what did everyone think then?

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Stew

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 29, 2003
6,446
1,284
Aylesbury
stewartjlight-knives.com
ranger said:
Out of interest, do any of you have a copy of all his Tracks offerings? I’m surprised these have never been released as a video.

ranger

Only one - it's titled "Our Man Flint" and he discusses a bit of flint history and he knaps an arrow head.
 

Stuart

Full Member
Sep 12, 2003
4,141
50
**********************
I thought it was fantastic the best ray mears program so far !!

pure unadulterated back to basics bushcraft and shown in a clear way that allowed you to examine the technics ready for you to head outdoors and try them.

I recognized much of what was in the program from rays no longer published "survival handbook" which makes me hope that it (or something similar) will be republished, it is without a doubt his best book but could benefit from the level of illustration found in his more resent titles

well done ray :biggthump
 

Andy

Native
Dec 31, 2003
1,867
11
38
sheffield
www.freewebs.com
looks like we'll be having a pass around. with the videos people have got. I'll check mine to see if it's worked. There weren't any problems when I was watching it (I have a digi box by the way)
 

Bagheera

Forager
Jan 8, 2004
208
0
67
The Netherlands
home.kabelfoon.nl
Hi guys,

I missed HALF of the episode and I'm not happy that I did :(

I would have taped it just like the other series and then when the DVD comes out buy that one and reuse the tapes.

I'm in the UK at our London office next week Thursday/Friday (September 16/17), any chance there's someone who could send me an VHS tape or perhaps even an CD with an .avi or .mpg or whatever format on it (SVCD?) I really want to see the whole episode.
We can figure out payment no worries.

Doesn't BBC do a second run of the same episode but then like in the morning/afternoon around a week later? can anyone let me know please.

By the way did you notice that Ray has lost a good amount of weight, he looks a lot thinner then he used to look in the last Survival series ( #3) ;)

Best Scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera :pack:
 

steve a

Settler
Oct 2, 2003
819
13
south bedfordshire
Adi007 said:

No Adi, it's not a Recon, looked more like a fleece or maybe wool jacket with a Gortex liner, but back to the important bit, I really enjoyed the programme and if the rest are up to this standard we are all in for a treat. Not too sure where the rain forest comes into it though I thought the whole series was to be about bushcraft in the uk. Obviously got the wrong end of the stick again, should have heeded those old (very) school reports ' must pay more attention'.
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,355
2,366
Bedfordshire
Yes, noticed the slimmer version of Mr Mears. Also noticed the canned bird song that carried on unbroken from one shot to the next, including the stuff shot from the helicopter :rolmao:

Did anyone notice that there wasn't a great deal of "how to" information? There was lots of "look at what is possible..." and "this brings us closer to the earth and our ancestors".

I dunno. I liked it a lot more than the programs about people surviving crashes etc, but I felt that a lot of opportunities for providing more detailed info were missed out. We all know that you don't heat rocks that have been soaked by rivers, lakes or the sea, but it wasn't mentioned, and he was stood on a shore line. I don't feel any more able to ID iron pyrites having see the lump used in the program, you have to have read about tinder fungus to know to boil in wood ash, you don't just bind the arrow head to keep in the shaft, but to reinforce the shaft to prevent splitting on impact, nothing on bow strings...no explanations about why yew might be used, or mention of other woods used at the time.

I loved the fish hook demo.

My enjoyment was tempered by constantly seeing silent spaces when little nuggets of info could have been added.

I know I am being overly critical... :roll: guess I was just looking forward to it too much. It was still one of the best, and miles better than most things one could sit and watch :wink: :biggthump
 

Zacary

Tenderfoot
Aug 14, 2004
61
0
Hey I watched that guy on tv last night and I am in two minds about the programme. I dont know what his other stuff is like but I kind of got the impression it was as Chris says, a this is possible, type deal. But I guess its a this is possible if you come on a course type deal.

As for the questions about his coat, gees you brits love your 'gear' but hey for 200 bucks thats to rich for my blood guess thats why he makes tv to pay for his jacket eh! :shock:
 

Zacary

Tenderfoot
Aug 14, 2004
61
0
Wow, forgot to mention I like the programme though you get good tv in this country. :biggthump
 

Great Pebble

Settler
Jan 10, 2004
775
2
54
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Ummm..

It was alright I suppose. At least it wasn't in the bloomin' jungle.
Bit thin on "hard data" of which I'm a big fan and rather heavy on the "spiritual" stuff of which I'm not.
Still, no spoons, which is a plus.
 
C

chugnut7

Guest
Womble said:
I liked it a lot. I liked the emphasis that seemed to be there on showing the actual detail of how he was doing a task - a matter he's been criticised for in the past.

And when he was walking along the ridge line with the lake in the valley... it was a matter of pure joy to see televised effectively the essence of what us lot are so passionate about.
I thought that too. It was good to see him struggling to light the fire with the flint and iron pyrites
 

Womble

Native
Sep 22, 2003
1,095
2
57
Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Great Pebble said:
It was alright I suppose. At least it wasn't in the bloomin' jungle..

next weeks programme he's in the Amazon Jungle... :eek:): Although I agree, I'd prefer to see a series where he doing everything in a temperate Uk climate. I suppose we'll have to see where he goes with this.

Great Pebble said:
Bit thin on "hard data" of which I'm a big fan and rather heavy on the "spiritual" stuff of which I'm not.
Still, no spoons, which is a plus.

Well, yes, but how much of the "hard data" might be of interest to the general public? Compared to the size of BBC2s target audience we (who know between a bit (me) and an awful lot (everyone else) about the subject) are a tiny, tiny minority. In a real sense the programme wasn't for us - we're believers already. It's for those who might not even realise such skills exist; and too much techie detail could be off-putting, especially in the first - stage setting - programme.

If this series gets more folks out doing stuff, then so much the better as far as I'm concerned.
 

bothyman

Settler
Nov 19, 2003
811
3
Sutherland. Scotland.
mercury said:
I LOL'ed at the hand painting , although I suspect there was a spray can involved at sometime

Yes I prefered the ones he did earlier :lol:

Why did what he was doing constantly go out of shot????

Liked the views from the helicopter though.
 
M

Metala Cabinet

Guest
Not too bad at all. Bit light on the practicalities of primitive bushcraft but then it is aimed at the general public and not an instructional video for the bushcraft fan.
Bit unsure of the contemporary 'green' ethos - 'hunter-gatherers see animals as their brothers....' That may well be the case today (I don't know enough modern anthropology to comment) but we can't possibly know how people then thought. Fitting them into a modern ideology does them a dis-service - they weren't 'noble savages' but rather sophisticated human beings just like us; the only difference being their culture and technological base.
Though this is a hotly debated issue, one could reasonably argue that the aboriginal Australians were in part at least responsible for the death of as much as 85% of all large animals on the continent. Similarly the first arrival of human beings in the Americas may have resulted in the extinction of the mammoth, mastodon, camel, sloth and giant beaver. Finally, hello Man, bye bye the moa.
So although early humans may not be the 'tree huggers' modern ideology might want them to be at least you can't fault their hunting technology!
 
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