Survivorman

[jrich4rpaul]

For anyone who has seen this show on Discovery, you know Les Stroud (Survivorman) is a real deal survival expert, not some Man vs Wild phony who sleeps in a hotel between shoots.

For those of you who havn't seen it, I suggest catching it some time. Les Stroud puts himself in a survival situation where he must find means to survive for 7 days, by himself, without a camera crew, and only the tools his producers decide to give him (sometimes only some matches and a pair of goggles).

I've learned a lot watching this show and I just bought his book,
http://www.amazon.com/Survive-Essen...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237808010&sr=8-1
which has been an incredible read so far. I'd recommend it.

 

[smithtg]

dude I love survivorman. I think I have seen almost all of his shows. He has a cool website too. He has taught me plenty, too bad living in the burbs I havent taken time to practice some of his things

 

[LittleLightShining]

Survivorman is awesome! I remember after Katrina Les did a show about urban survival. EVERYONE should watch that. Everyone.

 

[Bruehound]

Les is the real deal. A bear may shit in the woods but he usually sleeps in a Motel 6.

 

[JeNNiF00F00]

Is that the guy that drank his own pee? :X

 

[NathanTurner]

Is that the guy that drank his own pee? :X

Bear Grylls has been known to drink his own pee, as well as eat just about anything that comes his way. His show reminds me of a bad Fear Factor knockoff. He's a fraud through and through. Not only that, but he often kills animals extremely wastefully. I've seen him kill a 20lbs catfish for only a few bites before moves on.

Then again, I suppose if you're staying at a motel in between shoots, you have all the food you could ever want.

 

[gabed99]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKssI like him too, but I saw this guy on PBS who blew him out of the water. This guy moved to Alaska with just basic hand tools, built himself a cabin, boat, smoker, outhouse, and added a fireplace to his cabin. It was a 4 part series, but I only caught the last part unfortunetly. The guy ended up staying and living in Alaska for like 40 years, compared to like a week or two out in the woods or jungle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

Sorry, never really posted a link before.

 

[Paulitical Correctness]

You know, it really ticks me off when people get to talkin' about Man vs. Wild and I recommend Survivorman as an alternative and get laughed at.

"LOL Les Stroud is a canadian pansy".

"Bear Grylls would own him, I mean...his name is Bear."

"That show sucks, he doesn't even do anything."

Typical American attitude, too. They like the theatrics. Bear's better because he does "dangerous" and "br00tal" stuff.

/rant

 

[Wulfslæd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKssI like him too, but I saw this guy on PBS who blew him out of the water. This guy moved to Alaska with just basic hand tools, built himself a cabin, boat, smoker, outhouse, and added a fireplace to his cabin. It was a 4 part series, but I only caught the last part unfortunetly. The guy ended up staying and living in Alaska for like 40 years, compared to like a week or two out in the woods or jungle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

Sorry, never really posted a link before.

There's a book by this guy too. It's called One Man's Wilderness. It's his diary entries from when he was out there.

 

[LittleLightShining]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKssI like him too, but I saw this guy on PBS who blew him out of the water. This guy moved to Alaska with just basic hand tools, built himself a cabin, boat, smoker, outhouse, and added a fireplace to his cabin. It was a 4 part series, but I only caught the last part unfortunetly. The guy ended up staying and living in Alaska for like 40 years, compared to like a week or two out in the woods or jungle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

Sorry, never really posted a link before.

I've seen this many times on pbs. I love it every time.

 

[PatriotLegion]

Bear demonstrates survival techniques, the climbing and all the extreme stuff he does and isn't faked. Les is mostly sitting in his camp doing nothing, I find his show boring IMHO.

 

[NathanTurner]

Bear demonstrates survival techniques, the climbing and all the extreme stuff he does and isn't faked. Les is mostly sitting in his camp doing nothing, I find his show boring IMHO.

The show is about survival. In a practical survival situation with limited food and water, you're not going to want to scale a vertical cliff face to "get an idea of the terrain," or climb every mountain in sight. Not only is that not very good conservation of energy and calories, but most people aren't expert mountain climbers and this wouldn't be a viable option.

A British man who braves ice pits next to a busy highway, who kills a large snake or a giant catfish for just a couple bites before he returns to his hotel's buffet, or who has his "survival team" construct a raft, test it, then let him "rebuild" it may be more entertaining... but it isn't very authentic.

 

[jrich4rpaul]

Bear demonstrates survival techniques, the climbing and all the extreme stuff he does and isn't faked. Les is mostly sitting in his camp doing nothing, I find his show boring IMHO.

The reason Les sits and "does nothing", as he has said himself, is because he's indeed out there trying to survive and preserve calories, not scale mountains and go sightseeing. In fact, he warns on several occasions to not try and run your way out of being lost as you will deplete your stamina much quicker. He has no food unless he finds it, so running around doing stunts for no reason is a reckless and dangerous way to use calories, especially when he never finds food until the second or third day on the site, and even then it might be just a few bugs or some vegetation. Bear Grylls eats after every shoot, so he has all the energy in the world for theatrics. The things Bear does are real, but he's not exactly fighting for survival out there.

 

[VUK]

Bear busted!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UpSlpvb1is

 

[Bruno]

Thanks for the thread, Les is the real deal. I agree with all the previous posts about Bear being phony as well. I've also seen him kill a 10 foot snake just to have a few bites and move on. He's not at all in "survival mode"

Les is also totally on his own, where Bear has three or four camermen with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKssI like him too, but I saw this guy on PBS who blew him out of the water. This guy moved to Alaska with just basic hand tools, built himself a cabin, boat, smoker, outhouse, and added a fireplace to his cabin. It was a 4 part series, but I only caught the last part unfortunetly. The guy ended up staying and living in Alaska for like 40 years, compared to like a week or two out in the woods or jungle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

Sorry, never really posted a link before.

I bought the book after watching the series. Great read and pics!

 

[phill4paul]

I don't know. The number one rule I've learned with survival training is not to put yourself in a survival situation.

If either is re-enacting a survival situation than they are teaching survival skills. If either purposefully puts themselves in a survival situation, then, they are foolish.

 

[Bruno]

I don't know. The number one rule I've learned with survival training is not to put yourself in a survival situation.

If either is re-enacting a survival situation than they are teaching survival skills. If either purposefully puts themselves in a survival situation, then, they are foolish.

Les says that he is purposefully putting himself in situations so you will know what to do in a similar situation. he will also partially stage a scenario, such as mountain biking where you get injured out in the middle of nowhere and the bike is damaged. He might take items from the bicycle to help him survive.

Additionally, of course, he does it for entertainment value and to make a living.

 

[phill4paul]

Les says that he is purposefully putting himself in situations so you will know what to do in a similar situation. he will also partially stage a scenario, such as mountain biking where you get injured out in the middle of nowhere and the bike is damaged. He might take items from the bicycle to help him survive.

Additionally, of course, he does it for entertainment value and to make a living.

I am not saying one is better than the other. I think both adequately teach survivalist techniques. One can purposefully put himself into a survival situation while still have immediate back-up if things turn sour without losing my respect.
I suppose from a philosophical view tempting nature on your own without back-up would bring one to greater understanding of self. However, I do know that even "given" situations can go to hell in a hand basket quicker than shit. And turn deadly. Croc hunter?
Kinda like a white guy going south of Ponce De Leon Blvd. in Atlanta with a cell phone to call the cops if he gets in trouble. I'd like to see either of them try that(I lived it).
I'm just saying nature can be a bitch in the best of situations. In extreme conditions that they are enacting I see no problem with having a group with them.

 

[christagious]

Les Stroud has a new show now teaching kids survival skills. I"ve been down in Buenos Aires so I haven't seen it nor do I know what it's called but my wife told me it's on Cartoon Network and that it's pretty good

 

[Kotin]

I will be getting that book!

thanks.