You seem concerned about your fellow Americans but your feelings may be a little missplaced — I dont mean to be mean or rough on people but there are an awfull lot of dummys out there…. And I dont mean just people that go into the woods — Look on Ogrish . com and there are all types of dummys killing themselves with sketeboards, ski's, construction equipment, power tools, ladders you name it…. If theres a way for a moron to bust himself up or get killed they will find a way to do it —– LOOK at the big picture — There are over 300 million people in this country and do you know what? Most of them are sensible and will live until old age catches up with them….. Even the most intelligent people get over confident and do something that costs them their lives…. whether its going into the woods or standing on the top of that ladder 2 storys up painting the trim…. Do I think outdoorsmanship should be taught in school? NOPE! – WHY? – simple – A city school district may not think its a wise way to spend money since students may never or rarely go into the woods…. A rural school district may consider it wasteful because the students already live in or near the woods and learn safety from there parents who maybe farmers or just plain old rural folks…. Spending govt money isnt goint to solve a problem and legislating it isnt economicly prudent….. I'm a city person. My parents sent me to scout camp when I was a kid. I also spent time at my great aunts summer house in the catskill mountains and learned more about the woods from those 2 experiences than any school class could have taught me. This was a priority for my parents but not for everyone….. TRUST ME on this — Not enough of the population will get hurt or killed in the woods to make a big deal about it…. More people probably get killed in citys getting hit by cars, muggers, etc so if any money should be spent I would think it would be there…. And even that might be a waste — How many fools get killed in an apartment fire because they didnt keep fresh batterys in the smoke detector? You cant legislate smartness!!!
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Such skills are learn, not born with. The human lost most of its instincts and has to learn about everything.
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Not too long ago a man died on the Ozark trail in Arkansas. He was a computer programmer how had zero outdoor experiance and wasnt physically active.

They found him 3 weeks later for some reason on a sleeping bag suspended like a hammock between two trees with a tarp over himself.

If some dufus wants to wander into the woods without knowing what they are doing.. then who cares? One less person to overpopulate the earth.
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Metro has some good points, I know we are not educating our youth the right way . If it dont have a controler or a kee board there lost, face it – you can do a goggle search from a pine tree. I think this is the biggest reason our( that we teach ) hunter education classes are more in depth, Its sad, anyway you look at it, woodsmanship is a forgotten art….Im glad I do have the knowledge to live off the land and survive

WE , as a group should do more and keep educating are next generation, from experience we should start with 27 year olds and younger. This is where the gap starts ( i think )
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Some folks are just born with an urge to wind a Darwin Award. Often they mistake this urge for instinct to survive.

doc
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The government frowns on common sense ideas, like practical training of survival skills.
Don't you know our government wants us to be dependant on them for our every need? If they stop spoon feeding the general American public, then we'll have to be self dependant for our needs, and of course that means less dependance on a malfunctioning government.
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How is this nitwit any different than the guy who "surfed" on top of a van until it went under a bridge? Or the guys who decided to imitate william tell and shoot apples off eachother's heads? Or the woman who climbed out onto the ledge of the gorrilla pen and then fell off and broke her neck?

Many people are dumb. Many people seem to think that they are special. This runs the gamut of "all animals will like me, even bears" (stupid timothy treadwell) to the lady who shows up at a store to collect her lay-away item, but layway closes at 5pm and it is 6pm and she throws a screaming fit that they should open it up just for her. Watch cop shows and see how often someone cries "officer, can't you please just let me go home" Like the cop is going to say "oh, yea, you were dealing drugs, but I am just going to take these cuffs off and let you go on your way"

It's all the same. You just happen to notice the hunting/outdoors ones more because that is where you have a lot of interest. If your hobby was automotive, you'd be exposed to an entire different set
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Your question is not really a question. Its more of a point your trying to make. This is really remote in the grand scheme of things. We have way too many people who cannot cross a street safely. Those who can't drive. You tube beatings for the city kids, and etc. I could go on all day long. Point is either go out and get survival skills yourself and become a guide, search & rescue, helicopter pilot or whatever, or just take care of the people close to home who cannot cope with city living by becoming a cop, fireman, or whatever. You see the problem, you become the solution, or your part of the problem. As for me, I'm of the Generation that believes you need to test yourself. I believe people need to get outdoors a lot more than they need to youtube, and watch t.v. Those activities are more harmful in the long run then healthy outdoor activities. People get hurt playing football, soccer, and etc too. You cannot prevent people from enjoying thier lives like they see fit. That is the way it should be.
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Beeds, its nice you have a big heart, buddy, but while there may be ways to prevent some of the fools from killin themselves, there’s no way, you are going to save them all.
Maybe we need to have big friggin signs on all our roads here in Alaska next to remote areas, warning them. It could say something like this;
“WARNING mother nature wants to eat you fool! It consumes retards like you, like a pit bull in a meat market! Do every one a favor and save the tax payer search and rescue money by staying close to your car and NEVER leave the road. Because if you’re dumb azz gets killed on the road it’s much cheaper and easier for all of us.”

Seriously though they should teach kids in school about the dangers of the outdoors. Why not? They teach kids all sorts of worthless crap at school why not something that may save their life? It would be good to have that course cover firearm safety, basic outdoor skills, boating and swimming safety and how animals really are. It would cost little as they could fit it in health class.

Folks one reason Alaskans are tired of these morons is besides the millions of $ they cost us, its getting REALLY old now. And now they have that “Into the Wild” craze going, sending every kind of nut job you can think of up here. How would you feel if thousands of these “survival” wackos descended on your community? And your local government is spending all summer long looking for the fools?
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Some people are just idiots, straight up. I am Native American and I lived in Alaska for about 7 years, but there's no way in hell I would go and try to survive out in the wilderness unless I knew EXACTLY what I was doing. Many people just do stuff like this to prove something to themselves or others. That Alexander Supertramp (Chris) guy was just a dumb rich kid who should have thought things through. My sister lives in Fairbanks and she thinks he's a huge dumbass for what he did. To the locals out there, he is a joke. You can't stop people from being stupid, but you CAN inform them and try to help them see the light.
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Well for one thing, Could you survive growing your own food? Could you survive milking cows? Could you survive raising your own chickens? Could you survive if there was a recession? Think before you ask!
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