The funny thing about using wild or escaped horses is that without a bridle (horsey steering) he will escape to where ever the horse desides to take him before he gets scraped off the back of the horse. And I will bet that he will get "there" a lot faster then his crew will be able to find him and medivac him out of there. He should be wearing a football helmet and be allowed to park really close to the business doors. Hope that doesn't offend any one - but he could be the MVP at the special olympics, if they didn't think he was too dangerous to be around. Just my opinion.

Hi All,

This is my first post here, but I've been reading the forum for awhile. Count me in the minority (obviously), but I look at this show as pure entertainment, and because of that, I enjoy watching his trials and tribulations. There's no question in my mind that he does certain things because of its entertainment value, and not because it's the correct survival thing to do.

On the flip side, I have a hard time watching Survivorman, because it's like watching paint dry for me. I really don't care that he's got to lug all the camera gear around just so we, the viewers can watch him walk away from, or towards the camera.

And don't get me started on "I Shouldn't Be Alive".

Hank

P.S. The knowledge that you guys have here is simply mind-boggling.

I have to disagree with that. I personally like Les Stroud mmuch better than that other guy. I finally watched one of his episodes (the same one that most everyone is talking about) and I have to say, I'm amazed that he doesn't kill himself. On the other hand, Les Stroud to me doesn't really go the distance in that he says since he knows he's going home in a week, he doesn't really get into survival mode. I got that from his personal website. I would like to see him really kick it into high gear. I think that's why most people like shows like these in first place, to see what a human being is capable of under extreme circumstances. I really couldn't get into the Man vs. Wild thing so I don't think I'll be watching it again but I will continue to be a big Les Stroud fan, because as I said earlier, I think he's more of a human than the rest of them. He seems like a guy that would be fun to hang out with.

Thanks, guys. My understanding was that a wild horse wouldn't let someone anywhere near them. Add this one to the fish hooks.

Dave

You are correct to question it. There are a number of things that humans would succumb to that maggots are unaffected by.

A good illustration is a duck kill that I worked a number of years ago. Avian botulism combined with oppressive heat and drought had concentrated the water holes on streams in an urban area. Ducks would die, bacT and insects set upon them and make quick work of them. However, maggots accumulated the botulinum toxin and were the source of further duck poisonings. All-told...over two locations we removed an incinerated roughly 600+ carcasses (not all ducks and some small mammals were also affected after gorging on the little insect diners). Followups were required for months and dead and dying were removed. Finally the cycle was broken but approximately 80-90% of the population of ducks and wading birds were killed.

Anyway, that's a long-winded example of why not to necessarily trust other organisms to make a food source safe for humans. Animals can tolerate things we can't, and vise versa.

Yeti, excellent example and welcome to the forum.

Good information from both you and Yeti , however, I doubt seriously if Bear Grylls is or was aware of any of this, especially the "self-innoculation" theory.

Hello All

My eyes are starting to play tricks on me but as that horse made it's escape the bottom of it's feet were bright and metalic looking.

Wade

Your British friend makes fun because they've got Ray Mears. That guy is very informative without a bunch of jumping around. I've heard that he has the nickname of "fatty Mears" because he'll spend a week in the desert with what's in his pockets and come out of it a pound heavier.

Maybe we could persuade TLC to rerun his "Survivor" series. Or run the "Bushcraft" series. I've never seen the Bushcraft, but if they're similar to the "Survivor" series, they have to be good.

Anything but Man vs. Wild, I get sorta Bearnausic when they even show his face on a commercial break. I would really like to see any of Ray Mears' shows on tv. I have his survival handbook and like some of the info it offers I wouldn't find anywhere else. I have seen him one time on television a few years back making a desert crossing "down under" just to show how to do it correctly, if I recall right.

When it comes to British survival experts, I read where someone on a forum put it in this perspective once: Lofty Wiseman is the expert on getting it "sorted out," while Ray Mears is more of the expert in bushcraft.