossover.
20:22That's where the beavers cross the dam if they're going to go down below the dam.
20:26And it's usually a pretty good place to put one.
20:35This is what they call a dive stick.
20:41The object of it is, is the beaver will dive underneath these sticks, which will put him right into the trap.
20:47And the trap will clamp on him like that and kill him.
20:50That's the object of the 330 conibear, it's called.
20:56Safety off.
20:59All right, it's ready to fire now.
21:02With fresh sign all around, Tom knew it was time to strike.
21:06So he set every trap in his arsenal and let them soak overnight.
21:15We got one, boys.
21:17Success!
21:18We got a beaver.
21:21Ooh, he's a big one.
21:24Nice head catch.
21:26That was that submerged trap with the dive stick.
21:29So he had to dive down and swim through it.
21:32That's close to 50 pounder.
21:33He's a big one.
21:35But that wasn't the only beaver Tom caught that day.
21:41Ha! He got a beaver.
21:49Hallelujah!
21:50We caught some beavers.
21:57All right.
21:59We got five beaver.
22:00That's as many beaver as what I've ever caught in one day, I think.
22:05All right.
22:07That's success.
22:08Hunting and trapping are vital survival skills in the mountains.
22:20But since the earliest mountain men blazed trails west,
22:24self-sufficiency was just as essential.
22:27With trade goods often scarce,
22:29they relied on their own resourcefulness.
22:32Learning crafting techniques from Native American tribes.
22:36Skills that became a way of life,
22:38just as they have for Tom and Nancy Orr.
22:43How you doing there?
22:45Good and about got one then.
22:47Okay.
22:49We've learned over the years that the furs and stuff that we,
22:52we trap, we go ahead and tan them and,
22:56and usually make stuff out of them,
22:57so we can make a better profit on,
23:00on what we catch.
23:02Trapping and tanning is a,
23:05it's kind of a thing.
23:07We about got to take our furs further than just to the furrier.
23:12I mean, if, if we just sold our furs to the furrier,
23:18I think we'd be starving.
23:22What have you liked making the best?
23:23Well, I kind of like doing the bows.
23:27That's kind of a neat thing to do.
23:30A couple pieces of wood.
23:33And, and hopefully it all works out to where it all comes together.
23:37Crafting a handmade bow is a test of patience and precision.
23:52Every curve, grain and fiber must be carefully shaped to create a weapon that is both powerful and resilient.
23:57Few possess the skill to craft a bow entirely by hand, because mastering the technique takes years.
24:07With the bow making, first you have to come out with the piece of wood that you're going to make the bow out of.
24:13You start with a log and you split it into pieces.
24:19You got to trim it all down to shape it into the shape of the bow.
24:24And it's just a complicated thing to do.
24:27Many seasons ago, while working on a custom bow commission worth $1,000, it took Tom more than 24 hours just to hone the raw piece of wood into shape.
24:43Well, I make my bows out of wood like the old people did.
24:47Nancy then helped him reinforce the bow by adding deer sinew, a tough fibrous tissue that Tom harvests near the spine of the animal.
24:58And the sinew reinforces the bow.
25:04Sinew is used for thousands of years as a sewing thread.
25:08There isn't hardly anything else in nature that is as strong as what sinew is.
25:17Tom's signature wrap on the bow is made from the skin of an eastern diamondback rattlesnake.
25:26It's been an all day and an all night deal here for the last couple nights.
25:34The bow that I made is called a recurve bow.
25:41The final step is to attach the bow string crafted from durable hemp fiber.
25:48It's about a 40 pound draw.
25:55Then comes the moment of truth.
26:00All right, here we go here.
26:02From the time I was a kid I was dreaming of bows and arrows, running around with traps and stuff.
26:19I was probably born 200 years too late and I'm still trying to live in the past, you know.
26:24All right.
26:28But bows aren't the only thing Tom crafts by hand.
26:31One of his best selling items is a pair of beaver hide mittens that can more than triple the profit from a single pelt.
26:39The pattern that we have is an old Eskimo pattern.
26:44The person that wanted the mittens wanted them with beaver fur back.
26:49But the palms of them are going to be made out of moose hide, so the fur will be on the outside of the mittens.
26:54All right.
26:57This will be the back of the mittens we're cutting out now.
26:59Fur is warm.
27:01That's all there is to it and that's why we use fur.
27:03Fur is a mountain man's material of choice.
27:05But making a clean cut through a dense hide like beaver takes a sharp blade and a steady hand.
27:16Turned out pretty nice.
27:20Now all we gotta do is cut Westerlin back up the front of the mittens.
27:22So this will be the back of the mittens we're cutting out now.
27:24Fur is warm.
27:27That's all there is to it and that's why we use fur.
27:29out pretty nice now all we got to do is connect them all together
27:37once again deer sinew is the threat of choice
27:46that takes patience but patience is a virtue patience is a very good thing to have
27:52it looks like we're about all done here except just filling these wells huh
28:03turn that inside out nancy's got a real good eye for for detail and stuff too and she'll go through
28:09it and pick out any bad spots so she keeps me on the stick oh that's nice all right
28:22they look nice tom you did a great job thank you all right come get some coffee
28:28there's just something about the past that appeals to me and how these primitive people did the things
28:34they did the way they did them what a neat way it is for me to be able to try to eke out a living
28:41doing the same thing
28:42deep in the remote wilderness of western montana the land is quiet but peace is never guaranteed
28:58here survival is a daily battle and the shadow of predators loom large at every turn
29:04for more than 40 years tom or has faced this unforgiving landscape
29:14and been tested time and time again yeah living here in the woods like this has really sharpened my
29:23my way of life that's one of the things about living out here we have to deal with the predators
29:33one winter the bears got way too close for comfort we had a black bear break into the tanning shed though
29:42one time and went right through the window and what a mess he made of that place
29:56after several days away from his homestead tom was returning with a fresh elk hide
30:02die oh wow only to find the remnants of an incursion that he had never expected
30:15look at this what a mess
30:23there's frames broken and holes and hides skins are torn up and ripped and lots of skins are ruined
30:32black bear hair
30:38black bear hair that's what it was
30:45we've had bears come onto the deck and stuff but we've never had one actually break into the shop
30:51before this is definitely a black bear the thing that probably brought the bear in in the first place
30:58was these two fresh skins that had been set here because they still had blood in the hair and they
31:04weren't frozen so the smell was still good on them and he must have just smelled it
31:12bears are one thing you don't want to have coming around because they make a habit of it
31:17but if they come to your place one time and get some free cow they'll normally come back damn that bear
31:25damn that bear
31:29in the aftermath of the break-in tom and his friend will stringfellow got to work bear proofing the tanning
31:35shed with an added layer of plywood a reinforced security system
31:42and a specially designed unwelcome mat
31:47mitch nails yep just for a little added insurance we're going to drive a bunch of nails
31:53through boards and we're going to put it underneath the window and underneath the door
31:57i believe that's going to work
32:11looks pretty good to me let's see what this looks like
32:14oh i believe that'll do it yep really i sure wouldn't want to step on it
32:22oh that's sharp
32:25well that should keep him off that should be scary
32:28that'll be great he won't be able to stand on that for very long
32:34well looks like that should work huh
32:36hopefully between all the new locks and the boarded up window we can keep this damn bear out of the shop
32:49all right good deal tom
32:51this is the places that we live in the wilderness and we we need to accept or expect all the things that
33:08may happen to us here we've got lots of bears and lions and stuff one of our biggest predators is the wolf
33:17wait Hi, everyone
33:21top 10
33:22is
33:24top 10
33:24house
33:28hunted to the brink of extinction wolves were reintroduced to Montana in 1995
33:33as their numbers increased. So did the challenges they pose to those living in the wild
33:44and we're the ones that need to manage the amount of wolves that we have I'm
33:52licensed by the state of Montana to trap wolves one winter with wolves surrounding
33:59his homestead Tom pushed back I love wolves but I'm gonna do all I can do to
34:08protect whatever I have to protect from laying traps strategically around his
34:12property and checking them daily
34:19wolf tractor
34:24hoping to restore the balance oh don't move we got a wolf when you see that
34:35you've got a wolf caught in the trap the first thing you want to do is kill it
34:42there wasn't time to think I just shot when you walk up to an animal in a trap or an animal that
34:56could bite you you ought to make sure that the things are gonna be running your way not the animals
35:02you're going to be able to do it this way
35:09oh you said
35:11actually trapping the wolf it was a big experience for me I still respect the animals but I think it was looking for an
35:20easy meal we don't want anything to go to waste so we might as well keep the height if any of them have
35:26to go it's the ones that come around people it made me feel good at least about being able to keep them off my place this is my home this is where I live and I'll protect it with my life
35:33as time marches on
35:40Tom makes use of every moment he's got left in the mountains and while he might not be working his trapline like he used to
35:47Tom makes use of every moment he's got left in the mountains and while he might not be working his trapline like he used to
35:55he's doing everything he can to leave a lasting legacy
35:58well I know that I'm a dying breed
36:02I know that I'm a dying breed
36:04the things that I've learned
36:05I feel like I should
36:07pass them on
36:09and I try to pass them on
36:11when I'm a dying breed
36:13I'm a dying breed
36:15and I'm a dying breed
36:17I'm a dying breed
36:23and i try to pass them on whenever i can a legend in the yak valley he's taught many
36:31a thing or two about trapping and tanning but one of his favorite students by far
36:36has been 12 year old hank mcafee one of the highlights of of my life has been teaching hank
36:44how to do all this stuff he's he's my star student at the time
36:53three winters ago tom taught hank a skill that helped men settle the west
37:01how to skin a beaver the way trappers did when pelts were as good as gold
37:08all right what is that for this is our beaver skinning trough this is where we put our beaver
37:15when we skin him like an operating table yeah why don't you grab that beaver and stick him in this
37:20trough it's real important to pass the knowledge on how there aren't gonna be no trappers if you
37:28don't teach the kids how to do it you know but we gotta have trappers the first thing we're gonna do
37:35go around on four legs and not only that but we're gonna cut his tail right off
37:43are we both gonna be using knives well no probably just one of us will be okay
37:51hank it he's he's into this i think are we gonna skin the guts out too i hope not we're gonna try not
37:58to cut the guts okay but i didn't want to stick a knife in his hand and just turn him loose because
38:05beaver are real real hard to skin but watching me gives him some idea of what to do when the time
38:14comes for him to get out there and be doing it himself you grab that beaver's foot and hold it over
38:23this way and up boy back when i really first started i was pretty much self-taught it's neat if you have
38:33somebody to show you it doesn't take them so damn long to learn because it took me all right we got
38:42him what's the next process now we're gonna take him out put him on the flushing block and scrape the
38:47meat and fat off you can see the interest that boiled up in the kid all we gotta do is just finish teaching
38:55him a few more things and we'll have it all right we'll take this out and we'll get it a little cleaner
39:03all right we got her we got him buddy we're gonna take him now we'll put him on a hoop
39:23tom is my favorite teacher because he's this really crafty guy he's super cool to hang out with
39:29we did it didn't we yeah it's really neat to have somebody young like that that is interested i mean
39:37most kids yeah they're doing their whatever they call telephones or whatever you know most kids don't
39:46even know what trapping is passing down the old ways to hank is just part of the legacy tom's work to preserve
39:58but to see the full weight of his years in the mountains
40:02you head to the willow bend trading post where he sells his goods
40:06thank you
40:13okay always love coming in here
40:17well this place gets better all the time you know that
40:22that's where his hands have left their mark on every square inch
40:26rough hewn beams hand carved tools and custom gear built to last through a hundred winters
40:32it's more than a place to barter it's a living museum of mountain craftsmanship
40:41each piece telling a story of survival patience and pride
40:49i think we better go home and do more work
40:51all right sounds good you still got stuff to do
41:00all right all right we've got a good life we've got a pretty damn good life
41:06if this ain't living you kick me out i've been a mountain man for a long time now
41:12and i've been very happy with with my what my life has been
41:20oh hell i have success right there if you're happy with what you're doing who can ask for more than that
41:26i'll be a mountain man until the day i die
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