The Gun Counter

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ation.html

It promised to stretch reality television to the limit: one man pitting his wits against the Yukon wilderness with just a camera for company.

But hopes for an epic three-month contest between man and nature were dashed when adventurer Ed Wardle failed to go the distance.

Seven weeks after striding out into the rugged forests of western Canada armed with a rifle and a fishing rod, Mr Wardle had to be airlifted back to civilisation suffering from starvation.

I've had this conversation with some friends before.

None of us has any real idea how hard the "pioneers" really had it. We have beatific fantasies but the reality was much more of a challenge than we can grasp.

I've spent months deep in the "national forests" in my yooot - just me, the dog and a ppks - but (1) I picked the right season and (2) had a bunch of supplies to keep me alive if my foraging skills had failed me.

Trying the same up in canuckistan, loaded down with camera equipment and batteries instead of supplies? That would take a tougher man than I EVER was...

DD

This was the outcome I expected.

I'm not sure, had he ever even had any training?

Perhaps he thought he could just decide he could do it because he saw people on TV being able to survive for a week out in the wilderness (Survivorman). Apparently he never even considered just how DAMN HARD it would be, ESPECIALLY by himself.

Even "Mountain Men" had to have help once in a while and over 90% didn't survive the first year (*IF* they stayed out that long).

308Mike wrote:Perhaps he thought he could just decide he could do it because he saw people on TV being able to survive for a week out in the wilderness (Survivorman). Apparently he never even considered just how DAMN HARD it would be, ESPECIALLY by himself.

If he really paid attention to Survivorman, he'd know that Les Stroud frequently starves the whole week he is out. I dont think I've seen any show where he managed to find more than just enough to barely get by, and it's usually pretty obvious that he would not make it that way for an extended time. And Stroud is a trained expert.

In one of his shows he tried to fish with his hands, and failed. He then comments and says that "you cant just plan that you'll fish for food, you have to practise it before you have to do it".

I believe that for every mountain man that made it and survived, there were several others that didn't. It's very possible to survive even in the harshest conditions, but you need to have the skills beforehand, you have to have the skills suited for the area you are in, and even then you might very well just get a bad break, no matter how skilled you are.

Hell, around here I have hunted, fished, and foraged fairly extensively. I still wouldn't try three months unless I had to. Especially when trekking outside my area of familiarity.

Pilgrim's , (spit) .

Even "Mountain Men" had to have help once in a while and over 90% didn't survive the first year (*IF* they stayed out that long).

I think there is a fallacy that the Mountain Men were loners who hit the unexpliored west and northwest on their own. I have read numerous aritciles over the years and one full length book, an autobiographical account or journal, and each seems to indicate they did not go it alone almost ever. When they did go out alone, it was usually only for up to a few days from their main group. They traveled and lived with others of their own kind, and they often lived among and traded with native Americans. Help once in awhile, nah they had help almost all of the time.

I imagine though that the American way is to glorify the one who does a herooic thing. That is why all these one man survival shows go over so big, and why that show they had, the competition on Islands and far off places, went over so big because it all came down to one being the best and not how the team pulled everyone through. The pioneers, the frontiersmen, the mountain men they made it as teams working together.

Being alone in a wilderness with no food or water or shelter and just a gun, fishing pole and a camera with batteries must be really tough. I hope never to have to find out but I do try to go prepared whereever I go. The most important thing with which to prepare yourself, I would think is the proper attitude. If you have some know how, some tools, a bit of luck - well then that attitude can get you through an awful lot of bad times. Still though, as I said, I never want to find out if I could do it but would like to think I have prepared myself somewhat for such a situation should it ever befall me.

All the best,
Glenn B

I think you may be confusing "mountain men" with "long hunters" which were a bit different. What we refer to as mountain men were primarily trapping fur, which is a commercial activity. Of course they worked in groups as mentioned, and depended upon regular resupply and contact with traders for sale of their skins, such as would occur at the "rendezvous" that were often held for those purposes.

A long hunter would have been the guy who went off into the wilderness, sometimes for months at a time, living off the land. But even he wouldn't necessarily have been traveling alone, and would return to civilization at the conclusion of his "long hunt." Typical reasons for these trips would have been to scout land for settlement, prospecting, etc.