Survivorman

I was just wondering if anyone out there was a fan of Discovery Channel's "Survivor Man". The show is about a man which is dropped off in the wild, and he survives for seven days. His supplies are extremely limited, so you could almost call him an ultra-light camper, except for the 60lbs of camera equipment he carries himself. There have been shows where he is dropped of in Utahs canyon land, above the artic circle, canadian rockies, and so on. I was wondering if anyone else here found it amusing or if there where other shows like it out there anyone knows about. I know that Discovery Channel is putting out another show like it in November called "Man vs. Wild" or something like that.

-Daniel

Dan, I love the show, but he has done certain things that can give his audiance bad information.
For example, drinking straight out of a stream or building a shelter too close to the waters edge.
I would'nt trust any fresh water scorce in the US or anywhere else in the world to be free of harmfull contaminates, or bacteria. He should show people how to make a container for collecting water and boiling it first. He should also know that camping within 50 ft below the flood stage line on any body of water will make you and your shelter soaking wet when the dusk and morning fog rise off the water.
If you really enjoy learning true survival skills, purshase the book "TOM BROWNS GUIDE TO WILDERNESS SURVIVAL". this guy has truely mastered his skills and teaches others at his school in New Jersey. It is an excellent book, that I have read numerous times over, and still learn something new everytime I read it. You would love it.
Les Stroud however is very good at what he does, but would have much to learn from Tom Brown.
I heard he is going to have another show about urban survival this fall, hope it will convince people to learn more before the next big hurricane, a stolen 52" plasma tv wont save your life.

Hey magyver,

thanks for the post, I will definatly be looking for that book. The reason I find the show interesting is becuase for some reason I secretly love knowing about cool survival tips, such as starting fires, setting traps, what plants to eat. Maybe it's just basic instinct or something. I highly doubt I will ever need to use it, but its cool to know.

I agree with you that he does some things wrong in the show, you can probably catch more than I can. The last episode I watched was the one where he built a shelter far too close to a river. He even said "The only reason I am pitching my shelter so close to the river is for the ease of filming." I found that stupid coming from a survival show. Also in the last episode he walked across a glacier by himself after a fresh snowfall. If he came across a covered crevice, he would have been screwed. I also thought that was stupid.

But with that said, I just like the nature of the show. I wish there were more like it out there. There is just something cool about someone who can use three sticks, a big rock, and some bait to make a trap;)

-Daniel

who cares if he does things "wrong". It's great entertainment.

I have issues with the way Casper flies around, but that's great entertainment too.

True, it is good entertainment, I'm watching him right now as he explains what to do if your truck breaks down in winter snow, miles from nowhere, on the show "I Shouldn'nt Be Alive" Les needs to get with the producers of "Survivor" and make that a true survival show instead of a game show filled with non-sense. When ever me and my son go hiking,we try to work on some kind of wilderness survival project.
I still cannot get a bow drill to work, but I have made many containers out of logs by coal burning the depression, this is a very handy practice to know, and my son can build the best shelter I've ever seen (Tom Browns debris hut) at least he is learning something very usefull. I have to admit I may be some what of a procastinator when it comes to my opinions at times, but I still believe Les Stroud is a very smart man and excellent outdoorsman and survivalist, I hope he continues to do the show.

Most of the time when he drinks from a stream or anything like that, he lets the audience know that it is not safe. He tells you to only do it in case of survival where you don't really have a choice. As far as building shelters too close to the water just for the sake of filming, that's not very intelligent. However, if you don't have time to look for a clearing to build your shelter and the treeline is near the water, there isn't much you can do. It's an awesome show either way.

I've yet to figure out what the charm of this show is - we're pretty well adapted to survival IF we can alter our environment to accomodate our rather limited personal resources. I suppose that's how we've survived as a species.
Curious - but drinking from streams or sheltering near bodies of water wouldn't BE an issue if we weren't so adept at survival.
Having gone on survival training and having spent a couple weeks in the woods relying on my wits to keep me fed, sheltered and hydrated, there's really not much romance there - it's mostly hard work and determined effort - add to that a willingness to be a carion feeder for protine and you're miles ahead of the pack.
I think the guy gives out some good information -

Steve