• The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
    Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.

  • Today marks the 24th anniversary of 9/11. I pray that this nation does not forget the loss of lives from this horrible event. Yesterday conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was murdered, and I worry about what is to come. Please love one another and your family in these trying times - Spark

Woodsman Fail

Why are Fiddleback knives known to fail? most of his customers on the makers' forums seem overly pleased with his product.
 
PayetteRucker said:
Why are Fiddleback knives known to fail? most of his customers on the makers' forums seem overly pleased with his product.
Click to expand...

They aren't known to fail. They are great knives that's why it was a "Surprise"

To the OP - Did you read that article? The guy lasted 7 weeks....What is wrong with that? Seven weeks survival is a heck of an accomplishment. No need for the jerkit symbol - no need at all!

BTW - it was not a disaster. He called for help and received it. No liability, just a production that didn't go as planned. I'm sure a lot of reality shows hit the toilette because they didn't go quite as planned. Maybe the documentary that comes out of this will be honest and useful.
 
You can have all the training and gear in the world and still have an extremely rough time... I was quick to judge this guy too but I've been in places that should have been crawling with food and shelter opportunities that at the time were as empty as a Ugandan's belly. There's a point where bushcrafting for a TV show turns into real survival, and it just isn't worth it.
 
kgd said:
They aren't known to fail. They are great knives that's why it was a "Surprise"

To the OP - Did you read that article? The guy lasted 7 weeks....What is wrong with that? Seven weeks survival is a heck of an accomplishment. No need for the jerkit symbol - no need at all!

BTW - it was not a disaster. He called for help and received it. No liability, just a production that didn't go as planned. I'm sure a lot of reality shows hit the toilette because they didn't go quite as planned. Maybe the documentary that comes out of this will be honest and useful.
Click to expand...

I agree, Ken. I mean... surviving 7 weeks is no easy task. A matter of days is no easy task, for that matter. Les Stroud tends to make it look easy, but 7 days with nothing but a knife and minimal supplies (something to make fire with, and maybe some string and a piece of candy) would be extremely difficult. That guy makes going hungry look easy...
 
Yeh...I came in here to say that I've been thinking about this guy.

A lot of use have been too hard on him...
We call them survival skills because if you don't do it all right, or have a run of bad luck you won't survive.
You can't beat the odds forever.
As Fight Club puts it: "On a long enough time line the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."

The dude made it 7 weeks on his own. That ain't bad.
 
I would think that the show's producers hired experts to at least train him as Stroud does before he goes to different parts of the world.

One thing that comes to mind is that perhaps he didn't, given the environment, anticipate or calculate the amount of calories he would need for this endeavor.

The other thing is that being alone for that amount of time is good for no man.
 
I was a l ittle tough on him., he did make 7 weeks and should have come out a week or more ago. Clearly didn't have it down. I remember his day 3 report and was crying. Something not right. Having said that I don't know that I would be able to stick it out that long either. Most skills I have, fire, meat, shelter, water, nav, video camera...Green food though, wild edibles, that would give me some trouble.
Hats off, he at least dod what most will never dare to chance, even if ill advised.
 
7 weeks ain't too bad. It is not always easy to find a long-term sustainable environment for one person. It doesn't take too many mistakes to go hungry. And when you are alone you have less time to make mistakes on.
 
Last edited:
7 weeks no training, that's a huge thumbs up.

much better than hearing about guys calling for rescue because of sun burn.
 
To be honest, I'm not a bit suprised that he didn't make it.. He had about a day's worth of training in what plants are edible, and some survival training which was also about a day .. That made no sense to me.. I will take my hat off to him for sticking it out for the time he did... Still, it was a fool hardy idea..
 
SIXFOOTER said:
I was a l ittle tough on him., he did make 7 weeks and should have come out a week or more ago. Clearly didn't have it down. I remember his day 3 report and was crying. Something not right. Having said that I don't know that I would be able to stick it out that long either. Most skills I have, fire, meat, shelter, water, nav, video camera...Green food though, wild edibles, that would give me some trouble.
Hats off, he at least dod what most will never dare to chance, even if ill advised.
Click to expand...

Cool, were you following his blog earlier than the article? I only grumbled because I didn't get the crying thing from the article. Maybe he tried his first bowdrill on day 3 - that will make most folks cry :D
 
7 weeks is not too shabby. I would like to know exactly what training he did before heading off on this adventure. If he just did a couple of days then more fool him I say. If he did a decent course and maybe tried trial run of his kit and knowledge before the nig event then fair one the woods eventually beat him.

I can't say too much more without more info all I can say is that i'm jealous as hell he got the opportunity to do it at all.
 
I'll say it again; This guy was probably at wits end from the tormenting flies and skeeters on day three. I hate those little f*ckers.
 
I have been on trips that have had me wanting to quit after a couple of days... thou most were taken with my ex-girlfriend :) Seriously thou, I have been doing the survival, outdoors, hiking, camping, etc thing for a lot of years now, and 7 weeks... I have my doubts I would have gone that long. Actually I can't see it at all. Maybe 20 years ago, or even before I had a family, but now? Not if I had any other choice. Besides, my skills have never been that good. Always considered myself more of an experienced hiker then a true survivalist like a lot of the folks here are.

I think I was most impressed with the guy that did 10 (?) months on the island earlier this year.
 
Marcelo Cantu said:
I would think that the show's producers hired experts to at least train him as Stroud does before he goes to different parts of the world.

One thing that comes to mind is that perhaps he didn't, given the environment, anticipate or calculate the amount of calories he would need for this endeavor.

The other thing is that being alone for that amount of time is good for no man.
Click to expand...

speak for yourself;)
 
& weeks in that environment is quite an accomplishment no matter who you are.

I'll be glad when I can see the show to find out what happened.

Procuring enough food is a constant chore, one reason why indigenous people practiced such team work. The mountain men of our old west aloso worked in groups. Long term solo survival is the exception not the rule.

Most modern folks also rely much more on sociqal contacts and are severly impacted when those contacts are removed. The biggest battle in a survival situation is often the one between ones own ears.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top