Survivorman/Man vs. Wild.

**christagious** · 12-24-2008, 12:28 AM

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.

Originally Posted by BSM

The thing that bugs me is the fact that they never bring up stuff like, what to use in lieu of toilet paper.

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.

Originally Posted by FISHorDIE

.if they got in a fight against one another survivor man would beat him senseless and live of his corpse for weeks.

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.

**Stairman** · 12-24-2008, 01:22 PM

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.

**Sarge47** · 12-24-2008, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Muffindude27

I saw Urban Survival too, i think. Wasn't that the one when he talked to the Katrina survivor? If so, that was very good. I also like Survivorman and Man vs. Wild. Know, I don't know much about nothing, but I do realize that most of the things Bear does on Man vs. Wild aren't neccesarily the right things to do but I do find it more entertaining than Survivorman.

...and Bear has a cuter Tush as well...right?

Let's all lift a glass of warm urine in honor of B.G. & his upcoming endorsements of Holiday Inn Express!

**klkak** · 12-24-2008, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge47

...and Bear has a cuter Tush as well...right?

Let's all lift a glass of warm urine in honor of B.G. & his upcoming endorsements of Holiday Inn Express!

He may have a cute tush but can he wear a twinky suit?

**erunkiswldrnssurvival** · 12-27-2008, 10:14 AM

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?

**red lake** · 12-27-2008, 10:17 AM

what channel?

**erunkiswldrnssurvival** · 12-27-2008, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by red lake

what channel?

discovery channel

**larmus** · 12-27-2008, 12:01 PM

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...

**red lake** · 12-27-2008, 12:22 PM

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.

**erunkiswldrnssurvival** · 12-27-2008, 12:27 PM

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

**Sarge47** · 12-27-2008, 12:29 PM

I like Les, dude plays a mean harp!

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!

p.s.: The time he had the dog-sled teams you will notice that he never mentioned killing & eating the dogs.

Also, I now need to move this thread over to the "sticky" on the continuing dialouge between the two shows....sorry.

**crashdive123** · 12-27-2008, 01:07 PM

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.

**erunkiswldrnssurvival** · 12-27-2008, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

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.

**larmus** · 12-27-2008, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by crashdive123

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.

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...

**Sarge47** · 12-27-2008, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by larmus

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...

..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?

**klkak** · 12-27-2008, 04:05 PM

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.

**RichNH** · 12-27-2008, 11:43 PM

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.

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

**crashdive123** · 12-27-2008, 11:48 PM

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.

**RichNH** · 12-27-2008, 11:53 PM

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...