Boy, nine, 24 hours in wild.

[sandbender]

(Daily Mail Version)

A story with a happy ending and apparently all thanks to Mr. Grylls's television show...

A nine-year-old American boy who got lost after becoming separated from his family in a dense forest survived without mishap - thanks to British adventurer Bear Grylls.

Full story here.



(Huffington Post Version)

A story with a happy ending and apparently all thanks to Mr. Grylls's television show...

"Man Vs. Wild" Helps 9-Year-Old Utah Boy Survive Night In Woods Alone

Full story here.

[MartinK9]

Nice to see a happy ending

[JonathanD]

Ok, now let the mayhem begin

[HillBill]

Nice one. The lad did well.

[Shewie]

Good little tale, good on him for not freaking out and making things even worse.

Survival with the Bear necessities, brilliant

[firecrest]

While its great that Grylls finally gave some advise worth following, it still wasnt really what a child in this situation should be taught to do. He is lucky he was found, essencially it seems he thought the best way to be rescued was to carry on wandering.it is not. not for a child who is being looked for.
I do not blame Grylls for this, because his show is for people who are truly lost and are possibly not being searched for, not for nine year old boys who have wandered off the hiking trail, he may have been rescued quicker had he stayed still and begun shouting, or better yet, been knowlageable with a map.

[Peter_t]

moving isnt such a bad idea if you need to find good shelter or to get out of the wind. he marked his path which is a whise move and imo ups his chances because they are spread over a whide area and if they find 1 then all they have to do is send a team each way.
never thought id be saying this but well done bear

pete

[Walks with dogs]

Plenty of people were quick enough to praise Ray when a couple of numpties got themselves lost and then found again a few months ago.

There's a bloke at work who is a big Bearophile , we spend many a happy hour him taking the **** out of Ray, me out of Bear. He will be insufferable for bloody weeks now!!

[helixpteron]

Irrespective of any other factor, the child felt empowered by the knowledge he'd gained, despite his fear, loneliness, cold and hunger, he stuck with 'his' plan and was instrumental in the success of his own rescue!

I believe that the media attention this story receives may encourage parents and others to consider having a strategy for when things go wrong.

Despite not having any of the minimum emergency gear that we'd prefer to have, he did just fine, and turned a potential disaster into an adventure which will educate and inspire.

[m.durston]

Bear's not so bad, its those idiot programme makers that make him look a fool. anyways the kid done really well with the extremely limited resources at hand.
i suppose we should be grateful that he didnt try to drink the fluids from deer poo or something lol
makes you wonder why the organisers of the trip didnt make everyone have a whistle on them?

[rik_uk3]

Good job it did not rain as the lad ripped up his rain coat, would have been a different story in the winter.

Glad to see the lad survived, good on him.

[BorderReiver]

Is it so surprising that the lad "survived" for 24 hours without coming to harm?

That's only one day in reasonable weather in a forest.

He was lucky that he was seen in the clearing; if he hadn't been found so soon it would have been a different story.

The papers, especially the Mail, get up my nose with their manipulation of stories.

Yes, I am a miserable old git.

[wanderingblade]

This could send the next Bear Grylls series off on a tangent.

Will we see him hunting Clifford the Big Red Dog and skinning a teletubby?

[BOD]

All this " I survived thanks to Ray / Bear /Les"

I believe that media interests pay people to get lost and parents to dump their children in the wilderness to boost their man.

[firecrest]

I think Ill be one of this threads miserable gits as well, borderiever!

I think there is an issue here that `he turned it into an adventure` this is not a good thing, that kids now feel the response to being lost is to make it an adventure. because real being lost, standing still till dad finds you is awfully boring. Its not supposed to be an adventure, and he tore up his bright relective coat! what if he ran out and carried on walking? No more trail and no more bright coat a helicopter could see. And how much time did he spend building a shelter? it would not have kept him warm, and probably not dry if most 9 year olds attempts to build a shelter are anything to go off, it would achieve only to waste energy and make him less visable.
In fact the more I think about it, the more I think he was found because the search party followed his trail in time, he did not respond correctly in this situation, he attempted to be a hero, not his fault though , and I do not think its Bears either, its his parents fault for not having a plan of action drilled into their kids heads that would prevent them from wandering further into the wilderness when they got lost.

[Jock]

Better supervision & a wee orange whistle would have been the ticket I guess

[Draven]

I agree that the kid, in that situation, should have stayed put - however, knowing to mark his trail and recalling a good hi-vis way to do it was clever, so good on him. Kids like adventure, (plenty of times when I was a kid when we'd think we were wandering off into the wilderness with nothing but our bows, a belt stuffed with arrows and a pocket knife and we'd pop up behind our school ) which isn't necessarily a survival trait while out and about - but at least he put some thought into it, and didn't just go running off as many kids would've done!

I also agree that the adults in charge were at fault, in that he should have been better supervised. A whistle is definitely a good thing to give a kid, especially if you're travelling in a group where it's easier for someone to get 'misplaced'. However, it shouldn't be relied upon - sounds can be hellish to follow in a forest, in my experience.

PS: Could hardly have picked a nicer spot to get lost though eh?

[JonathanD]

Imagaine the pure fear that would have gone through the kids head when he knew he was lost. A child of nine would do well not to just flip out in complete panic. He kept his cool and thought of a plan, that takes some doing at any age let alone at nine. Remember that the majority of the population have no idea how to behave in such situations, it's our hobby, so we do. Very easy for us to shake out heads and groan. As for Bears advice, his programmes would be very boring if he just sat down and said "the best thing to do in this situation, is to stay put and wait to be rescued"

[Tadpole]

As for Bears advice, his programmes would be very boring if he just sat down and said "the best thing to do in this situation, is to stay put and wait to be rescued"

Why? I'm sure if they just filmed him sat there it would, but if they showed him making stuff, like a shelter, or a bed, or in his case a trouser press, lots of people would learn something of value. Ray's made half a dozen programmes and in all cases it's what he say, stay with the car/van/4x4.
Same with the lost on the trail, at no point does he say run about and throw bits of your only water proof garment about, nor does he mention being careless with your food.

The only good thing was the kid knew that he could/would survive and that someone would be looking for him, Ray, Bear, and the Bush tucker man have all said (on television) that "surviving is a state of mind". If the kid got that message from Barbeque Grylls, then that’s the only good thing to come out of him watching ‘man v wild’

[Tony]

I think it's great that he was imbued with the confidence not to panic and to think logically about his situation, what he did right or wrong isn't so important in my eyes, he did enough right to do ok, if he hadn't done some of those things he may not have been found.

It's a positive things that's come out of the TV when even within a 24 hour period it could have been so much worse. A 9 year old being level headed in a situation that might test more experienced people, i think it's great

[JonathanD]

Why? I'm sure if they just filmed him sat there it would,

Exactly. That's all I meant. We have Les Stroud and RM to do the stationary suvival stuff. BG caters to a different audience completely, and that's why kids tune in because to them his stuff is exciting. My little nephew loves BG, and despite my best attempts to educate, finds Ray Mears boring

Ok, it seems that I've started the very topic that I was anticipating from others in my first post I'll get me coat...... Taxi!!!!!

[BorderReiver]

I think it's great that he was imbued with the confidence not to panic and to think logically about his situation, what he did right or wrong isn't so important in my eyes, he did enough right to do ok, if he hadn't done some of those things he may not have been found.

It's a positive things that's come out of the TV when even within a 24 hour period it could have been so much worse. A 9 year old being level headed in a situation that might test more experienced people, i think it's great

We have no idea whether or not he did panic, we've just got a newspaper report Tony.

It seems to me that shredding your only bit of protective and high viz clothing suggests a lack of coherent thought.

At least the lad was found safe and well.

[Bushwhacker]

Oh great!
The RM v BG monster raises its ugly head again.

On another note, the boy was 9 years old! He did well.

End of.

[TheWelshWizard]

at least he did not eat apples out of bear dung!

[helixpteron]

With Respect, this incident has got nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Mears or Mr. Stroud, whereas it has everything to do with what the child learned from watching Mr. Grylls on television!

To criticize a lost nine year old child for the unintentional loss of his snack bar and for his well intentioned technique of using his high visibility jacket as a trail marker and signal device beggars belief!

Consider the actions of the lost child, with some of the comments posted, and ask yourself which exhibit the greater maturity!

[BorderReiver]

With Respect, this incident has got nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Mears or Mr. Stroud, whereas it has everything to do with what the child learned from watching Mr. Grylls on television!

To criticize a lost nine year old child for the unintentional loss of his snack bar and for his well intentioned technique of using his high visibility jacket as a trail marker and signal device beggars belief!

Consider the actions of the lost child, with some of the comments posted, and ask yourself which exhibit the greater maturity!

For my part, any criticism was directed at the sensationalist reporting which is becoming all too common these days.

Children these days are exposed to a wide variety of sources of knowledge on many topics.
To single out one source as the reason for his rescue is fatuous rubbish.

The guys who were searching for him got lucky; he got lucky; it had sod all to do with any stupid entertainment on TV.

As for "considering the actions of a lost child", I have no idea what his actions actually were and neither do you.

[JonathanD]

With Respect, this incident has got nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Mears or Mr. Stroud, whereas it has everything to do with what the child learned from watching Mr. Grylls on television!

Err, that's what I said.

[nolightweight]

Isn't the main point of this thread that a 9 yr old kid didn't die?

End justifies the means.

Kid didn't die.

Happy days.

Whether that's by his actions, watching Care Bear, having Lofty Wiseman's guide in his back pocket or just in the grand scheme of things being LUCKY. All we've read is what amounts to 4 column inches and a couple of photos and we're basing his entire thought process, strategy, and the response of the Emergency Services on that?

I've trained people 3, 4 and 5 times his age how deal with 'certain' situations; and I've still seen some of them start honking and flying south when the you know what hits the fan. Good luck with conditioning 9 year olds the same way. Lol.

Kid lived and wished his Dad 'Happy Fathers Day'

What more do you want?

NLW

[303Brit]

The child may have not have obeyed the "rules" of rescue and 24 hours in good conditions is not a long time to survive,but at 9 years old he recognised his problem,and formulated a plan and kept to it.Not bad i my opinion.

[helixpteron]

...... For my part, any criticism was directed at the sensationalist reporting which is becoming all too common these days.......

...... It seems to me that shredding your only bit of protective and high viz clothing suggests a lack of coherent thought.......

Your above comment (quote 2) made in post #22, in no way appears to be ".......directed at the sensationalist reporting......."

...... As for "considering the actions of a lost child", I have no idea what his actions actually were and neither do you.

You have repeatedly misquoted me, and also quoted me out of context! What I actually said is quoted, below.

......Consider the actions of the lost child, with some of the comments posted, and ask yourself which exhibit the greater maturity!

Clearly, I was referring to the actions of the lost child which were actually reported and commented upon!