"Survivorman"

[BPTactical]

I like the show and Les Stroud seems to be a smart pup.
I am curious for those that have been through formal "survival" training how accurate his techniques are.
Is he full of poop?
Bear Grillis is a fake IMO.
What was your survival training?
How would it apply in an urban environment?
Your thoughts and input please.

[spqrzilla]

I've always been a big fan of Les Stroud's show. While not perfect, I think he has less bull in his show than most. I really despise Bear Grylls.

[sroz]

Les Stroud is the man. Carries his own equipment and plays a decent harmonica.

[blacklabel]

I think that Les is about as realistic as we're going to get on TV.

[hollohas]

Agreed. Les really tries to give good advice. Les is now off the grid ad far as I know. He had a short special about his plans to homestead in the woods. He also got VERY sick after the episode he was in the swamp...he fell into the water and contracted the nasty bugs that had him out for a couple months if a remember correctly.

That's the opposite of Bear who advises people to drink dirty water. Bear is a dumb shit. Anyone who follows his example is asking for failure. I've seen parts of three of his shows. One he said the best way to travel is to jump in a river. Aside from the drowning problem, hypothermia is for sure. The next he said the best way to get down a mountain is run straight down. That equals broken ankle. Dudes with broken ankles can't get out. The last he climbed to the top of an old warehouse using the I-beams to get one bird egg...said you do whatever you have to to get food. Sorry guy, if you spend 10 times as many calories then the food you are working for will replace, you're doing it wrong.

[Wulf202]

Survivorman is the best of the tv survival shows followed closely by man woman wild. Dual survival is ok but the producers play up the drama for no real reason other than they have nothing better to do.

Grew up backpacking, camping, doing SAR with my dad (water search and rescue instructor/team leader)

Les actually did a survivorman based off katrina for urban survival. All of his stuff is based off real world survival and going for rescue. So if that's your scenario it's good to go.

If you want to spend some money on decent books for short to medium term survival Stroud's Survive! followed by Lundin's 98.6 degrees.

[mcjhr]

Les had some personal issues to take care of. I'm pretty sure a year or two ago he was at blade show. He has some knife designs out. Other than that like hollohas said he got real sick, between his personal issues and being sick I'm surprised he has any $ left.

Eta: les Stroud is as real as it gets. And he is a mentally tough SOB. Bear grylls is a joke of a "survivalist"(suns down time to drink my own pee), but he is one crazy adrenaline junky.

Another good host is ray mears, if you can get by the accent.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/15/8uvyjuby.jpg

[mcjhr]

+1 for Cody Lundin.......I'd like to see les and Cody do a show. It'd be boring as hell but I'm sure you could glean a ton!

[osok-308]

Only seen a few episodes so far, but Les seems pretty legit. People may hate Bear Grylls, but some (not all) of the things he says can be useful, it's a matter of wading through the crap.

[muddywings]

Background: Went through SERE training and arctic survival up in Fairbanks and had a blast except the "RE" portion. I also peer taught the survival portion for two summers. Also did water survival out at Pensacola.
Les is da Man! His down airplane in the arctic was truly real. If I recall right he tried to simulate a broken arm but eventually was like 'F this' which impressed me with his honesty. The guy has got some big brass ones for sure and his techniques are spot on from what I can see.
Grylls is a pansy }#%%^ prima donna.


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[Irving]

Bert, if you have Netflix you can watch all three seasons of Survivor Man. I watched them all in about two weeks and really felt they made a bigger impact that way. Next I started watching Man Woman Wild and Dual Survival. All solid shows with Survivorman being the top.

There is an Alaska one with nine random people that took a two day survival course before hand. That show is useful for learning what not to do.

[Aloha_Shooter]

From what I've seen of his show, Les Stroud is a bit over the top sometimes but very very accurate in the skills he demonstrates. Bear Grylls IMO emphasizes drama over common sense and I stopped watching his crap after about half a season. I wasn't surprised at all when I found out he was overdramatizing some of his show and spending (some) nights in hotel rooms between takes.

Then again, some of you like Man Woman Wild so you can take my opinion with a 5 lb bag of rock salt because I think that show is crap too. Some really stupid stuff on there like the idiot drinking water right out of the stream and then getting evac'd for dysentery (big surprise).