Clay Hayes, through his books, self-bow building workshops, and YouTube channel, is well-known in the traditional bowhunting community. But since his recent appearance on the History Channel program, Alone, Clay is casting a much wider net these days by outlasting Season Eight’s other participants and surviving 74 days on the shores of Chilko Lake, British Columbia.
Alone differs from other programs of the reality television genre. Those selected for the program are permitted to choose just 10 survival items, are given an emergency/first-aid kit, and are dropped off in the wilderness with those few items and the clothes on their back. The experience is entirely self-filmed and there is no one else to blame for failure. Participants are truly alone until they voluntarily tap out, are removed by a medical team for health reasons, or as Clay did, outlast everyone else and win the thing.
After his winning episode aired, we let Clay enjoy his first elk season since returning home and then caught up with him for this interview.
TBM: Clay, you have a very close family, how did they process the news that you would be away, possibly for months?
CH: The boys were excited about me being on the show but sad to see me go. We’d watched all the previous seasons together. I had a talk with them both before I left about how much I needed to know they’d help their mom while I was away. They promised me they’d help. While I was away I had no idea what was going on back home, but I knew they’d do their best to keep that promise. Liz was apprehensive but she supported the decision and did everything she could to support me getting prepared for it, just like she always does.
TBM: Once contracts are signed for these types of shows, you can be at the mercy of the editors. Were you at all concerned how your experiences, narrative, or comments might be edited for the viewing audience?
CH: Funny you should ask that. During a pre-launch interview the producer asked me, “What’s your greatest fear?” and I said, “The way you edit!” I’ve always had total control over the content I produce, so it was a concern. But the entire staff, producers, casting…everyone was genuinely good people, so I trusted them to not throw me under the bus unless I acted like a complete dummy out there. I figured if I did my part well, they’d do theirs.
TBM: Do you have any sense of what criteria the producers use to select the locations for the show?
CH: Well, judging by this season it ain’t places with bountiful resources!
TBM: During the orientation, did you size up your fellow participants as to who might be your strongest competition? Who most surprised you one way or another?
CH: You get a pretty good feel for who will make it far and who’s going home early. But folks will surprise you. As far as sizing people up, I never worried about it, even while out there. Alone isn’t a competition in the traditional sense because it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. It only matters what you do, how you handle the problems you’re presented. If it’s a competition at all, it’s with yourself.
TBM: Through your YouTube videos, you’re known as a very self-reliant guy with plenty of do-it-yourself skills but was there anything in particular you had to learn or put special focus on while prepping for the program?
CH: I learned to make nets the old way with a shuttle and gauge card. It’s actually a pretty enjoyable process when you’ve got nothing else to do. It’s kind of like splitting firewood in the way you can see your work accumulate and feel a nice sense of accomplishment. I did a lot of practicing with friction fire as well because I seriously considered not taking a ferro rod. Although I was confident in my ability I did end up taking one simply for the convenience of it.
TBM: What basic toiletries are permitted on the show?
CH: You get a toothbrush. That’s it.
TBM: Were all the participants dropped off individually at their assigned areas so there wasn’t any awareness of one another’s locations as they certainly didn’t want anyone meeting up with one of their peers?
CH: Yep, we were all dropped individually. I had no idea where anyone else was. Additionally, thick smoke from wildfires had settled in the valley on launch day so you couldn’t see more than half a mile or so. You couldn’t see the sun and I had no idea if we traveled north or south on the boat ride to my location. I had no idea where I was when they dropped me off.
TBM: How many nights did you sleep out in the open before you finished your cabin? That had to have been really nerve-wracking in grizzly country.
CH: I guess I had the walls up on the shack by Day 14 or so. But even without anything but a tarp, sleeping wasn’t a problem. I actually had something big come through camp late on the first night, but I never could see it. Either a moose or bear. It went crashing off through the brush when it caught my scent.
TBM: Were you permitted to have any reading or writing materials? If not, how did you mentally cope with any downtime or long nights?
CH: No, none at all. I’d have paid $5,000 bucks for a $2.00 notebook and a couple of pens! The mental side—isolation, slow starvation—especially later when the days got short, was tough. Starting around Day 50 I went through a short period of depression which is abnormal for me. I was losing weight and had already been warned about that. Losing too much would mean getting pulled out for medical reasons. I thought I couldn’t afford to be active the way I wanted so I was spending a lot of time in my bag trying to conserve energy. I started feeling sorry for myself. What got me through that was the thought of my boys watching me mope around when it all aired.
TBM: We noticed that you didn’t include a whetstone as part of your allotted items. How difficult was it to find just the right stones to keep your knife and broadheads sharp?
CH: That is also a very common question in my YouTube comments. The shoreline was all stone and I found several with flat sides to use as honing stones. It worked very well. I still have the one I used most.
TBM: Did you attempt to set any type of daily routine for the sake of some sort of normalcy while you were up there?
CH: I did but it changed with the seasons. Early on I would get up before daylight, have a couple cups of Labrador tea and go fishing at sunrise. Later on, I’d still have the tea but instead of fishing every day I’d run my snare line for rabbits. Of course, I took my bow everywhere I went. Once I had the deer, and later rabbits from the snares, I’d start on dinner pretty early in the day. I’d start a fire before heading out on the snare line and put the meat in the pot to simmer while I was away. It would die out while I was gone and I’d restart it around 2 p.m. and add the rest of the ingredients—berries, mushrooms, and fat. Then I’d let that slow cook until 5 or 6 p.m. when I’d eat. The meat would fall off the bone. Later in the season I was usually in bed by 7 p.m.
TBM: Most of the contestants brought a traditional bow with them but it seemed that you were the only participant that was actively bowhunting?
CH: Maybe. It’s hard to tell what someone is really doing from watching the show. The others could have been out hunting and it just wasn’t shown. But I was absolutely hunting nearly every day. In addition to the deer, I shot several grouse with my bow.
TBM: Were rabbits plentiful enough to invest the time hunting them?
CH: Not really. They were pretty sparse. Out of all the walking I did, I only ever saw two hare other than the ones I caught in my snares. There were a fair number of grouse, but they were very flighty. Most of the time they’d be whirring away before I knew they were there. I did manage to get a few with my bow though, and a few more in snares.
TBM: How many grouse did you kill? Viewers only saw the first one you arrowed.
CH: I think I had a total of eight grouse: five with my bow and three more in snares.
TBM: After you killed the buck, did you actively deer hunt again? If no, why not?
CH: No. Unfortunately, we were limited to just one deer. We had to follow the local regs just like everyone else. One deer isn’t much food when you spread it across two months!
TBM: This particular season of the show was titled “Grizzly Mountain” for good reason, grizzlies appeared to be plentiful with many participants having close encounters. Did you ever hear bears sniffing about your shelter during the night? And was there any evidence of black bears in the area or just grizzlies?
CH: I had a black bear track on my shoreline right after the first snow, but I never saw it again. Grizzlies were all over. I had grizzly tracks within 10 yards of my shelter, but I never heard them that close. The wind was usually howling or waves crashing which made hearing anything pretty difficult.
TBM: How many total bear encounters did you have? Did you think that one particular heart stopping incident was a bluff charge at the time or were you prepared in your mind for a real charge?
CH: I saw bears on maybe six or seven occasions but only got really close twice. The one that charged me stopped less than 10 yards away. I had the bear spray out and ready. He stopped on the other side of a tree I was using for cover, and I couldn’t really see what he was doing when he finally did stop. When I saw him move I thought he might come around the tree to my left, so I just pointed the spray that way and hit the trigger. Turns out he was just wheeling to run. The spray never even hit him.
TBM: What we’ll call the “rainbow” shot…that was magnificent, how did you set up that scene as it was easily one of the most epic images of the season. And your comment while up there should certainly strike a chord with all those who love the outdoors, “What did I do to deserve this?” That was such a humbling, grateful statement.
CH: That was nothing short of miraculous. For three weeks I’d eaten a single grouse, a few pieces of dried fish, and some mushrooms. I’d probably lost close to 20 pounds by the time I killed the little buck. When I killed that deer it was like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. I didn’t have to worry about where my next meal was coming from which was a huge stress lifted off of me. Then, while packing the meat out, a perfect double rainbow! It was as if the universe had aligned for me. That’s a moment I’ll never forget.
TBM: Were there any of your experiences you would have liked to have seen in the final edit that were not aired? And conversely, was there something in the final edit that you wish was edited out?
CH: The biggest thing I wish they’d have shown was my interaction with the fisher. He actually came into my camp every evening for the last two weeks. I’d leave scraps for him near my door, and he’d come like clockwork. After months of being alone I looked forward to our dinner dates. He eventually became very comfortable around me, regularly coming as close as three feet. He’d have come right into the shack if I’d allowed him, but I still had a bunch of jerky hanging from the ridgepole and didn’t want him getting that comfortable. I had some great footage of him.
TBM: After months of solitude with only the sounds of nature, upon your return were the daily sounds of human life (traffic, crowds, television) an annoyance in any way?
CH: I didn’t sleep at all the first night. Not a wink. There was too much going through my head. I was in a cabin with central heat and air and a nice soft mattress. I’d just had my first hot shower in 74 days, but I couldn’t sleep. The wind and waves of the lake were replaced by the humming of electrical appliances and people talking.
The airport was pretty weird. For two and a half months I’d not hurried to do anything. But in the airport, people were moving this way and that, hurrying to some commitment of their own. The contrast couldn’t have been starker, but I didn’t have to deal with that for long. We live out in the country and don’t see many people besides the neighboring farmers.
TBM: Clay, we appreciate your time, and congratulations on your well-deserved win. We know many non-hunters watch Alone and you did a wonderful job of representing the outdoor community and specifically traditional bowhunters. Did you have any final thoughts for us regarding your experience on the program?
CH: The biggest takeaway for me was how important it is to be able to take a step back, look at our lives from a step removed. That is something which is incredibly rare these days. Usually, people don’t get to do that until they’re in their later years. Looking back over their life, they can clearly see where their time was used well and where it was wasted. The time on Chilko, removed from my usual life, gave me that kind of opportunity. I was able to step above the daily grind to see the bigger picture.
Now that I’ve been back for a year it’s also clear to see how easy it is to slip back into the rut that traps so many of us; to become immersed in work and such, to lose sight of that bigger picture. I have to constantly remind myself of what’s most important—time spent wisely with those who are most important to us.
Clay Hayes is the author of Traditional Archery Hunting and Traditional Bowyer’s Handbook. He is also the host of a widely popular YouTube channel, Clay Hayes Traditional.
