10 Things That You Should Never Do if Stranded in a Wilderness

Les Stroud, creator of the hit series, Survivorman, seen on the Discovery Channel, is an expert survivalist. Stroud has forgotten more about surviving in almost any terrain or geographical area that you or I will ever learn. He loves his job. I admit that I am a fan of his show and his wisdom on what to do and what not to do if stranded somewhere in a dark, fearful wilderness with no sign of help in sight.

I would be safe in saying that Les Stroud's survival know-how has helped to save more than one life. That makes me feel good about watching Surivorman. I am serious. On each show, his production crew flies Les to some place that we would call oblivion and then they leave him for one week and sometimes all he has to stay alive is his wits, knife, and what he can scrounge for in his wilderness location.

What would I do if faced with surviving in some overwhelming area with no water, shelter or food? In a word, panic. And if you have a thing for hearing a grown man scream for his life, then you would get a kick out of me clawing the ground and screaming louder than any banshee.

I am not trying in any way, to compete with Les Stroud in his survival skills and wisdom. But I am, in my own way, going to share a few vital tidbits of information with you that could save your life--in case you have never viewed Survivorman.

So here are

10 Things That You Should Never Do if Stranded in a Wilderness

A Bit About Les

• Les Stroud (born October 20, 1961) is a Canadian musician, filmmaker, and survival expert best known as the creator, writer, producer, director, cameraman and host of the television series Survivorman. After a short career behind the scenes in the music industry, Stroud became a full-time wilderness guide, survival instructor and musician based in Huntsville, Ontario. Stroud has produced survival-themed programming for The Outdoor Life Network, The Discovery Channel, The Science Channel, and YTV. The survival skills imparted from watching Stroud's television programs have been cited by several people as the reason they lived through harrowing wilderness ordeals.

Source: Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia

10.) When you grow hungry, never resort to eating a bacteria-infected corpse of a snake that someone before you killed and left it to die.

9.) Do not drink just any water you happen to see. Some water may contain a deadly poison that forms from certain roots of trees and plants.

8.) For shelter, do not try to crawl inside a hollow log unless you love having combat with a mama raccoon who will not give up her home which is this hollow log.

7.) Do not use growls or hoots in a loud voice to summon help. You might become the target of an inexperienced hunter for for his first trophy.

6.) Unless you know what you are doing, do not try to climb a tree then attempt to build your shelter near the top. Ever think about falling asleep and falling to the ground going 90 MPH?

5.) Mud that you find near a small pond does not take the place of food.

4.) If you have five pieces of bread, do not crumble them all up and toss them into this pond to see if any fish will come to the top to eat it giving you a chance to catch the fish by hand.

3.) If you do encounter a grizzly bear of maybe a wildcat, just run as fast as you can. If you let your manly-ego get the best of you and you try to fight these animals, you will be killed or severely-injured.

2.) Fire can be deadly. Remember this simple fact just in case you, through some miracle, start yourself a fire near a dry patch of grass or leaves. Fire has a way of spreading around you before you can get free of it.

1.) Call Les Stroud before you read my 10 survival tips. This way your odds of survival will be increased.

No thanks required.

Todd Standing, a friend of Les Stroud, also a survival expert, filmed the video above on an outing alone in the Pacific Northwest. Standing swears that what you see in the video is that of the actual face of a Bigfoot that he had to steady himself to take the video. Personally, I cannot judge this as real or fiction. I just thought it added "that" certain element to this hub.