So each episode as I watch the show I take notes as I watch it and write down what my wife and I talk about, so if it seems like something random these are my notes as the show progressed divided by each person the show featured during the episode.
Review my Alone Posts From Season 1: Alone Episode 1 Review & Thoughts; Alone Mid-season Recap; Alone Season 1 Conclusions and Final Thoughts; Alone Season 2- Selection Process.
I asked this last year and I will ask it again this year..... Why in the world is no one making a raised bed? Its a rain forest get the heck off the ground! I may just be a redneck from WV but man I know I don't like sleeping on the wet ground and do whatever else it takes to stay high and dry. Hopefully we see a few in the more long-term shelters!
On a high note 2/4 (50%) of the people featured this year had fire within 12 hours of being dropped off so that's awesome compared to the amount that couldn't get fire last year. Fire is life and protection out there so I'm glad they focused on fire skills during the selection process.... granted a primitive fire is not ideal by any means and that was their test... I think I would have tested them in the rain with a ferro rod, collecting and igniting 10 different tinder sources, charring natural materials, carrying fire, fire lays, split wood fires and much more instead of focusing on just primitive fire. Producers if you want a fire challenge to ensure people can use those ferro rods on the Island give me a shout.... speaking of that I think I need to put together a video of the making a fire in the middle of a creek.
Review my Alone Posts From Season 1: Alone Episode 1 Review & Thoughts; Alone Mid-season Recap; Alone Season 1 Conclusions and Final Thoughts; Alone Season 2- Selection Process.
I asked this last year and I will ask it again this year..... Why in the world is no one making a raised bed? Its a rain forest get the heck off the ground! I may just be a redneck from WV but man I know I don't like sleeping on the wet ground and do whatever else it takes to stay high and dry. Hopefully we see a few in the more long-term shelters!
On a high note 2/4 (50%) of the people featured this year had fire within 12 hours of being dropped off so that's awesome compared to the amount that couldn't get fire last year. Fire is life and protection out there so I'm glad they focused on fire skills during the selection process.... granted a primitive fire is not ideal by any means and that was their test... I think I would have tested them in the rain with a ferro rod, collecting and igniting 10 different tinder sources, charring natural materials, carrying fire, fire lays, split wood fires and much more instead of focusing on just primitive fire. Producers if you want a fire challenge to ensure people can use those ferro rods on the Island give me a shout.... speaking of that I think I need to put together a video of the making a fire in the middle of a creek.
A Few Telling Quotes From The Episode:
"scary out here in these woods"; "if I cant get a fire I cant stay here"; "I need to get out of the woods"; "1' of rain a month in the rainy season
that's nuts"; and "Whats more difficult being alone or
staying alive."
Want To Build Your ALONE Survival Kit? Start Here:
Desmond:
- Great water source in the waterfall
- Quotes Mike Tyson in saying "Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face"- I immediately think "or clawed in the face by a bear" and I immediately know that History is doing a great job at leading up to Desmond immediately leaving the show. It does surprise me that the person who without a doubt got the most air time and the most hype pre-show was eliminated on the first night, I would have thought they would have saved him for the second episode or so.
- How did he not expect it to be wet in a rain forest?
- He seems extremely anxious and says woods have a eerie feeling. It really makes me think he doesn't have a ton of experience in the woods, at least from a solo camping perspective.
- The hype around the bears continues to show history's hands he is leaving tonight.
- Why setup a bear bag when everything else is sealed up food wise? His process of making a bear bag also makes me call into question his fishing experience. How many times have you got your line stuck on a tree when flipping and you get a little aggressive or just don't pay attention and get snagged on a tree. Unless you are going after big fish and have extremely high test spyderwire, how fast does that line snap with a little pulling? Put 20lbs on that line and try to pull that line against an abrasive tree branch and you will have line failure in a rapid manner as he quickly found out.
- I know game trails are easy to walk on in the woods, but if your freaked out by the presence of bears you might want to get to the coast and follow it to an area where there is less bear activity to setup your camp.If this were Kodiak island and you were following that game trail you would more than likely become a permanent resident of the island.
- Man I called it knowing the bears would get under his skin....It's one thing to have a gun and see a predator and another to be there with an axe/knife/pepper spray and live with one. First time you wonder across one it will scare the crap out of you. Until you have been in beer country without a weapon and come across them you will never know what he experienced so don't judge too much unless you have been in his boots.
- I knew it was coming, he tapped out the first day and I called it from the very beginning just because of the over confidence with the bear issue. Being from an area with limited predators and going into the most predator dense area in North America is an eye opening experience for him I'm sure.
Larry:
- WOW he looks different without the beard! Anyone remember that Dave Canterbury commercial where he could light a fire with his beard? Well Larry that's what popped into my head brother.... How is he going to start a fire with his hands tapped behind his back without his super fire starting beard?
- Great water source in the creek for you location! Water is no longer a problem for him and that means he can make it at least 30 days!
- Going with an oddly simple tarp shelter, really really close to the water. I know he has the skills for a much better shelter, but when time is of the essence sometimes you just want to do something good enough for right now. I have built many crappy one night shelters (one year ago during a 3day trip with just a 12 ga, water bottle, haversack, belt knife and survival bracelet I decided to just make a wind break and throw a ton of pine needles at the base of a pine tree. It worked out fine I tucked myself into my Lester River Bushcraft Boreal Jacket and slept like a baby till daylight and used my shelter as a hunting blind for Turkey season.) and they worked out fine in the short term, looking forward to what his long-term shelter becomes.
- Tore his jacket going up the hill, really bad luck brother. I usually wear my Colombia Goretex rain coat in the woods all spring and haven't had that happen to me yet luckily. Since he doesn't have any duck tape or gorilla tape I wonder if he ends up sewing the jacket with a hook and fishing line and then seals it with pine resin. Will be interesting to see as keeping dry in a rain forest is paramount!
- My question is why did he decide to climb up there for a potential camp location? It would be close to water for sure, but without a ton of rope there is no way he could have got all his gear up that hill without risking mechanical injury. I think I would have differed here and done what you did in the end, make a short term camp at your location by the creek. make fire for the night and start scouting the banks for a better location following the paths of least resistance.
- I like the modified diamond type tarp shelter for quick setup (See mine here- LINK)
- Fire next to that pelican case is a little sketchy man that thing is your friend but they melt easy, trust me I've seen a few get destroyed during fire training. Granted that fire was tiny and wouldn't do much, but it is a good place to sore food if you get a huge amount of salmon to smoke.
- Good work on fire but split wood will have to be your source of fire wood going forward for sure brother! Every time I think I could leave my axe behind if they ever let me go on the show and play I think to myself I need to save my knife as much as I can, I need fire and well an axe is the only way I'm going to split that much darn wood to last a long time out there.
- He got a camp visit from a couple bears at his makeshift camp.
Mary Kate:
- She gets soaking wet boots off the helicopter, I think I would have opted for sandals for going off the boat and my set of zip off pants just because of the potential for getting wet... and the fact I would have been burning up if I went with my wool/fleece pants. If it was a big enough deal to get in her head I don't know why she didn't build a fire and dry her stuff out immediately and then worry about shelter.
- The shelter she went with was essentially a tarp thrown over a ridge line stick making an A-frame tarp shelter. Its a decent design, but poor execution. I would have taken about two hours and built a decent shelter that would get me by until I could get my winter/long-term shelter built. My choice would be dual tripods with a ridge line and a raised bed between the two (Why in the heck is no one building raised beds..... it's a rain forest!). This setup would allow you to be 100% enclosed for bad weather with that 20'x20' tarp or open it up with an awning and a fire underneath it also offers a place to have a tripod water filter and a place for multiple levels of storage.
- Her shelter location and design (lets face it, if you didn't see the land sloping down to her shelter then you were not watching- trust me rewind I told my wife I really hope she digs a trench around that shelter. Anyway that wasn't done, she didn't make a raised bed and she ended up with a wet down sleeping bag.
- Rant time, your going to a rain forest.... why is no one going with a large wool blanket or wool sleeping bag? It seems like the natural choice to me, but maybe I'm just too old school for my own good.
Tracy:
- "I just need to find my order with the predators,"Great place to find out.
- Good advice on dead falls and knowing not just whats around you but above you, remember that is a quick way to die and in an area with that much rain and wind there are going to be limbs that fall.
- Good points on self aid and self rescue and acting as your only resource
- Shelter is a modified lento, as I said above its not what I would go with but to each their own. I'm seeing a better skill set than what I pictured from the first episode. I think she will end up hating that shelter when the wind kicks up and it starts flapping.
- Great landing spot living on a mussel bed.... crappy luck that you cant eat shellfish because of red tide contamination.... makes the level of suck this season even worse than last year!
- Neighborhood animals stopping by in the middle of the night to visit seems to be the norm.
- RANT- why has no one made a darn spear? I think that's my first order of business off transport is to make a spear to extend my reach in an encounter and also provides me with a good walking stick to avoid mechanical injury.
- Glad to see she has some fire skills, much better than some of the people last year who didn't get a fire at all.Good job and good work!
Mike:
- Great quote: "Whats more difficult being alone or staying alive"
- In his brief air time he sees a family of bears on a shore line and throws down a little woods wisdom. Looking forward to your presence in future episodes!
Conclusions:
Be sure to check out my show over at APN Radio (http://prepperbroadcasting.com/the-7-ps-of-survival/) on 04/26/2016 at 9pm Eastern when I will have Mike as my guest! We will be doing one of these posts for each episode, maybe every two episodes depending on how much action we get down the line so be sure to check back on a regular basis!
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