Alone in the Wild

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
7,981
7,757
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
Having now watched the first episode of the programme I am curious about what others thought.

My first impression is that I don't believe Ed failed because of lack of skill; he failed (if you can call surviving 7 weeks failing) because of his mental state. He clearly is not someone that enjoys solitude. After 4 days he was upset when a plane flew overhead; he needs human company and that's not a good start to 3 months on your own.

Most survival experts say that the number one component to survival is a positive mental attitude; Ed had lost that by day 4.

That's not a critisism, most people I know couldn't sleep in a UK wood on their own without being frightened.

He successfully shot and prepared meet - I bet many members on here haven't done that. He successfully fished a wild lake - that can be difficult in UK stocked lakes at times. He built a wind break for his kitchen (not sure of the design) and witnessed some fantastic wildlife.

I am sure we all think we could have survived longer but i wonder how many of us have actually tested themselves to know!

I hope he learnt a lot about himself because then the whole adventure would be a success.

Cheers,

Broch

P.S. wecome back BCUK :)
 

gregorach

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 15, 2005
3,723
28
50
Edinburgh
Yeah, a lot of people drastically underestimate the psychological impact of solitude. The longest I've ever done is about 7 days, and by the end of that, I was certainly going a bit (more ;)) loopy. And I had a radio...
 

nodd

Nomad
May 12, 2004
485
0
liverpool
As I posted in another thread :After watching the program last night I found my self asking what is he trying to do, survive by living of the land,seeing if he can cope with being alone(which he could have done with more basic supplies )supplemented with trapped food or looking for bears? which he seems to be preoccupied with.
At the end of the day its all about making a TV program that will get the viewers in and paying to send him there in the first place.
I was surprised how quick he went bushy I will watch the other episodes with interest though I did find some of the filming a bit Blair Witch.
It would be an interesting project to do working with some of the supplies listed in Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart.As the saying goes if your ruffing it you are doing it wrong.
 

HillBill

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 1, 2008
8,141
88
W. Yorkshire
I thought he was out of his depth by quite a bit. Too paranoid about bears for his own good, to the point of having an electric fence :lmao:

He sat watching food go by when he had just been complaining of needing food because he couldn't think straight.

I do not think he was even half prepared for what lay ahead of him and had a big reliance on kit. I will watch the others though as i found it hilarious. Especially the part where he thought he saw a bear and was nearly running off down the hill before he stopped himself :lmao: Quality.
 

nodd

Nomad
May 12, 2004
485
0
liverpool
I have to say when he was at the top of the tree rigging the line for the food bag and stated shouting what would he have done if shouted back be quiet( what is it about people that go into the piece and solitude of the wilderness then try and make bottom much noise as they can? ( apart from making noise to try not to surprise bears)
 

Chris the Cat

Full Member
Jan 29, 2008
2,850
14
Exmoor
I thought the cat did realy quite well!
Glad it was an ordinary(ish!) joe,and not another expert,
I think it had more to say about the human condition because of it!

C da C.
 

Shewie

Mod
Mod
Dec 15, 2005
24,259
24
48
Yorkshire
I'm surprised he didn't have any bear bells with him, when we were tracking bears on Vancouver Island it was the first thing we were issued with.
 

launditch1

Maker Plus and Trader
Nov 17, 2008
1,741
0
Eceni county.
I thought it was good and ill be watching the other episodes with interest.Anyone know what tarp and hammock setup he was using?
 

HillBill

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 1, 2008
8,141
88
W. Yorkshire
(if you can call surviving 7 weeks failing)

7 weeks is only a week or so over what someone can survive without food. (I know the rule of 3's and they are low estimate guidelines). Wasn't he found nearly dead from starvation? Well if he did not eat anything at all he would have been in the same situation 2 week earlier MAX

So in 7 weeks he prolonged starvation by one or two weeks at the most. I'd say that was as close to faliure as you can get without dying. without help he would have been dead in a few days.
 

descry0

Member
Nov 14, 2008
49
0
Northumberland
I enjoyed the programme and will be an avid watcher.

I'm sure a lot of us hurled "what he should have done..." at the tv but I think it was great to experience. To be honest I haven't built a wind break or slept a night in a hammock in the woods (yet) so I can hardly talk!
I think he did well to survive even if ill-prepared.

His mental attitude was odd at the drop off - quickly overwhelmed & fearful before any sign of excitement. It will be an interesting look at the human condition (maybe his producers thought this also....).

Didn't really go into the preparation of the trip which I would have liked to see e.g what specialist training he received and by who. I also wonder what items, food, tools, etc he was allowed to take and why he forgot a mosquito net and brought the fence!

Good on him though.
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
7,981
7,757
Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
So in 7 weeks he prolonged starvation by one or two weeks at the most. I'd say that was as close to faliure as you can get without dying. without help he would have been dead in a few days.

I think longer than that. Without food one is unable to do anything sensible after 2 or 3 weeks (depending on the person). The quoted 2/3 weeks stuff means you are alive but not functioning (i.e. you couldn't help yourself).

I'll reserve judgement till I see the later episodes - even then, unless they have tried it I don't believe anyone can predict how they would cope.

Personnaly, I seek solitude and the fewer people around the better; but not everyone is made that way. Still not 100% sure I would cope any better (but i do like fish which is a start :) )

Cheers,

Broch
 

Asa Samuel

Native
May 6, 2009
1,450
1
St Austell.
The thing I was most shocked at was when he said "I just don't like the idea of killing an animal" I was really shocked. Through preparation in the show how could this have been missed? I know eventually he did kill a porcupine but for nearly the whole first week he was just living on fish. If everyone in the show knew that he could only barely take it upon himself to shoot an animal for food then there is something seriously wrong.
 

addo

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 8, 2006
2,485
9
Derbyshire
At the end of the day it wouldn't have been made for tv if he quietly got on well with everything, and there was no drama false or real, unless he was an expert giving tuition.
Plus we would have nowt to winge about.:p

I like the bloke and am interested to see how he gets on untill the lift out.
 

jojo

Need to contact Admin...
Aug 16, 2006
2,630
4
England's most easterly point
I don't see his early return as a failure. He had enough sense to realise it was time for him to leave. I think it takes a bigger man to realise it's time to quit rather than try to fight on against something that's bigger than you. It would have been a failure if he had let his ego tell him to fight on, and lost, which he surely would have done if he had stayed any longer.

I think he's a brave man, both to have done what he did and to leave before his planned 12 weeks was up.
 

simon67

Member
Jan 3, 2009
17
0
53
isle of wight
It's nice to hear some positive comments on this. I must admit, I half expected him to get a real good "slagging".
One thing that interests me is modern man's attitude to fresh meat.
As already pointed out, he watched several potential meals walk on by and only diversified away from fish once he realised that extra food was needed. I wonder how much mental effort it took for him to pull the trigger and actually kill something other than a fish. After all, a fish doesn't look at you in quite the same way as a mammal.
Should he have been straight on the trail of anything and everything from day 1 instead of 7 days in ? ( or longer, I can't remember exactly ). Should that first porcupine have been on the menu? If the guy was an "expert" I would have thought the answer would be yes.
I think it illustrates our modern attitude in that if it's not wrapped in plastic, then we're not interested.

I shall be watching the show with interest, and also this thread!
 

dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
6,451
475
46
Nr Chester
Not enough abseiling and eating bugs for my liking :rolleyes:

Its an honest account of a guy who is far from an expert who shows the other side of survival.
I will cary on watching as i believe its as important to learn from others mistakes as it is to learn from the experts..
 

Elines

Full Member
Oct 4, 2008
1,590
1
Leicestershire
I thought the programme was really interesting and a nice change to an expert making it look easy. Sometimes it is better to learn from other people's mistakes - so I hope that there is some kind of follow up programme showing how he might have done things differently. I am still very much a beginner but things that struck me were:

- he seemed to set up camp in a very boggy area where you might expect the maximum number of mozzies (with no mozzie net), and unnecessarily wet boots/clothes

- the lean to shelter seemed to be made of oversized timber, take a lot of hard work and so consume a lot of energy, but for no real purpose that couldn't have been met by using smaller branches

- having invested the time, energy and calories building it he then seemed to decide to set off looking for a new camp

- he started looking for a new camp on foot rather than using the canoe to explore the shore line. That meant he couldn't carry as much kit and it would take longer to survey the same amount of land - it also increased his possible exposure to bears which seemed to be a big fear

I'm sure there were loads of others, including those already pointed out above eg not taking every opportunity to secure food, and some that are more subtle but just as important.
I'll certainly be watching more.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE