How Many of You Watch the "Dual Survival" Series? (oil, land)
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I do not believe these guys sleep overnight in any of the improvised shelter's they build. At least not all of them. Camera never shows them asleep and they often look too refreshed in the morning to have been roughing it in some of those shelters. The shows filmed in Africa or the South American jungles are the ones where I believe they are sleeping in a trailer or at the vert least a cozy tent somewhere. I would bet the African episodes have several heavily armed guides along for the ride as well.
I generally agree. Read the disclaimer at the beginning of each episode.
I do not believe these guys sleep overnight in any of the improvised shelter's they build. At least not all of them. Camera never shows them asleep and they often look too refreshed in the morning to have been roughing it in some of those shelters. The shows filmed in Africa or the South American jungles are the ones where I believe they are sleeping in a trailer or at the vert least a cozy tent somewhere. I would bet the African episodes have several heavily armed guides along for the ride as well.
I dunno, Les Stroud when he was in Africa, was woken up by lions wandering about close, and it was filmed with his night vision camera.
I know Cody Lundin (who's a friend of a friend) would easily be prepared to do that, and did so for two years by choice. Whether he does for the shows I couldn't say, with liability and so on he might not be able to.
Meanwhile, back the the pair on "Dual Survival", the thing that's interesting to me, is that dichotomy of the two of them. I personally relate to Dave's style more probably because we've received training in survival by the military, which means that I've learned more new stuff from Cody. Cody is very Tai-Chi to Dave's Kung-Fu.
The Man, Woman, Wild show I've never seen, I do know that they called in assistance for their Alaskan episode which for purported Survival experts isn't good publicity (certainly not to Alaskans) especially during break up.
On Bear Grylls, well what can be said that hasn't already been said, other than the guys and idiot, and from what I've seen, if I was stuck in the middle of nowhere with him, I'd shoot him and improve my chances of getting out by 10 fold.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nighteyes
I must admit that I've really enjoyed this series. If nothing else, the strong mutual respect, and extreme personal differences, between Cody Lundeen and Dave Canterbury have been most instructive. (There's a LOT of personal experience behind this observation, which is the topic of another long thread...)
I grew up in an environment like Dave's (birth through 1987), and have lived in an environment lke Cody's (1988 to present). From my personal viewpoint, it doesn't take much to adapt what they've demonstrated to a long-term survival and living strategy in quite a lot of environmental conditions.
What do y'all think?
-- Nighteyes
I actually love that show. I watch primarily for its entertainment value, but I also think that Cody is the only "survival expert" on TV that I would ever want to have on my team (maybe that guy from "Man, Woman, Wild" and now "Ultimate Soldier").
Dave has a lot of hunting skills, but there are thousands upon thousands of rednecks in the woods from East Texas to Northern Virginia that can do the same things. You may notice that he no longer appears as "Army Sniper" in the opening credits... Because he never completed any sniper training during his active service years (and I don't think he even had a combat arms specialty).
In other words, Dave is what you get when you combine a youth spent in the woods with a young adulthood spent in the Army with a 30something working at a snakefarm in the dirty-south part of Florida with an internet connection to a bunch of survivalist blogs.
Cody actually knows his stuff and lives in a yurt in the desert, on the other hand...
What we all need to remember is these shows are not "how to" documentaries, they are entertainment.
Yes they do show some valuable techniques, they do get the viewers to think about things that probably never crossed their minds before, they do demonstrate how to build a shelter, set a trap, make cordage, but these are no substitute for actual hands on training or experience. I seriously doubt that any basic viewer could make cordage, track animals, build a boat or start a fire from watching a tv show.
These shows are just more of the reality based format that "Deadliest Catch", "Ax Men", "Swamp Loggers" and "Ice Road Truckers" use. They are cheap to make, draw good audiences, and allow the average arm chair warrior to live vicariously doing a job or surviving in situations they would never live through in real life.
I enjoyed "Survivorman" because he was all alone. Yes he had a safety crew at a base camp in radio contact, and a Satalite phone, but he actually did stay for a week out in the boonies and film it himself and survive by himself. One night found him evac'ing through the Amazon jungle with a jaguar on his tail. That is real even though he had a place to run to.
The current crop of shows have guys like Dual Survival that are established instructors basically doing a demonstration in various environments. As the statement at the front of the show states, "May be presented with situations", this to me does not promote actual situations, but makes for a show that simply appeals to folks who would like to be able to do the things shown on tv, but would probably never do.
It's just entertainment folks...get the joke.
I enjoy watching and seeing what the actors forgot, or didn't do as it helps me to compare experience against what the entertainment industry promotes.
Basic survival doesn't have scripted situatons or problems or a specific amount of equipment conveniently left to start your "adventure", doesn't have a camera catching your dramatic ethos over whether or not to eat a turtle, or having a production breakfast while debating the best camera angles to show you catching a mouse to roast for lunch.
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8,309 posts, read 38,768,892 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip
What we all need to remember is these shows are not "how to" documentaries, they are entertainment.
Yes they do show some valuable techniques, they do get the viewers to think about things that probably never crossed their minds before, they do demonstrate how to build a shelter, set a trap, make cordage, but these are no substitute for actual hands on training or experience. I seriously doubt that any basic viewer could make cordage, track animals, build a boat or start a fire from watching a tv show.
These shows are just more of the reality based format that "Deadliest Catch", "Ax Men", "Swamp Loggers" and "Ice Road Truckers" use. They are cheap to make, draw good audiences, and allow the average arm chair warrior to live vicariously doing a job or surviving in situations they would never live through in real life.
I enjoyed "Survivorman" because he was all alone. Yes he had a safety crew at a base camp in radio contact, and a Satalite phone, but he actually did stay for a week out in the boonies and film it himself and survive by himself. One night found him evac'ing through the Amazon jungle with a jaguar on his tail. That is real even though he had a place to run to.
The current crop of shows have guys like Dual Survival that are established instructors basically doing a demonstration in various environments. As the statement at the front of the show states, "May be presented with situations", this to me does not promote actual situations, but makes for a show that simply appeals to folks who would like to be able to do the things shown on tv, but would probably never do.
It's just entertainment folks...get the joke.
I enjoy watching and seeing what the actors forgot, or didn't do as it helps me to compare experience against what the entertainment industry promotes.
Basic survival doesn't have scripted situatons or problems or a specific amount of equipment conveniently left to start your "adventure", doesn't have a camera catching your dramatic ethos over whether or not to eat a turtle, or having a production breakfast while debating the best camera angles to show you catching a mouse to roast for lunch.
Besides that, those shows are funny as Heck!!
I forgot about survivorman. I really liked the Australia episode where he eats witchitty grubs. "Mmm... I've eaten lots of creepie-crawlies, but this guy is good. I would eat this back home."
I dunno, Les Stroud when he was in Africa, was woken up by lions wandering about close, and it was filmed with his night vision camera.
I know Cody Lundin (who's a friend of a friend) would easily be prepared to do that, and did so for two years by choice. Whether he does for the shows I couldn't say, with liability and so on he might not be able to.
Meanwhile, back the the pair on "Dual Survival", the thing that's interesting to me, is that dichotomy of the two of them. I personally relate to Dave's style more probably because we've received training in survival by the military, which means that I've learned more new stuff from Cody. Cody is very Tai-Chi to Dave's Kung-Fu.
The Man, Woman, Wild show I've never seen, I do know that they called in assistance for their Alaskan episode which for purported Survival experts isn't good publicity (certainly not to Alaskans) especially during break up.
On Bear Grylls, well what can be said that hasn't already been said, other than the guys and idiot, and from what I've seen, if I was stuck in the middle of nowhere with him, I'd shoot him and improve my chances of getting out by 10 fold.
I'm aware and convinced that Les Stroud does in fact sleep in his improvised shelters alone out there. I doubt the rest of them do.
Anyone see that Ed Wardle National Geographic series, Alone in the Wild?
Supposedly that represented a 'real' situation, or something approximating it. He got dropped off in the Yukon (northwestern Canada) and his goal was to try to live for 90 days (three months), but had to pack it in early after 50 days. Cited as a large part of his trouble was the Canadian game laws. He was not allowed to hunt or trap anything useful whatsoever, by law, so he had to confine himself to porcupine and other small critters. You can only take so much of that garbage before it gets old pretty quick.
He had a lot of supplies (perhaps too much, it seemed to hamper his movement). Not exactly primitive living, but then the guy isn't really claiming to be a survivalist. He climbed Everest, so he obviously has some degree of skill in the physical fitness department... so I guess one can take from his show what they will - which I suppose is partly - "If you get bold one day and decide to try to do something beyond your skill level, this is a lesson to be learned about what could happen to you if you get in over your head."
There's a guy that hiked across the Brooks range (northern Alaska) that put out a DVD, Alone Across Alaska: 1000 Miles of Wilderness. I want to check that one, also. http://www.bucktrack.com/AAA.html He had a lot of gear, also.... not really survivalism, per se.... but still an extremely respectable and very arduous (and arguably somehat dangerous) journey on foot and water. The Brooks range is a 'dream trip' for a great many, due to its remoteness.
I did see that show, Alone in the Wild.
I really liked his electric bear fence.
I kind of lost intrest in it when he started crying through half of each episode.
The Canadian game laws would have allowed him to fish and trap small game, but the guy had no knowledge of the animals he was pursuing. He was setting snares for rabbits in the middle of a forest with no undergrowth/cover or feed the animals could utilize for example.
It could have been a really good show if he had taken a couple weeks of training in survival techniques before flying merrily into the middle of nowhere. It doesn't matter if you use Military techniques, or skills learned from people who have a different view of nature, the basic principals of food/shelter/fire still apply and knowing how to make or obtain them is tatamount to surviving in any given situation in the wild.
He had equipment, but not the knowledge. If you don't know how to use the resources you have, or how to get or make more, you are not in a good situation.
I would have probably, (laws permitting) built a fish trap on the river, or on a feeder stream as a basic technique that would have probably kept him at least in fish. Yes there are a lot of bears where he was, but even so, if you have several traps they work for you while you do other things, and a fish trap works 24/7 with out bait so you at least have the possibilty of food with a minimum of work.
It was a very good example of what happens when you go into a situation unprepared.
The biggest thing he lacked was the attitude to be by himself for any period of time, and he spent way too much time and energy moving his camps, then sitting in them crying over pictures instead of keeping busy trying to get more food.
What we all need to remember is these shows are not "how to" documentaries, they are entertainment.
Yes they do show some valuable techniques, they do get the viewers to think about things that probably never crossed their minds before, they do demonstrate how to build a shelter, set a trap, make cordage, but these are no substitute for actual hands on training or experience. I seriously doubt that any basic viewer could make cordage, track animals, build a boat or start a fire from watching a tv show.
Simply put, "Yep!" (But now, at least, the viewers know what they don't know, and that's the first step... )
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