TV Shows that feature Bushcraft or Survival

Please choose a author:

- Ray Mears

- Les Stroud

- Dick Proenneke

- Andrew Price

- Lars Monsen

- Michel Blomgren / Bushcraft.se

- Bear Grylls

Ray Mears

A true teacher of Bushcraft. He's been a inspiration and much respected man in my mind since I was a youngster, in part I thank him for my interest in nature & bushcraft, inspiring me to explore nature from an early age. Ray Mears has produced a lot of TV Productions which with his life-long efforts has publicised the word Bushcraft to the well known term it is today.

Series:

Wild Tracks - BBC (1994)
Tracks - BBC (1994 - 1997)
Ray Mears' World of Survival - BBC and Discovery Civilization Channel (1997 - 2002)
Country Tracks - BBC (1998)
The Essential Guide to Rocks - BBC Education (1998)
Ray Mears' Extreme Survival - BBC (1999 - 2002)
Ray Mears' Adventure Special - BBC (2001) Ray Mears takes Ewan McGregor into the Honduran jungle on the trail of the Prehistoric People of the Mosquito Coast.
Ray Mears' Country Tracks - BBC (2002 - 2003)
Ray Mears' Real Heroes of Telemark - BBC (2003)
Ray Mears' Bushcraft - BBC (2004 - 2005)
Ray Mears' Wild Food - 2007

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Les Stroud

Survivorman is a Canadian-produced television program, broadcast in Canada on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), and in the United States and internationally on The Discovery Channel and The Science Channel.

Canadian filmmaker and survival expert Les Stroud, who must use his skills to survive for seven days alone in remote locales with little or no food, water, and equipment.

During the filming of each episode, Stroud is alone, and operates all the cameras himself. He is equipped with only his clothes, camera equipment (which he does not use for survival except in an emergency), his harmonica, a Leatherman multi-tool, and often "everyday items" relevant to the episode's particular survival scenario.

Survivorman - Season 1 - 10 Episodes which began airing in 2004.

#	Title	Original airdate
01	"Canadian Boreal Forest"	November 1, 2004
After a canoeing accident, Les becomes lost in a Northern Ontario forest.
02	"Arizona Desert"	November 2, 2004
A broken down dirt bike provides the scenario for surviving in the Sonoran Desert.
03	"Costa Rica"	November 3, 2004
Marooned on Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula, Les must survive on a tropical beach and in dense jungle.
04	"Georgia Swamp"	November 4, 2004
Lost in the swamplands of Georgia's Altamaha River Basin.
05	"Canadian Arctic"	November 5, 2004
A broken down snowmobile in the Canadian arctic, near Pond Inlet.
06	"Mountain"	November 6, 2004
Helihiking gone wrong leads to a week in the Canadian Rockies.
07	"Canyonlands"	November 7, 2004
A broken bicycle in the Utah canyons.
08	"Plane Crash"	November 8, 2004
Plane crash survivor in Temagami, Ontario in the winter.
09	"Lost at Sea"	November 9, 2004
On a raft in the middle of the ocean near Belize for several days, then washing ashore on an uninhabited island.
10	"Behind the Scenes"	November 10, 2004
Clips and outtakes from the previous nine survival episodes.

Survivorman - Season 2 - 7 Episodes had its debut in August 2007.

#	Title	Original airdate
11	"Kalahari"	August 10, 2007
Les' 4x4 runs out of gas, leaving him to survive extreme heat in the Kalahari Desert. He builds a solar still to obtain clean, safe water from his own urine.
12	"Amazon"	August 17, 2007
Stroud pays a visit to one of the densest, deepest parts of the Amazon jungle.
13	"Labrador"	August 24, 2007
Stroud is paired with a team of sled dogs (who have their own food not meant for Les), then eventually loses the dogs (intentionally) and is left on his own.
14	"African Plains"	August 31, 2007
Les lands his hot air balloon in the Northern part of South Africa.
15	"Alaska"	September 7, 2007
Stuck in an Alaskan bay, Les utilizes a kayak to fish and travel to the various local shores to scavenge. Les is also on the alert for black bears and larger grizzly bears.
16	"South Pacific"	September 14, 2007
Les is shipwrecked in the Cook Islands, and makes the ultimate sacrifice (his harmonica).
17	"Behind the Scenes"	September 21, 2007
A behind the scenes look of each episode of season 2. Les goes in-depth with his preparation for each locale. Also featured are local people who taught Les certain techniques beforehand.

In 2006, Stroud produced a 90-minute special documenting his family's journey to building an off-the-grid home. The show, Off the Grid with Les Stroud, chronicled the process of buying property and refitting an old farm house with solar and wind power, a raincatcher and well, as well as the adjustments the Stroud family had to make to adapt to this style of living.

Seaon 3 on its way!

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Dick Proenneke

I already have a whole page dedicated to Dick Proenneke here.

Dick was a truly amazing man. An inspiration and a character to be remembered. This man lived what many of us only dream about; living in the wild building your own log-cabin home in the beauty of Alaska, being self-reliant and able to live happily with nature.

There are two films about his life;First is Alone in the Wilderness and second is Silence and Solitude.There is also a book titled: One Man's Wilderness, An Alaskan Odyssey. These can be purchased by US customers at www.dickproenneke.com or you can download them from the Internet.

I would highly recommend watching Alone in the wilderness its a brilliant documentary on Dick and provides a detailed insight into the building of his log-cabin, the preparation, tools, techniques and process, gathering all that he needs from nature, whilst also observing and appreciating the animals and world around him. A true man at one with nature.

Dick spent nearly 30 years of his life living in the log-cabin he made at Twin-Lakes Alaska.

The Frozen North on DVD and VHS tape For more than 30 years a man by the name of Dick Proenneke lived alone in the Alaskan Bush. His only neighbours were the wolves and grizzly bears and his only transportation was his canoe and a good set of legs. Through the years, Dick kept written journals of daily life at Twin Lakes but would also document much of his adventure on film with his 16 mms Bolex camera. The Frozen North is Dick's own filmed account of his life alone in this "One Man's Wilderness", produced from original footage not included in "Alone in the Wilderness" or "Alaska Silence & Solitude".

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Andrew Price

A-Z Bushcraft

Andrew Price from Dryad Bushcraft has produced some superb, high quality videos freely available on the internet showing great Bushcraft skills, techniques and knowledge for you to share freely. All made posible thanks to the dedication of UnderCurrents. The videos listed in no particular order:

A for Axe
B for Bow Drill
I for Identity
T for Tarp
E is for Edible Wild Plants
W is for Water
W is for Whistle
S is for Shelter
K is for Knife
E is for Eating Wild Coastal Food
F is for Friction
F is for Fire by Flint
P for Plants
G is for Gathering
And Much more!...

You can watch all these videos here

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Lars Monsen

Norwegian TV filmed a chap named Lars Monsen as he traveled alone through the north of Scandinavia for one year, the series was called 'Nordkalotten 365' and the television company has made all of the episodes available for download in the high definition .mp4 format.

Obviously the languages spoken are Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish and there are no subtitles, still very enjoyable though.

More information about the TV program:

http://www.nrk.no/nordkalotten365/

http://nrkbeta.no/norwegian-broadcasting-nrk-makes-popular-series-available-drm-free-via-bittorrent/

Need Help Downloading?
Q: Are the above downloads legal?

A: Yes, the Norwegian TV Company (NRK) has made this show freely available for download, its perfectly legal to download.

Q: How do I download a 'torrent'?

A: You will need to use a free torrent application, uTorrent is a good one; click here.

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Michel Blomgren

Bushcraft.se is a site offering a free to download, amateur video production about survival and outdoor life.

My name is Michel Blomgren and my greatest interest is survival in the wilderness and primitive, but comfortable, outdoor life. I have earlier shared my outdoor experiences and experiments through photographs and stories. This engagement has now resulted in the making of a short movie series about survival with a documentary touch.

The movies are free to download here and may freely be (publicly) displayed and freely distributed as long as the purpose is non-commercial.

Parts are spoken English and where needed subtitles are made available.

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Bear Grylls

I believe 'Teddy-Bear-Grylls' to be a fake and his advice dangerous. Hence why I do not list nor condone watching his programmes. The only video I recommend watching about Bear Grylls is this one:

There is a whole Wiki dedicated to the mess of his shows like Man vs Wild,
if you want to check out the wiki-site here.

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I have been doing serious survival for nearly 30 years now, long before its present popularity and I like what you are trying to do here. There is simply no need to pay out large sums of money to learn basic stuff that anyone with a bit of determination and nounce can learn from books or sites like this. As for the TV people, like any serious survivalist, I regard Bear Grylls as a joke and a faker and thus totaly unwatchable. As for Ray Mears, he is OK but nothing special. Sorry to be at odds with the cult following but all I have ever seen him demonstrate is basic stuff we can all do.The interesting stuff seems to be part made for him or demonstrated by others. His level of fitness and appearance doesn't 'sit right' with me either.I really don't see what the fuss is about. As for books, go for The SAS Survival Handbook by John 'Lofty' Wiseman who still has my respect to this day. Also 'Bushcraft' by Richard Graves, quite possibly the source of Ray Mears use of the term, and Food For Free by Richard Mabey. Get a few good field guides too and get out there but don't try and 'run before you can walk' It's great out there and I am still learning after 30 years! This year I am paddling the Yukon river.

bear is FUN, has much interesting ideas and there allways be haters, and you, who cut yourself with a knife, that's just becouse you're idiot by nature, not bears fault...

i think your wrong about grylls

Bear Gryllis IS A Fake And He Only Started Putting The BS Disclaimer Before The Show Most Recently Because Of All The Footage Online Of Him Faking IF You Really Wanna Some Fact Here They Are

1. If Gryllis Is Such An Expert Why Does HE Have Numerous Experts On The Show "Read Credits"

2. Why Does He Use Fake Locations

3. Read Ap "associated press" Article Of What Happened When The Camera Crew Decided To See What He Knows And Dropped His Ass Off HE FUCKING FREAKED

4. When In A Survival Situation Your Main Goal IS To Survive You Would Not Risk Breaking A Leg Cutting Yourself OR Falling Down A Mountain In These Sittuations You Break A Leg In A Survival Situation You Most Likely Die " Not All The Time But Odds Are Against You " So Why Risk It

5. Drinking Your God Damned Piss "HE Loves It" Urine is sterile until it reaches the urethra
so Ya. Urine Contains High Amounts Of Salt Which Dehydrate You Further It Might Quench Your Thirst "If Your A Sicko" But It Really Bad For You Drinking From A Stagnant Pond Ever FUCKING HEARD OF PARASITES Giardiasis streptococcus Boil OR Treat Your Water People Even The Act Of Washing Your Face Can Make You Vulnerable Im Not A Health Nut ImNOt Really An Expert I Just Have Experience GOOD and Bad So I Know Be Safe and Be AWARE Itsomac bushcraft usa

who cares if bear grylls fakes some of his footage, hes entertaining to watch and even says at the start of the show that he receives help from crew and some scenes are set up, stop hatin and appreciate him for what he does well.

bear grylls is a liar
i tried some of his advice and ended up cutting myself with a knife

English subtitles for all 8 episodes of Lars Monsen's NRK series Nordkalotten365 are available here: http://subs.hopto.org
As suggestions come in from Norse-fluent folks, I continually improve them.

NRK added Norwegian subtitle files (.SRT format) to their show torrents, to facilitate "fansubbing".