The Untold Story of Tom Oar, Mountain Men's Favorite Cowboy, Who His Wife and What His Net Worth Is.

Here's how the story of Tom Oar goes, how he transitioned from being a cowboy to brain tanning and starring on 'Mountain Men', who his family is, and how he earns his net worth.

"I guess I was born 150 or 200 years too late," says Tom Oar, a former cowboy who decided to leave all the modern razzle-dazzle behind to let his life take its course in the wilderness. At 78, he's still doing it.

Born in 1943 in Rockford, Illinois, Tom Oar is perhaps known for his lead in History Channel’s Mountain Men since 2013. He lives in the middle of the Yaak River Valley in Northwestern Montana with his wife Nancy, and the more his popularity grows, so does his impatience with more people invading his territory, although with no ill intent as his fans.

As one can imagine, Oar chooses to live on whatever nature can provide for him, and as part of being self-sufficient, he keeps some endangered traditions alive, like trapping, harvesting his own meat, and brain tanning, something even the Native Americans, whom this technique comes from, don't do these days. These unique things have flooded his recognition worldwide.

Tom Oar & His Wife Built Their Home in the Woods Around 40 Years Ago

Tom Oar's wife Nancy has been with him for the most part of his solitary life, living out the majority of his early life around rodeos and trick riding since the age of 7. In midst of their professional career, they often visited Montana in the summer to rodeo. When they felt that they were done with that life, they moved to where they always wanted to, taking inspiration from the 1800's icons Joe Meek and Jim Bridger.

We don't know if his dog, Elli, a German shorthaired pointer, is still around or not.
Photo Source: Twitter

Unfortunately, he couldn't end it in style. He was climbing the ranks of the International Rodeo Association in the 1960s until he suffered a near-death experience at 35 in the arena literally under the legs of a bull called Woolly Bugger. He came back after a month but was never able to reach his former heights. The realization soon hit him and retired from rodeo in 1981. He had already bought a chainsaw in Illinois and moved to Montana with Nancy by the time he retired.

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It took the pair 5 years to build the house they now live in themselves. They lived in a two-room cabin that was in the one-and-a-half acre land they had bought when their house was under construction. They call that land their home for over 40 years now and live in the same house since it was completed all those years ago.

How Tom Oar Collects His Net Worth: A Book on Brain Tanning Turned His Life Around

Of course, with a new lifestyle, especially the one Oar chose, there were second doubts in the couple's minds early on about the life they started living. They lived off trapping and hunting for a while. They were finding it hard to survive off the trade he experienced in Illinois but never learned to earn from it.

However, their lifestyle turned around when they entered a Native American store in Billings. They found a little 16-page book that explained how the Native Americans brain-tanned. It was rare even at that time and with a little bit of luck, he was ready to turn it into a lucrative business.

All of his products are made by hand; they don't even use sewing machines.
Photo Credit: Nathan Satran for Eden Prairie Lifestyle

"Black Powder Rendezvous, they called them,” Oar told City Lifestyle a while back. “They were recreations of the old fur-trade days in the Rocky Mountains when all the trappers would meet in one spot."

You won't find his first-hand products online. Tom Oar's only market is any one of these rendezvous, but the sales have increased since his involvement with Mountain Men.

The $3 book was a huge discovery for the 78-year-old, and his handmade wares, such as the brain-tanned hides, were even more so for his buyers. The husband-wife started selling well soon enough, and they continue to do it even still.

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As humble and open-minded as he is, Oar also controls a modest estimated net worth of $400,000. Mountain Men doesn't bother him much; the only difference is the cameras around them and of course, all the additional demand of orders he gets from his popularity through the show.

In an interview with American Cowboy, the former cowboy mentions he goes to one or two rendezvous a year and earns around $3000 to $4,000 each time. Oar also points out that he gets paid by History Channel for the show but doesn't want to give up the trade. But it is a relief to not completely rely on the trade for a living.