What Knife is Bear Using in the Everglades Episode?

Here we are on the eve of the third season finally getting around to writing up the second season. We can't say that makes us fashionably late, but we can say we've still done our homework. We saw some old favorites come back for a return bow and we saw some new knives make the spotlight for the first time. Such was the case with the Everglades episode - the first show of the second season.

Florida is a delightful state. We were there during July 4th in 1988. It was sweltering hot and muggy all day, then as the sun set the sky ruptured with rain. Every. Stinking. Day. Oh, the fun! Bear missed out on the rain, but then he was waist deep in swamp for most of the episode. We think we fared better than he did. We could wait out the rain in the comfort of our tent. Bear didn't have that luxury. With nary a motel nearby, Bear had to slog through the swamp water, build shelters in trees, and worry about alligators at every turn. For those viewers who believe that Bear was somehow making all this alligator anxiety up, we'd like to point you to a nice little story where a criminal fleeing from the law had his head chomped on by the local fauna.

"Some gators have a nasty disposition and [this] was a nasty gator. He seemed to have no fear of people which indicates that he was fed," said a local man who raises alligators for a living. He didn't say what the alligator was fed on, however, but we wonder if perhaps he meant people? At any rate, Bear had these delightful critters on his mind, especially when he practically walked across them from time to time.

Highlights of the episode for us were when Bear used his shoelaces for traction when climbing the tree in order to get his lay of the land. It was a wonderful tip. We'll have to try that up a street lamp next time we are downtown Salt Lake City looking for a parking space. The other highlight of the episode was the beautiful Buck Zipper he used when chopping down saplings, guarding against alligators, peeling grapefruit, and gutting turtles. It's a handy little darling with a gut hook and a rubberized grip. That grip provides a secure hold when the knife is wet which happened to Bear's knife a lot in this episode what with him being in a swamp and all. We think it's woodgrain handled brother is prettier to look at, but as usual Bear opts for the more practical and utilitarian version of the knives he trusts his life with.

It was a great episode and we recommend it for viewing for anybody planning on a trip to Disneyworld. You never know.

The Buck Zipper is available at Amazon.com

tags technorati : Bear Grylls Everglades Man vs. Wild Born Survivor Knives Survival