I’ve been following the exploits of these two guys, men who if stranded in the middle of nowhere would survive whereas us mere mortals would more than likely snuff it.
My question is: How many of us out there have the know how on which plants/berries/shrooms and the like are safe to eat, could you survive?
Could you find water? Could you make it?
One thing I’ve pretty much learned from both shows is that if I’m lost, I should sit my ass down and wait for someone to find me–someone who knows what berries to eat and where to find water. Wandering around will only get me seriously lost.
Other than that, I’m a dead woman.
I’d starve to death in my own backyard, much less the middle of the Sahara or outer Mongolia. Aside from fiddlehead ferns, I have no idea what plant life in New England is edible. My one frail chance of prolonging my existence would be attempting to sneak up on a Canada Goose (now that I know how to cook one) at the local pond.
In a North American forest type setting, I’d be pretty good to go. Siberia or the Gobi Desert I’m most likely done for.
I’d be fine. Food, water and shelter are readily available if you know where to look.
Given the fact that I don’t normally travel outside of the New England area, and never out of the continental US, I think I’d manage quite nicely.
I’d do what Bear Grylls does… head for the nearest motel and eat blueberry pancakes 
Ray would just live off his beer belly and then eat the cameramen.
Anyway, the best survival tool you can carry in the wilderness is a pack of playing cards… I’ve found no matter where I am, if I’m in the middle of a game of Solitaire it’s guaranteed that within 5 mins some git will pop up behind me and says “you want to put that Ten on the Jack over there”. :smack:
I could do it, I reckon - at least in the northern temperate zone. I’m not quite so familiar with all the edible plants of the tropics or southern hemisphere (except those few that appear as produce in the supermarket or have been brought into cultivation here).
BTW, I heard that Ray Mears is just the presenter - much of the research, facts and work happening off-camera, directed by a retired army officer more knowledgeable, but camera-shy.
I’m not sure how much truth there is to that, but I do occasionally spot him making odd (but subtle) mistakes or slips - and on occasion, he’s said things that seem incredibly naive - that make me stop and wonder.
That’s not to say he would do badly in a survival situation, of course - even if none of it was his own work - you can’t go through the motions for years and years and not absorb some of it.
My favorite of those types of shows is Survivorman, with Les Stroud. Stroud mentioned on a “behind-the-scenes” episode, though, that he talks to local survival experts and wildlife scientists for the region he will be in before he attempts his stay in the wild; even the experts need experts.
I don’t think I would last long in such a situation. I don’t have the “must-live-at-all-costs” mentality, I’m afraid.
RR
In New England, I’d give myself about a 99.9% chance of survival. In most other regions of the continental US or lower regions of Canada, I’d drop that down to 70%, as I’m not as familiar with edible plants. My survival in most other areas of the world would be a crapshoot. If you’re dropping me in a desert, can I bring cyanide?
One upside of being a smoker would be that it’s likely I would have a lighter for fires, plus smoking might stave of the crippling hunger pangs as I repeatedly failed to find food.
I’d probably wheeze along a river in search of human settlements, and hope to find an apple tree or a deer with a broken leg to eat along the way.
Yes, I’ve always wondered how Ray Mears is so chubby if he lives off beetles and twigs.
And here we see the first common misconception about survival: that the key to survival is finding food.
Wrong. The key to survival is shelter. What kills people in survival situations is not that they starve, it’s that they become hypothermic, or get heat exhaustion. The biggest danger is getting cold and wet, or getting hot and dry. And of course, many environments offer both dangers…you boil during the day and freeze at night.
You can live for weeks with no food. Wander around in the desert sun for a few hours and you’ll be dead. Wander around in the freezing rain for a few hours and you’ll be dead.
Camping out: fun and dirty. Eastern/Northeastern US where it’s heavily populated: I’d probably have a 0 - 25% chance of stumbling onto civilization before I died. Real wilderness miles away from anyone: I’m dead.
I could build a shelter, maybe. I know not to wander around when it’s freezing or really hot. I could start a fire if I had the right tools. Using a flint and a knife would be a ridiculous waste of my time, but a good way to focus and keep my mind off the fact that I’m stranded in the freaking wilderness. I can start a campfire easily with matches, which of course I never carry. I have enough sense to find running water instead of stagnant, and to make sure there’s no visble contaminants. I could find which way North is. I have enough sense not to try to scale a cliff or something like Bear Grylls. Food? Heck if I know what’s edible and what’s not, barring wild strawberries or blackberries. If someone handed me a dead animal, I could cook it. No way do I have the skills to hunt, even with weapons, let alone a knife and stick. I know basic first aid, so I might be able to avoid infection from minor injuries. If a log falls on me, no way in *hell * am I cutting my own leg off with a pocket knife.
Pschologically? I’d be a total wreck and would probably have trouble making good decisions. I don’t know what I’m doing, so why am I bothering with a shelter? Which way should I go? How far away am I from people? Do I go downhill or uphill? Am I going to be eaten by a bear? No desert islands for me.
Yes I wondered about that then I realised he must eat vast quantities of beetles and very large twigs 
As for myself, well I reckon that I could survive indefinitely provided there was a supermarket within walking distance.
Failing that I’m dead meat