Survivorman returns to Discovery tonight

I liked his machete sharpening demonstration. I have a machete much like that one made by Condor.
The bird/chick chase was humorous. No meat on that little critter so he turned it loose.
Lots of turtles, but he never did make and turtle soup.
This is one of the first times where he was well fed.
That scummy "pond" looked disqusting. Dead birds and all....
Thought the wood splitting (sort of batonning) with the machete was good. You see, in most cases, all you really need is a machete.
 
I'm watching the latest episode (Tierra del Fuego), and I've got to say I'm a bit disappointed. He really needs to check his facts about the country he's in. I know he needs to make every place look as "extreme" as possible, but people who don't know Tierra del Fuego would get the wrong ideas from his show.

Also, I didn't like the way he handled those poor horses or the fact that he took a .22 to try to hunt a wild cow.

It might be a bit too hard on him since he's in my backyard. My family breeds horses and I used to organize trips around Península Mitre (Tierra del Fuego) on horseback.
 
I really like Les, but have you noticed lately how often he just drinks the water straight from the source? Other than the turtle-poo water, he has not been doing much treating or boiling.

Doc
 
Well, it is his risk, and he does say that sometimes he doesn't get lucky with it. maybe he is figuring the risk is worth it, rather than the dehydration he used to suffer through. I wonder why he decided to go back to it, I thought he'd kinda of sworn it off, due to the punishment on his body.
 
Yeah he goes over the fact that he just drinks the water in one of the episodes in the first season I believe, he says the likelihood of getting some bug from a seemingly fresh flowing stream isn't as high as other shows make it seem like, along with the risk of dehydration out weighing the risk of getting sick and the fact that he's been doing it for so long as well. You can get harmful pathogens by splashing some water in your eye or getting water in an open cut, ingesting them isn't the only way to get sick.

gadgetgeek said:
Looks like it could be the Fuego, from the same line. I thought he was done with them. If anyone is looking for it by other methods, its listed as season5ep1. I'm currently finding his other series Secrets of Survival. might be good.
Click to expand...

I got excited about Secrets of Survival until I realized its all footage from Survivorman 1-3 thats been rearranged. I've seen all the episodes a few times over and so was a very anticlimactic moment.
 
yeah, they are re-cuts, as I found as well. But there is some additional details and narration.
I laughed at the second new episode with what he found on the beach. Reminded me of the story someone told here of trying to start a friction fire in a survival class, and forgetting they had a kit with matches.
 
I've only just caught the second episode and thought it was one of his most 'comfortable' survives to date. I was curious of his use of the raft though. He used it for shelter so it must have been included in his allowed equipment. Why didn't he use it as a rain trap though? He went to all the hassle of collecting a plastic bag, making a rain trap and for what half a glass of rain water? Surely he could have used the raft, right side up to be a far better rain trap?

Apart from that minor thing I've enjoyed his shows since the start. Between him and Ray Mears I've get my outdoor tv fix.
 
I didn't really get it when he called his panga( looked to be a corneta or imacasa) a cutlass. Is that a reigonal thing or does he just not know what its called.
 
Interesting read. If it is true, then I am a little disappointed as I would hope the show is more "real" than it seems. :)
 
Its an interesting read. On thing I would like to point out, is that Les has said in a couple of the behind the scenes shows that he has a safety plan in place. He is also trying to film an interesting show, so ignoring a very obvious resource and exploiting another adds to the show. (except in the case of the houses in norway, where he is in pretty desperate need) As for times and distances, its possible that he used different routes, or added in the trips for the cameras and gear. As for "realism" its TV, at the end of the day, it has to be a story that the network is going to broadcast. So yeah, there will be some things cut together to make the story work. as to the state of the campsites, is it LNT, not really, but maybe someone else used the site since? who knows. Its TV, and even in Les did a different style of outdoor show, I'd still watch that too.
 
It was interesting when Les used tinder fungus to start a fire. I stumbled onto this fungus awhile back and was annoyed at how hard it was to extinguish when embers spilled from the fire and noticed how it would keep sparking no matter how much I was trying to butt it out on the floor by the wood furnace. Never thought about using it for starting fires.
 
Franciscomv said:
I'm watching the latest episode (Tierra del Fuego), and I've got to say I'm a bit disappointed. He really needs to check his facts about the country he's in. I know he needs to make every place look as "extreme" as possible, but people who don't know Tierra del Fuego would get the wrong ideas from his show.

Also, I didn't like the way he handled those poor horses or the fact that he took a .22 to try to hunt a wild cow.

It might be a bit too hard on him since he's in my backyard. My family breeds horses and I used to organize trips around Península Mitre (Tierra del Fuego) on horseback.
Click to expand...


I agree with this completely - it seemed like his heart wasn't into hunting cattle. You'd think in a real survival situation, a properly motivated individual would have bagged a cow to eat, even with a .22. NOt pretending to be a hunter, but wouldn't someone starving do something more, like maybe lie in wait for hours for an opportunity to get close enough? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that a typical hunter would do a little more than he did to bag game. Not trying to judge. However, these survival shows are beginning to look like media experiments on how people starve.
 
I get what you guys are saying about the hunting, and horses. I've only dealt with horses a couple of times (despite growing up on a farm, horses and I don't tend to get along) Franciscomv, experience makes everything seem easier, so territory that to you seems friendly to me would be brutal and unknown. I agree that hunting cows with a .22 is foolish, but sometimes you take what you get. Ultraman, trying to hunt while hungry and cold, and facing the danger of those bulls would be tough. Plus even in a life or death situation, I don't think I'd pull the trigger unless I had a reasonable expectation of success. wounding an animal for no reason doesn't seem worth it, and if the herd decides to protect the wounded animal, you've still lost it.
At the end of the day, its one man's choices, and we can armchair quarterback it to death, maybe on a different day he could have picked off a straggling calf.

Sometimes these situations just come down to expectation. Anything you expect is easier than something you don't, even if its something you should have expected or planned for. 7 days with no food is tough, but its tougher mentally than it is physically.

A local would have probably rode it out much more easily, but thats also the point, isn't it? Les makes mistakes, but he admits to it, and doesn't try to seem like everything is easy. Maybe he does make things seem tougher or harder than they are, but I don't know, I've only been to a couple of places where he's gone, and never had to survive in any of them. So I don't really know.
 
gadgetgeek said:
I get what you guys are saying about the hunting, and horses. I've only dealt with horses a couple of times (despite growing up on a farm, horses and I don't tend to get along) Franciscomv, experience makes everything seem easier, so territory that to you seems friendly to me would be brutal and unknown. I agree that hunting cows with a .22 is foolish, but sometimes you take what you get. Ultraman, trying to hunt while hungry and cold, and facing the danger of those bulls would be tough. Plus even in a life or death situation, I don't think I'd pull the trigger unless I had a reasonable expectation of success. wounding an animal for no reason doesn't seem worth it, and if the herd decides to protect the wounded animal, you've still lost it.
At the end of the day, its one man's choices, and we can armchair quarterback it to death, maybe on a different day he could have picked off a straggling calf.

Sometimes these situations just come down to expectation. Anything you expect is easier than something you don't, even if its something you should have expected or planned for. 7 days with no food is tough, but its tougher mentally than it is physically.

A local would have probably rode it out much more easily, but thats also the point, isn't it? Les makes mistakes, but he admits to it, and doesn't try to seem like everything is easy. Maybe he does make things seem tougher or harder than they are, but I don't know, I've only been to a couple of places where he's gone, and never had to survive in any of them. So I don't really know.
Click to expand...

Understood. I'm not trying to say I would do better, but probably that he could have done better, weather cooperating and maybe spirit willing. Maybe good hunting skills translates to better survival skills in this instance.
 
I like his shows but, If I caught it right, wasn't he sharpening his machete with his hand on the edge side? Maybe that was another knife. Anyway, I did not see a guard protecting his hand in case he slipped or something. The last thing someone wants to do is cut themselves in a survival situation.
 
Ultraman said:
Understood. I'm not trying to say I would do better, but probably that he could have done better, weather cooperating and maybe spirit willing. Maybe good hunting skills translates to better survival skills in this instance.
Click to expand...

Definitely. I was quite surprised that the cows didn't seem to ever come close to the shack, might have made for an easy pick, and with the cows staying away, obviously people are a threat, and threats get removed, so I can understand the caution. I guess he looked at the risk vs. reward and found it not in his favor. I was surprised that there were no birds either, I guess wrong time of year? I'd have probably popped the fox, or tried to find what they were eating, it looked healthy enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top