a month in the bush

Hey Guys...

Austin

LOL

Put the tents behid some bushes so you can't see them from the road... LMAO

Reminds me of when we were kids camping in the back woods... Couldn't see the house but dad would only have to raise his voice slightly to call us in for dinner!!!

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
I don't doubt that what they are doing can be done, I just doubt that two people with very little to no survival training can do it. The Hoods, Tom Brown, Peter Kummerfeldt, Cody Lundin, etc... could more than likely all pull this off, but they would have backup emergency plans in place. That being said, there is no chance Bear Wannabe #1 and #2 won't succeed. They are apparently going to be near town and will have a third person with them who mans the camera. The magic of camera editing and off-camera perks such as a shelter, food, etc... will allow them to come out of the woods 30 days later looking just fine. They are just pulling a Bear. If they get cold, they will just go into town and forget to turn the cameras on. Same with food. There is no way they will show anything other than two guys surviving with just a knife. I have no problem with them making money off the deal, but you have to admit that what they are doing now is a lot different than the apparently original plan.

Plan A: Two guys, two knives, one wilderness (sounds a little like a sequel to Brokeback Mountain)

Plan B: Two guys, two knives, one wilderness, one or more cameras, one cameraman with survival supplies for himself that he promises not to share, located near town

Basically they went from attempting to copy Les, to exactly copying Bear.
 
Yesterday I met a guy that has been fasting for 28 days. He gave a speach in Washington DC. Even if these guys aren't experts, if they have some basic skills, they should be fine. From their pictures, they seem to know how to build a shelter, fish, etc... As long as they can intelligently purify their water I don't think they will have a problem.
 
Is the guy that is fasting for 28 days living in the bush, exposed to the elements and expending a ton of energy everyday doing survival chores? It is not that hard to fast, lots of people do it for religious reasons. Of course they are in climate controlled areas and are not having to spend all day chopping firewood with a five inch fixed blade knife, hauling water to drink and freezing their butt off since since they are in Northern Canada in the winter. It is real easy to read survival books, but you have to practice the skills to become proficient with the. From what they said on the Hoodlums forum, they didn't take any survival classes, they just watched a few videos. Of course since there is a 99% chance they are going to be pulling a MvW and having help from the outside world, even though they will say they aren't and it won't be shown on camera, I have no doubt that they will be fine.

Even if they were doing this with no assistance, getting food isn't what I would be worried about. I would be worried about suffering hypothermia because they don't have an axe to gather firewood. Think of how much firewood you need to keep a fire going for an hour and then multiply that many times. They are basically going to need to keep a fire going to 720 hours (30 days times 24 hours). There will surely be dead wood laying on the ground, but not enough to keep a 720 hour fire going. While I'm sure a Ka-Bar is a hell of a knife, it is not an axe and won't be able to cut down the amount the wood they are going to need, at least not without expending a ton of energy, becoming covered with sweat and then probably catching hypothermia. I believe it was Les Stroud who said he would never go into the Canadian winter without an axe. Like him or not, he has a point.
 
Scott Ridgeway said:
Of course there is also the whole thing about WHO is going to eat WHO! :D
Click to expand...

They may end up like Grizzly man. I heard one time the highest honor of a crazy whacked out animal activist is to end up in the stool of a cute, cuddly little wild animal. We might have a repeat of that situation here. Or they may just get attacked by a testosterone driven mating bull moose.
 
Before reading all the replies, I took a look at their website.
It's pretty, but their background and information on their site makes me suspect about how they will fare.

It appears their info and tips and tricks are based on single sources to get things done.
Well except for fire, which they claim can be made as follows:
-With a Rock and knife.
-A polished alum can bottom.
-a piece of ice.

My thought is they better be in a place with a LOT of naturally occurring flint!!
I would never stake my life on the alum can or piece of ice trick.
Then, they better know quite a bit about tinder and making tinder bundles.

As far as fire goes, they are being foolhardy not carrying at least a swedish steel, and that is minimal requirements.

WATER: Their website says they can't drink directly from a lake, for fear of micro-organisms, and no where else does it speak of how they will go about water purification?
Again, minimal requirements should be something to boil in? Maybe they've been there and know about plenty of trash in the form of cans and bottles?

SHELTER: The A-frame they picture looks fine, a little thin on top, maybe OK for springtime in the deep South! Not for Northern Manitoba in October. As I stepped through each facet of survival, I got more of a sinking feeling about their methods and The PLAN.

It struck me that this may just be a way to bring in some cash, that they really have no intention of surviving, or staying more than a couple of days. My other thought is that they have a LOT more knoweldge than they are letting on, and this is a bit of a ruse, to get chatter started.

If their knowledge of survival is chronicled on their website, they are in deep trouble. I mean deep deep trouble.

I am no expert at survival, but, I could give you a good 3 to 4 pages single spaced on water procurement and purification, alone. Then that much more on Fire needs. I think most of the veterans of this WSS sub-forum could do the same. Their info is pretty sketchy and sparse, at best.

These guys didn't even mention the Bow & Drill for fire? I would think that would be the next fall back, without a swedish steel or flint.

I will follow this, it's either some sort of college-style media stunt, or complete folly.
 
This is what one of the Bear Wannabe's said about how they would purify water:

"To purify water will be boiling it. for a pot we will either dig a hole in the dirt and lay the hood from our rain jacket in it or use a folded birch container. To heat the water we will be heating up rocks in the fire and puttng them in the water. If you place a few smaller rocks in first the larger hot rock rests on the other rocks and does not dammage the liner. A rock the size of a baseball will boil water for about 20 min."
 
AustinTXShooter said:
They may end up like Grizzly man. I heard one time the highest honor of a crazy whacked out animal activist is to end up in the stool of a cute, cuddly little wild animal. We might have a repeat of that situation here. Or they may just get attacked by a testosterone driven mating bull moose.
Click to expand...

Actually, my joke was a little darker. By "who eats who," I meant, will Brad eat Sean, or will Sean eat Brad! :D
 
AustinTXShooter said:
This is what one of the Bear Wannabe's said about how they would purify water:

"To purify water will be boiling it. for a pot we will either dig a hole in the dirt and lay the hood from our rain jacket in it or use a folded birch container. To heat the water we will be heating up rocks in the fire and puttng them in the water. If you place a few smaller rocks in first the larger hot rock rests on the other rocks and does not dammage the liner. A rock the size of a baseball will boil water for about 20 min."
Click to expand...

WHAT!??!

yeah, I mean I've heard, and even seen the rock water boiling trick, but, for daily intake and cooking? i see that method more as a quick way to warm up/purify a small bit.


I don't deny that this, or some of the other things they mention cannot be done, it's the fact that they are putting all their eggs in a single basket, as I see no back-up to any of their methods.

Oh, except fire, becuase I always use the piece-of-ice as-a-magnifying glass trick as my back-up to the polished-alum-can solar-furnace-thingy.
Wonder if they will also be practicing alchemy to pass the time?

I am usually pretty open minded, but, in this case, it's tough to question their method, as I am having trouble finding it.

I hope this is a prank, or, maybe they will walk back out on day 3, shivvering, dehyrated, and ready to go home.


here is a question for everyone, ongoing, how much would you carry with you, if you were going with them, at this time of year, to the same place??

Me, I would need to know the distance I am expected to travel by foot, but I am thinking roughly 40 lbs of gear, and that would be discarding some stuff I would consider nice to have along. 40 lbs. is not that much when you consider the extra garments needed, on top of everything else.

How much daylight do they get in Northern Manitoba this time of year?
I'm guessing they will wish they brought an LED head lamp?
Among 20 other things.
 
Scott Ridgeway said:
Actually, my joke was a little darker. By "who eats who," I meant, will Brad eat Sean, or will Sean eat Brad! :D
Click to expand...

Which also reminds me about the idea of who can outrun whom?

"I don't need to outrun the bear, I only need to outrun the guy next to me!" :eek:
 
Geeze a lot of negativity guys!!!! At least they are doing something different and having a go. Good on them and best of luck.
 
perksy said:
Geeze a lot of negativity guys!!!! At least they are doing something different and having a go. Good on them and best of luck.
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I don't see it that way. They are just looking to make a quick buck, which is fine. However, what happens if they get themselves in way over their head (which will be about ten minutes after they get into the bush) and need to be rescued?

That means a SAR team is going to be put into danger (even if it is a slight danger) to rescue them and cost taxpayer money to go rescue two/three morons that watched too much Man vs. Wild and thought they could do it too. If they need a rescue, which actually may not happen since my guess is they will be right outside of town, the SAR group should charge them for it. If god forbid one of the SAR guys was killed rescuing them (which has happened before), they should be charged with manslaughter. I respect SAR guys too much to put them in danger by doing a stupid television stunt.

BTW, I am not saying that everyone should have to pay for SAR. I am just saying that if you knowingly put yourself into a dangerous situation with apparently not emergency backup plan if something goes wrong, you should have to pay. Not saying a lost hiker should have to pay, but when you admittedly have no survival training and you go out into the Canadian Wilderness in winter with only a knife, you should pay.
 
Sorry Persky, truly I am.
but in this case, they better have some cards up their sleeve they aren't showing. I don't like being this judgemental, this critical, but, their "love of the outdoors" isn't going to get them through this.

An outing such as theirs is something you work up to. Over time. You don't climb Mt. McKinley on your first mountain climbing expedition. You work up to it.

Again, maybe they aren't saying everything, maybe they have a lot more skills and knowledge than they are letting on, but, by the looks of it, this is not the case.

Hopefully their cameraman will have a cell phone or sat phone, or some means of communication to save them.

With what they are sharing with the public, at this time, I give them about a 90% certainty they will need outside help, perhaps full rescue, in less than 2 weeks.

I base this on the fact that they can decide to drink questionable water, to stay hydrated. they can double up to conserve body heat, but, hypothermia is going to be a 24 x 7 risk. After spending a few nights below freezing, when their system is down from lack of food, even a sunny 50°F day can bring on hypothermia under the right circumstances.
I'd love to read more specifics about their plan and trip, to give us a better feel for their well being, but we are not seeing a well thought-out plan. My first tip off was travelling to Northern Manitoba without so much as a FireSteel?
Red flags went up.
 
My first tip off was travelling to Northern Manitoba without so much as a FireSteel?
Click to expand...

Or an axe in order to gather the needed firewood. Even a firesteel does very little good if you don't have firewood since your Ka-Bar doesn't chop quite as well as a Granfors or a Wetterlings.
 
I have a feeling these guys think that just because they live here, they have a god given right to survive here. I just did a day hike in Whiteshell Provincial park (Eastern Manitoba) and had to contend with an angry swarm of yellowjackets (6 stings) constant gnats, muskeg, rain, mist, wind, and a high of about 13 C. Of course a couple days later it was 30 C with 17% humidity :D . But I can only imagine what this time of year brings for northern Manitoba :eek: .
 
If I am understanding correctly, their cameraman will be in a cozy completely equipped camp a few trees over and will be making daily trips to town... or the nearest internet connection... to upload pictures and their story. How far off in the wilderness can they be? Will the cameraman hire guards to protect his camp every day when he climbs into his Volvo to zip into town? Someone flinagle the GPS coords of their "wilderness camp".

These guys may well have more on the ball than they are letting on but... the plan/story as it appears so far has my bullschist meter pegging out.

Nonetheless, the idea they are putting foreward is intrigueing.

Codger
 
Codger_64 said:
These guys may well have more on the ball than they are letting on but... the plan/story as it appears so far has my bullschist meter pegging out.

Nonetheless, the idea they are putting foreward is intrigueing.

Codger
Click to expand...

Codger, thanks for your thoughts, so, it was also my bulschist meter, I guess, that was going off too! ;) (and i forgot about having one of them thangs!)

I am learning a few things about Manitoba. I just checked average temps for a place called Thompson, Manitoba, what I'd call Central Manitoba. In Farenheit degrees, for us Yanks, the avg daytime temps are 39°, with avg. night temps of 25°. That is for Central Manitoba, so knock a few more degrees off of those readings for "Northern" Manitoba.

RubberJohnny probably has the closest real-life view of just how cold it can get up there, and he is many hundreds of miles south of Northern Manitoba.

I tell ya this much, above this place called Thompson there are no roads on any maps that I can see! Maybe trails, but not graded mapped roads. I hope the cameraman's Volvo is more like a tundra-buggy.

This has the smell of a prank, or a satire on Survivorman and ManVWild.
Worse, if not the above, it is an ill-conceived adventure that could likely get someone killed, if they aren't careful.

It is, however, sparking a lot of conversation, and that, besides the money, may be part of their plan.

This is still a much better topic of conversation than what the plastic idiots in Hollywood are up to. :D
 
Skunkwerx,

I had the same impression form the little I read through on their website. Lots of nifty stuff but it hasn't been distilled through personal experience.

I wouldn't worry so much about bear attacks. Bears tend to be attracted to the smell of food and these guys are going to be doing a whole lot of cooking.

My guess is that they will spend their first week starving and trying to get their shelter to the point they can sleep the night. They will probably try to settle their food problem too soon and waste time that could be better spend making home livable. Unless they are pretty good at snaring and set lots of snares right away they won't eat that first week. This will cause them to spend time hunting or fishing, and they have to make the means to do this (supposedly).

By that point the lack of drinking water is going to have them borderline dehydrated and they will start taking chances with drinking from sources they deem clean enough. When you are forced to rely on boiling for purification it gets real tedious after a day or two, and that's when you have a pot and stove. To try that long term with no pot is a loosing proposition.

I think they've bit off more than they can chew. Mac
 
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