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‘Mountain Men’ S7 E2 Recap: Preston Roberts Death Hits Eustace Conway Hard

Greg Simmons 16720 Views ,

Mountain Men Season 7 Episode 2 recap starts with the abrupt death of Preston Roberts heavy on the mind of Eustace Conway. Morgan Beasley’s fighting bears for much-needed salmon while Tom Oar and wife Nancy continue to deal with the threat of fire in the Yaak River Valley. Marty Meierotto is busy collecting traps at the end of the fur season and Mary Hawk looks to be going into labor with Jason struggling to finish the hogan where she wants to give birth. The Mountain Men recap, Time and Tide, airing on The History Channel, Thursday, July 26, starts now.

Salmon and bears

In Alaska, Morgan Beasley is still trying to fish while avoiding the heavy bear activity. He counts five in one stretch on the Kodiak Archipelago. Morgan heads upstream to try and take advantage of the salmon run before the boat comes back for him. He wants 50 pounds of fish to last the winter so he can focus on the homestead projects.

Morgan casts his line but is stressing out. He’s got about 15 pounds of fish and hits the mother lode on his first cast. Cast after cast is successful and the salmon pile up but rain starts. He’s ready to go smoke it and has close to 50 pounds bagged, Smoking the fish to prevent rot. Morgan sets up a temporary smoking station with a tarp and hangs the salmon. He’s got a two-mile walk to the rendezvous with the boat.

Eustace Conway struggles alone without Preston Roberts

Over in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Eustace Conway is back to work. He’s still reeling from the loss of Preston Roberts. He’s struggling to work their lumber business alone. Eustace must fall and mill fallen timber to meet an order without assistance. He uses his cant hook to move the giant logs around since he’s forced to work solo. Eustace gets the logs cut and loaded and heads for the mill.

He needs 30 rough-hewn pine boards to cut with his vintage sawmill. Unfortunately, it requires two people to properly run the mechanism. It needs a sawyer to guide the wood into the blade. Preston Roberts was the off-bearer that pulled the cut wood off and kept the blades clear but all alone, Eustace Conway is taxing himself running back and forth.

Dogs on the hunt on Mountain Men

In Montana’s Tobacco Root Mountains, Jake Herak is out working with his dogs. The under-30 outdoorsman is out with his well-trained walker hounds tracking a scent. He’s on the trail of a raccoon to train the animals. Jake says they’re tough to track since their small feet don’t leave a lot of scent.

Eight-year-old lead dog Henry sniffs out the raccoon. Jake encourages the dogs to find the animal. He jogs after them as they bay. The raccoon is treed and Jake praises Henry. Jake pulls Henry off the tree and calls the dog a “mean mother” and says he can track anything. They found the raccoon over two miles in just 20 minutes.

Jake grabs the dogs and tethers them and lets pup Marlene have a shot at harassing the tried raccoon. Jake shoots the raccoon out of the tree and skins it out. He uses it for trash breaking, the process of training the dogs to filter out scents and focus. He drags the carcass through a cattle field to practice the dogs and ties the raccoon off in the tree then goes back to release the hounds.

Tom helps Mark rebuild

In the Northern Rockies, the firestorms have abated. There’s homes destroyed and millions of acres ravaged and burned. Tom Oar’s home survived. His pal Mark White faces winter with nothing after his home was burned to the ground. They lost their freezers, meat, cabin, and all their outbuildings. Tom and Mark are out hunting for meat to resupply the White family.

They’re out looking for a bull elk. The fire pushed the wildlife out. They are 50 miles east and up higher into the Sawtooth Mountains looking for elk. Tom says it’s not for sissies since you’ve got to walk miles and miles and they sit to look for elk feeding. They spot elk a few miles off in their scope.

Mountain Men – Morgan’s trek to the boat

In the Gulf of Alaska, Morgan’s packing up his smoked salmon. He has two miles and two hours to get there. Morgan hopes to find no bears in his path. The fish on his back means Morgan might scent attractively to bears. He spots a cub and is spooked. Morgan wonders where the mom is and crosses the creek to avoid them. He spots the mother bear with salmon in her mouth.

Morgan must detour and waste time to get away from the bears and stay safe. He cuts overland to the ocean. It could run him late. Eustace Conway is running back and forth and the century-old sawmill isn’t working well for him. The blade overheats and Eustace burns his hand. The wood piles up he’s not sure what to do. Eustace needs someone to work with him. He says it’s too dangerous to go it alone.

Training and roofing

Jake starts the dogs on the raccoon tracking drill. The dogs run parallel and ignore the bulls to focus on the raccoon’s scent. The pack trees around the pelt he’s hung. Marlene is right in there with the veteran dogs. Jake is pleased. They fight over the pelt. He says if this seems barbaric, think again. He says he and the dogs track mountain lions to protect livestock and people.

Over in the Ozarks, Jason is racing to finish the hogan while Mary worries the baby could come at any time. Mary wants to have her homebirth in the hogan. They have less than a week to the due date so Jason’s pal John Ombre comes to help with the hogan roof. He’s got the plan for the roof and says it’s like a beaver’s lodge.

Hogan ready for baby

They need 100 logs to finish the two-ton roof and so Jason spikes the timbers to lock them into place but talks about the dangers of working up high. Jason loses his balance and falls ut heads back up and he and John fill in the gaps with smaller logs. The roof is taking shape and they leave a 4×4 skylight for a stovepipe vent.

John assembles the stovepipe and they start is going. River brings in some wood and Mary comes to check it out. They’re ready in case Mary goes into labor at any time. Mary’s relieved even though they need to do the mudding and River agrees it’s beautiful. She plans to use it for a fort after the baby is born.

Elk hunting at high altitudes on Mountain Men

Tom and Mark try and get closer to the elk but see nothing. They spot tracks on a game trail but there’s a big ravine they must traverse. Tom says it’s hard for an old man to handle these hills with his bad knees. Tom says this is about putting meat on the table, not sport. They spot a fresh track but it’s a 600-foot vertical climb to follow the elk. They finally spot one but it’s not a good shot at the cow. Tom says nothing about elk hunting is easy.

Morgan continues his long walk to the boat but he’s still on his detour. He’s late and unsure where he is at and then realizes he’s at the wrong cove. He looks around and tries to get his bearings so he can get to the rendezvous spot. He plans to raft it and inflates his small raft so that he doesn’t miss his ride. The small paddles are a problem so he rigs a kayak paddle that will be more efficient and then he’s ready to get into the water and make his way to the pick-up spot.

Morgan races to meet his ride

Navigating by memory, Morgan looks for a stone arch that marks the inlet where he thinks he was dropped off. He sees the landform and decides he’s in the right place. He rows on and spots a boat tethered at the shore. Morgan is glad to be home free with his catch. He collapses the raft and apologizes to the boatman for running late. Morgan says Margaret will be thrilled with the fish but says they need to get a lot of work done at the homestead.

Back in North Carolina, Eustace Conway is missing his Mountain Men partner. He calls in Joseph Robert, Preston’s son. Joseph is happy to help Eustace. He says Joseph is a great worker and immediately gets the off-gripping. They move the lumber through fast and Eustace is thrilled. He says it was nice working with him and Joseph says he was glad that he could help Eustace. He says Preston Roberts did such a good job of raising his boys and talks about the richness of the culture there.

Sundown and a long hike

Daylight fades and Tom and Mark’s elk hunt seems to have failed. They have seven miles to walk and it’s getting dark fast. They’re out with headlamps on and are eager to get back. They spot old Blue on the road and both Tom and Mark are excited. The hunt was a bust but Tom plans to share some meat from a bison hunt last year. He says up there on the mountain, they all share in the community.

Next time on Mountain Men, Marty Meierotto explores new territory, Morgan works to build new shelter against the cold, and it’s baby time for the Hawks. Looks like the hogan got done just in time! Hope you enjoyed this Mountain Men recap, Season 7 Episode 2 of Time and Tide. Check back to Soap Dirt for the latest Reality Show spoilers and watch History Channel every Thursday for more Mountain Men!

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