New outdoors film- "A Walk in the Woods" starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte

There is another interesting new outdoors film coming out in September called "A Walk in the Woods," starring Robert Redford (star of "Jeremiah Johnson") and veteran actor Nick Nolte ("48 Hours"). The film is about two aging friends Bill (Redford) and Stephen (Nolte), who, after seeing too many of their friends die or be crippled from old age and disease, attempt to hike the entire 2,000 mile long Appalachian Trail for one last adventure together. Neither has much outdoor experience, so they read books about backpacking and wilderness survival to prepare. What follows is a crazy adventure with the two men trying to complete the insane trip.

A Walk in the Woods is due to be released on Sept 2nd, 2015. Like "The Revenant," I'm adding this one to my "must see" list.

Cheers, Jason


About the author

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

New Jeremiah Johnson-esque movie called the "The Revenant"

"The Revenant" is an interesting new Jeremiah Johnson-esque movie based on the amazing real life story of 19th Century mountain man\trapper Hugh Glass. Glass was left for dead after being seriously mauled by a grizzly bear. Healing his wounds using maggots, and without weapons or equipment, Glass managed to trek 200 miles through the wilderness to Fort Kiowa in Missouri.

Bushcrafting legend Mors Kochanski was the technical advisor for this film, so my guess is that it will show real survival techniques that mountain men would have used during that time period. It is due to be released in December. I'm definitely adding this movie to my "must see" list.

Cheers, Jason


About the author

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

What do you think of History Channel's new show "Alone?"

I'm curious, what do you all think of History Channel's new show "Alone?" All the contestants appear to be Youtube guys, which makes sense since they have more experience with video, etc. I have great respect for them putting themselves out there like that. But many seemed to not have much experience spending time alone in the woods considering they are billing themselves as survival experts. After just a day or two, some were crying on camera. One couldn't make fire with fatwood, which is waterproof and burns in the rain. Many could not get a fire going after several days, unaware of how to dry tinder inside a jacket.

Still, I think it is an entertaining show, and shows the harsh reality of life in a survival situation. I do think it's overzealous that History branded all of them as "survival experts" just because they have Youtube channels though. Some of these guys obviously have good skills and are entertaining to watch, but some have padded their resumes a bit, or else History did it for them. Had they not been represented as survival experts, I would say most of them have done a great job so far. 

Maybe History Channel should just remove the "expert" moniker and then the show would better represent itself. I think many people have grown weary of survival shows misrepresenting themselves in this manner. What do you think?

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Dual Survival canceled by Discovery Channel according to TMZ- UPDATED

According to an article posted on May 29th, 2015 at TMZ.com, the Discovery Channel has canceled 'Dual Survival,' one of its most popular survival shows.

The article, titled "Dual Survival' Star Joe Teti Attacks Dog Over Cat-astrophe," details an incident in which co-star Joe Teti either injured or killed a dog during filming of the final episode to prevent it from killing a stray cat.

According to an unnamed source, whom TMZ says is connected with the show's production, "The show had already been cancelled, and we're told the dog incident made people at Discovery feel even more comfortable about their decision to pull the plug."

There has been no official announcement about the show's demise from Discovery, so it's possible all of this could just be tabloid gossip. Rocky Mountain Bushcraft has sent an email to the Discovery Channel asking for an official statement, so stay tuned for updates, which we will post here.

July 13th, 2015 UPDATE- Rocky Mountain Bushcraft received an email direct from Discovery Communications today confirming that Dual Survival has indeed been canceled. For fans of the show, this is very sad news obviously.

Regards,

Jason

So what do you think? Should Discovery have continued the series, or was it time for Dual Survival to go? Leave a comment below

About the author

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

Desert cottontail rabbit taken at 21 yards with the Chiappa M6 Survival Rifle, UPDATE

A desert cottontail rabbit taken at 21 yards with the Chiappa M6 Survival Rifle, using the 20 Gauge shotgun barrel. At this distance, the gun performed very well, considering it doesn't have a choke. This rabbit was taken on private land where they are considered pests because of destroying crops and causing property destruction. I processed the rabbit and will be smoking it on a primitive smoking/drying rack to make rabbit jerky.

On a side note, field testing of both the Chiappa M6 and X-Caliber survival guns is now complete. The X-Caliber took an incredible amount of time to field test, as it is like 16 calibers in one gun with the two different barrels and multi-caliber adapters! Throw in ALL the different brands of centerfire ammo\birdshot\slugs\rimfire tested in each barrel\adapter at both 25 and 50 yards, and it was just insane. There were shells everywhere! Stay tuned for an update!

Cheers,

Jason