Local father, son hunt to survive 28 days in Alaskan wilderness on TV show

(Rusted Rooster Media)


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FAIRFIELD — After surviving brain cancer, a Fairfield man and his son were selected to go on the reality show "Dropped: Project Be Alive" to survive 28 days in the Alaskan wilderness.

Kaid Panek said he and his father, RL Panek, both love hunting, camping and spending time in the outdoors. RL Panek always had a life goal of hunting moose in Alaska, but his dream was put on hold when he was diagnosed with stage 2 brain cancer in 2011. He underwent radiation and surgery to have the tumor removed and was declared cancer free by the end of the year.

After the near brush with death, Kaid Panek told his father to book an Alaskan moose hunt.

"We told him it was time — that he needed to start chasing some bucket list items," Kaid Panek said.

In 2013, RL Panek booked a hunt in the Yukon, and while preparing for it, began watching the first season of "Dropped," a reality TV show featuring two brothers who get dropped into the wilderness and have to hunt for food and survive 28 days in rugged Alaskan terrain.

"He got hooked on the show and loved what they stood for and their mission," Kaid Panek said. "And it was just kind of a, 'How cool would that be?' "

Photo credit: Rusted Rooster Media
Photo credit: Rusted Rooster Media

Typically, "Dropped" features brothers Chris and Casey Keefer, but for its fourth season, the producers decided to invite two guests on the show. A video contest was created to select the participants and RL Panek decided to enter with his son. They made a submission video and were shocked when they were contacted by the Keefer brothers.

"(We were) very surprised," RL Panek said. "They started out the call with, 'OK, we've narrowed it down to five people.' So we thought we were just doing a final interview questionnaire kind of thing, and they had kind of reeled us in thinking we were the top five finalists, when we had actually won the video presentation."

The duo were outfitted with camping gear, clothing and hunting equipment and flew to Alaska on Sept. 1, 2014. They joined the Keefer brothers and traveled to Bethel, Alaska, where they were split into two teams for their survival experience: RL Panek was paired with Casey Keefer and his son went with Chris Keefer. The two teams were flown into the southwestern Alaskan wilderness and were dropped off 50 miles apart.

Each pair had permits to hunt moose, black bears, wolves, wolverines, waterfowl and rabbits. They also had fishing licenses.

"It was hunt to survive," Kaid Panek said. "We were surviving off of what we killed or what we were able to gather from the wilderness. We had a food ration for safety reasons, but it was bare minimal just to keep you alive. … It was a rollercoaster ride for sure."


It was hunt to survive. We were surviving off of what we killed or what we were able to gather from the wilderness. We had a food ration for safety reasons, but it was bare minimal just to keep you alive. It was a rollercoaster ride for sure.

–Kaid Panek


Although he had watched the previous seasons of the show, RL Panek said he wasn't quite sure what to expect during his experience.

"I went into this thing pretty open-minded, not knowing what to expect and knowing that we had to survive," he said. "There wasn't a supermarket around the corner. We wasn't (sic) able to pack anything in. … Kind of what you expect and what you actually experience seem to (be) 180 (degrees off) in most of the aspects."

Kaid Panek said they had a basic water filter and utilized streams they encountered during their hunting each day. The temperature stayed fairly cool during their 28 days of survival so they didn't have to worry about the meat from their kills spoiling. However, Kaid Panek said his team encountered 11 grizzly bears in 9 days so they did have to worry about keeping their food supply safe from other predators.

Both teams endured different challenges and RL Panek said his group had to deal with inclement weather.

"Weather was probably our biggest factor, where we were stuck and couldn't get out of the tent to go get food and try to fish or try to hunt something," RL Panek said. "We were limited just because of the weather."

Left to right: Kaid Panek, Chris Keefer, Casey Keefer and RL Panek. Photo credit: Rusted Rooster Media
Left to right: Kaid Panek, Chris Keefer, Casey Keefer and RL Panek. Photo credit: Rusted Rooster Media

Both men lost over 10 pounds during their experience, but despite some of their difficulties, they both said they would do it again.

"A lot of people in my generation are always glued to their phone or you are so worried about first world experiences: what the celebrities are doing or who has a hit song coming out on the radio," Kaid Panek said. "When you get there, it's so surprising how all of that just vanishes away from your mind because the only things you have to worry about are food, shelter and water. You go to a very simplistic, instinctive mindset."

Although they weren't together during their experience, RL Panek said he was very grateful to have the opportunity to do it with his son.

"The biggest thing was being able to experience that with my boy," he said. "Even though we weren't hunting together and our experiences were totally different, that was one of the biggest things."

"Dropped: Project Be Alive" premieres Thursday at 6 p.m. on the Sportsman Channel.

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