I just finished his book, only took two days of reading. Very informative, great book IMO.
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I just finished his book, only took two days of reading. Very informative, great book IMO.
Les never seemed to be an expert to me.I have never learned anything from the show.His shelters were poor as well as his traps.I do enjoy the show however for the entertainment,Bear Grills seems to be more experienced at survival and I have learned a few things from him.But I wont be squeezing an elephant turdball into my mouth for its water content,nor do I eat reptiles or hard shelled insects raw.I do love his show.I know some disagree with my opinion of Les but I just think I could do better in these situations,minus the camera work.
I think this was a good time for him to stop. He's done pretty much every environment short of urban. Another season would just seem redundant unless they put some stupid twist on it (and you know they will for ratings!).
EDIT: What I would like to see is a 2-hour, or multi-part, session where Les faces off against Bear. Both dropped into the wilderness (same kind for both of them), different locations, and each has to film themselves (no film crew, Bears!). They have, say, 2 weeks to survive. First one to hit the emergency beacon loses. If both last, winner is whoever survived the best at the end. Put an end to Survivorman vs. MvW once and for friggen all!
Bear would win and Les knows it.[IMO]
That was without film crews, hotel rooms, and off-camera help, Stairman.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stairman
My money's on Les, by a lot.
Something I loved in Les's last episode: He went through all the various methods he's used in the past to start a fire, and said that this time he would use a different one. He then produced... his butane lighter! LOL!
Particularly ironic since you survival experts seem to favor a simple Bic as your primary firestarting tool.
Ironic??? Wouldn't simple (and reliable) be your best option in a stressful situation?
Strange, because I'm moving away from lighters. I ran one under the sink for a few seconds and couldn't dry it off enough to start again for at least 30 min. Did the same with a firesteel and it starts good as new
What do we think? Who is the better survivor, Les or Bear?Quote:
Originally Posted by mitch.chesney
Oh god, not another one of these threads. PLEASE! one is already stickied! I'm not playing.
*folding hands and turning away*
Pretty sure we did this before,pretty sure my vote stayed the same too.
Yes, that's why it's ironic. It took 23 episodes for Les to finally use the best firestarting option.Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdive123
Ah, but this is the first one to actually incorporate a poll into it! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by mitch.chesney
I'll never move away from a fire steel as they will work under any condition. As some of the pics I've posted reveal, when I travel into the bush I carry several options. Everyday, I carry a bic in my pocket (small kit in each vehicle with more options)....besides, I get funny looks when somebody asks for a light and I pull out the fire steel.
Noooooow I get what you're saying. Guess he was just showing alternatives to what everybody already knew.Quote:
Originally Posted by sgtdraino
look above dude 50,000 veiws with 520 replies how about this who cares allan beauchamp will put both to shame
Gotta love his expensive knife, though
http://www.survivaltopics.com/blog-i...ylls-knife.jpg
dude do your research, les has lived off the land with his wife for a year he has worked as a professional guide and survival insructor and trained with some of the best in thw world guys you probably have never heard of but are truley craftsman at what they do allan beauchamp and gino ferri to name two of many les has trained with imho he is the real deal can you prove the same about bear. you say you could do better than les? seriously dude what are your credentials for that mighty arroagant statementQuote:
Originally Posted by Stairman
There was a tragedy here awhile ago where 2 young tourists on jungle trek drowned. The guide told them not to go into the water as it was near rapids amd very strong current. They went anyway, and drowned. Afterwards the guide, who did not speak very good English, said they had told him "the guy on tv does it all the time." I don't know who they meant, but it shows you not to rely completely on what you see on tv.
I do not see any of these shows over here but back in US I loved to watch Survivorman, and I did once see him drink jungle water with no filtration or boiling or anything, which did make him sick. I stopped watching the Grylls show after the waterfall episode. I also was broke down on Natchez Trace in middle of night back in 1974. Would not care to do it again.
I think Les is a better example. He doesn't go jumping off waterfalls or into rivers. He has a better example of survival. If you want to watch a show on survival watch him.
Not arroagence,If he's as good as you think he is then he sure is holding back alot of information on his show.A whole lot.Ive never saw him mop dew,build a warm shelter using natural fluff for insulation or build any useful deadfalls or snares.He starves half to death on every episode and freezes to death on every other show.Im not bashing Les,I love the show,but for its entertainment value and not for usefull information.Quote:
Originally Posted by wareagle69
Survivorman is definitely more educational. While Man vs. Wild sometimes has some good tips, it's more of a "hey I'm such a bad***, look what I can do" kind of show.
I never even though of that when watching episodes, what are some good things to use? I forgot about the fact that nature calls even during survival.Quote:
Originally Posted by BSM
Although I think Les is better at survival, I have to disagree with you hear. I think Bear would win no problem in a fight, he has that elite SAS training.Quote:
Originally Posted by FISHorDIE
Toilet paper?lets see,smooth stones,soft yet pliable leaves[not poison ivy]soft bark,water,moss[smoke it first to kill redbugs]corn cobs[2 red ones and 1 white]start with a red one,then use the white one to see if you need the other red one......As far as Bear goes he could kick the snot out of Les.I cant believe the results of the poll either.
...and Bear has a cuter Tush as well...right?:rolleyes: Let's all lift a glass of warm urine in honor of B.G. & his upcoming endorsements of Holiday Inn Express!:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Muffindude27
He may have a cute tush but can he wear a twinky suit?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarge47
Today is a survivalists education day, les stroud has every show he ever made (back to back!). it makes me itch to go and try an exercise in survival skills. I dont have 7 days, so i take it as i can get it. thanks to people like les , survival is even more a household name. What is your opinion about the
"teaching potential" of material like les stroud?
what channel?
discovery channelQuote:
Originally Posted by red lake
i like les he has some good ideas and teaches some but its no substitute for the real thing... i think its geared for the armchair survivalist, but dont get me wrong i really enjoy watching him survive, cause he goes into like a person who was just out for the day and ends up getting lost and he uses only that which he has on hand...
The intro in his new books says survival is not fun. It is not a camping trip. It is an emergency situation and you will likely have to endure pain, eat gross things and push yourself beyond your normal limits in order to survive. I think he does a good job showing this in his shows.
On the other note Discovery in Canada has a different schedule. Crap.
He does show the rigors of surviving, he could show more edibles than he does and other things like working with pine pitch, birch bark,ect.. all can be done with conservation in mind,and without damaging trees or ecology
I like Les, dude plays a mean harp!:D He also demonstrates several Survival items like the Mag. block, fish trap, survival items stored in the butt of a .22 rifle, etc.. One thing that I thought a lot of this showed was that even with a rifle, knowledge, knife, whatever; there is no guarantee that you're going to find what you need to eat in the wilds. It's great "classroom" instruction, but doesn't do anything for "field" instruction. But then, no TV program can do that!:cool:
p.s.: The time he had the dog-sled teams you will notice that he never mentioned killing & eating the dogs.:eek:
Also, I now need to move this thread over to the "sticky" on the continuing dialouge between the two shows....sorry.
Here's my .o3. While I believe that Bear has an incredible amount of skills both physical and mental, I believe Les portrays a more realistic view of what it would be like in the situations on the shows.
I agree, he does portray realism , and also I think that mabe les uses some of the tools he makes to show that even the simplest person can make something that he needs to get food or a job done. I would like to see some of his expert hand crafts that he makes, that we dont get to see on the shows.Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdive123
finaly someone who thinks the same way, ive had arguments where the other person wouldnt even listen to the fact i said bear had better skills and had military training... some people just dont like to hear the truth...Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdive123
..can be quite fickle at times. It has been brought to my attention that the SAS unit that B.G. belonged to was the equivalent to our "National Guard." BTW, does anyone know if Les has ever had any military training?:confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by larmus
After graduating from Mimico High School in 1980, Stroud went on to complete the Music Industry Arts program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.
Stroud worked for several years at the Toronto-based music video channel MuchMusic, and as a songwriter for his band New Regime before a Temagami canoe trip sparked a career change. During this time he also worked as garbage collector for the City of Toronto.
In 1990 Stroud became a guide for Black Feather Wilderness Adventures leading canoe excursions into the Northern Ontario wilds. It was also during this time while on a survival course he met his wife, photographer Sue Jamison. They married in 1994 and together left for a year-long honeymoon in the remote Wabakimi area of Ontario which was to become the basis of the documentary Snowshoes and Solitude.
Afterwards, the couple moved to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories where Stroud was employed as an outdoor instructor to special needs individuals of aboriginal descent. Stroud and Jamison then settled in Huntsville, Ontario, and started the outdoor instructional outfit Wilderness Voice and the media company Wilderness Spirit Productions. Inspired by the popularity of the television show Survivor, Stroud pitched a more authentic version of the show to The Discovery Channel Canada.
Stroud produced two programs titled One Week in the Wilderness and Winter in the Wilderness for @discovery.ca in 2001. The success of these specials led to the development of his current show Survivorman which follows a similar format, leaving Stroud on his own, with minimal equipment, in the wilderness to film his survival experience.
Stroud has extensive experience with survival and primitive living skills, initially training with experts Gino Ferri and David Arama. He went on to study with many others including John "Prairie Wolf" McPherson.
Stroud has been an active participant in adventure racing and has competed at the Canadian championships.
Hi all, I'm a brand new member here. Interesting reading some of the replies on this thread although I didn't read all of them. Personally I've watched one or two Man vs Wild shows and all the Les Stroud shows I can. I liked Survivorman so much my kids got me the first season for Christmas a year or two ago. :D
Personally, from what I saw in Man vs Wild, he's gonna get someone who doesn't know what he/she is doing killed one day. But that's just MHO.
Looking forward to learning from this site, ta ta!
Rich
I think a lot of folks are in agreement with you RichNH. How about heading over to the introduction section when you get a chance and tell us a bit about yourself. Thanks.
Actually, I looked for an introduction section and didn't see one. Hmmmm, must be lost, anyone have any survival tips for being lost in a forum?
Rich
PS, someone mentioned about the episode Les did with the dog sled and said he didn't mention eating the dogs. Actually, I watched several of his episodes today and I heard him mention eating sled dogs in one of them, perhaps it wasn't the episode with the dog sled but I thought it was. I could be mistaken of course, I'm old enough to suffer from CRS on a regular basis...
Here you go Rich. http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...splay.php?f=14