I was reading Ray Mears' "Bushcraft" book and found very interesting point: he talks about survival, but there is nothing about survival kit!
His book is so far the best survival book I have read. He talks about gear, how to choose, does not really pushes his ideas into the reader, but his points are so logical that you cannot disagree. In fact, he covers most things I am interested in (how to select a knife, what should I select a cutting tool - long knife, machete, or axe, bowdrilling firemaking, finding water and food etc) with sufficient details to practice (except making snares, I guess it is because it is illegal to snare animals in the UK).
But why he does not mention any survival kit? Any ideas? Perhaps, he spreads his kit around in his other kit that he will always have something in hand. Plus, he tries to improvise using natural material.
Regards,

Until pretty recently, the gear a man carried in his pack and on his belt were normal "living" items; equipment he needed to live his day-to-day existance. "Survival" had no seperation from normal life.
It is (or was) assumed training and experiance permitted man to live and thrive without a wide array of gear. Much of what he needed was derived from nature. The natural man would be amazed to find ETS members agonizing if five blades were adequate, or do I really need a sixth. In addition, he was generally not interested in being "rescued".
Mears may also assume anyone who mastered the skills outlined in his book would be smart enough to figure out the basic equipment needs, based on season, terrain etc. You need to do the dirt time. Lets remember, ETS is too often aimed just toward the toys, not the skills required.

"There is nothing so frightening as ignorance in action."

I can't say that I've read Ray Mears' books, but I loved both "Ray Mears' Bushcraft" and "Ray Mears' World of Survival" (I don't know the original names prior to them being played on the Discovery Channel here in the States). I'd also like to see "Ray Mears' Extreme Survival".

Man he likes his name to be on the product. LOL

I'm disappointed that I can't find "legit" copies of these shows in US Region DVDs. If I could, I'd order them immediately because I missed quite a few of them and some of the tips are quite frankly some of the best I've seen.

AMEN

[quote] Mears may also assume anyone who mastered the skills outlined in his book would be smart enough to figure out the basic equipment needs, based on season, terrain etc. You need to do the dirt time. Lets remember, ETS is too often aimed just toward the toys, not the skills required.

Well said. You really have to put your "time in"and practice your craft, that goes for most things in life be that shooting/fishing/hunting or survival skills. Knowledge gained in the field is priceless

Arnold Palmer once said, "Golf is all luck, but the more I practice, the luckier I get".

I have all the available DVD's that Ray Mears sells. The 2004/05 series are excellent! They play fine on my DVD machine which is an Akai.
They also play fine on the computer. For some reason, computer DVD software will play any format DVD.
I bought my Mears DVD's from a seller on Ebay, which was the simplest way to get it accomplished.

He hasn't mentioned kit because he doen't like it! Thinking logically you can survive for weeks with just a knife so that is all he uses

I don't think Ray Mears actually conisders him self a "survivalist" as such and so doesn't have a list of must have kit. He also seems to promote the skills needed to make what you need rather than relying on carrying every thing that you may need. He has several books and DVDs on differing regions of the globe and he does mention specific items that are used in that area but even in these he shows you how to manage on what you can find. The only kit he seems to have all the time is a good knife and more often than not water.

I have afew of his books (couldnt tell you which one, got SOOO many survival books!) but he often talks about his "possibles bag". I get the impression this is his survival kit, he DOES carry a firesteel, tinder, matches in Matchsafe, and some cordage) but he certainly seems not to carry too much hi-tech gear.
His courses here in the UK are supposed to be excellent but places are booked up MONTHS & MONTHS in advance