On another site we heard from a fellow who used to work for Useless. The lien is not taxes, it was a settlement of a law suit filed after a child lost an eye to a slingshot accident there. If you freeze frame and look closely at the document he holds it is dated 2006. :haha: So Ol' Useless had to shoe his horse, cut a new trail (like he'd never gone to town before) saddle up and endanger his horses and his friend riding through heavy traffic, got lost but finally arrived with just minutes to spare to settle a law suit from six years ago. :haha: Also heard from a guy who was working there during the filming. He said the "misfire" thing was totally staged, nothing remotely like that ever happened at all and he said that Eustace would never let anyone mess with his guns, that and the blow up with Justin never happened at all.
So the gist of it is that the show's producers don't have a clue as to what they are doing. They film people going about the day to day activities of many ordinary country folk, their alien mind set cannot fathom that so they feel they need to spice things up.
In the case of Marty in Alaska and Tom in Montana those guys just do their thing and the producers with the voice over script try to make it seem they are scared of wolves and bears which they really aren't sweating but just taking routine precautions to keep bears out of their stuff. It is the cut & splice and voice over editing which makes them look like fools.
Useless however, is another story. He clearly is not only a willing participant in the deception but an enthusiastic actor. Even some of the people who enfold him in hero worship will admit that he is "all about the money" and though he talks a lot of high minded ideals he is perfectly willing to set then aside when it is to his advantage to do so. He actually lives much more comfortably than the TV program would appear, he has numerous trucks, tractors & backhoes on the property, with large gasoline & diesel fuel storage tanks. The little hydro plant only puts out 2 KW and has nothing to do with the sawmill which runs off a generator powered by a diesel tractor engine. All smoke, mirrors an :bull:
It's a shame the producers feel they have to resort to silly deception to introduce drama. I think they could just as easily have made an honest show more interesting. Having myself been a trapper, spent several winters living out in a tent or tipi and living off the land to some extent I know it is mostly a life of hard work and boring routine but even that can be of interest to people who've never done it. Look at Ol' Useless, he has city slicker suckers actually paying him for the privilege of doing his dirty, boring country chores. :haha:
So why, instead of the phony BS don't the producers show us how Marty chooses a trap site, how he makes a set and how he skins and stretches a pelt. Show us how Ol'Tom does a brain tan hide and how he makes and markets the crafts he makes form the skins and antlers. As for Useless, well, he's just Useless. :haha: