This guy is awsome! - Wild man Andrew Ucles

[JeuneKoq]

I stumbled upon this guy's youtube channel while searching for spear hunting videos. This is even better  !
He catches bare-handed all kinds of wild (and dangerous!) animals. Here are some of my favorite videos of his:

A quick presentation of his work: http://youtu.be/6gg2d9P6eHA?list=UUvAxJ9OyWcpQl7ft1XrZPRg

http://youtu.be/m-KlCjm2YQo?list=UUvAxJ9OyWcpQl7ft1XrZPRg

http://youtu.be/rUiPmHA7Xqg?list=UUvAxJ9OyWcpQl7ft1XrZPRg

Do you think it's possible to kill one of these animals bare-handed once you catch it, by strangling it or breaking its neck? Or is it too strong?

[JeuneKoq]

Also can somebody tell me how to directly insert a video into a post, instead of just having the link written down? Not so computer-smart unfortunately :p

[Projectile Vomit]

Wow, this guy is quite impressive. I wonder if at least some of these videos aren't staged though. You can break the necks of some animals, but larger animals that would be quite challenging. Their neck muscles are very strong.

[JeuneKoq]

What about strangling them, in an arm-lock kind of way? Don't know if it's scientifically accurate, but in the movie "I Am Legend" the main character strangles to death his soon-to-be-contaminated dog.

[Projectile Vomit]

Definitely possible, but as someone who's been training in martial arts for ~20 years I can say those strangles are harder to master than one might think. It's definitely possible to nail the perfect strangle on a large animal, and if you could you could render it unconscious in 5-10 seconds and dead probably within a minute or so, but boy you've gotta get your arm placement just right. And while I'm decent at getting the right arm position on another person, the anatomy of a human neck and that of a deer's neck, or other large animal's, are quite different. I'm afraid it would take a lot of trial and error, and the animal wouldn't stand there patiently letting me try different things.

[Neone]

Why would you need to kill a large animal bare handed?

[Projectile Vomit]

I think JeuneKoq asked because he's intrigued by the fellow in the videos and his ability to seemingly catch wild animals bare handed. It would make for a novel hunting method, if one could couple catching game animals with one's bare hands and then dispatching them as well. Not one I'd want to use, as after watching some of Andrew Ucles' videos I'm more and more thinking at least some of them are staged.

[JeuneKoq]

Eric is right, although I was thinking about animals more around the same mass as an average adult human, so no giant elks etc...

I understand why Eric would be skeptical about Andrew Ucles' videos' authenticity, although I personally don't think his videos are faked. But until I've seen it live it would be unwise to have a definite opinion about this.

If it is ever possible to kill a medium weight animal bare-handed I wonder if humans or pre-humans ever did it. Maybe it wasn't worth the risk...
How amazing would it be though 

[JeuneKoq]

It would also invalid (once again, as with the persistent-running hunting method) the argument that humans depend on sophisticated weapons to kill their prey.

[Projectile Vomit]

Even animals the size of a person can put up a fight. Although it's rare, grazing animals like whitetail deer do in fact kill people. Even hunters who shoot deer with firearms are sometimes still killed in scuffles with the dying animals. While it's certainly possible for a person to catch and kill an animal with their bare hands, as a species we've been using tools like spears, bows and arrows, and now firearms for so long that it's hard to imagine going back to hunting without these. Prior to developing tools, we were probably more scavengers than predators, stealing kills from other animals using our superior numbers rather than bringing down and butchering our own game.

Yes, we can run animals down. If you read thoroughly about that method of hunting though, the hunter always kills the animal with a spear or a knife, never with bare hands. Even animals that are totally exhausted can get a second wind, and all it takes is a well placed puncture wound from an antler, a horn or a hoof to cause a life-threatening infection in a person, or break a bone, or kill them outright.

[Projectile Vomit]

And yes, I'm deeply skeptical of Ucles' videos' authenticity. Four legged animals run faster than two legged animals, so I have a hard time imagining he can catch up to a deer or the feral goats without them being hampered in some way, or drugged. I watched a video he showed of him 'catching' a feral deer, and I refuse to belief it was legitimate. The deer trotted through the watering hole he was hiding in, and he dashed out after it having apparently been surprised by its timing. No way he caught up to it without it taking off like a speeding bullet. Deer run fast, far faster than any man over short distances. It's possible to run it down over miles and miles, but you need hot weather and open terrain for that, and someone trained to run marathons. Maybe Ucles is this man, but he's not given any indication of such on his website or in other videos.

[JeuneKoq]

Even animals the size of a person can put up a fight. Although it's rare, grazing animals like whitetail deer do in fact kill people. Even hunters who shoot deer with firearms are sometimes still killed in scuffles with the dying animals. While it's certainly possible for a person to catch and kill an animal with their bare hands, as a species we've been using tools like spears, bows and arrows, and now firearms for so long that it's hard to imagine going back to hunting without these. Prior to developing tools, we were probably more scavengers than predators, stealing kills from other animals using our superior numbers rather than bringing down and butchering our own game.

Yes, we can run animals down. If you read thoroughly about that method of hunting though, the hunter always kills the animal with a spear or a knife, never with bare hands. Even animals that are totally exhausted can get a second wind, and all it takes is a well placed puncture wound from an antler, a horn or a hoof to cause a life-threatening infection in a person, or break a bone, or kill them outright.

Agreed. However hypothetically speaking you could also kill the animal at the end of the chase with nothing more complex than a big and/or pointy rock, or a wooden club.
Stone it, or bash his skull open.

And yes, I'm deeply skeptical of Ucles' videos' authenticity. Four legged animals run faster than two legged animals, so I have a hard time imagining he can catch up to a deer or the feral goats without them being hampered in some way, or drugged. I watched a video he showed of him 'catching' a feral deer, and I refuse to belief it was legitimate. The deer trotted through the watering hole he was hiding in, and he dashed out after it having apparently been surprised by its timing. No way he caught up to it without it taking off like a speeding bullet. Deer run fast, far faster than any man over short distances. It's possible to run it down over miles and miles, but you need hot weather and open terrain for that, and someone trained to run marathons. Maybe Ucles is this man, but he's not given any indication of such on his website or in other videos.

Yeah I'm starting to get skeptical of this too. As one youtuber said, it would be nice if he wore a Gopro on his forehead or something when he chases down these animals. Otherwise it's difficult (impossible, really) to tell if this is for real or not. I might send a request on his website, just to see what happens.

[goodsamaritan]

Also can somebody tell me how to directly insert a video into a post, instead of just having the link written down? Not so computer-smart unfortunately :p

Remove the "s" in the "https" of the url of the youtube video.

Thank you for sharing Andrew Ucles... he is entertaining.  The production guys are great and the talent is also great. 

[JeuneKoq]

Got it, thanks GS  !

[JeuneKoq]

I sent an email to Andrew Ucles' main website a while back asking him to post video-recorded proof that what he does on camera is not fake. Quite understandingly there was no follow up to this. However I was looking for other bare-handed catches/hunts videos on youtube, and I found this:

Man Catches Hog with Bare Hands- Where to Find WILD HOGS

(relevant part starting at 1:15)

I highly doubt this is staged.
It's not as big a catch as a deer of course, but it shows how humans are capable of getting their hands on animal meat without the use of technology, if it ever comes to that.

Also notice how "calm" (more like petrified) the animal is. It makes you think that maybe the wild animals caught by Andrew Ucles weren't necessarily drugged. Oh well, one sees only what one wants to see. vvvv

[Projectile Vomit]

Despite my earlier skepticism, I currently believe that Ucles is legit.

It so happens that he's close friends with Laura Zerra, of Naked and Afraid fame, and Laura and I are pretty good friends. She's spent some time in Australia helping Andrew film for his YouTube channel, and insists that his catches are legitimate, although his camerawork isn't always ideal. I have zero reason to believe she'd lie to me about this, or anything else for that matter.

[JeuneKoq]

I have to admit, Im quite happy to hear that!
That's pretty cool that you're friends with her.

[Projectile Vomit]

Yeah, Laura's pretty cool. We met at the Roots School in Vermont. I took several wilderness skills classes there years ago when she was an instructor there.

[dariorpl]

and I found this:

The guy who was filming this, G4T, I know him, and he was involved in frauds of various types, including an organization which used politics as a cover to draw victims to their pump and dump schemes.

Since he's involved, I wouldn't be surprised if this was fake.

[JeuneKoq]

The guy who was filming this, G4T, I know him, and he was involved in frauds of various types, including an organization which used politics as a cover to draw victims to their pump and dump schemes.

Since he's involved, I wouldn't be surprised if this was fake.

All right, but come on, what would be the point of faking this?

He has nothing to gain from showing an anecdotal moment in a hunting video where one of his mates catches a boar on the fly. It would only be a waste of time and resources.

Nevertheless Andrew's videos seem to have a high level of credibility, as Eric pointed out, so if anyone wants to become the ultimate natural hunter, I say go for it!

[dariorpl]

People who defraud others in various ways are always on the lookout for new ways to do that. I don't know what he expects to gain, maybe fame and ad revenue?

In the past he reportedly claimed having suffered financial disasters and begged people online for money to subsist, and this happened on a few different, independent occasions, and with a different story every time; these apparently turned out to be lies.

And then later on he was working with Jonathan Lebed, who is to pump and dump schemes as Bernie Madoff is to ponzi schemes. After they got called on it by some of their pretend idols in politics and finances (people who's name and ideas they would use to attract fans to their pump and dump scheme), G4T (AKA George4Title), who was likely getting the shorter end of the stick with the business, split and came out and admitted everything (not that there was much to admit at that point, since his was the face of the company, and Lebed's was hidden)

[JeuneKoq]

Some people huh..Do you study finances by any chance? You seems quite knowledgeable on the subject. Or maybe I'm the ignorant one  What kind of sanction did G4T face?

[dariorpl]

I don't study, but I learn, yeah.

A pump and dump scheme is one where you buy a large portion of a very cheap company, then flood potential investors with recommendations to buy it, usually using the fact that it's already gone up (due to your buying) as a way to get more people to fall for it. They claim this company is going to be the biggest thing since standard oil or something. They advertise gains in the thousands or tens of thousands of percentual points, or more. This is the pump phase. Because so many people are being told to buy it, the stock goes up dramatically. They point to that as proof that they were right, and continue to pump it. When they decide they've reached the top of the pump phase, they quickly unload all their stock, this is the dump phase, then the stock plummets as everybody sees their gains evaporate and sells, but only after the scammers dumped theirs.

It's a fraudulent way to scam lots of money off of investors who are easily influenced by what they hear or read.

G4T didn't face any sanction, the SEC is now friends with Lebed and they allow him to run his schemes, he probably kicks back a fair amount to them. The SEC will only persecute honest brokers who are offering a better service than the big firms who pay them bribes and have their CEO's running the place, or writing the laws. Lebed is small by comparison, but because he is a fraudster, he doesn't pose a threat to the big firms. And he knows the way of the game and who you gotta shake hands with and give gifts to.

[JeuneKoq]

Thanks for clearing that up, Dariorpl