Man Vs. Wild - Bear's knife, Survivorman's?

[OH25shooter]

hso,

Your survivor clip (YouTube) was simply the best. It's tough for us city slickers to relate to Wes and Bear. I do enjoy, however, watching those shows, but I believe Wes has it the toughest. I think we all agree, Bear has some assistance from his crew. He has to have a medic and an armed shooter standing nearby. I'd love to see his outtakes.

 

[MCgunner]

My favorite Survivorman to date is the one in the Okefenokee swamp. That one he eats a turtle and a rattle snake, two animals I've had, myself. Rattler is good, and, yes, it tastes like chicken! The turtle I've eaten I didn't care too much for, though, was sorta muddy tasting, but over a camp fire, everything has a way of tasting better. My mom and aunt cooked the turtle after my grandpa caught it, BIG snapper, on rod and real.

The first time I ate rattler was at a Wildlife Biology Asso annual game dinner at Texas A&M. (They don't do this at Berkley!) The department head herpetologist was seated directly across from me. I grabbed a couple of pieces, was deep fried, tasted like chicken. He asks "how do you like it". I says, "It's good, but sure has some strange bones in it. What kinda bird has bones like that?!" He rolled laughing and told me it was rattle snake. I have killed large rattlers, cleaned, and fried 'em since. Excellent fried, but I've never cooked one over a camp fire.

 

[TimboKhan]

Tell ya what, I'll sell you this knife for half the price of that wimpy thing Bear carries, and I'll even sign "MCGunner" on the blade for you!

It's likely that I would pay the 150 pounds just for your autograph. The knife would just be gravy....

 

[George Hill]

Bear eats dead Zebra meat that was fly infested and baking in the sun... and squeezed the juice out of elephant crap... the man deserves to sleep at a Comfort Inn.

 

[CajunTim]

Just the opinion from a couch potato.
Bear should team up with the wyldboyz and jackass crew as he eats and drinks some pretty nasty stuff more power to him. The man carries a flynt rock, the episode when he was is the rockies and flowing feet first down the Colorado River when he first starts getting out of the river his shirt is stuck to him and you can see that he is wearing a life jacket under his shirt.

What type of turtle did Les eat? Was that really a species that you would find in the swamps or was it planted there?

It is all entertainment take it for that and nothing more. I enjoyed I shouldn't be alive as they were true stories and would inform you of what the body was doing as for as injuries and shutting down.

Why are serrated knives do good in the wild?

 

[Regolith]

Why are serrated knives do good in the wild?

They don't for the post part. Your better off packing a Swiss Army Knife or Leatherman that has a saw along with a stout fixed blade without serrations.

The serrations, particularly in the 50/50 blades, simply get in th way. They're located on an extremely inconvenient spot on the blade, right up near the hilt where you would do delicate carving work. Not good.

 

[salthouse]

Eating the maggots from under a decomposing deer in the Alps is the one that got me UNTIL he squeezed the elephant patty for water. That guy is knutz. I find both programs entertaining, and Les Stroud's more informational.

 

[MCgunner]

Well, if you're going to carve an indian head, the serrated blades may not be great, but I like 'em on hunting knives. The serrations are great and in just the right spot for rippin' the sternum of a deer while field dressing, works better than a plain blade, yet the forward part of the blade is curved for skinning and delicate work. Might not be the blade to have for survival, don't know, but for field dressing game, I sure like my Gator Serrater. All I use it for is field dressing and skinning, though. It's not my all around field blade. I do have a Leatherman supertool I carry all the time that is general duty field tool. Use it a lot in the shop, too. I don't know how I lived without one. LOL My Gerber resides in the pocket of my hunting coat. I don't carry it daily like the supertool.

Eating the maggots from under a decomposing deer in the Alps

Actually, it was a chamois, a sheep that lives in the high alps. But, that was pretty sick, not as bad to me, though, as Les Stroud eating that friggin' scorpion. YUK! He did go ice fishing with maggots for bait, though. And, I've always heard maggots were a clean source of protein, just think I'd use 'em for bait, maybe, thanks. And, when I caught the friggin' fish, I'd COOK IT!

 

[islandphish]

First, I believe Les Stroud is by himself, notice he doesn't take the risks that Bear does.

Second, Bear takes those risks as an expert with expert advice and a safety and camera crew. His "reality show" take on survival is at odds with Les' realist version but is very fun and can be informative. Take what Bear does with a grain of salt but don't think that he isn't taking real risks.

Back to knives, That Gerber Gator looks like a decent blade. Also he often showcases just how much utility one can get from a blade through methods such as batoning. MvsW has caused me to once again re-evaluate the need for a SRK or Bowie type fixed blade.

 

[hso]

Ok folks, I'm gonna put my Mod hat on and ask that we get back to the original question of knives. It's more fun to trash or love on the MvW or SurMan shows, but acting like a bunch of TV critics is out of scope (I'd love to hate on the things I know to be irresponsible depicted in both myself) here.

Sorry to be the party pooper, but back to your originally scheduled knife babble.

Don't forget the knife Ray Mears, the predecessor to these two, uses (then go buy the falkniven or BRKT or ... at a fraction of the price).

 

[coelacanth]

dangit hso. . . . .

you're such a wet blanket ( albeit a knowledgeable one. . . ). A couple more pages and we'd have had the whole thing hashed out - again. I still stand by my original post though - your survival in a wilderness scenario is not going to come down to which knife you buy. True for me, true for you and true for those two chuckleheads on the Discovery channel. You may find the discussion entertaining but it's about as useful as arguing which Victoria's Secret model is the best looking.

 

[TimboKhan]

Here is the thing: I literally can't remember the last time I carried a fixed blade knife. They are big, bulky and for the weight, I just think I would be better off with a quality multi-tool. It seems to me that any truly realistic survival scenarios would include the use of such a knife, as I think it is substantially more common for mountaineers, hikers and backwoods adventureres to carry a multi-tool, or a folder, into the woods. Even when I was in the USMC, I eventually stopped carrying a large knife because I realized that I was just way better off with a folder for my knife tasks. Frankly, if Leathermans would have been available, I would have carried one of those instead of a small folder and a pair of pliers.

I like the look and feel of a fixed blade knife, and they certainly are superior in many situations, but it just seems like a multi-tool or good folder is more versatile, and thus the better choice for an "out and about" type of knife...

 

[JohnRov]

From Bear's blog:

"bear's knife....

I have had so many enquiries about what knife I consider best for all round performance blade.

Well, I have tried so many different ones during the filming of these 'Man Vs Wild''s & 'Born Survivor's', and if I am honest, none of them were quite right, (although in their defence. I did give them all a bit of a beating!)

So instead I have teamed up with Bayley knives and together have designed what I believe to be the most versatile, tough and practical knife available anywhere today.

Ironically, it has turned out very similar to ones we used in the SAS...but that is a beside...in conclusion, it is the knife I am currently using in any new episodes."

 

[doofus]

Survival show faces 'fake' claim

Somebody mentioned Bear staying in hotels and stuff; here's the story.

Channel 4 is to investigate a claim that it misled viewers in a survival series, in the latest allegation of reality being manipulated on a TV show.

Born Survivor featured British adventurer Bear Grylls dealing with "perilous situations" in the wild.

But a crew member told the Sunday Times some nights were spent in hotels.

Channel 4 insisted Grylls was never billed as working entirely unaided, but promised to raise the matter with the production company that made the show.

American survival consultant Mark Weinert, who was recruited by Diverse Productions, told the paper Grylls claimed to be stranded on a desert island on one occasion.

However, he was actually in Hawaii and spent some of his time there in a motel, Mr Weinert alleged.

Another time, he added, Grylls was filmed building a raft by himself, whereas the crew had actually put it together and dismantled it beforehand, to ensure that it worked.

And in a further episode, supposedly "wild" horses rounded up by Grylls had come from a local trekking facility, he claimed.

Further investigation
Channel 4 said in a statement that Born Survivor was "not an observational documentary series, but a 'how-to' guide to basic survival techniques in extreme environments".

"The programme explicitly does not claim that presenter Bear Grylls' experience is one of unaided solo survival.

"For example, he often directly addresses the production team, including the cameraman, making it clear he is receiving an element of back-up."

The broadcaster said Grylls carried out his own stunts and did place himself in perilous situations, "though he does so within clearly-observed health and safety guidelines required on productions of this kind".

"However, we take any allegations of misleading our audiences seriously and will be looking into this further with Diverse over the next few days."

The series was originally made for the Discovery Channel in the US and was acquired for UK transmission by Channel 4.

Diverse Productions declined to elaborate on Channel 4's statement, while Grylls's agent was unavailable for comment.

 

[MCgunner]

At the risk of being chastised, Bear often does something like jump off a crevasse of a glacier, to demonstrate how something would work if you fell in. He's not acting as if he actually fell, he's telling you "this is how it works", how his safety gear works that is, in that case was a knotted rope pulling his pack full of snow for a weight.

Now, back to the knife thing, I think I'll keep packin' my multitools. They're just too handy for more than just cutting. And, I ain't payin' no 350 UK Pounds for a KNIFE, not one I'm actually going to use. Now, where can you get that SAS knife Bear says his knife is very similar to? I don't need him to sign the blade. I might buy an SAS knife if the price was reasonable and I liked it, but not for survival, probably just use it hunting/butchering or something. I have a leatherman supertool I carry every day on my belt, won't put on my pants without it, and I have a small Buck multitool on my "survivor" gun belt that I carry in the field. The blades on that leatherman are pretty pathetic, but the one on the buck has a good edge and is a lot better blade that holds a better edge. You could actually use the buck to clean game, wouldn't wanna have to clean anything bigger'n a rabbit with a leatherman blade, but it's better'n nothing. I use it more for shop duties and such. I've been tempted by the Gerber tool, but don't know what the blade is like in that one. The way it opens is pretty novel, though.

I agree with TimboKhan on fixed blade knives, heavy, bulky, and I never carry one. I might have one in camp for butchering chores, but I carry a folder, my Gerber, when I'm hunting. It's super light and a strong folder. I've had it a couple of decades, but haven't carried it except for hunting, but the blade is as tight in that thing as when new. I really need nothing else. That 6" fixed blade Case my ol' man gave me weighs a ton. If I'm on a hunting trip I'll take it along to help butchering chores, but when I'm hunting around here, it stays home. It's got a quality blade on it, but it's awfully big and bulky.

Ya know, after the talk of falling out of a stand and hanging by your safety rope, I got to thinkin', I have never been in a tree stand! ROFL! I hunt out of tripods. There ain't a tree on my place I could use a tree stand, all gnarled up scrub oaks. East Texas is tree stand country, but I rarely go up there for hunting and I never used a stand up there, usually there for the squirrel hunting anyway.

I mean, I can open my Gerber with one hand, but I'll never need that skill anyway.

 

[George Hill]

One of the things about producing a show like Man VS Wild... Insurance. No one (of the producers) wants to see Bear get drowned or eaten or fall off something and have to show how to deal with compound spiral fractures.
They probably require Bear to take rests, the production crews probably require it too. I'm sure Bear would love to roll it all hard core and make it more real. The guy was an SF Operator.

 

[wooderson]

It seems to me that any truly realistic survival scenarios would include the use of such a knife

You could say that about most things on the show - why would someone coming off a mountain in skis not carry hiking boots for when he gets out of the snow? as in one ep - but the show is imagined to be a 'worst-case scenario' rather than realistic hiking/survival.

 

[wooderson]

The only thing that bothers me about assistance/hotel claims (it is, after all, entertainment) is that Grylls has repeatedly stated in interviews (Conan, Kimmel, Oprah) that he stuck it out in the wild with no assistance. There was no need to lie about that to puff up his book sales or image.

 

[chink]

Survivorman has a survival consultant also.

One thing that Les does which is stupid but at the same time cool is that he is out there alone. [At least in the earlier seasons he claimed he as] On more then one occasion he comments about doing things twice once to set up the camera shot and then another to take the camera down.

I am sure that he has a safety crew with a chopper or something close enough that he can get them on the VHF if something hits the fan.

As a Eagle Scout and Scoutmaster. I have watch both shows and thought from time to time, "that doesn't seem like a smart thing to do"

 

[hso]

Since most folks seem to interested in gossip and not discussing knives and have ignored my gentle suggestion we get back on topic we're done with this one.