1- People overestimate their skills/abilities 2a- People overestimate their equipment 2b - People underestimate their equipment 3- Failure to train/test equipment 4- Overpacking Gear 5- Deny that you need certain skills

Life goal: never end up in Paul Harrell's anecdotes

"Are you fucking kidding me" is quiet possibly the most unexpected and perfect interjection in a Paul Harrell lesson

Imagining Paul destroying a 12 year old's imagined tomahawk mastery is just priceless.

I find it endlessly amusing to watch Paul pull item after item out of his coat like its a clown car.

Paul:...."and not make fun of the way I talk" Me: "Paul speaks better than 99% of the people I've ever met"

I don’t understand why he always mentions his “speech impediment” or the “way he talks” I get in his own mind it’s more noticeable for him but to me he speaks very clearly and explains things in such an easy way to understand, even if it’s a complex topic .

Most men, in my experiences, vastly over estimate their ability to fight unarmed, shoot moving targets and multitask while operating a vehicle.

The most important wildness survival gear is a pack of playing cards. If you get lost, just sit down and start playing Solitaire. Won't be long before someone comes up behind you and says: " ya know, you could put that ten on the jack.........

I can't understand how anyone could hate this man. When he prefaces a statement with "don't send me hate mail", my heart goes out to him.

A small group of people used to shame and ridicule me and my brother for wearing our seatbelts in their vehicles. My brother was killed in one of their vehicles as a direct result of him not wearing his seatbelt. He was only 17 years old. This group of people are absolutely dangerous! Thank you for another excellent video!

If your plan involves the phrase, "I'm going to find a ...", you're already behind the curve. "I'm going to find a piece of flint .." is the beginning of a plan that leads to a long, cold outing.

I'm a wilderness survival expert. I expertly avoid ever needing to survive in the wilderness.

"Fair warning all I'm about to do today is talk" *cracks knuckles* *sits back in chair* Phoo boy are we about to learn some shit.

Thank you for being willing to tell us about the "CPR incident" . . . and I'm sorry: it was clearly a painful story to tell. Sadly, that woman's reaction seems a lot like denial, in that she doesn't want to face the idea that she could have done something to help her late husband, if she'd known. It could just be too much stress and repressed guilt. Point #5 seems to be a huge factor in a lot of people's thinking, and I've long suspected that it even influences the teachings of some leading survival instructors: if they can't get use out of a particular skill or piece of equipment, they don't want to see anyone else try to use it either, even if every other instructor recommends it. This list may well be a good thing to keep in mind when evaluating survival instruction resources, and not just my own behavior.

“People who convince themselves they don’t need to be prepared often shame other people into not being prepared” Misery enjoys company

"Are you fucking kidding me" that's the first time the fourth wall talked.

The #1 mistake people make is not watching this video.

There's another mistake that I personally suffer from. I'm getting on in years, and there are skills I had and I was once proficient in wilderness survival. But over the years, I developed some disabilities and it's been a looong time since I've been capable of going out to stay sharp with much more than firearms. So I likely overestimate my skills because of things I USED to be able to do, and things I USED to be very knowledgeable of.

If Paul has kid(s), I would like to hear his "the birds and the bees" story.

It always amazes me how Paul can do a 20 minute segment in one rolling take. Truly an amazing speaker.

Paul: speaks elegantly Paul: don't make fun of how I talk

Paul, While I'm in NJ and have a snowball's chance in hell to effectively use a firearm in a defensive situation, I do also appreciate your fatherly insights. My wife is three months pregnant with our first child. The immense responsibility of not only nurturing a child, but also eventually teaching them about firearms is very important to me. I hope they are very outdoors inclined. Thank you for ALL the information you give us, gun included or otherwise.

This is the most useful survival video I have ever seen. The actual knowledge this man vocalizes is paramount.

You shouldn't carelessly drop the judge on the ground like that, the dung beetles will roll it away and you'll never find it

1. Clicks video 2. Sees that it's 54 minutes long. 3. Immediately clicks the like button. 4. Pauses video and makes some popcorn. 5. Set phone to 'do not disturb'.

Literally the best thing you can teach anyone when it comes to being in the wilderness is humility. Anyone who's been out there and done it enough has had an "oh crap" moment, I know I have. When you're out of cell range and relying on your own two feet and presence of mind to get you home safe the line between "great time outdoors" and "survival situation" is quite thin. Really enjoyed this video. Also wanted to say that picturing Paul scrunching his eyebrows at his friends out in the woods when they pointed at the rising sun as North is a priceless mental image.

I was teaching a class in map and compass navigation at a summer camp. We were sitting at an 8 foot folding table in an open field. We used our maps and compasses to set a course and then we compared our results. Everyone was headed a different direction! I hadn't considered that the plastic table had a metal frame. Metal really makes a difference to compasses.

Mark Twain once said, “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.” But I say, “A man who watches Paul Harrell has a big advantage over those that don’t because he now knows how little he actually knows. And that’s a freaking lot of little.”

I love how "the judge" just falls in the dirt and he doesn't even care to look at it or pick it up. He really doesn't like "the judge"

54 minutes of wilderness survival talk, taking into consideration every possible situation, variable and combination of variables, from the beginning of recorded time until now, and my #1 takeaway was "The Taurus Judge sucks!" And yet here I still am! You rock, Paul!

This is one of my favourite videos on this channel. Most of the stories and lessons Paul teaches can be applied to things outside of whatever subject he is talking about it.

Was that camera man outburst scripted, or spontaneous? It seemed rather organic.

I just watched him for 54 minutes and it went by like it was nothing, that’s how you know a good teacher and a good storyteller right there

Wisdom from my dad wraps this up well, “it is not what you don’t know that hurts you, it’s what you know for certain that isn’t so.”

Your final anecdote hits home for me. In my younger days, I was certified in first aid. I did this because I had been on jobsites where no one was trained in even basic first aid. As I grew older, and good Samaritan laws changed, I no longer kept up with my certification. But I still take the training when and where available. Just in case I'm in a situation where I may be the only person who can render aid. Now that I have grandkids, its even more important to me to have basic life saving training.

Paul has killer jokes on the low. It's impressive how he never laughs at the hilarious stuff he says.

I work in wilderness rescue. Our crews frequently include active and former military, and one of their most common sayings is "you never rise to the occasion: you sink to your level of training." The number of people you encounter in my field (both rescued and rescuers) who vastly overestimate their capabilities is appalling -- and a lot of our training focuses on making sure you, the rescuer, don't become another idiot who needs saving. Thank you for articulating this so diligently.

52:05 is the single best anecdote Paul has ever told

On the CPR class, your cameraman said exactly what I was thinking. If anything, she should have more reason than most to learn that skill. Especially in a free class, second only to paid training IMHO. I've been out of EMS for about 20 years now, kind of had my fill after a certain day in 2001, and the trip to NYC that followed, and a few calls after I got back. Too many things I can never unsee, to put it nicely. However, my wife and I have kept our CPR cert current for almost 30 years, and have used it a few times over those years. Both of us have friends and family members that are still here Because we knew what to do, either CPR or rescue breathing, when seconds counted, and help was minutes away. It's like learning to drive a stick, even when all you buy are cars with an automatic transmission. I had a dilated eye exam a few years ago, and had a friend ride with me, on the way to it, who volunteered to drive me back. Rode out in the F150, with a 5 speed, and he never mentioned not knowing how on the way up, and as his car was an auto, he didn't see the point in learning. Has to wait for my daughter to get out of class, and her driving her car over an hour, to get there, so she could drive me home instead. If you can learn it for free, or on someone else's dime, even if you never see needing the skill again, for God's sake man, learn it! Ended up reaching his wife the following week instead, and the next truck she bought was a stick. And he still, 8 years later, can't drive it.

Paul's green screen effects are phenomenal. It is almost like he is actually filming in the great outdoors. Amazing quality. ;)

Im starting to think this video could be summarized by “you’re stupid, just admit it” And that would be 100% right

Why would anyone make fun of how you talk? I think you're very well spoken. Very clear and concise. It is refreshing to have someone that's not rambling on about useless information and using regional slang that not everyone would entirely understand

Great video Paul, as always! I know this personality characteristic well, and it all boils down to a LACK OF HUMILITY. Without humility, one cannot be taught. One who will not learn will then start to cover their lack of knowledge and skill with defense mechanisms.

Wife: "Don't stay up to late." Paul: New video..

I love the “are you fucking kidding me”, and your subsequent response. That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking and it was kind of shocking to hear the cameraman say it. I love how organic the whole situation was and am glad you kept it in.

This video is a nice blend of practicality and philosophy from an excellent teacher. Keep up the good work.

I'm a real fan man, I enjoy your ability to be humble, observant, and explain plainly the limitations of our own perceived knowledge. You are the example of the way I believe people should teach.

Jeez, I don't think I've ever seen Paul be so passionate about something he gets angry and start swearing, it is honestly quite refreshing considering how serious the topic is in this regard. Keep up the amazing work Mr. Harrell.

Paul seems to be more concerned with dropping a match on the ground than that Taurus revolver.

Paul you have an extraordinary talent and way to make people realize facts over fiction. Keep up the good work!

Paul is truly a gift to KZfaq and humanity. The world needs more Pauls

Speaking of compasses, I had a friend who had been a geology major. He talked about a field trip where the professor stopped and had the whole class sit on a large rock outcropping. He asked people which way was north, and the students all took out their compasses and started trying to determine north. Almost every compass was pointing in a different direction. The students were all trying to fiddle with anything on their bodies that might be metal and might be affecting the readings. As they became more and more confused, he told them to look down. When they looked closely, they realized that the rock outcropping had large amounts of magnetite mineral. As the name implies, this mineral is magnetic. My friend said that in hindsight he is amazed that his compass needle wasn't pointing straight down. While I wouldn't expect even an expert survivalist to recognize rock that contains a high percentage of magnetite, the anecdote further confirms your point about being observant.

daniel boone was once asked if he'd ever been lost... he said 'i ain't never been lost but i seemed to have been confused for 3 days' ...

Paul is the best person to listen to on a long drive

Idk why anyone would make fun of the way Paul speaks. He's a very smooth and articulate speaker

Something fitting about the Taurus Judge slipping off the log and falling on the ground and he doesn’t even pick it up. I’m half wondering if he just left it there.

To quote Clint Eastwood “A man’s got to know his limitations “ 😆😆

1. Reliance on guns an ammunition 2. Lack of knowledge of fauna (plants for food and medicine) 3. Over-trusting/under-trusting other people. 4. Lack of general camping experience (includes building fire and aquiring drinking water) 5. The inability to foresee, Adapt, and Overcome.

The changing backgrounds/locations are helpful when I just want to briefly review the topics. Thank you to you and your crew. As to your final point, I have had to dissociate from and refuse to accompany certain people because they put me in jeopardy thinking that they are invincible. I even had a woman dump me because I was not "adventurous enough" because I recognized that she was ill prepared and ill advised. Some people don't know what they don't know, but those who as you say deny that they face any problems or shortcomings are the worst ones to come along for anything, their fitness level or prior experience notwithstanding. As you said, they first tried to shame me into being as ill prepared as they and then, when I refused, finally disinvited me from the wilderness treks. It's fine. I work for the Forest Service now, and I have learned to listen to my body's true skill level and not what my mind wants it to be. It also helped me learn how to tell who overestimates their abilities and eschew their company unless ordered to by my superiors.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" is exactly what was going through my head at the end of that last anecdote. The lengths people will go to rationalize ignorance is just completely astonishing.

" A man's GOT to know his limitations." Harry Callahan.

Paul Harrell is the father giving life lessons through anecdotes to the child; us. Thanks Paul.

1. Stay Humble and Know Your Limitations. 2. Understand and Respect your Equipment. 3. Learn and Test your Equipment. 4. Pack Appropriate Gear for the Appropriate Setting. 5. Embrace Learning Something that Might Save You or Others. Thank you for your wisdom, Paul.

To this day I'm waiting to actually here anything in the way paul talks that could be made fun of. Seriously, eloquent, calm, structured...

*Paul Harrel pops up in my recommended* Me: I tracked you EASY!

On starting a fire with a flint and steel.... I bought one once... just to try and see... that was the MOST aggrivating hour and change of my life... I FINALLY was able to get a fire started on a hot dry summer day in daylight with perfectly dry tinder in the end... but that sure cured my thoughts that it would be "no problem". I carry a torch lighter with me all the time now.

As someone who loves to camp and lives in a wet area I can attest its often hard to start fires even with the proper fire starting equipment (lighters punky wood ect)

“We all know that teenagers are really overconfident in their abilities to do things, like drive.” Deadly truth

That ending was insane. She could’ve kept him alive, and even after her husband died of something she could’ve done, she still denies training that could potentially save another life...

The Dunning Kruger effect is powerful, but it seems like some skills and/or topics are more susceptible than others, wilderness survival definitely being one of them. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experiences!

Paul is a phenomenal teacher! The reason why so many characters get into horrible / dangerous situations is because of an age-old, fallen humanity problem: arrogant PRIDE. As Paul says, 99% of people don't have the skills, but they're not humble enough to admit that to anyone! Most of them would rather die because of their stupidity rather than admit that they don't know something. This applies to all of life, along with survival skills in the wilderness. Sad, but true. Like the Bible says, "arrogance goes before destruction." This Divine principle never fails....like gravity! *Great instruction Paul; keep it coming. God bless!🇺🇸✝️🇺🇸

“ Pride goes before destruction, and a arrogant spirit before a fall.” Prov 16:18

I don't know if this is a good advise, but I'm goin to tell you what my dad says: "If you're going outside where you don't expect to find anyone, tell somebody where you're going to go. Don't do it, and the Search and Rescue team will find your rotten body after a week." His jokes are quite dark, but he gets to the point.

Two words for you, Paul: Speaker's Bureau. Highest regards.

“I’ll get there” We never had a doubt Paul

29:20 "No-one was hurt so evidently the seatbelts worked OK." I love Paul's heartfelt but backhanded complements.

The "Are you fucking kidding me?" was the moment I even realized there was a cameraman. 😂

lol...50:07 damn, love you more all the time. Paul has a unique way of getting the point across and making it stick.

As a result of childhood abuse I left home (Before my step-montser could shoot me) for the Western Montana Wilderness. I made it just over six weeks. I learned that surviving in the wilderness was like a University. Nature was the Professor and if I failed, I would die. Respecting Nature's rules goes a long way. I can find no fault in your words of wisdom Paul.

That ending story, you can literally feel the emotion coming out from Paul, that story was sad and makes me feel mad at the same time because I know people like that exist.

Paul, why I can understand you so easily as a German .... and I struggle all the time with my colleagues in the US or UK? I really want to say thank you for your clear pronunciation.

This was a very good presentation. I was a patrolman for 30+ years and investigated a lot of traffic accidents. Minor accidents are not normally drawn to scale and diagrams are drawn to support the written report. Senior officers were often responsible for checking the reports of other officers. I learned as much from this process as I learned from other sources, including my mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes I've seen is when they have to indicate North by using an arrow. I always told them that if they didn't use a compass, they should use an accurate map to determine nearer correct North. Drawing to scale diagrams is more complicated and are usually used for fatalities or other major accidents. One other thing I learned is when officers are on foot chasing a suspect but separated, it's better to use landmarks to give directions because most people have no idea where North, South, East, and West are...let alone Northeast, etcetera. I've seen officers end up confused and running full speed in the wrong direction. I made a lot of mistakes during my career that taught me to prepare, though we can't be prepared for everything that might arise. All we can do is seek information and learn from others and the mistakes of others and ourselves. One thing that we all need to keep in mind is that nobody knows everything about anything.

Case in point: Novices in a given field overestimating their own knowledge and/or abilities in said field is also known as The Dunning-Kruger Effect. I've observed it countless times over my almost 30 years on this planet and dear god does it drives me crazy. This was such a great and informative video Paul. Thank you very much. Keep up the great work and greetings from Australia!

Wild animals ask Paul Harrell for survival advice.

The 6 P's: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Paul is such a master at slipping in ‘the bird’ that it took three viewings before I noticed. 🤣👍🏻🔮

50:08 Paul flips off the camera "And two..." XD I see you.

I remember taking my 4 year old grandson to the river bed to dig for buried treasure... that was the day he learned “digging for treasure is hard work!”.

"are you fucking kidding me" Golden. It's what everyone was thinking and I think it's the first time I've heard that word used on this channel. You could really hear the annoyance and frustration in Paul's response too

One of the biggest gifts that my Dad gave to me was the use of maps. We were always going fishing,camping ,to an air show or just a road trip. He would start looking at the road maps days before we left . I soon wanted to impress my dad by studying the map too. By the time I was 12-13 he had me map our trips. Now 45 years later and even with the advent of GPS I still enjoy looking at paper maps or Google maps before I go on a trip. My wife says that I have an incredible sense of direction. But in reality I just like pre scouting. ;)

They way he explains things and the caidance of his voice makes it very pleasing to listen.

Few things to add I'm no expert but I work S&R in my area regularly and spend too much time in some deep woods 1 don't push yourself past the limits set before you. People say to walk the trail 5 miles camp and then repeat the next day then it's very likely that they are saying that because someone got caught out and suffered because of it. 2 if you think something is redundant (3 ways to start a fire, too much ammo etc) its not. Just last deer season a hunter went down with a broken leg and was able to fire shoots every 10 minutes because he was carrying what people told him was "too much ammo for a simple deer hunt" without those gunshots he probably would have frozen overnight. 3 people around you aren't responsible for you. Pack what you need and if you can pack a little extra go ahead, but never count on someone else to provide I've worked 3 cases that all had groups of people who split up and got lost then both had to be rescued. In one case we found 2 hunters 7 miles from each other both walking in opposite directions because "the road should be right here " 4 the road is never right there. That tree you remember is a different one. Sit the hell down and stop moving, you are going to make everything worse and if you didn't tell someone where you are then the most likely place we'll start looking is at your vehicle and if you've moved 2 or even up to 10 miles away in one case you're possibly making your rescue DAYS away.

I’ll never get over how much of an elegant and powerful speaker paul is. It’s all improved by how he has so much to back up what he’s saying so it doesn’t feel like he’s trying to sell me anything

If everyone had a father like Paul, the economy would skyrocket.

One of my favorite channels. I like the long format videos an dry sense of humor

I love it when Paul apologizes or warns us he's going to be talking a lot as if that's not the very reason we're all watching.... Lol.

oooo, that almost blade grab at 16:05 almost had me jump a bit. But then I realized that no knife would dare cut Paul...

Once again Paul thank you for the great content. And I just wanted to share with you what I keep in my shtf bag... First off I always keep a heavy wool shirt long sleeve, thermal tops and bottoms, two pairs of socks, one t-shirt, one pair of jeans, stocking cap, one pair of gloves, sharpening stone, bick lighter, waterproof matches, gun cleaning cloth, 22 revolver with 100 rounds of ammunition, tiny percolator coffee pot and, metal coffee cup, fork an spoon, sheath knife, pocket knife, compass, char cloth, small compact sleeping bag, some dried food just add water, flashlight with extra batteries, solar phone charger with charger cord, Est Wing hatchet, small sewing kit with normal and waxed thread, bandana, small first aid kit, canteen and lastly a good ole buckeye for goodluck 🍀. And I would also like to give you a little background just for the record I have been raised up way out in the country my entire life my great-grandfather my grandpa and my father all have taught me since I was old enough to sit still and pay attention the basics of keeping myself alive out in the wilderness because you never know what is going to happen you cannot plan for everything so it is good to have a wide array of knowledge at the ready. And with the items that I carry in my backpack I feel that in pretty well most conditions I can survive for a reasonable amount of time, it might not be comfortable and enjoyable but I could keep myself alive with my knowledge and skill set which are not the best by no means I'm not bragging at all but I feel confident in my abilities to keep myself alive for a short period of time and a worse case scenario. And I am always willing to learn new things I never tried to know everything and that is what is left to your videos so thank you very very much for all the great content and your time I value it very much and I hope you do not stop making videos with this kind of content so that we can continue to learn new things and things that we possibly have not thought of before, and never fails I learn something new every time I watch one of your videos. So once again thank you very much for your time I greatly appreciate it and I hope for more videos in the future

That first point is just the Dunning Kruger Effect at its finest.