History Channel’s Mountain Man Josh Kirk has attracted a following and has enjoyed his time on the show, but the reality television star has told Cowboy State Daily he’s decided to opt out of another season.
“I’ve got my own show that’s going to be coming out,” Kirk said. “I’m right now I’m in the negotiation process with that.”
Kirk said he’s negotiating with Netflix and three other networks for the show, which he said will be somewhat similar to “Mountain Men,” except the concept will be bringing on mountain men apprentices.
“I want to teach people,” Kirk said. “I want to pass on the ancient skill sets that have brought us to where we’re at now. I just want to keep these skill sets alive that our forefathers lived and they died by. If I can, I want to pass them on to society, so we don’t lose them.”
Bison Ranching In Wyoming
Kirk has had many adventures in his 38-year lifespan already. When he was 17, he had a brush with death when traveling on horseback across Utah.
“I got stuck in a snowstorm in the Uintah Mountains and I almost died of second-stage hypothermia,” Kirk told Cowboy State Daily. “So, I’m a survivor of hypothermia as well.”
In that same general timeframe, he also started a survival school, which Kirk said grew to be the third largest in the country. That’s how the History Channel discovered him.
“That’s ultimately how I ended up doing some videos on YouTube, and got found by the History Channel,” he said.
That discovery also led to consultant work with other programs that wanted Kirk to help them assess the survival skills of potential participants on other reality television shows.
“I’ve worked with History (Channel), Discovery (Channel), National Geographic, BBC — you name it,” he said. “I’ve worked with those guys at some point in time.”
As a result of his survival school, Kirk traveled far and wide as well, especially in the West. That led to him meeting a friend he calls “Pony Boy,” who has hired him to manage the bison ranch on the Wind River Range in Wyoming.
Music Is Also A Big Thing For Kirk
Kirk has been singing since a young age, and that has continued. He recently returned from musical performances that took him up toward Canada.
“I’ve played with just about everybody,” Kirk said. “When I was 19, I opened for Merle Haggard.”
His most recent musical appearance was at South Pass City for Gold Rush Days, where he was doing mountain man demonstrations, as well as singing a few tunes now and then.
Kirk said he believes in diversity in all things. That doesn’t just include naturalized and native plants on the range and restoring bison herds from Yellowstone, but seems to apply to himself as well.
“It’s about meeting people and seeing people in all different walks of life,” he said. “I have met people who, you know, might live in an apartment somewhere and they can’t afford nothing at all, but it’s a dream to (live off the grid off the land).
“And I’ve seen people over the years that didn’t have the means to do it, but were so encouraged by what I’ve taught” that they were eventually able to make the dream happen after all.
That’s makes everything worth it in the end, Kirk said, and that’s what he’s hoping to continue with his new show.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
