The Alaska Experiment
 

Anyone else catch the latest episode of the Alaska Experiment on Discovery last night? For those not knowing what the show is about, it is about 4 teams of people (city folk from CA, ect...), 2 married couples, one father and 2 daughter team and then a team of 2 guys and awoman that are dropped off in Alaska at the end of the summer and "with assistance off camera" try tp prepare and survive for 3 months in the boonies.
Well, last night the team of 2 guys and a woman go out with their .22 to hunt for small game.....earlier in the episode they had shot a squirel and a rabbit. Then come across a buffalo and low and behold the nimrod with the .22 fires at least one shot at the buffalo. I was quite suprised that they would show someone being so grossly negligant.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

The producer probably thought that the mighty gun was as magical as the idiot holding the gun and that he could kill a T-Rex with his .22 it the chance arose. It amazes me how people think that there is no limit to the power ofa gun. I believe that a person should be tought the limits, dangers, and ballistics of firearms before ever being sent out with one.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Buffalo in AK?

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Yes

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Really? learn something new everyday.. where at Speedo? Free ranging and wild?

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

I have been watching the show for the scenery aspect, but the contestants drive me nuts. I wish I could have gone on the show, I would have considerd it a vacation instead of a challenge. But I guess that is why they picked city folk who haven't fired a gun, gather their own food, or had to solve their own problems before, it is more entertaining watching someone on the verge of disaster. I wonder if any of these teams would make it if they didn't recieve any help or advice. The one guy did buck up and shot a goat last week, looked like a pretty difficult hunt. It does make a person realize the amount knowledge your Dads and Grandfathers gave you when you see these people try and fish, hunt, gather wood, and make shelters. No one can ever know everything about outdoor survival, but that's what makes it a life long pursuit, and not a hobby you bore of.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

was it just me or was it obvious that the carcass of the buffalo or whatever it was looked like it had been gutted. they never mentioned any tracks of what killed it being around it, maybe i missed that but i didnt see it. looks kinda funny that an animal would just suddenly explode like that, i smell a set up.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

yup Case, my wife and I thought the same thing.. nice gut pile all in tact ... laying adjacent from the eaten carcass... looked staged to me..

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

There are three herds of wild free-ranging Bison in Alaska. The Delta, Farewell, and Chitina herds. Drawing a tag is more difficult than winning the lottery, especially the Delta herd which is accessible by the road system.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

So, this guy was shooting at one fo the bison? did they mention if he had wont the lottery and had a tag?

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Delta, they don't seem to care about fences and wreaked havoc with some of the farms in the Delta barley project. There is also a herd in Farewell. They are free ranging and wild and they are hunted by permit.

Gus

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

I saw the first episode a couple of weeks ago and thought it was pretty stupid. If memory serves me all but one of the groups were sent to a cabin and the other was sent to a large wall tent. That's a vacation in my book. Hardly a real survival situation unless you're a real 'tard when it comes to outdoor skills. I didn't see where they shot a bison, but if they shot one of the Chitina bison without a permit I hope they get hung out to dry. That's a load of crap, because those permits are incredibly hard to draw. They don't need to be culling those animals for the sake of "reality" TV. Frankly I think the whole law where you can legally take game in a "survival" situation regardless of the season is a steaming load of horse $%^&. There's too many morons out there tromping out into the woods unprepared that inevitably end up having to take game because they didn't know what Alaska would throw at them. In my opinion, if you take game illegally, regardless of whether it was a survival situation you should still be subject to all the fines and retribution the same as anyone else. I know if I thought I was going to die I wouldn't be too concerned about a couple thousand in fines and maybe loss of hunting priveleges for a few years. Better than pushing up daisies. I think that would force people to think a little more before bailing into the woods thinking that they were going to be like Bear Gryllis or Les Straud. That's just what Alaska needs is more of the Chris McCandless types.

AK Jeff

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Didn't see the episode. But regarding the bison the TV peopleprobably just bought one of the farmed bison and staged the kill. There are a couple of farms in Alaska that raise bison for market and for a fee you can go shoot one. Several friends have done it and it is not a bad way to get meat and no it is not a hunt. Delta has one such farm just off of clearwater road. These are not of the free ranging herd that roams the area. I doubt very much that the bison used in the show was from one of the free ranging herds. As said there are several huntable herds including the Delta, Chitna, Copper & Farewell herds and those tags are very hard to draw. The chitna herd usually has only 2 tags if any are offered at all and the access, logistics, and even finding that herd make itextremely difficult. I will be putting in for the Delta, Copper & Chitna tags again. with the copper as my preference, chitna next and lastly Delta.

I agree with AK Jeff - going to a cabin or a wall tent is more of a vacation then a survival situation. Good grief you immediately have shelter. And yeah these programs are going to groom a whole new crop of McCandless wantabees. We get enough of them every year here as it is.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Sounds interesting I am gona have to look for the re run.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Should be clarified that they shot "at" a bison with the 22lr. Then the same group "happened" upon a kill that they "found" because of all the bird activity on the carcass lead them to it.

If he even hit the bison, I'd be very surprised. Next to zero gun experience and he took the shot off hand!

The producers obviously hand picked people with next to zero outdoor experience. What fun would a show be showing a bunch ofpeople that lived to be out-of-doorson a 3 month long vacation.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

According to the Alaska hunting regulations it is illegal to "take" big game animals with a .22 rimfire (page 16). The definition of "take" (page 23) includes "attempting to take, pursue, hunt, fish, trap, or in any manner capture or kill fish or game." Just attempting to shoot a bison with a .22LR in Alaska is therefore illegal. I still haven't seen that episode, but I did see the goat hunt episode today. I'm glad that guy got to go on his first hunting trip, but that was really pretty pathetic. I love how these people are roughing it in their "crude shelters" i.e. cabins, complete with pressure cookers for canning salmon. I'm interested to see just how well they like eating those spawned out salmon they're pulling out of those streams. They look downright nasty. Those two snotty sisters need to get their clocks cleaned. If I ever talked to my ol' man like that he would have knocked me the #$%& out!!!

AK Jeff

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

did you see him shoot the .22lr at the buffalo at like 100yds? and it just ran......lol

how about the girl having the best sighting in idea vs. that other idiot?

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Personally I'd like to see a reality show for all those folks who thought repopulating wolves was such a great idea.

As for the Ak Experiment, I think it's a good concept except I'd like to see some folks with a little more outdoors experience on it. Watching these inner city types flounder around is getting old and as it's been pointed out, there are obviously some setup situations.

One question for ya'll - what style of Mountain Hardware jackets are they wearing? Is that the 'tech' jacket?

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Amen to that! lol!. . if I ever talked to my dad the way those girls do, I woulda been knocked silly for sure [8D]. . . . I watched a couple of episodes, but it's too staged for me. . . shelter, gear and all, I still think they'd all be dead within a month without their "off camera experts" there to save them.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

You'd think that Discovery Channel would do a better job than to sensationalize things like the networks do with their reality crap. Now we're going to have more knuckleheads in the woods packing 22's hunting big game. I was impressed with the crab trap the one dude made if he really came up with the idea and built it.. don't recall if it caught any crabs.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Are you sure he took a shot? I watched the episode twice, and couldn't tell whether it was the sound of a shot, or boots crunching through icy snow.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

In case any of you want to watch the episodes you can go to discovery.com then click on the TV Shows drop down box and at the bottom it will say watch full episodes. Click on that and you can watch the show.

As for the hunting aspect of the show, I would assume that they have purchased tags and licenses for the participants. They have already killed a mountain goat and one of the daughters has went moose hunting. The preview shows another one will be moose hunting on the next episode. But that guy shouldn't have shot at the buffalo with a .22 or anything for that matter if he didn't have a tag or license.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

They picked the biggest PETA types they could and stuck them out there. I LMAO everytime I see the show. They let them shoot a .22 and a .338 Win mag. For someone that has never shot a rifle (few had), I think its funny that they gave them .338 to shoot. For MooseI could see the need but for Mountain Goat? I just watch and wish I could be there to hunt.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

I watched it for the first time tonight. What a bunch of panzy butts. I think it is more of a comedy than a survival episode. The two daughters would have to shut the _____ up and put up as many clothes drying branches as I wanted them to put up around the stove while I was out cutting the branches.



In my gayest PETA voice possible......

"Oh my God, dude you look tired."

"I am, Ialmost threw up, there was a lot of innerds in there."

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Butchers kill cows with .22cal rifles/pistols. A placed shot will take it down.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Butchers do it from an inch away, not from 100+ yards. I suspect that at that distance, it would take a heckuva lot more precision than a non-scoped .22 Cricket in the hands of a novice could possibly attain.

I'm still not entirely convinced that they actually took that shot. I know he pointed the rifle in the direction of the buffalo, but the sounds were more like icy snow crunching than a rifle report.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Give them a knife and flint and steel, kick them out into the bush, that would be an alaska experiment. I wonder who would survive longer, a City person alone in alaska, or an alaskan trapper alone in downtown New York. I know after about 1/2 hour in any big city I am ready to jump under a bus.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

Whether or not the participants are ethical/unethical, the hunts are legal/illegal, or the participants receive/don't receive outside assistance is irrelevant. Discovery Channel is successful with the show because they are getting exactly what they wanted.....folks watching it and then discussing it on the internet, at the office, etc.

RE: The Alaska Experiment
 

I watched the episode and thought it was crap as well. The whole time I was tellin my wife how I wished I was on that show. But as someone said what's the fun if someone can survive in the mountains. And the sighting in thing was pretty stupid. I didn't watch alot but why is it one group has the little bolt action and looked like another had a Marlin model 60 maybe?