Ten Best Survival experts

[rik_uk3]

What can you say really. Canterbury got caught out but is still a better chap to be stuck with than our bare footed long haired hippy dippy AKA Lundin. Mears, Korchanski, Stroud or Hiddins would be a far better choice of companion if it hit the fan.

How are the viewing figures for 'Dual Survival' these days, they'd gone well down the crapper last I heard.

The latest pumped up addition was DS is Joe Teti, hardly a true 'veteran' but he did work as a contractor out 'there' http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=35456

Lets be honest, Dual Survival is crap, a joke, la la land stuff.

 

[andybysea]

They are so corny its funny.

 

[rg598]

Cody Lundin 15?!

While Canterbury is 2?!

How does that make sense when Canterbury got kicked off the show "Dual Survival" while Lundin is still in it? Cannot wait for the new season!

Better marketing. Dave had a larger following than Cody before the show, and he has kept it. His school is much more high volume than Cody's and pumps out graduates at a very high rate, who then become fans. His excellent Youtube presence is also a major factor.

As it is obvious, the list is not a ranking of who knows more, but rather of who markets themselves better. Let's face it, once a pursuit becomes a money making enterprise, marketing becomes more important than actual knowledge. It's a business after all, and the average person interested in survival is more interested in grandiose promises and stories than in any practical knowledge.

 

[Corso]

championing a $10 knife is never going to help you either

 

[rik_uk3]

championing a $10 knife is never going to help you either

Mors Kochanski does, he likes his cheap Mora knife.

 

[robevs73]

Mike hawk no1!!!!! What a joke!!!
As all rounders go Ray is no1, but Mors is God!! If there was a top 10 list for gratest human beings Mors gets my vote!

 

[Corso]

Mors Kochanski does, he likes his cheap Mora knife.

Indeed and the fact he isn't even in the top ten just proves my point its a PR popularity comp based on marketing not on skill........

 

[rik_uk3]

So is Mors more 'skilled' than Mears, Stroud, and Hiddens? He may well be in the Northern woodlands that he's been based most of his life. Would he do well in Australia? Maybe not well as it would be a sharp learning curve for the man (who I truly admire) as it would Hiddens if you scooped him up and dropped him off in the North of Canada. I'd say Ray Mears is by far the more polished all-rounder from the pool of any of the modern 'experts'.

Just my pennies worth.

 

[robevs73]

I agree Rik, Ray is the best allrounder but Mors is a very intelligent man and extremely well read, his library is about the size of a 2 bed flat!
He's no stranger to warm weather either, where he lives gets real hot in the summer and as Ray says " the skills you lewrn in your back yard can be taken with you all over the world".
I cant speak for Les Hiddins but on a recent course I was told by a very respectable UK survival instructor that Les Stroud is very Far up his own backside, a shame as I'd always held him in high regard.

 

[Clouston98]

I must say that I'm confused as to why people seem to search or seek the 'ultimate survival man' it's a bit to macho and idolising?

I know that's to what the OP was about , but it seems that way

As for the list, Mors is my favourite too

 

[sandbender]

I must say that I'm confused as to why people seem to search or seek the 'ultimate survival man' it's a bit to macho and idolising?

I know that's to what the OP was about , but it seems that way

As for the list, Mors is my favourite too

+1 to this.

 

[redneck]

Gotta go with Canterbury, I've met Ray, he's a nice bloke but I've managed to get a few words with people who have instructed at wood lore and what they say about him was rather, shall we say, interesting.

 

[SJStuart]

I don't know any of them personally, and I refuse to judge anyone based solely on second- (or third-) hand information and rumors.

I don't care about "qualifications" because, when all is said and done, the only thing that matters is relevant experience. As for "who's the best", well that's a silly question.... they will each have particular areas at which they excel more than others, and their own weak points (Les Stroud, for example, struggles with friction fire more than some of the others).

As a general observation, I've noticed that all of these TV "survivalists" come across as very arrogant. Hell, even the people who've been on Discovery's "reality" shows like Doomsday Preppers (ugh) think they're the best thing since bread came sliced!
That's the nature of showbiz! It inflates the ego, and seems to make them all think they know everything there is to know.

Much as Mears doesn't "rate message boards" (quoting there)... I don't rate these TV survivalists/bushmen. Besides, their career isn't in the woods... it's on TV!

 

[rik_uk3]

Gotta go with Canterbury, I've met Ray, he's a nice bloke but I've managed to get a few words with people who have instructed at wood lore and what they say about him was rather, shall we say, interesting.

I suggest that ex and often disgruntled employees are not the best people to rely on for a character reference.

 

[Man of Tanith]

I suggest that ex and often disgruntled employees are not the best people to rely on for a character reference.

Whilst I agree with you Rick I think the consistancy and amount of disgruntled employees can also be an indicator of something.

I know in my own work history that I've worked in places/for companies that have has an excellent reputation until you speak to the folk at the very bottom where its not PR bu were trying to cope with all sorts of hardships and ridiculous decrees

 

[Corso]

someone happy to give away a limited eddition woodlore to his staff can't be all bad...

well not as bad as someone who lied about his credentials to validate his buisness model anyway...

 

[rik_uk3]

Whilst I agree with you Rick I think the consistancy and amount of disgruntled employees can also be an indicator of something.

I know in my own work history that I've worked in places/for companies that have has an excellent reputation until you speak to the folk at the very bottom where its not PR bu were trying to cope with all sorts of hardships and ridiculous decrees

Fed up employee's are not a reflection of the satisfaction received by a customer. People continue to go back for various courses so his 'formula' must work.

Where are all these ex employees now? Why are'nt they online spilling the beans, surely if they are right they have no fear of litigation?

Ray is the most successful bushcraft 'School' in the UK, perhaps overall one of the most successful in world, he runs a business, I've run a business and you can't keep all the staff happy all the time. Ray's rep is squeeky clean overall, do you not think the media would jump at the chance to crap on him if there were evidence to tarnish it ?

 

[sandbender]

Fed up employee's are not a reflection of the satisfaction received by a customer. People continue to go back for various courses so his 'formula' must work.

Where are all these ex employees now? Why are'nt they online spilling the beans, surely if they are right they have no fear of litigation?

Ray is the most successful bushcraft 'School' in the UK, perhaps overall one of the most successful in world, he runs a business, I've run a business and you can't keep all the staff happy all the time. Ray's rep is squeeky clean overall, do you not think the media would jump at the chance to crap on him if there were evidence to tarnish it ?

I know a few folks who have come from the Woodlore school, most were the senior instructors or if they were junior ones then they are now working for former senior instructors, I've never had a hint that things were in any way bad when they were at Woodlore, although I've never asked.

I can imagine that it wouldn't do any instructor or school any good to suggest that they were trained by or worked at the Woodlore school but left because the boss was an ogre.

I have always presumed that the high staff turnaround there was an intentional thing, a sort of you've come as far as you can here now head off and do your own thing, I could be wrong though.

 

[santaman2000]

......Where are all these ex employees now? Why are'nt they online spilling the beans, surely if they are right they have no fear of litigation?

Ray is the most successful bushcraft 'School' in the UK, perhaps overall one of the most successful in world, he runs a business, I've run a business and you can't keep all the staff happy all the time. Ray's rep is squeeky clean overall, do you not think the media would jump at the chance to crap on him if there were evidence to tarnish it ?

Personally, I have absolutely no idea whether he's that great or not (or how valid the complaints from his ex emplyees are) But do you really think they'd be free from litigation if they spilled the beans? I'm sure there'd be a lawsuit anyway.

The media wouldn't jump on it? Really? How long was it before Jimmy Savile was exposed? Eventually, yes, but it was decades later.

 

[rik_uk3]

Personally, I have absolutely no idea whether he's that great or not (or how valid the complaints from his ex emplyees are) But do you really think they'd be free from litigation if they spilled the beans? I'm sure there'd be a lawsuit anyway.

The media wouldn't jump on it? Really? How long was it before Jimmy Savile was exposed? Eventually, yes, but it was decades later.

Bit of a difference between a serial paedophile and a poor employer lol Santaman.