the discovery channel has a whole bunch of survival shows, but no guns.

[cajun47]

im watching man, woman, wild right now. a man and a woman are in africa. lost i guess. no gun. but they show them catching a small crock and sliding a knife in its brain.

dual survival is next. i watched one of these before. another survival living off the land but no guns.

same thing with survivor man except for a few episodes maybe.

a basic .22lr would work wonders for these people.

why no guns?

 

[hammerklavier]

A gun would make it too easy.

 

[hso]

Because most folks won't have a gun in those situations since most folks don't have guns? Since most folks don't have guns they're producing a show for the majority of the folks who might find themselves in those situations.

In Alaska or Africa most anyone that goes out in the bush would have a rifle of some sort.

 

[Dr.Rob]

The average 'safari' guest is armed with a camera, not a rifle.

 

[Greg Koziol]

Dual Survival is cool

 

[pikid89]

i saw a survivor man where he carried a T/C of some sort...he was with another guy who had a bow

 

[hso]

The point is to make sure you don't have to resort to the gun. Just like in the suburbs, if you're temporarily surviving in the wild a gun is your tool of last resort. Ammunition is limited, you can't stay awake all the time, on and on.

Our ancestors who didn't have guns used the best available technology to survive and learning those skills will go a long way to making it out.

 

[trickyasafox]

next week Dave makes a bow for dual survival. I agree though with the above-

A competent woodsman, with a full kit would not make for a good show. So instead they have good woodsmen with minimal gear to make it more interesting.

 

[Cosmoline]

Using a firearm would make things too easy, and end the show too early.

Most of the shows are a lot of nonsense, though Survivorman actually has some pretty sound advice and isn't faked like so many of the others.

 

[David E]

A competent woodsman, with a full kit would not make for a good show.

I disagree.

I think it would be a very cool show to have Cody and Dave assemble their own survival kit and each show what's in them and how to use the gear.

Would it make for an exciting show each week? No, but they keep concluding every show with "You better know what you're doing out here or you're gonna die."

How about showing us some basic gear and how to use it for ONE show?

 

[fiddleharp]

Has anyone ever seen Survivorman kill a big game animal, such as a deer, moose, or antelope on one of his shows?
I haven't seen his show in years because I moved to a neighborhood that doesn't have cable. But I used to watch it religiously.
Back then, I always noticed that even though there were large animals around, he never targeted them by fashioning snares or anything.
Sure, he killed the occasional rabbit or snake, but he left the big stuff alone. Could it be that he was prohibited from breaking any local game laws in the production of his show?

 

[AnArmyofRon]

I never thought about guns on those shows. Get so wrapped up in watching, just never thought about it from the gun angle. But then again, forgot which show it was, he actually made roasted grasshoppers seem kinda tasty. Don't think I'd eat a scorpion or grasshopper if I had a gun. Just see what you would miss being armed.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

Whenever I watch these shows, I wonder why these people don't have guns, a gps, a satellite phone, some signal flares, an air to ground radio, half a dozen MREs, a nice bivy sack, a camp stove, and a travel trailer? In fact, why did they even go outside in the first place?

 

[Justin Holder]

Survivor man did have a 22 rifle in one of his shows. He even showed how to drill a hole under the butt pad to store spare ammo.

In another episode they made him carry a rifle because of the danger from polar bears. But was not allowed to use it otherwise.

 

[Quiet]

The "Survivorman" show is the only survival show in which the host (Les Stroud) carries a firearm in some of the episodes.

 

[Purgatory]

David E :

"I think it would be a very cool show to have Cody and Dave assemble their own survival kit and each show what's in them and how to use the gear."




I could see this making for a very interesting show. Especially with their different backgrounds of experience.

For each new climate and geographical location, they each get to choose like 3 items or so that they can bring along. At the start of the show they may show n' tell what they chose and why.

With Cody's aboriginal disciplines background, his angle on what different scenarios may call for is original at best. At worst, he can seem like a complete donkey's rear with some of the places he insists on going barefoot. There is NO way in Hell....

Dave has a more militaristic background and a very hard-nosed approach to getting things done.

I could see their different survival implements to be a positive addition for certain special episodes or something. -But cell phone or gps would be completely pointless. None of that.

Maybe a firearm in one show and maybe not the next. Strictly depending on the environment. Though it may be great to have a gun in the desert when long range shots are prevalent, it would be cumbersome in the heat to carry much more than water, food, etc.

I really like the show as is, though. It's much more like what I'd hoped Survivor would be when it was released. After the very first season when I saw how political and blatantly dramatic it was, I was done and very disappointed.

Dual Survival seems much more sincere and if there's any scripting at all, it's unrecognizable to me. -And I can't stand contrived drama.

 

[Big Bill]

I think it would be a very cool show to have Cody and Dave assemble their own survival kit and each show what's in them and how to use the gear."

I don't think Cody has a survival kit per se. Cody's an ABO man. His survival kit is between his ears; and, that Mora he carries around his neck is about all the equipment he really needs. It looks like the same knife he was carrying at Rabbitstick last September. Here are a couple of Cody's videos:

2006 Seattle Urban Survival Story featuring Cody Lundin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmmp...&p=09250BEEC183F4DC&playnext_from=PL&index=41

1998 Living Outside Documentary - Featuring Cody Lundin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TQg...&p=09250BEEC183F4DC&playnext_from=PL&index=42

Dave's got loads of survival videos on You Tube; and, I've seen him talk about his survival kit in a couple of them. Here's Dave's You Tube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/wildernessoutfitters

Pathfinder Mods to the Ontario Machete and Sheath

http://www.youtube.com/user/wildernessoutfitters#p/u/0/pQhwbR2a2X4

BTW, I don't think Cody has much to do with firearms.

 

[pikid89]

i did see a Man vs wild (??? on the authenticity) but he killed a wild pig on one of his...but of course they had to be PC and not show it

 

[clem]

No thanks!

I'll spend that time reading a book.

 

[Purgatory]

Those videos were good. I didn't know anything about either of their history besides what the show tells ya. Interesting.

 

[Big Bill]

Purg... Cody is a died-in-the-wool primative technologist. If you ever go to Rabbitstick or Winter Count, you'll begin to understand where he's coming from. You can check these gatherings out at this link:

http://www.backtracks.net/index.html

Cody is one of the many teachers at these gatherings.

I think Dave's videos speak for themselves. He's a good teacher and one can learn loads from watching his videos and then practicing some of the techniques he teaches out in the real world.

Here's a couple of pictures I took last September at Rabbitstick... Cody is in the first one. The second one is of the class where they were braintanning a Bear and Bison hide.

 

[rainmakerarms]

Guns aren't necessary for survival, they just make it marginally less difficult. If you dropped me in the wilderness with just a knife I have a spear in an hr and a make shift bow in a couple days and a good one in a month. Anything that can be killed with a gun can be killed with an arrow. Anyone with a good mind and a little stamina can survive with just a knife and make the knife if necessary. Do I want to try to survive without a gun? Hell no!

 

[AWorthyOpponent]

I've recently been watching the show "Man vs Wild", and was thinking the same thing. He uses rope and a canteen of rocks to alert him of bears, but says that once they're that close its too late. The funny part was that later he slipped and the camera man reached for his aid. You saw 2-3 frames of a shotgun barrel before they changed the angle. I thought it was kinda funny.

 

[Purgatory]

Not quite close enough for me, but I do love that stuff. Always had a thing for camping and anything outdoors; hunting, fishing, etc. Wish I'd lived in an era of closer relations to nature. -Or if I did, I wish I remembered it.

Besides the hardships, that had to be the best time to live on earth. When you were completely dependent on nature for everything and there was almost always plenty of anything you ever needed.

Back to 2010 and the concrete jungle. Depressing.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Can you say Insurance, and by that I am referring to what they would pay if the camera man wasn't armed, bad juju for your star to die on camera, think all the bad Steve Irwin skits.