Alone 2024 MEGA SPOILER ZONE Epi 1/2/3

[5hout]

Title is clear: This is mega spoilers for Ep's 1 and 2. I'm putting some line breaks in, but otherwise scroll at ur own risk.

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What: Alone Season 11. I actively avoid googling during the season to not ruin things, so here are my thoughts. I am a TOTAL and COMPLETE armchair expert as I hunt from a treeblind and generally fish with waders or from a boat with sonar. I do shoot a lot of traditional bows though.
Where: Mackenzie River Delta, 125 miles north of Arctic Circle. It's wet AF. All kettle lakes, alder swamps, rivers and marshes. Doesn't seem to have much height variation (as you would expect having been scraped flat by glaciers many, many times then smooshed down). Gets damn cold, but seems to have a high population of animals compared against previous northern seasons. So far it seems like they are allowed to shoot Beavers and Moose, but not Caribou/Bears.

I would rate this location a solid 7/10 with 10 being the Season Roland won for max hardness and 1 being Vancouver Island seasons. They can net fish from day 1, and there are TONS of fish (including non-migratory fish) all around, plus beavers/moose/squirrels (tons)/rabbits (likely) and foraging. Of course, it's gonna get freezing cold soon and then we'll see about ice fishing (which seems likely to be super important).

The Cast (first impressions), also I didn't take notes as I was watching so if I attribute stuff to the wrong person MB.

Peter (Librarian) 3/10. I thought he was going to say he was a teacher based on his face/gear/voice, but then he said librarian and it got worse from there. Ok, so far Peter's voice and face are weak AF. His job is an automatic -2 points. But the worst thing is he brought a fucking shovel and didn't use it to make his shelter. I mean, he used it as a hand axe, but the reason you bring a shelter is to build Rockhouse 2.0 or similar. I realize his area is pretty flat-ish, but fuck man. His shelter is crap. Maybe he builds a 2nd shelter, but it doesn't sound like it.

He knows too much and understand too little. He's got all this great info on the native people of the area and this/that/the other thing, BUT HE CLEARLY FORGETS THAT THE NATIVES WERE MIGRATORY. The reason they built like they did is b/c they were always on the move. Maybe they stayed for a season, but often only part of a season. They had no iron tools and no incentive to build in deep b/c they always knew they were moving on soon. You're literally not allowed to move, so building a temp structure on native lines is missing the understanding. This guy is a 20-30 day person.

Dusty (Arkansas Hillbilly/Welder) 7/10. He's got a good face for this, he's def spent some time outside/living hard and should be acclimated to the shit. Welder is +1 for sure. OTOH people from the American South still living there haven't done great on Alone. IMO, the transition to "frozen North" is harder than a lot of them are prepared for. So far his clothing looks a little thin, but who knows what is packed. Haven't seen a ton of him yet, but he seems a solid 50 day person.

Michela (Cree-Metis "Adventure Guide") 6/10. If she was a hunting guide, it's be a +2, but she's an adventure guide so it's -1. It seems like what she actually does is provide native skills education to yuppies, vs wandering off into the backcountry to shoot stuff and drag it back. That said her life story is (so far) a solid +1 and her gear seems like the right balance of "bought top of the line stuff" vs "stuff I'm used to using in these conditions". 40-50 days, but she might get stronger as it goes on.

Timber (Cult-Raised Humanitarian) 6/10. I don't know what to make of him, but he gets a -1 for sure for coming into the competition very skinny. OTOH being raised by an anti-government cult off the grid is probably a pretty good lifestyle prep, and he spends a lot of time in developing world for his job so that's like a +2. I'd say solid 50 days, but he's so freaking skinny. If his fishing/hunting/trapping luck holds maybe he really can go the distance, but he seems a strong candidate to literally starve out in 40 days.

Now, one of my great fears about Alone is that someone is going to wound an animal or take too many stupid shots and it's going to get cancelled by controversy. I'm not saying I could resist the shots he took at the moose, but they were pretty damn far for trad bow in wind.

Cubby (Fat Bowyer) 3/10. Ok, obviously you know SOMEONE is stabbing their own damn leg with an arrow (from the opening credits), but given this I saw him carrying his open tube quiver around parallel to the ground and instantly said it was him. I too used to do this, and after an arrow fell out and I almost stabbed myself I stopped doing it. This is both bad planning and just terrible luck. Poor guy. OTOH, he wasn't going much past 30 days (+10 for being fat). He was way to sad about the kids, and his stupid hate was like -3 at least.

William (Fisherman) 7/10. +2 on the job, grew up in the backwoods and seems appropriately work hardened by life. Gear choices are strong and plays into his theory/skills (i.e. fishing ahoy). His current structure is a bit iffy, but the competition is young. Solid 40+ days, but I do question his mental a bit.

Jake (Prof. Falconer, Std Issue Idaho Man circa 2024). 3/10. This might be unfair, but he's looks way too much like someone asked an AI to make an image of strong Idaho resident wearing 2024 clothing and this what popped out, so -1 for that. -2 for his job (used to be a professional falconer and now seems to be some kind of tradie). Look, it's a cool job, but like it provides none of the skills and it's not like he can bring one of the birds with him. Divorced dad fighting to have money for his kids could cut either way on the mentals. I'm betting he goes 30 days. No Ferro Rod is one of those "I'm being cute" choices that sounds good, but god damn the first thing old timers had after knife and gun was flint/tinder. I get they were a lot more mobile and in theory you should be able to build a fire and store embers/charcoal/blahblahblah, but damn it's a huge risk. Also, he lost his fishing line super fast, so IMO he's gotta clock on him). Ice fishing without a line, plus the emotional toll of losing it, plus wanting to performatively "do bushcraft" vs grind it out all cut against him.

Dub (Homeless Man) 4/10. Ok, you want to think "he's basically a homeless fishing bum, he's got the skills and he loves hunting". If I was new to alone I'd say great, he's going 50+ days. Nah bae, I've been done this road before. He's gonna get bored and hurt himself or bounce 40 days in. This is classic memory collector bullshit. He's gonna check a list of bushcraft projects and when it settles into "fish 10 hours a day, build a fire, starve and drink water" he'll tap. Also, his shelter is catastrophically bad. He's already started 1 rebuild and it's not any better. He said "he's gonna dub it" which is apparently homeless speak for "do a crap job".

Sarah (Fishing Lodge Owner). 6/10. +1 for the job, +1 for where she lives, +1 for hard face. -1 for gut feeling. She seems to have done her research, no real issues with her gear. Haven't seen a lot of her, but she seems a solid 40-50 days. Without seeing more it's hard to judge, but a contender for sure. Also, iirc from the flight in, she has an AWESOME location on a v narrow strip of land wedged between a goodly sized like and a river. She will have fishing options galore where people near smaller lakes might struggle once freeze up happens.

Isiah (Game Warden with a Stupid Hat). 1/10 -1 for stupid hat, -1 for face, -1 job, -1 military training, -1 for too family focus, -1 for American South. Apart from the guy that stabbed himself, this guy is the obvious "we put him here to have a cute, funny guy that goes home in 3 weeks so we can focus on the 'ard people". Look, I get it. You want a hat the keeps the rain off and provides a little warmth/shade and is durable. But this hat just SCREAMS "person playing Bear/Ruark/Capstick".

Setting that aside, he gets dinged for his job (outdoorsy, but not reallllllllllllyyyy involved in hard living or useful skills). Dinged for moping about his family early. Dinged for being from the American South (see above). Dinged for military survival training. I call 'em like I see 'em, people with military survival training DO NOT DO WELL on this show. I think the problem is it's just taught at a cross purpose, and they end up too caught up in the SERE/military mindset, vs "have you tried just sitting on the edge of a river with a windbreak and a fishing rod for 30 days?". He's gonna run through his little tricks, do some bushcrafts, make some memories and tap out. He brought all the crap a bushcrafter would, but have we seen him digging in a bitching shelter with the shovel? NOPE. Maybe he'll dig deep and find something to amaze me, but no. 21 days and out as soon as starvation sets in (if that).

Note on Bows: OK, so there are 4 relevant types of bows for Alone. Selfbows, longbows, recurves, and deflex/reflex longbows. Selfbows are what happens when you take a stick and remove everything that's not a bow. The remaining bows all use fiberglass or carbon fiber layers for a substantial portion of the power. Longbows are bows where the string doesn't touch the bow except at the very ends when strung. Recurves the top 1/3rd (or so) of each limb is bent back so it stores more energy, the string will lie along the limb when strung. Deflex/reflex longbows are between longbows and recurves, but are usually technically longbows.

Recurves are the fastest of the trad bows, but are difficult to string/unstring, are a little heavier to hold and (as they "stack up" a lot faster) are somewhat more difficult to shoot at 80% draw where you just point the arrow straight down your eyeball at something. This is how a lot of people shoot small game, with a "cut past center" bow (where the arrow goes straight through the centerline of the bow) doing this lets you no-thought drill small game. But, with a recurve, it can be a little bit more difficult to do. I think this is part of the evolution towards longbows.

Deflex/reflex longbows have limbs that are shaped to bend back enough to store more energy, but not so much as to become a recurve (usually, although some are realllllyyy close and it depends on how long your string is). They are (in some ways) the best of both worlds, but require a little more skill in construction and there are a TON of new variations on them as it's the newest/very hype style of longbow. OTOH sometimes the limbs hinge/snap/delaminate in harsh conditions and there is no way to knowing until you get to -30F. The deflex/reflex part of the limb is a massive stress riser (concentration of stress) and any flaw in the bow's construction will doom it. The speed is probably worth it.

Longbows don't have string to limb contact. They come in a lot of shapes/sizes. A weird thing about bows is that the LONGer the bow, the slower it is at a given draw weight. A 75 pound longbow might shoot as fast as 55 pound recurve. Even with the best of modern materials, this is just a fundamental thing about springs and cast (how fast the tips return on release) and leverages. Longbows are very light in the hand and forgiving to shoot across a range of draw lengths.

[5hout]

I think the shift to longbows is mostly driven by the kind of people that are going on the show, the eyeball shooting and the fact that they are very much the in-thing at the moment for traditional archers. Recurves are very much out/not as cool and people are doing a bit of a "geared lifting" vs "raw lifting" thing where they all ran to longbows and went "but I want the speed of a recurve" and are pushing materials/designs to get something as light as a longbow, but with recurve speed.

Note on bow speed: Speed = flatter shooting = put tip on target and adjust up 1 tip for long shots and down 1 tip for close shots (gap shooting). A slower bow might require you know the distance of your target to within 1 yard, a faster bow 2 yards and a really fast bow might allow you +/- 4 yards.

Notes on Small Shelters: This season's trend (so far) is "I want a small shelter so I can heat it easily". IMO this dumb, and very much driven by people being dumb and taking the wrong lessons from previous season. They seemed to have combined "people get off building a giant shelter then tap out when finished (when exhausted)" with "it's gonna be super cold and people with in-shelter fires last way longer b/c they don't let you take a fancy sleeping bag + low metabolism = cold" to "build small shelter".

What they are forgetting is a few things. First off, a small shelter with a fire will be a smoke filled hellscape all of the time. You simply will not be able to get a good draw and clear the smoke. Second, if you cannot stand up (mostly) and stretch a bit you will go insane and tap. Third, it's not shelters that are hard to build, it's walls. Don't build walls, take a note from previous stone-age housing techniques and build using insulated roofs. Snow weight concerns are very real, except wood is super strong and they seem to be confusing the problems of trying for 16 foot spans with 8 foot spans.

Given the constraints of the area I'd like to see some rocket stoves dug into hills using trees hinge cut for pillar/beams with a saw and shovel as main tools. I'd settle for people building longhouses/similar (shorthouses?) with dirt around the outside and the fire located somewhere safe. So far the shelters are ALL bad, so if no one starts on something sane I'm going to wonder if there's an undisclosed rule change or something.

Casting: They did really good, a lot of people in 40+ range, a few funny people top tap out early and no obvious "ahh yeah, one of these 2 people wins unless they don't get a large animal and someone else does".

I'll be interested to see if this is first season where someone shoots a large animal and loses. People are hunting super early, how the heck are you storing a moose in super-humid, above freezing conditions? Smoking? Maybeeee, but gonna be hard. Jerky? idk, so humid. Buried in a pond? Natives did it, but IDK if I could bring myself to eat it, plus you need the right soil conditions.

[5hout]

Episode 3:
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Lord of mercy, you have cast down your light upon this humble sinner. When that weak voiced/faced librarian with the terribad worst shelter in years started STACKING pike I thought I was doomed. Ok, he went home before my guess, so I thought TOO much of him, but holy heck to go home day 8 WITH A PILE OF FISH. I understand casting puts 2-3 fun people to watch flounder/get emotional, 2-3 hardcore people and fills the rest out with could go either way. If they wanted it would be 10 backcountry hunting guides with no living families who've spend years alone in a tent slowly starving anyway. But damn Peter, you've gotta have some more gusto.

Still did way better than PMA/Positive Mental Attitude guy though!

Dub's gillnet is a travesty, but it did work. It's not some law thing b/c other people have made right proper (larger, better shaped) gillnets, so it's just Dub "Dub'ing" it. IDK maybe his spot will conquer all crap gillnet ills, but we'll see.

Isiah's new shelter build is actually pretty solid. I have some concerns about "what if it rains" b/c it looks like he's in a wash/gully that will fill up during the rain. The thing is doesn't seem (on these glacially trashed river delta) like there are great spots to dig into hills just lying around and he's saved a TON of digging with that spot so it might be worth the risk esp as in 3D it might be more apparent this isn't an issue. I would have liked to see him use the standing trees a little more vs digging post holes, but so far I'm impressed. Also, at this moment it looks like he's building walls not angled roofs, but either way it's pretty solid. The next 2 tests for him before he really ups himself in my eyes are:

1. Finish shelter and have the guts to stay post-shelter-finish-exultation.
2. Fireplace design (which is crucial from a safety/not burning your shelter down perspective (as we've seen) AND wood efficiency).

Right now he seems on track to be a standard "builds imitation rockhouse and goes home 2-3 days after", but he's made some solid calls on energy expenditure and maybe he'll prove me wrong.

Everyone else seemed to just be keeping time/catching some fish or squirrels and waiting till stuff gets hard. I suspect (as discussed above) this location is going to brutally shift from "pretty easy cuz fishing" to "Oh damn this is brutal" with the partial freeze up.

[Hardartery]

The wife and I love that show. I have to say that everything you put in your predictions sounds like the same stuff I think every season, I have to say I agree totally with you on that. A bad shelter North of the AC is a rough place to be when shit gets real.

[5hout]

Notes on Small Shelters: This season's trend (so far) is "I want a small shelter so I can heat it easily". IMO this dumb, and very much driven by people being dumb and taking the wrong lessons from previous season. They seemed to have combined "people get off building a giant shelter then tap out when finished (when exhausted)" with "it's gonna be super cold and people with in-shelter fires last way longer b/c they don't let you take a fancy sleeping bag + low metabolism = cold" to "build small shelter".

What they are forgetting is a few things. First off, a small shelter with a fire will be a smoke filled hellscape all of the time. You simply will not be able to get a good draw and clear the smoke. Second, if you cannot stand up (mostly) and stretch a bit you will go insane and tap.

I'm still on the fence here with the small shelter performance. Obviously some of them went very deep, but at the same time we only had 1 person medically pulled this season and the final 3 non-winners all got in their heads and tapped out. IMO, maybe Timber/Dub last longer with a bit more space (Especially Dub, his was so small once you've got 20 hours of night time... yeah idk man). The winner had a small shelter, but also built a windbreak/sitting area outside and seemed to spend a goodly amount of time just chilling in his outside sitting area with a largeish fire possibly overcoming the small space/trapped mental hit.

Third, it's not shelters that are hard to build, it's walls. Don't build walls, take a note from previous stone-age housing techniques and build using insulated roofs. Snow weight concerns are very real, except wood is super strong and they seem to be confusing the problems of trying for 16 foot spans with 8 foot spans.

I will note that the final people all had very high roof to wall ratio, very good/energy efficient builds.

Dusty (Arkansas Hillbilly/Welder) 7/10. He's got a good face for this, he's def spent some time outside/living hard and should be acclimated to the shit. Welder is +1 for sure. OTOH people from the American South still living there haven't done great on Alone. IMO, the transition to "frozen North" is harder than a lot of them are prepared for. So far his clothing looks a little thin, but who knows what is packed. Haven't seen a ton of him yet, but he seems a solid 50 day person.

I said solid 50 days, he made it 10 days before stomach pain made him tap. Continues the trend of American South looking strong and doing not-great. It's hard to say "this was b/c he's from the south" (vs the people that get cold and tap), but something about the totally different environment doesn't suit them. Def a miss-read on the 7/10 rating.

Michela (Cree-Metis "Adventure Guide") 6/10. If she was a hunting guide, it's be a +2, but she's an adventure guide so it's -1. It seems like what she actually does is provide native skills education to yuppies, vs wandering off into the backcountry to shoot stuff and drag it back. That said her life story is (so far) a solid +1 and her gear seems like the right balance of "bought top of the line stuff" vs "stuff I'm used to using in these conditions". 40-50 days, but she might get stronger as it goes on.

She went 18 days. I think I should have trusted my instincts more on this, the adventure guide/yuppie education stuff was her downfall. She def was not prepared to grind at all.

William (Fisherman) 7/10. +2 on the job, grew up in the backwoods and seems appropriately work hardened by life. Gear choices are strong and plays into his theory/skills (i.e. fishing ahoy). His current structure is a bit iffy, but the competition is young. Solid 40+ days, but I do question his mental a bit.

I rated 2 people 7/10 and one of them won, so calling that at least a partial win. He demonstrated how important just being able to KEEP ON TRUCKING is in this competition. Lost a ton of food, kept getting more. Lost food, switched up his storage. Just kept on on not pushing the tap out button to win. Build a good amount of stuff (without doing too much building stuff). I think the offshore fisherman experience work hardening was so important here. IDK if he'll enter into the pantheon with Roland, but he was rock steady on day 1, 10 and past 80, so damn. Just no decline in his mental state across almost 3 mines.

Jake (Prof. Falconer, Std Issue Idaho Man circa 2024). 3/10. This might be unfair, but he's looks way too much like someone asked an AI to make an image of strong Idaho resident wearing 2024 clothing and this what popped out, so -1 for that. -2 for his job (used to be a professional falconer and now seems to be some kind of tradie). Look, it's a cool job, but like it provides none of the skills and it's not like he can bring one of the birds with him. Divorced dad fighting to have money for his kids could cut either way on the mentals. I'm betting he goes 30 days. No Ferro Rod is one of those "I'm being cute" choices that sounds good, but god damn the first thing old timers had after knife and gun was flint/tinder. I get they were a lot more mobile and in theory you should be able to build a fire and store embers/charcoal/blahblahblah, but damn it's a huge risk. Also, he lost his fishing line super fast, so IMO he's gotta clock on him). Ice fishing without a line, plus the emotional toll of losing it, plus wanting to performatively "do bushcraft" vs grind it out all cut against him.

On one hand, pulled for medical, OTOH pulled for medical at 21 days for bowel obstruction = not eating enough/the right foods and a lot of that (IMO) was b/c instead of fucking grinding his food out he was building cute stuff.

Dub (Homeless Man) 4/10. Ok, you want to think "he's basically a homeless fishing bum, he's got the skills and he loves hunting". If I was new to alone I'd say great, he's going 50+ days. Nah bae, I've been done this road before. He's gonna get bored and hurt himself or bounce 40 days in. This is classic memory collector bullshit. He's gonna check a list of bushcraft projects and when it settles into "fish 10 hours a day, build a fire, starve and drink water" he'll tap. Also, his shelter is catastrophically bad. He's already started 1 rebuild and it's not any better. He said "he's gonna dub it" which is apparently homeless speak for "do a crap job".

On one hand, he went 80 days and I sat 40, so I was wrong about the bushcraft => bored => home. OTOH he had plenty of food over the course and went home not starved b/c he got bored/went crazy in his tiny POS shelter. This show is about your brain, and you've gotta find some way to redirect yourself from thinking too much and pushing the button. He looked like a "bushcraft is my anti-thinking" person, but was not. OTOH, he never accounted for "wtf do you do sitting there for 20 hours" problem and then thought himself home.

Isiah (Game Warden with a Stupid Hat). 1/10 -1 for stupid hat, -1 for face, -1 job, -1 military training, -1 for too family focus, -1 for American South. Apart from the guy that stabbed himself, this guy is the obvious "we put him here to have a cute, funny guy that goes home in 3 weeks so we can focus on the 'ard people". Look, I get it. You want a hat the keeps the rain off and provides a little warmth/shade and is durable. But this hat just SCREAMS "person playing Bear/Ruark/Capstick".

23 days. I guess I was off by 2 days, but lol did he exactly match his image.

Sarah (Fishing Lodge Owner). 6/10. +1 for the job, +1 for where she lives, +1 for hard face. -1 for gut feeling. She seems to have done her research, no real issues with her gear. Haven't seen a lot of her, but she seems a solid 40-50 days. Without seeing more it's hard to judge, but a contender for sure. Also, iirc from the flight in, she has an AWESOME location on a v narrow strip of land wedged between a goodly sized like and a river. She will have fishing options galore where people near smaller lakes might struggle once freeze up happens.

42 days, I predicted 40-50. Solid here. I think she did a good job generally, but either her location sucked for fishing despite looking awesome or she couldn't connect for some other reason b/c she basically starved out. One trend to pick up on here is that the more you can find non-meat foods, the more you're going to have health problems. Idk if it's just b/c the gutbiome isn't used to them or what, but seems a modestly strong correlation between too much foraging and going home with random pains.

Peter (Librarian) 3/10. I thought he was going to say he was a teacher based on his face/gear/voice, but then he said librarian and it got worse from there. Ok, so far Peter's voice and face are weak AF. His job is an automatic -2 points. But the worst thing is he brought a fucking shovel and didn't use it to make his shelter. I mean, he used it as a hand axe, but the reason you bring a shelter is to build Rockhouse 2.0 or similar. I realize his area is pretty flat-ish, but fuck man. His shelter is crap. Maybe he builds a 2nd shelter, but it doesn't sound like it.

8 days lol.

Timber (Cult-Raised Humanitarian) 6/10. I don't know what to make of him, but he gets a -1 for sure for coming into the competition very skinny. OTOH being raised by an anti-government cult off the grid is probably a pretty good lifestyle prep, and he spends a lot of time in developing world for his job so that's like a +2. I'd say solid 50 days, but he's so freaking skinny. If his fishing/hunting/trapping luck holds maybe he really can go the distance, but he seems a strong candidate to literally starve out in 40 days.

Fuck. You. Timber. There is NO WAY he didn't harvest the most calories in Alone history. Then, instead of boiling his jerky till soft and eating all his fish and cruising to a win he started leaving food out for the animals (fuck you) and basically dishonored his kill by being a complete jackass. Also, his reasons for going home were terribad stupid. "I don't want to win money b/c then people I help might want it" OR, crazy idea, use it to help your family and no one in Africa is going to know you have/had it anyway. "I'll build that house someday" YOU TAPPED OUT WITH A FUCK PILE OF FOOD ON DAY 83 and cost your family college + house + retirement savings.

Look, I like William. Also, it's kinda cool to see someone win a series despite someone else getting a moose. But, seriously, fuck you Timber. Moose + fish + more fish + rabbits + just piles of food and you go home b/c of loser self-talk bullshit.

You go on alone to test yourself and win life-changing money for your family. They aren't picking middle class/upper middle class people that 300k after-tax money is a nice help to (generally, and when they do they don't go far). These are people where you get the impression that the 300k is a doubling or tripling of their net worth, if not more and so it is brutal when suddenly the self-talk goes from "we NEED this to have a safe home to go back to/retire to and stop going to war torn areas all the time just to get by" to "well does many even help people?".

Timber, great counterargument for the concept of donations.

[5hout]

So apart from "William Awesome, Timber Sucks" I think what I learned this season was:

1. You must be able to avoid loser-talk via staring into fire while sitting up.

2. Stabbing yourself with arrows is bad.

3. Innovation on food storage is vital. Many, many, pounds of food lost to rot/mice/animals this season. I think one issue people have is they look too much to native storage methods, but without fully understanding the exact use cases for them. I am NOT saying I understand them, just that I don't and they don't and it's causing issues.

4. Refined understanding of why Bushcraft = loser. At the moment I think the problem is that a key part of the winner mentality is understanding you have limited agency and that work only helps, but does not cure, this lack of agency. The bushcrafty people seem to think work + knowledge will solve problems, and when the problems aren't solved (especially the boredom problem) they tap out. Note the correlation between finishing musical instruments and leaving (for example) (Timber keklol). The correct attitude is "I'm going to keep on trucking. I'm going to do enough stuff to bring food in, stop boredom, save energy, but I don't expect it to work well and I must endure this". Too many bushcrafty people can't handle when the projects don't solve issues/relieve bordom.

5. WTF SNARE ON A STICK META. I look forward to seeing people try and snare gamebirds on sticks like William and failing over and over again. Clearly this is something he's practiced. This is a great example of a positive bushcraft thing. It takes almost no energy, saves arrows, works and allows knowledge to help you get food. At the same time it's not "I spent 5 days crafting a shitcanoe that also ruins my tarp" or "I built some super clever station to solve X problem" but then it still is a problem.

6. Ice fishing continues to be very tricky. I'd like to see a little more windbreak sled action as it probably falls into the correct bushcraft level of very little time/energy needed to have a chair and minimal windbreak on a 2 runner sled.