Sorry, I'm not a part of any fanclub here. I don't know ironraven from boacrow, but I do have to say that one of them seems much more knowledgable, and seems to have real life experience that I would tend to believe, while the other seems to be living in a internet world.

I'm not saying this stuff can't be done, because many people have done it, but there are too many inconsistencies in boacrows post to make me believe he's actually done it himself. It sounds like someone who's read all the survival terminology and methods from the internet, but has never tried it out for himself. It's not just from this post either, ever since his first post something has smelled a little fishy.

The reason I asked him to include a picture of his gun is because that would make it absolutely sure it's a current picture, and not a copied one off the internet. If he had mentioned anything else that he had with him, I would have said to include that in the picture, basically anything to provei t's actually him. but there are just a lot of other things that just don't compute. For example, the 20' x 20' shelter? Let's assume it really is 20 foot square. And he does use piine needles to cover it. Let's say it would take at least a one foot thick cover of pine needles to make it even remotely waterproof, (I actually think a lot more, but this is just hypothectically). When's the last time you walked into the forest and found a minimum of 4 x 20' trees and 400 cubic feet of pine needles, just waiting to be turned into a shelter? Now I'm won't even going to count the other branches you'd need to span the frame and support the pine needles, and you'd need quite a few. All this in less than an hour. Does this still seem plausible to you?

Maybe I am unable to understand his post, which you think are so clearly written, but it seems that there are quite a few others who are having the same problem. I want to learn as much as everyone else, but if someone is coming here with some pretty wild stories, they'd better be able to back up their claims with some proof. It isn't rudeness or arrogance (well, maybe a little rudeness on my part), but I think almost everyone here is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to this stuff, and they are able to separate the fact from the fiction. And the fact is, almost everyone else here is doubting him, some are just doing it more politely than others.

Oh yeah, and for the record, I actually agree with Boacrow in theory. People should be prepared not with what they carry in their bags, but with the knowledge to survive without all that a specialized equipment. If there is someone out there who can actuallly walk into the woods with nothing but a knife and survive for a long period of time, I would really, really like to meet them, because that is a very rare trait. The irony is, I don't think a person like that would be posting on an internet forum so often <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> But what would happen if you go from the forest of Alabama to the deserts of the southwest? Even survival skills and knowledge are limited to some degree.

For now, I'll just stay quiet and wait for pictures. If he actually does do what he claims, I'll sincerely apologize for my comments. Even if they never materialize, this is an entertaining thread to watch.