09/16/2026
What Happened to Paul Antczak, Lauro Eklund, Bret & Ivy, and Chance & Soraya From Mountain Men?
Mountain Men has always worked best when the people on screen were already living the life before television arrived. Paul Antczak, Lauro Eklund, Bret Bohn and Ivy O’Guinn, and Chance and Soraya Painter all brought that authenticity to the series, with stories ranging from Montana wolf country to remote traplines, sled-dog trails and family homesteads across Alaska.
Their lives did not stop when the cameras pulled away. As of September 2026, trapping, guiding, mushing, homesteading and raising families in the backcountry still shape much of what they do, giving each of them a story that has continued well beyond the episodes viewers last saw.
Paul Antczak
Paul Antczak had been trapping for decades before Mountain Men introduced him to a much larger audience. He started trapping in Wisconsin in 1977, when he was still a boy, and eventually made the move west. In 2012, Paul relocated to Montana, where the larger wilderness and wolf population allowed him to build the kind of remote life he had been looking for.
A chance connection with Tom Oar helped bring that life to television. Paul met Tom in December 2021 when Tom needed wolf snares. The two became friends, and Tom encouraged him to consider Mountain Men. Paul began the audition process in 2022 and was eventually accepted onto the series.
When Paul arrived in Season 12, the show did not have to invent much around him. He was living in Montana's remote Salish Mountains, trapping fur and making predator bait for part of his income while hoping to secure land of his own. One of his earliest episodes even brought the story full circle when Tom visited and showed him some of his methods for trapping pine marten. Another storyline followed Paul dealing with nuisance badgers.
His role later grew beyond being Tom's friend. Season 14 followed Paul working coyote and beaver lines and racing against wolves while trying to fill his bobcat quota. By then, viewers were seeing much more of the trapping life that had existed long before the program.
That work continues away from the cameras. Paul now operates Montana Wolf Trapper, where he shares trapping footage, fur handling, snare work and life from his Montana cabin. His site remains active in 2026, and that work has grown alongside a larger role in the trapping community.
In 2026, he began serving on the Fur Takers of America Board of Directors, with his term running through 2028, while remaining involved with Montana Fur Harvesters. On April 18, he joined Tom Oar as a special guest at the Montana Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife Pig Roast in Missoula. Later in the summer, Montana Wolf Trapper was represented at the Montana Trappers Association Rendezvous in Deer Lodge, and on September 11–12, Paul took part in the Wisconsin Trappers Association’s Fall Rendezvous in Antigo, where he was part of the demonstration lineup.
Much of Paul’s 2026 has also been focused on a new off-grid trapper’s cabin on his Montana property. He started the project in the spring, milling logs from the land and building the cabin over the following months. By late August, the project was essentially complete, and Tom stopped by to see the finished build. Paul had already begun taking bookings for hunters, including bear, wolf and rut-season trips, with the cabin available for DIY hunting stays.
As of September 2026, Paul is still trapping in Montana while expanding Montana Wolf Trapper, taking on a larger role in the trapping community and developing the new cabin as another part of his outdoor business. His life remains centered on trapping, hunting and off-grid work—the same world viewers first saw on Mountain Men.
Lauro Eklund
For Lauro Eklund, the wilderness life shown on Mountain Men goes back to childhood.
Lauro was born and raised in Alaska and spent part of his youth in the bush with his father, Neil Eklund. Together they trapped, hunted, fished and even built log rafts to move wood along the Yukon River. Neil had also completed the Iditarod twice, in 1981 and 1983, and his stories helped shape Lauro's fascination with dog teams.
At 17, Lauro bought his first sled dog, Annie, for $600 and firewood. That one dog eventually became the beginning of the kennel he spent years developing. He later trained and raced extensively, with mushing becoming far more than a hobby.
That father-and-son history became an important part of Mountain Men: Alaska in 2023. Viewers watched Lauro and Neil return to the Yukon, trap and fish together and use the old skills Neil had passed down. At the same time, Lauro was pushing toward a much bigger personal goal: qualifying for and completing the Iditarod.
His first Iditarod came in 2024, when he finished 26th after nearly 12 days on the trail. He returned in 2025 and climbed to 14th place. Then came his strongest performance yet.
In the 2026 Iditarod, Lauro finished eighth, completing the race in 10 days, 3 hours, 19 minutes and 49 seconds. It was his first top-10 Iditarod finish and a huge progression from the young musher viewers first saw preparing his team on Mountain Men.
Mushing is now very much his full-time life. A 2026 profile described Lauro as maintaining more than 40 huskies at his Two Rivers kennel while racing during winter and moving with his dogs to Juneau during summer to give glacier dog-sled tours. He and Neil also continue operating Skookum Expeditions, offering sled-dog and wilderness experiences.
And he is not finished racing. As of September 2026, Lauro is already listed among the mushers for the 2027 Iditarod.
What began on Mountain Men as a long-term mushing goal has since become one of Lauro’s biggest achievements. He completed his first Iditarod in 2024, improved to 14th in 2025, and reached a new high in 2026 with an eighth-place finish—his first top-10 result.
Bret Bohn & Ivy O’Guinn
Bret Bohn and Ivy O’Guinn brought two different Alaskan backgrounds together when they joined the Mountain Men world.
Bret was born and raised in Alaska and grew up hunting from an unusually young age. His outdoor career eventually became professional: he earned a degree in aviation technology from the University of Alaska, became a registered Alaska hunting guide and private pilot, and accumulated decades of trapping experience. Through BBB Alaska, he has guided hunts for animals including moose and brown bear across remote parts of the state.
Ivy's upbringing was centered farther west, around Bristol Bay and the Kenai Peninsula, where fishing was part of family life. She learned from her mother and grandmother and later expanded those skills into guiding, taxidermy and artwork using natural materials.
Together, they became one of the central couples in Mountain Men: Alaska. Their winter life took viewers into the Alaska Range, where they ran long traplines, hunted and worked from a remote cabin. One memorable Season 12 story followed them pursuing a bull moose in hopes of securing enough meat for the year.
Their relationship was changing at the same time. Bret and Ivy married on July 1, 2024, after about two years of engagement, and their life together soon became part of the story viewers saw on Mountain Men. By Season 14, viewers were seeing more of the work behind that life, from dealing with a brown bear at their salmon nets to moving equipment across lake ice, preparing traps for winter and adding solar power to their remote cabin.
In July 2025, Bret and Ivy appeared with Paul Antczak at the Fur Takers of America Rendezvous in Iowa, speaking with visitors about trapping and life in Alaska. They carried that experience into 2026 with two sold-out sessions of their Women’s Alaska Trapping Retreat, taking small groups into roughly 600 miles of backcountry trapline for hands-on instruction in snowmachine travel, trapping and fur preparation. Their 2027 retreat has already sold out as well.
In spring 2026, Bret sat down to recount the 2016 grizzly attack he survived with his father, Glen Bohn, with Ivy beside him during the filming. The finished video, North of Fear, was released in July 2026. Around the same time, Bret and Ivy also shared footage from their backcountry Alaska cabin, giving a current look at the remote life they are still building together.
As of September 2026, Bret and Ivy continue to combine their backcountry experience with guiding, trapping and the retreat program, while Ivy also maintains the fishing, fur work and creative interests rooted in her Alaska upbringing. What began as their shared wilderness life has gradually grown into work they now teach and share with others.
Chance & Soraya Painter
Chance and Soraya Painter represent a much younger version of the life Mountain Men has documented for years.
Chance grew up learning to hunt and trap and eventually moved to Alaska in search of a more self-reliant existence. Soraya grew up in Oregon and shared his interest in a simpler outdoor life. The two met in Alaska and began building that life together far from the conveniences most families rely on.
Before television found them, they had already spent time living in a wall tent on their property. Chance later explained that people had approached them online about television, but he initially ignored the messages. Eventually, he contacted the production side himself—and the family became part of Mountain Men.
They joined Season 14 as one of the show's youngest families. Their story was less about an experienced trapper living alone and more about what happens when two parents try to raise small children in an environment where food, heat and shelter still require daily work.
Viewers saw Chance and Soraya butcher a ram to feed the family, gather and preserve food, and prepare their home for winter. Another major project involved building a log barn to protect their livestock before the first heavy snow arrived.
But the children are really what distinguishes their story. Chance and Soraya now have three sons—Otter, Omaciw and Eider—and much of their life revolves around teaching them the same skills the couple depends on themselves. Fishing, berry picking, hunting and learning how to move safely through the Alaskan wilderness are part of childhood rather than occasional outdoor trips.
Their self-reliance also extends into their work. In late 2025, they were still trapping, tanning hides and producing handmade fur goods from animals they harvested themselves—another example of how their off-grid life also supports the family economically.
As of September 2026, Chance and Soraya are still living that remote Alaska life with their boys..
