Survivor Man Series

[southernadkhiker]

Has anybody checked out this show lately? It was on the Discovery channel about two weeks ago, and it's always on the science channel. This has to be the coolest show I've ever seen. Totally a must see for all adk'ers (any outdoor enthusiast, really). This guy goes into the wilderness with almost nothing except a multi-tool, camera's, and the clothes he wears, and makes it 7 days alone in the wilderness, sea, arctic, or jungle. Here's the link which will tell you all about the show. http://www.survivorman.ca/

[percious]

Yeah,

I have watched it a few times. Very valuable and practical information for outdoors enthusiasts. I especially like the one where he was dropped at the site of a plane crash, and survived a few days near the plane with a fake injury. He set up snares to catch rabits and is real handy when it comes to build a fire. He also proved that those wire survival saws don't work for beans. Great info!

-percious

[TEG]

Ehhh, I've seen it and I wasnt too impressed. I mean, I was impressed that he can do all that, but I'd like to see more instruction on how he's doing it. The actual production of the show isnt too impressive. The camera showing him using the bow drill shows two segments: One with him in the beginning.. trying to get the tinder ball going, and another with a blazing fire. Well that sure looks easy!

There's another show out there too on discovery channel, with a british guy maybe, he wears carhartt jeans and does similar things but with an actual camera crew. I guess the crew cant interfere at all, unless his life is at stake. I've only seen one episode, and if I find the name of the show I'll definitely post it.

Both shows are pretty neat, and it beats the rest of the crap on TV now a days.




Tod

[steve40]

I've checked it out and look forward to watching it on Sunday nights at 7:00pm on Discovery.From what I understand there is a way to suggest future trips for them.Maybe a remote section of the West Canada Lakes in mid Jan. would be a good idea.

[Adk Keith]

I was fairly impressed with that show but there is another where some guy with a british accent is in the rockies a few weeks back. He has a camera man with him. First, with only a cotton hooded sweatshirt he decides he has to cross a river and jumps in. Long section of him bobbing down rapids, etc. in the snow melt swollen river. He makes it out and you can see that he has a PFD under the hoodie. Then he collects rocks from the river to put in the fire to heat then bury them to sleep on. He takes the left over fish he's caught and hangs it because he's afraid of bear but the food ends up hanging only 3' from the tree and no more than 8' off the ground. It was about there I turned it off.

Misleading and dangerous info. Really sad.

[billandjudy]

We were watching this the other night and all I could think of was "bogus"--I think if I had a choice of jumping in a cold river or trying to find a way down and around, I'd take the latter. Can you say hypothermia? The whole show is way too sensationalized for me.

[Ordin Aryguy]

If faced with the decision to jump into water of unknown depth or take a long walk down the river to find a better crossing place, well, let's just say that my boots would be a little more broken in. That jump into the water was complete lunacy!! Nobody in their right mind would jump into water from any height not expecting to break their legs, or worse.

Some of the things that Mr. Survivorman did were cool, but some, if followed, will get someone killed. Maybe a person can be a bit more wreckless knowing there're a dozen people just off camera that are there to pick up the pieces. The rest of us don't have that luxury. We are forced into actually taking responsibility for our own safety and welfare.

The biggest turnoff for me was when he took a big bite out of the trout he had just caught with his hands. It wasn't the fact that it was raw, lord knows I've eaten at least a ton of sushimi in my time, but couldn't the guy at least give the trout a good whack on the head before he bit into it?

Overall grade for entertainment (ignoring the fish scene) = B
Overall grade for truly useful survival information = D-


Ordin

[EbonezerCabbage]

I too have seen that british guy on the other show. Though i find cliff jumping fun to do after a good day at the crags, i only do itwhere i know theres a good 15 or more feet of water under me. I'd never dream of just jumping in cause i was lost, but hey, what a way to go.....as for the floating downstream on my pack? Nope, not unless i was about to die anyways, hypothermia is a serious concern. I've been lost for a few days, had hypothermia and hiked out. Hypothermia is not something i want again, there have been a few unlikely side effects. As for survivor man, i like it. Some of it I think is a little ludicris, but i have actually learned a few things from him. For instance, i actually didn't know corn chips burn like candles (first thing i did after i saw that episode was go and buy some and burn them, was awesome by the way). I actually had corn curls when i was lost. Had i known that, i would have actually had a fire and maybe not have gotten as sick as i was when i got out.

Overall rating:
British guy: thumbs down
Survivor man: thumbs up

P.S. I now hike with corn chips everytime.

[2Bristol]

The biggest turnoff for me was when he took a big bite out of the trout he had just caught with his hands. It wasn't the fact that it was raw, lord knows I've eaten at least a ton of sushimi in my time, but couldn't the guy at least give the trout a good whack on the head before he bit into it?

I thought the same thing when I saw that. I'm surprised some animal activist didn't have something to say about that.