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This can not be stressed enough:
Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:
Mantracker warns about dangers of GPS
By Greg David
2010-09-06
LINK
Terry Grant says map skills needed to survive in the bush
They’re mounted on the windshields of cars, strapped to knapsacks and are in our cell phones. They’re Global Positioning Systems, and Terry Grant is against them.
Grant, known for his television role as the Mantracker, believes there is too much reliance placed on those little boxes of circuitry that tell us how to get to destinations, saying they should be used in partnership with maps and compasses, not instead of them.
The cowboy-hat donning, chaps-wearing, horse-riding search-and-rescue worker is back for Season 5 of the OLN series, returning Monday with 12 episodes that find him all over the globe. Among the locales Grant visits this time around were the Big Island of Hawaii; Grande Cache, Alberta; the edge of the Mohave Desert in California; and Temagami, Ontario. The first episode kicks off in Ontario, in the deceivingly rugged woods surrounding Elliott Lake.
It is there Grant and local guide Phil Lemieux are tasked with chasing Canadian country rockers The Road Hammers. Lead singer Jason McCoy and guitarist Clayton Bellamy leave the posh hotel rooms and tour buses behind, getting tired and filthy while tearing through dense forest to elude the hunters on horseback. The duo sprint off from the start line in good time, sticking to logging roads and stopping often to refer to their map and compass (no GPS allowed here) as they attempt to cross 40 kilometres to the finish line in just 36 hours.
Within the first 20 minutes of the episode, however, it appears the musicians should have stuck to their daytime (and night-time gigs), as Grant and Lemieux bear down on McCoy and Bellamy and drive them into the forest. The move turns into the bandmates’ saving grace, as thick brush stops Grant and Lemieux cold.
“The country leans one way or the other, and that’s exactly what happened here,” Grant recalls while on the phone during a press day in Toronto. “I could make my way through the brush pretty well on Day 1. And on Day 2, the hills got big and rocky and there was a lot of deadfall. They ran through stuff I couldn’t even think about putting a horse through.”
One twisted ankle, bruised shoulder and cold night exposed to the elements and The Road Hammers have the finish line in sight, but will they make it before they’re captured? (I know, but I won’t ruin it for you. Heck, Mantracker might track me down and shut me up for good.)
At its core, Mantracker remains stubbornly the same as it was five seasons and 49 out of 70 captures ago. A flare shot into the sky signals the beginning of the chase, Grant is still accompanied by a local guide as he pursues two people from varying backgrounds, as they evade him. And he still gets upset when he loses to the prey.
“I get pretty cranky when things don’t go according to plan,” the expert horseman admits with a chuckle. “It’s just so frustrating sometimes that [the prey] can go where they want to and the country makes it restricting for me because I’m on the horse. It just makes me want to yell.”
What has changed is the growth in popularity that Grant has enjoyed. An Albertan ranch cowboy for almost 25 years, he gets a kick out of being recognized on the street by fans, and is amazed that they can spot him even when he’s wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and golf shirt.
“I can’t go anywhere without being recognized,” he exclaims. “I went across the street to buy lunch, and when I went to pay, the lady said, ‘Oh, I know you!’ And I had no hat on at all!”
Clearly his fans have picked up some skills from their favourite tracker.
Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act:
Mantracker warns about dangers of GPS
By Greg David
2010-09-06
LINK
Terry Grant says map skills needed to survive in the bush
They’re mounted on the windshields of cars, strapped to knapsacks and are in our cell phones. They’re Global Positioning Systems, and Terry Grant is against them.
Grant, known for his television role as the Mantracker, believes there is too much reliance placed on those little boxes of circuitry that tell us how to get to destinations, saying they should be used in partnership with maps and compasses, not instead of them.
The cowboy-hat donning, chaps-wearing, horse-riding search-and-rescue worker is back for Season 5 of the OLN series, returning Monday with 12 episodes that find him all over the globe. Among the locales Grant visits this time around were the Big Island of Hawaii; Grande Cache, Alberta; the edge of the Mohave Desert in California; and Temagami, Ontario. The first episode kicks off in Ontario, in the deceivingly rugged woods surrounding Elliott Lake.
It is there Grant and local guide Phil Lemieux are tasked with chasing Canadian country rockers The Road Hammers. Lead singer Jason McCoy and guitarist Clayton Bellamy leave the posh hotel rooms and tour buses behind, getting tired and filthy while tearing through dense forest to elude the hunters on horseback. The duo sprint off from the start line in good time, sticking to logging roads and stopping often to refer to their map and compass (no GPS allowed here) as they attempt to cross 40 kilometres to the finish line in just 36 hours.
Within the first 20 minutes of the episode, however, it appears the musicians should have stuck to their daytime (and night-time gigs), as Grant and Lemieux bear down on McCoy and Bellamy and drive them into the forest. The move turns into the bandmates’ saving grace, as thick brush stops Grant and Lemieux cold.
“The country leans one way or the other, and that’s exactly what happened here,” Grant recalls while on the phone during a press day in Toronto. “I could make my way through the brush pretty well on Day 1. And on Day 2, the hills got big and rocky and there was a lot of deadfall. They ran through stuff I couldn’t even think about putting a horse through.”
One twisted ankle, bruised shoulder and cold night exposed to the elements and The Road Hammers have the finish line in sight, but will they make it before they’re captured? (I know, but I won’t ruin it for you. Heck, Mantracker might track me down and shut me up for good.)
At its core, Mantracker remains stubbornly the same as it was five seasons and 49 out of 70 captures ago. A flare shot into the sky signals the beginning of the chase, Grant is still accompanied by a local guide as he pursues two people from varying backgrounds, as they evade him. And he still gets upset when he loses to the prey.
“I get pretty cranky when things don’t go according to plan,” the expert horseman admits with a chuckle. “It’s just so frustrating sometimes that [the prey] can go where they want to and the country makes it restricting for me because I’m on the horse. It just makes me want to yell.”
What has changed is the growth in popularity that Grant has enjoyed. An Albertan ranch cowboy for almost 25 years, he gets a kick out of being recognized on the street by fans, and is amazed that they can spot him even when he’s wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and golf shirt.
“I can’t go anywhere without being recognized,” he exclaims. “I went across the street to buy lunch, and when I went to pay, the lady said, ‘Oh, I know you!’ And I had no hat on at all!”
Clearly his fans have picked up some skills from their favourite tracker.