Has anyone watched TLC's Sara Palin's Alaska?

[fishpharmer]

The Learning Channel has a relatively new "reality" show about Sara Palin's life and family.  I have been watching it tonight.  Mostly it shows hunting and fishing.  This isn't meant to be political, just commenting on show.  She is a neat gal, with a nice family that really enjoys the outdoors.

Anyone else seen it?

[Buck]

Been a pretty good thing from the start.....

[KellyH]

Awesome scenery for sure!  Helps me understand the reasoning many people have for living there.  Too bad the wife won't think about moving away from Kansas.  Huuummmm, maybe an Alaskan Cruise would be nice?  ;)

[Magicman]

I haven't missed an episode yet. After you have traveled to and visited Alaska, you just want to keep going back. Anyway that you can.

[paul case]

i thouht the show was nice with some great shots of wildlife and what looks like a normal family except my normal family has some members that have to work 5 or 6 or 7 days a week.  pc

[Coon]

Was a good episode I just finished watching minutes ago.  I admire the courage that woman has.  Not too many like her.  Definately a hard working family overall.

 

[Brad_bb]

I can't believe that Caribou just stood there after 5 shots.  I bet she'll never hear the end of that, even though they proved the scope was way out.

[sawguy21]

Just finished watching her hunt caribou with her dad. I am not a hunter but have to admire the way she conducted herself and the scenery was outstanding.

[Warbird]

Personally, I wish they'd stop playing up Alaska to the general public.  Lots of city folks see pretty pictures and move up here in July.  Then when the cold and darkness hit, they get depressed, become a leech on society, and make life a PITA for everyone around them.

Haven't seen the show.  We only have broadcast TV and don't even watch much of that.

[Magicman]

Really Warbird, it's just a show and is much as you describe, but to me, entertaining.  Even though Sarah finally shot a cow caribou with another rifle, it showed that she is inexperienced with handling a rifle and hunting.

We talked to a married couple operating a store that said they stayed one Winter.  Never again.   :-\

[Qweaver]

Really Warbird, it's just a show and is much as you describe, but to me, entertaining.  Even though Sarah finally shot a cow caribou with another rifle, it showed that she is inexperienced with handling a rifle and hunting.
   

I have a Winchester 243 varminter that would shoot a dime group at 100 yards on a load I worked up.  One day that just changed to a 4" group for no apparent reason.  Turned out to be something loose in the scope.  When Sarah's Dad fired the gun after the hunt he could not hit the target either.  I think that her being able to drop the game with one shot after changing guns makes a good point.  She seems to be fairly field wise to me and her dad claims that she is a good shot. 

[Magicman]

Right, but after each of the first couple of shots, her dad reached over and cycled the bolt for her.  The one time that she actually cycled it, she was cumbersome doing so, not smooth.  I didn't say that she couldn't shoot or wasn't a good shot, just that "it showed that she is inexperienced with handling a rifle and hunting".

I guess that I'm comparing her to the way that the Magicwoman shoots and handles a rifle.   

[Warbird]

My comments weren't directed at anyone here, MM.  Apologies if it came across wrong.  I get annoyed that there isn't enough 'reality' in reality TV.  Especially when it involves the place I call home.   

[Magicman]

I agree with you Warbird.  The Logging , Trucking, Crabbing, Survivor, as well as this is for entertainment (read money) purposes only.  I watch them, enjoy them, and also laugh at them when their "reality" becomes unreal.  Kinda like when Ted Nugent grabbed a chainsaw with a 3 foot bar to cut a 6" tree.  Grandstanding.  He let it kick back and had to make a trip to the ER to get sewed up.

[fishpharmer]

I take it for what it is, Entertainment.  I like the show.  Just the fact she gets out and hunts and fishes at all makes me a fan.  Can't help the idiots that move to Alaska because they love the summer scenery.  Although, seems like there is room for all. 8)

[Autocar]

Ive watched it a few times,anymore I don't believe any thing the news tells me and I believe about half of what I see. My wife says I have a bad attitude but its pretty sad when our goverment and about anyone in higher power will feed you a bunch of bull to fill there or friends pockets with money from hard working folks

[Jeff]

Political remarks are not welcome on this board.

[Raider Bill]

I like it! 

I'm in the process of planning a bike trip to Alaska maybe this summer I hope. It's always been a dream. Can't find anyone to make the ride from here with me....yet.
I'm looking forward to being a tourist but don't plan on me staying for a winter.

[SwampDonkey]

It all depends on the individual, concerning making the move up there or the Yukon or other Canadian territories. I've read books on the Hudson's Bay Company, and that goes way back. There were many accounts of folks in written journals stating that they would rather live in no other place but the far north. ;)

I'm half way there. From where, I don't know :D  But, I won't be moving. ;)

[Slabs]

I like it! 

I'm in the process of planning a bike trip to Alaska maybe this summer I hope. It's always been a dream. Can't find anyone to make the ride from here with me....yet.
I'm looking forward to being a tourist but don't plan on me staying for a winter.

Maybe you could get Avery to sit behind you and rope a moose.

[Raider Bill]

I like it! 

I'm in the process of planning a bike trip to Alaska maybe this summer I hope. It's always been a dream. Can't find anyone to make the ride from here with me....yet.
I'm looking forward to being a tourist but don't plan on me staying for a winter.

Maybe you could get Avery to sit behind you and rope a moose.

What's she look like? I have a passenger weight limit on my Harley :D :D

[fishpharmer]

I bet Sara would get on a HD. 

[Warbird]

I'm in the process of planning a bike trip to Alaska maybe this summer I hope. It's always been a dream. Can't find anyone to make the ride from here with me....yet.
I'm looking forward to being a tourist but don't plan on me staying for a winter.

You are welcome at our place, Bill.  Let us know how things pan out.

[Raider Bill]

I tend to shy away from husbands with guns. ;D ;D

She'd sure look good on my HD though......

Warbird,  Thank you Anchorage is on the list!

[Warbird]

I hope Fairbanks is too, seeing as that is where I live.  ;D

[Tom]

Holy Smokes, Warbird!?!

I didn't know you were north of the North Pole.  Getting to College from there must be almost impossible.  :D

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Magicman

You say that Magicwoman is a real good shot? You may want to keep that though in mind the next time you break on of her treasured tea pots.

No wonder you were so quick to go on ebay and flustered enough to buy two of them right away.

My wife does not know a 22 caliber from a 20 guage shotgun, so I would have at least had a few days to go and replace the tea pot :D

[Magicman]

Yup, I was with her when she got this B&C Mule deer.  She has gotten several other mule deer, antelope, numerous whitetails and gobblers.



192 2/8 B&C Mule Deer.  Yup, she can shoot.

[H60 Hawk Pilot]

Hey if Raider Bill want's me to set behind him and rope a moose, I up to it.  I have a few condition's, full Blue Cross & Blue Shield.. paid up front.  The last time I did this was in the 60's. Me and my friend Roy got all we wanted from the old doe we roped & beating us up while tied off to front end of 1947 HD.

Now, since I'm wiser & older, I'd like the moose to be darted first. Also, I'd like my seat fitted with a zero-zero injection seat.  I don't heal up like I use to and don't like to experience pain (any more).  If the drugged up moose becomes un-ruley... I'm punching out of there in the injection seat. You can have all the pain & fun and the bragging right's of capturing the moose (nearly) single handed (so-to-speak). Also, get the biggest bike you can. The moose may drag it away and I'm not sure your insurance will cover this type of loss... just... lot's of smiles  :D .

I like  Sara but think that she's stagging herself too much and that's part of being in the lime light; for me... just... a little too much for my particular taste in people (be for real (people). Also, working the bolt as you (by dad) shoot, ain't my style either, must be a TV show and intertainment.  

Avery

(Penna. HD Deer Roper Champ in 1963)


 

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Magicman

Pardon my ignorance, but why do they call that a mule deer. Guess you can see how much I know about hunting. I am just a big time target shooter

[Magicman]

Just a different species from Whitetails.  I've read they named them that because they have big ears.  Note that the antler tines normally branch instead of being individual off of the main beams.

I'll still be watching and enjoying Sarah's Alaska.  I also watched "Ice Road Truckers".  I never saw the "Haul Road" in the Winter, but I have traveled part of it.

My dream is to go back to Alaska and get my coffee.  I have a friend in Fairbanks that owes me a cup.   ;)

[Warbird]

You know you have a place to stay when you get here.  I'm trying to get the back bedrooms remodel project completed but even if it isn't done, we can put out an air mattress.

[Tom]

Mule deer are a cross between a White Tail and a Clydesdale.  Some get antlers and the others get a big wagon hooked to them.  ;D

[Raider Bill]

I hope Fairbanks is too, seeing as that is where I live.  ;D

Dang it , I was thinking Fairbanks and typed Anchorage. Yes Fairbanks is on the list. My mission is the Arctic Circle.

Oh that Avery................... 

[Magicman]

My mission is the Arctic Circle. 

It will look very similar to this.



The Magicman and Magicwoman watched the "sun not set" on June 22, 1997.

[Chuck White]

Back in 1988, while stationed with the USAF at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, I had the opportunity to go further North for a moose hunt!

We flew out of Elmendorf to Galena, near the Yukon river and we traveled by boat, about 25 miles down the Yukon to the Koyukuk river and headed North.  We ended up about 20-30 miles inside the Arctic Circle.

It's a whole different world there.  Lots of the same kind of scenery as in Sarah's show.

Oh, we did get a moose.  A 54" bull.

Family and finances brought me back home to NY, but I would love to have stayed there.  AKA between a rock and a hard place.

I think Sarah's show just brings out the point that she's just "regular people" too.  Love the show.

[Magicman]

I think Sarah's show just brings out the point that she's just "regular people" too.  Love the show.

Well said Chuck.   

[Raider Bill]

My mission is the Arctic Circle. 

It will look very similar to this.



The Magicman and Magicwoman watched the "sun not set" on June 22, 1997.

Yep that's the sign I'm shooting for!

[sandhills]

Mule deer are a cross between a White Tail and a Clydesdale.  Some get antlers and the others get a big wagon hooked to them.  ;D

:D :D :D :D

[Brad_bb]

Yeah MM, I like Sara, but I did catch that part where her dad cycled her bolt.  I went "huuuuh?"  I'm a shooter, but not a hunter myself, but even I know that before you go hunting, you sight in your rifle and do some practice to be familiar with your gun before you go.  I'd be offended if someone touched my bolt while I was shooting.  I know how that sounds.  No bad jokes please, even though I've set it up.

If you saw it was shooting high, then it's time to decide not to shoot, or to use some Kentucky windage.  I'd have stopped earlier with that first rifle and switched to the other sooner.  Though my adrenaline is not flowing now as I'm sure theirs was in the heat of the moment.

[Tom]

It used to be common practice, at the range, for the instructor to work the bolt, or at least hand you the next round.   It was a safety procedure to insure that all of the rifles on the firing line were unloaded and loaded at the same time.  Perhaps her Dad was old school, or perhaps he was just wanting to be a Dad and take part in his daughter's activities. 

I'm a Dad and I get a good feeling when I'm close to my sons.

Don't read too much politics into her family. 

[H60 Hawk Pilot]

If You Hunt for Real and Want 1st Round Kills, I'd Recommend the Following to Sara and the Like.

Sight in your Gun and Zero to the Range that You expect to hunt, for brush area >> 75 yards, open & brush/ combo > 125 yards and open for long shot's at 500 yards >>  200 yards.

If you pack a 2nd gun, verify it too, things happen and scopes & guns get dropped in the field and it happen's with ruff treatment through the airlines (even in the case).

Use the same ammo that you sighted in with, the same grain weight. Treat the ammo kindly as well. The pointed tips can get damaged by miss handing them and back & forth out of the gun (unloading).

If you travel to hunt and you have the chance, test fire a couple shots but not at the hunting site... unless you have a gun that has been dropped, etc. . Your choice of scopes is important and cheap scopes do not hold up to a >> Big Mag's. Recoil. They tend to lose their zero over time. This will not be a factor if you do not shoot the mag. that much. Temperature change is a problem, or can be.  Let's say that you sighted in at  70 degree's and now it's 32 degree's. Barrel's that are free floated or composite stocks do not suffer (barrel push) from a noticeable temperature change like older stocked rifles. Some guns shoot well with a cold barrel (as zero'd) and then whatever with a hot barrel (5 or 6 shots later).

Your close shots of hundred yards have a decent margin in being a little off and still hitting the target. Shooting at long range, say 500 yards or more is another deal and 1/2 inch off at 100 is about 4 inches off at five hundred.  
 
Lot''s more but enough to be brain dangerous on sighting in your cannon and factor's in play to keep & hold your zero.




   

   

[Jeff]

 :

Stuff happens. Scopes get bumped and you don't know it until its to late.

[Raider Bill]

:

Stuff happens. Scopes get bumped and you don't know it until its to late.

Yep "stuff" happens

[Tom]

You don't need a scope with a shotgun.  ;D

[H60 Hawk Pilot]

My Weapon of Choice.

A CAR 15 with 203 Sys. on the bottom. The Long Version is M-16 with collapsible stock and M-79 Grenade Launcher attached on the bottom of M-16. I don't remember the correct Military Model number for this set up. It's a real nice combo when shot in close quarters from a helicopter.  I had a AK 50 (folding stock version of AK 47) for a while in Vietnam. One of my friend's showed me his CAR 15/203 setup. I traded my AK 50 for the 15/ 203 and it was the best weapon I ever had. The Shot Round, High Explosive, Willy Pete and Smoke were the four rounds I remember. Also, we shot from the (not a lot of room for long rifles) doors of the helicopter and used the gun fighter technique (point & shoot) for close in targets. We had quite a few Pop Up Targets. The bad guys would nail you from spitting distance. They'd wait, pop up, nail you for two or three seconds (one magazine of 30 rounds) and disappear. The NVA/ VC were very cleaver and a deadly little dudes to deal with on a day to day basis. When you were in Bad Guy Territory.. you had to be ready to rock & roll; just like bird hunting with very fast reaction time and to get on target too.

What brought all this to mind was  Tom's Comment, "You Dont' Need a Scope on a Shot Gun ! "  I'd say that a Shot Gun at the  OK Corral  is the No# 1 Weapon of Choice.

[Raider Bill]

There was a video clip on the web back a couple years showing Sarah at a Alaska National Guard rifle range shooting a M-16 while she was Gov. I guess as the Gov she was in charge.

All things considered, this show is pretty good. I wouldn't be watching it if she lived in NYC though.

[fishpharmer]

All things considered, this show is pretty good. I wouldn't be watching it if she lived in NYC though.

:D :D :D

I wouldn't want her shooting at me with any rifle no matter who is working her bolt. ;)

[Tom]

I've only had the pleasure of seeing one of the shows, the one of her fishing for Halibut.  I was really enjoying it, but it interferes with my wife's idea of entertainment.  I'm hoping to get it when it comes out on DVD.  :D

She is certainly one pretty and savvy lady though. I'm impressed with her and her family, regardless of what the news media tries to make of her.

[easymoney]

 yep she is one pretty little gal. i had rather look at her any day than to look at obama.

[sawguy21]

Ok so she was a little clumsy with the rifle. So what? How many of us came out of the womb with the ability to take out a dime at 150 yards? She was out enjoying time with her dad doing what few women will and sharing it with us.
I have to wonder why they had to go to such a remote camp and use  J-3 to get there. A helicopter would have been much more efficient on the last leg. Got a kick out of the old Super Cub with the huge tundra tires.

[Chuck White]

A helicopter would have been much more efficient on the last leg.

In Alaska, it's against the law to transport GAME in a helicopter. At least it was back in 1989!

It has to do with the ease of access by poachers.

[KellyH]

After Sara made the second missed shot even my 10 yr old son Lucas was saying "I bet the scope is off because her dad fell down".  Pretty easy to spot I suppose.  Even so the show is easy to watch and enjoyable even with my kids in the room.  Hard to find that kind of programming where everyone in the family is interested.  Kate was predictibly a "Pain" but also were her kids predictibly "Not A Pain" and appeared to have fun as most kids will do when allowed to do so.

The show has helped promote discussions in our house about a trip to Alaska to see for ourselves.  I don't think Mama would have ever considered the idea without seeing the show.  I'm gonna keep watching to better our chances of getting to go on that trip.  ;D

Happy Holidays Everyone  smiley_christmas

[trapper]

Tom  this year I bought a rifled barrel and scope combination for my shotgun.  Sure helps when you get older.  With the new sabot slugs good to 150 yards.  Have to use shotgun for deer where I live.

[SwampDonkey]

Dad wasn't a hunter. He was too busy farming. But, when he did go out, the rare time, it was a 12 gauge.

[Bill]

I just " found " her show - and tho she got help with the bolt I was impressed that here's a " name personality " out there hunting - I give her credit - most women nearby won't even eat venison - let alone go out and " get " it .

This is in spite of one lady I know that'll even process road kill iffen fresh