On Sarah Palin’s Alaska, the state nickname “America’s last frontier,” is used frequently. Tomorrow night’s episode of the show is the best example so far of just how much of the state is still remote and untamed.
In this episode, Sarah Palin explains that hunting in Alaska is not just for sport — it is still done in some areas out of necessity. She says that in some remote parts of the state the closest grocery store could be 400 miles away. She tells viewers that people pack their freezers full of meat for the long winter. She even gives us a peek at her freezer, noting she has plenty of caribou sausage and moose pepperoni, and there is some buffalo in there, but she is getting low on packages of moose and caribou meat.
Did I mention that this episode might just make a PETA member’s head explode?
To get a first hand view of hunting in America’s last frontier, we follow Sarah, her dad Chuck Heath and his friend Steve Becker (who Heath describes as “a kick in the rear end”) 600 miles from Wasilla to Kavik River Camp to hunt in the tundra. They are 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
First we meet Sue Akins. Living at Kavik River Camp, her closest neighbors are 120 miles Northeast. She has quite a few weapons. She says some women want perfume and diamonds, but “blood, guts and bullets – that’s me.” She’s been there for 8 years and at times the temperature has dipped to 75 below zero. She said, “You have to remember that you are food group out here, not top of food chain.” Then she told the incredible story of being attacked by a bear, letting her visitors feel the spot on her scalp where the bear had bitten her. She told them after the attack she “sewed her head back together” because there was no doctor. She then took off after the bear, found him, shot him, and then laid there for 10 days until a pilot found her. This is a real frontier woman.
From the Kavik River Camp, Sarah and her dad and a friend go to an even more remote hunting spot only accessible to them via a small plane. Only one could ride at a time on the small plane Sarah’s daughter Piper was named for. Once there the hunt begins. In addition to learning how caribou are hunted we see the pride and enjoyment Sarah’s dad experiences hunting with his daughter again for the first time in a while.
Tune in Sunday night to watch their hunting adventure.
A high school friend of mine visited Sarah Palin’s parents, the Heaths, on her most recent trip to Alaska and took this picture. She described it as a collection of moose and caribou antlers they’ve found in the woods over the years. When I included the picture in a blog post at Wizbang and requested caption suggestions one reader described it as: “The Palins’ ‘Christmas Tree:’ The reason Santa no longer makes stops in Wasilla.”
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