Survivorman/Man vs. Wild.

[tsitenha]

In the UK "Bear" Grylls has been vilified on many forums for his initial episodes those are now shown but with disclaimers.
The newer episodes try to temper extreme reactions to situations with a modicum of realistic responses.

[klkak]

"If you encounter a Bear. 1. Stand perfectly still. 2. Let the bear know that you know he sees you. 3. Back away slowly".

What movie did that line come from?

[trax]

"If you encounter a Bear. 1. Stand perfectly still. 2. Let the bear know that you know he sees you. 3. Back away slowly".

What movie did that line come from?

The Edge, one of my favorite movies "why is the rabbit unafraid?" Interesting that the man who gets to ask that question at the end of the movie is also the only character who follows that advice when they first meet the bear hey bro?

also good posting Dennis (awfully good at basic math) K.

[chiye tanka]

Love that movie. Mostly Bart the bear.

[Rick]

Les is a dork!!!! Bear shows you "how to". Rich!!!!

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[crashdive123]

Might be a little bassackwards there IMO.

[Gray Wolf]

Les is a dork in my opinion. Most of the time he's just trying to survive the 5 days he's dropped there.

First it's 7 days he has to survive.

He doesn't take in enough protein or anything else to sustain him and most of the time he barely scrapes by by the skin of his teeth. As far as his survival skills go, he's a complete loser.

A loser? He survives! His shows are always set up as "your dirt bike breaks down", "you've lost your sled dogs", "your small plane goes down in the middle of nowhere", etc, situations where you wouldn't have much with you. Les does what we would all like to do, survive! How would you do in a strange place, with little or no equipment???? How would you have done being from where you're from and going on a sightseeing trip over the Northwest Territory and the plane goes down and the pilot didn't have a BOB on the plane, and he died in the crash? Humm, do you know the wild edibles in that area? Do some look the same, but are not, there poisonous... Oh No! It's snowing and starting to get dark... Les "as far as his survival skills go, he's a complete loser", I think not!

[Rick]

What is the difference between that and parachuting in?

Uh, my blood curdling scream interrupted by deep breaths interrupted by more blood curdling screams until I slam into the earth. Oh, yea. Ripcord. Duh!

Bear was pro-active in his survival because you can't always count on someone coming looking for you; he got off his arse, oriented himself, assessed the situation and made a plan to live.

Dude! He drinks his own pee and squeezes water from elephant poo. Need I say more?

Bear really takes a bum rap on this forum and Les is held to be almost a mythical figure.

All Hail, Les! All Hail, Les! All Hail, Les!

he *demonstrates* how to get your butt out of a crack.

Go look in the mirror. Your butt is a crack. (Or vice versa)

Personally I would follow Bear anywhere

So would we. It's how we rack up our frequent stay points at Residence Inn.

[Rick]

It's the old joke....

I radioed in. They said we could either die or squeeze water out of the elephant poo.

And?

And it looks like we're gonna die.

[Gray Wolf]

Compare the two shows of Les and Bear

You can't,
Bear has a whole team with him at all times! Les does not!
Bear stays in a hotel at night! Les does not!
Bear (as seen in the West Scotland show) has a cameraman help him out of a hole he fell into! Les does not! He films himself!
I could go on....

[klkak]

So he starts with a scenario "your dirt bike breaks down, sled dogs run away" etc. What is the difference between that and parachuting in? It all amounts to the same thing. Just because you say "my sled dogs ran away" changes nothing; you're still stuck out there and, chances are, you will die unless you know some serious survival skills. I'm not disrespecting Les; I just think he's irresponsible for promoting himself as "survivorman". A healthy person can go 6 weeks without food so 5 or 7 days is not a big deal.

Just recently in the news there was a story about a man that went into the desert on a dirt bike for a short camping trip. Sometime later they found his body. In other words. It's a believable scenario that could and has happened.

As to your question as to whether I would know what to do "being from where you're from" (point well taken). The answer is yes but only because I've watched Bear show how to make emergency shelters, build a fire with a flint, a bow starter (made in the wilderness) or using a 9v battery and steel wool. He points out edible plants and warns of poisonous ones. He shows how to trap successfully and use alternative and creative means of catching fish. Bear demonstrates the principals of how to get back to civilization by always going downhill and following a creek or river. He also emphasizes one of the most important things - morale. You have to believe in your getting out if you're in a situation like that or you will most certainly make mistakes (most often compounding on themselves) and die.

Thank you for letting us know the extent of your survival education.

Compare the two shows of Les and Bear when they were dropped in Alaska. Les ate rotten salmon that even an eagle rejected. Bear feasted on fresh salmon.

It wasn't rotten salmon and the eagle didn't rejected it. It is very common for an eagle to catch a fish, eat a couple bites and leave the rest. As for Bear feasting on fresh salmon. He was on a stream with spawning fish in it. Les wasn't.

Les nearly burned his flimsy little "shelter" (with no wind or rain protection) to the ground.

Les didn't nearly burn his shelter to the ground. It caught fire and he put it out. He was protected from the rain or did you miss that he found some plastic that he Incorporated into the roof?

Bear's shelter was warm and kept him out of the wind and rain completely.

According to him. It is common knowledge that Bear doesn't stay in the field. He stays in a hotel.

Les waited for the camera crew to pick him up. Bear was pro-active in his survival because you can't always count on someone coming looking for you; he got off his arse, oriented himself, assessed the situation and made a plan to live.

There are very few times when you should move from your present location unless it is for safety or to get into an area close by that makes you more visible. Most often it is best to stay where you are and do every thing possible to draw attention to yourself.

Bear really takes a bum rap on this forum and Les is held to be almost a mythical figure. For what, because he can go on a 7 day diet? Bear does some crazy things but drastic situations often call for drastic measures and he *demonstrates* how to get your butt out of a crack.

This is something that has been discussed before. Bear does things that will get you killed in a hurry unless you have his physical conditioning, strength, agility and climbing skills.

It's not like he actually enjoys jumping through the ice and into the water of a frozen pond but shows how to get out, warns of the urge to suck in water because of the thermal shock, and how to get out of the water and how to get your clothes dry and keep hypothermia from setting in. He eats the most disgusting things imaginable but it's all for the viewers sakes, to show us "you can do it and live". I'm not trying to bash Les; just put things in perspective. Surviving, to me, is taking control of the situation and making a plan and not getting yourself in a situation that spirals out of control. Personally I would follow Bear anywhere but I wouldn't take Les with me on a hunting trip in Alaska.

Venturing into a glacier cave, climbing down a waterfall or up a 1000ft cliff are not situations that could spiral out of control?

"What we have here is a fella (TrapperRick) with a very romantic view of what survival is!!!"

TrapperRick, I invite you to participate in the "Survival situation scenario's" after you have read a few hundred of the posts on this website.

[Sarge47]

Les is a dork in my opinion. Most of the time he's just trying to survive the 5 days he's dropped there. He doesn't take in enough protein or anything else to sustain him and most of the time he barely scrapes by by the skin of his teeth. As far as his survival skills go, he's a complete loser. He darn near starved to death in Alaska, even though food was all around him, not to mention that he almost burned his "hut" to the ground. Bear does do some risky things but you've got to use your head too. What he shows is a "how to" survive, techniques you can actually put to use. Les just stuggles until the camera crew comes to save him. It plainly says on Bear's website and on the show that some scenes are staged for instructional purposes but for the most part he's on his own. Anyone that would prefer Les over Bear either has a death wish or doesn't have enough survival skills or woodcraft to fill a thimble. Just my opinion.

So...then...you think it's ok to drink urine straight from the bladder?

[Gray Wolf]

As to your question as to whether I would know what to do "being from where you're from". The answer is yes but only because I've watched Bear show how

That's scary! And that's why his show is dangerous!

[Gray Wolf]

Were you aware that he is now selling knives (with the knife maker) with his name on them for $700!

Yes I left alone "it's ok to drink urine"....

[trax]

TrapperRick, you want to go out in the wilds anywhere and follow Bear Gryllis' advice, fill yer boots dude, let us know how it works out for you if you get back.

Fighting the urge to yawn mightily here.

[Gray Wolf]

Sorry I couldn't leave it for the young people that are here:

From the US Army Field Manual 21-76, Ch. 6, in the Do Not Drink table:[6]

"Urine: Contains harmful body wastes. Is about 2 percent salt."

From the SAS Survival Handbook How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea John Wiseman 2004 Harper Collins, p. 494:

"DO NOT drink urine."

From Dr. William Elfarr, Urologist and former president of the Texas Urological Society:[7]

""In general, it is not beneficial to ingest one's own urine during times of starvation and/or dehydration. The urine at those times is concentrated with high sodium, other electrolyte and mineral content. This is counterproductive when one is dehydrated.""

From Master Sergeant Gary L. Benton, survival instructor to B-52 crews:[8]

"Finally, a few things you should not do. Do not drink urine. It is a waste product of a body and is just that, waste (think about that for a second…when a body passes urine, it is not longer need or useful). Drinking urine can even make you sick."

From Tom Brown Jr., survivor school founder and instructor [9]

"Don't drink urine (unless you've first purified it by means of a solar still) because doing so will increase your body's rate of dehydration. "

From Equipped.com, a survival site:[10]

""Never drink blood or urine. They will only hasten dehydration."

From Adventure Sports Online's 5 basic survival tips:[11]

"Never drink urine."

From the USGI Canteen Group:[12]

"Also, don't drink urine or sea water. Some folks say that it's saved their lives, but there is no evidence to back this up. Both contain high levels of toxins that cannot be filtered out except by distillation or reverse osmosis"

From Wildernesssurvival.net, prominently in the "Remember!" section:[13]

"Do not drink urine."

Bear cites the case of three Mexican fishermen who were lost and supposedly lived off of turtle blood and urine. This claim seems to have been pulled from thin air. The fishermen reported drinking rainwater, not blood and urine:

"We ate raw seagulls, ducks and fish. We ate everything raw - any fish that came near the boat we grabbed it and gulped it down," Jesus Vidana told Televisa channel in an interview late Tuesday.

"We drank rain water because it rained every day," he said. "Twice we almost sank. The waves washed into the boat and we thought we were going to die."

Even if they had also drank blood and urine (which seems to have been reported nowhere but Man vs Wild), they're drinking freshwater, too.

Les Stroud has NOT drunk his own urine. Rather, in the desert episode, he distills the water from the urine and drinks the water from the resulting condensation -- he explicitly states the risks of drinking urine without proper filtration. As the various quotes above demonstrate, drinking urine especially while dehydrated is an extremely bad idea.

[klkak]

I think you guys are missing my whole point but then, according to Klkak, I know nothing about survival anyway.

I did not say you don't know anything about survival. I said:

Thank you for letting us know the extent of your survival education.

From another thread.

If you are going to be an active member of this forum you have got to have a tough hide! If you are tender skinned then you are going to get your feeling hurt. Most of us are not intellectuals. We range from barely able to read & write rednecks to Remy. With some of us, the filter between what pops into our mind and what comes out on the key board is broken.

"If you want to run with the "Wolf pack" then you have to expect to get bitten once in a while"

[klkak]

Thank you G.W. for that extremely informative post.

[Gray Wolf]

Again, that is why that show and Bear Gryils are dangerous, as we see here, even adults can be taken in, and believe some of that crap...

[Dennis K.]

TrapperRick - you like Baer Grylls. I like Les.
In any event, I am not about to watch their shows and then think that I am qualified to survive in those situations. Wilderness survival and bushcraft take time and practice, not TV shows. What I will greatfully thank both men for is that they do seem to inspire many people to think about wilderness survival situations. Once the brain is activated, that usually allows the rest of the carcass to follow.
Baer and Les are like Wikipedia - a good place to start, but by no means gospel.

All that to say, hey dude, I'm glad your here. No need to leave.