Les Stroud - Epic video advice fail?

[Will_]

I just stumbled across this video on survival navigation!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbMOP1JqKW8

Have I missed something, or is he totally totally wrong about the tip of the shadow moving from South to North?
It always moves from West to East right?
I can understand someone making a mistake, but how was this not noticed before being edited and released, apparently as a promotion for the film After Earth? And how is it still up there as survival advice?

 

[tsitenha]

If it is on the internet it must be true
Many picked it up right away.

It is a mistake in the script, being rushed along before editing sets in, editors wouldn't know the difference or care. Just like a news anchor, they follow the prompts. Hollywood does what Hollywood does best, spin dis-information.
He is much better than given credit, he does have much to learn....as we all do

 

[hog]

Still you would expect Les Stroud to spot the mistake, after all he is a bit of a survivor guru.

 

[sunndog]

I'v never seen a full episode of his show. He made a big deal of only have one match, he lit a fire against a rock right on the shore of a lake
Then slept the wrong side of the rock (away from the fire) and moaned about being cold and attacked by mozzies.
That and his daft voice-over put me right off

 

[Will_]

I've always been really impressed that he throws himself into survival situations, and that what he films is 100% real, but I haven't seen much of his stuff.
I was cringing in the video when he starts digging away the sand where the shadow falls rather than leaving it flat, but when I heard him say north I nearly spat my tea out. (Except I wasn't drinking any.)
I appreciate that we all make mistakes and have a lot to learn, but surely this is a whopper for someone who has his own survival show and books, and it's pretty dangerous.
One day they'll find a load of frozen bodies in the arctic who were trying to head West with Les Stroud's bogus information.

 

[sunndog]

One day they'll find a load of frozen bodies in the arctic who were trying to head West with Les Stroud's bogus information.

that's nowt, les struck out for the north pole several years Ago, he's crossed the bering strait twice
joking aside we all make many mistakes...but someone should really have picked that up before it aired lol

 

[Ruud]

I'm amazed that not one famous survival-instructor has brought this gear onto the market yet.

"The 'True Survival Shadow Stick Mega Compass', a straight stick made out of 1095 steel with a fire steel on one end and a scalpel on the other."

- Great color-scheme
- Have a compass anywhere, anytime (except at night)
- Straight
- Fire
- Cutting tool
- Can be used to point at random stuff

 

[Harvestman]

I'm amazed that not one famous survival-instructor has brought this gear onto the market yet.

"The 'True Survival Shadow Stick Mega Compass', a straight stick made out of 1095 steel with a fire steel on one end and a scalpel on the other."

- Great color-scheme
- Have a compass anywhere, anytime (except at night)
- Straight
- Fire
- Cutting tool
- Can be used to point at random stuff

Can I order the titanium one please at 300% extra cost and a weight saving of 2.5 grammes?

 

[Will_]

that's nowt, les struck out for the north pole several years Ago, he's crossed the bering strait twice

That image just gave me one hell of a laugh!

 

[Joe tahkahikew]

I just wonder how much that man actually spends in the outdoors?. Using a stick to work out where north is sounds like something you'd teach scouts.

I've never, ever come across any of us who would need such a method. I've met many people - some in the UK such as farmers and gamekeepers and others who work a lot in the outdoors, who just know where north is. Its the same method we use too!.

This is it:-

Wake up in the morning, sun is in the east, then it moves around to due south. This is at mid-day. later in the evening it is in the west.

As long as you roughly know the time of day, then you'll know where the sun is in the sky and consequently where north/south, east and west is. So you don't even need to have a watch. Equally it works the other way round too - so you see the sun at such and such an angle therefore you know it's mid morning or whatever. If you are in the outdoors a lot then you soon know how high the sun should be at any particular time and how far it moves in an hour or so.

This works just aswell at night using the moon, or if the moon isn't out then you can use stars. I've spent many nights around campfires looking at the stars on clear nights and the old people knew many, many names and stories about the stars.

I'm sure that there are many on this forum who also can judge north/south by this method.

 

[John Fenna]

I'm amazed that not one famous survival-instructor has brought this gear onto the market yet.

"The 'True Survival Shadow Stick Mega Compass', a straight stick made out of 1095 steel with a fire steel on one end and a scalpel on the other."

- Great color-scheme
- Have a compass anywhere, anytime (except at night)
- Straight
- Fire
- Cutting tool
- Can be used to point at random stuff

No doubt someone will get me a pink one in a pink carry case....

 

[Wingryder]

Can I order the titanium one please at 300% extra cost and a weight saving of 2.5 grammes?

I can put that in my pack next to my carbon fiber bow drill set.

 

[vestlenning]

I can put that in my pack next to my carbon fiber bow drill set.

Carbon fiber? You go heavy, should see my NASA bushcraft stuff...

 

[pysen78]

Reading Joes post about the moon, I realized I never thought about how to use it for navigation, only stars. Googled and found this page:
http://naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/moon
Had lots of other nice tips on it too.

 

[Will_]

Reading Joes post about the moon, I realized I never thought about how to use it for navigation, only stars. Googled and found this page:
http://naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/moon
Had lots of other nice tips on it too.

Nice page - Going to take a look at that later...

 

[superc0ntra]

Reading Joes post about the moon, I realized I never thought about how to use it for navigation, only stars. Googled and found this page:
http://naturalnavigator.com/find-your-way-using/moon
Had lots of other nice tips on it too.

I can definitely recommend his book, The Natural Navigator. It taught me a lot beyond the basic sun, stars, tree branches navigation.
http://naturalnavigator.com/books-and-library/the-natural-navigator

 

[mousey]

Another vote for the Natural Navigator, entertaining as well as informative.


I also agree with Joe on his method of finding north.

 

[Robson Valley]

Here in the wetter, western slope of the Rockies, it's true that there's more moss on the north sides of tree trunks.
Big, old western red cedars have more branches on the south sides. What is the stick for?
Light out or not, the "Big Dipper" constellation is directly above me at 10P.
That tells me which way is up. Other than that, it looks nice.
The NE sunny side of my valley is hot and dry, the SW shady side is cold, damp and soggy.

What I like best about Mears, Stroud and any of the others is the provocative interest they have popularized.
Editors are supposed to edit, to catch inconsistencies. Last time I looked, they are still only human.
I like to watch ManTracker (Terry Grant) catch people in the wilderness. Watch his horse do a lot of the listening work.