Bushcraft - what?

[Moray Outfitting]

Ok did search and couldnt see anywhere else. So following on from the 'debate' endgendered over on the offered BDS 'Survival' course thread.

I've posted here rather than off-topic - but as always bow to wisdom of JayB et al.

So to open, what do the members consider Bushcraft to be and is there any relevance to stalking at all?

My perspective -

I look upon Bushcraft to be a broad pewed generic title now hung on a variety of outdoor pursuits. Basically stemming from what in my day was technically referred to as 'going outside and doing stuff'. I conceed Bushcraft is a catchier title . Better or worse that seems to cover from spending oodles on goochy kit ( lets face it not a Bushcraft specific phenomena ), driving to a woody layby, camping next to the car and drinking home brew through to full on being able to cope with 90% of outdoors issues with what you stand up in. I would specifically wish to leave out shouting at the camera in a panting voice whilst jumping off a cliff into a cup of water for no reason then finishing off by giving the School of Tropical Medicine lots to do by drinking Buffalo bile and Python wee cocktails.

Distilled down - for me - I translate it to be a name covering a wide range of skills relative to living, moving, working and being in the outdoors. I suppose you could liken it to learning German if you want to go a get the most from a trip through Germany. Not essential, but adds to the experience.

To me, every aspect of stalking is a facet of Bushcraft. You could equally call it Fieldcraft, Country Lore etc etc ad nauseum and lucrative telly contract. i think a lot of the hoopla about the subject stems from getting a bit too hung up on the name.

Is it Survival? Well under my all encompassing theory, survival techniques are an aspect of Bushcraft. Remember Survivor 2000? I spat my beer a measured 9 feet in the course of laughing as a wisened Shopshire 'Countryman' down the pub discussed it with another 'son of the soil'; and proclaimed - 'looks cushy to me, just leave me there two months and when you get back I'll be the one thats 22 stone and wearing a badger skin hat'.

More in my head, but interested in what other views are. Over to you.

 

[tackb]

bushcraft to me is the abilty to survive in a natural environment in what you stand up in and it's not about kit it's about attitude and knowledge basically the knowledge to start fire build shelter and find water and food , in this country it's highly unlikely you will 'need' your skills but who knows when and if your abroad for example ?

it's not about kit Gucci or not , it's about mind set and knowledge.

and remember knowledge is not something you can leave at home by accident !

 

[Wills]

Its all about sales. Trying to read a market and provide a service supported by a certificate (because everyone loves a certificate) in return for revenue.

Bushcraft - Ray Mears and his courses - like wood lore.
Field craft - this is taught by experience (success and failure) and spending time with truly experienced people (who are usually the quiet, get on with it type rather than the big I am..).

Wills

 

[JockStalk]

Bushcraft isn't a term I'd use, but definitely think there is a wide range of skills needed for stalkers to safely operate more than a few kms from the nearest decent cappuccino in the great british countryside. Safely operate also including the ability to successfully handle those situations that may be undesirable, but equally foreseeable when away from so called 'civilisation'.
If you add to the basics (of safe operation and resilience when things go wrong) the added spice of field craft, tracking, flora and fauna identification/ behaviour, wild food gathering etc etc then I guess you get to bushcraft?
Personally, I've focused on survival skills in mountain environments/ rescue skills alongside a healthy interest in 'country' matters and wild food (starting with what could be made into wine/ beer and progressing onwards from that natural starting point).
Bushcraft to my ear sounds a bit 'Henry Ryder Haggard'.
I'd put myself as a strong advocate of the skillset, but not so much the word 'bushcraft'. That might be pedantic, but then again, this is SD.....

 

[SimpleSimon]

I used to "teach" Bushcraft to children in a former life working for an outdoor pursuits company.
Usually it meant lighting a campfire and letting the kids run around the woods for a couple of hours, making sure nobody was maimed by (imaginary) bears or more likely their over enthusiastic peers, and then having hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows before bed.
They always seemed to have fun, anyway

 

[bowji john]

I think it is an awful term

Not that it lacks merit but it has been so abused (we can all think of someone) that it has become a victim of its over/miss use

A collective term for the knowledge and skills of our ancestors that have become lost with time or no longer seen as relevant (and yet many cultures still practice many of these skills)

But that would suggest that it is a collection of dusty old skills that have been wiped down, rolled in glitter, and served up to the uninformed by snake oil sellers (once again we can all think of someone)

They are not all dusty old skills though - as knowledge is forever growing

There is a tendency for us peddlers of the trade to serve up camp craft and kit as the sum knowledge available

But that is really doing 'it' a miss service

There is a mouth watering range of topics worth exploring ...

Ethno botany
Track & Sign - did you know that tracking is thought to be the first evidence of scientific method in early man (the formulation of an hypothesis - a bloody big xx went that way I think - I'll follow up and test my hypothesis - see if i'm right - if so I can learn a rule and apply that knowledge next time)
Forestry, re wilding, conservation, CODDIT, ride management
Plant and tree ID
Visual tree assessments and tree mechanics (see Dr Cause Mattheck - the body language of trees) - did you know that trees grow in such a way as to protect themselves from injury or weakness (see butress roots)
Primitive skills , bow making
Navigation, movement over land, river crossing, swift water rescue .....
4x4 overlanding
Bush mechanics skills
Hunting
Trapping - which leads us into mechanics and engineering

I can go on but I see eyes drooping already

It can be a long way from buying a sparkly new knife a six pack of stella and parking up in a layby

Over .....

 

[TOMMO.B]

Bushcraft if you want to call it that. is living with the natural environment. not surviving it. Giving respect to the out doors and all that lives in it.
It is NOT something you learn on a weekend course. for most of us it is how we have gone on for years.
Like i said on the other thread The mere word Bushcraft makes me think of the volvo driving hipster clowns with 15 gall of asda water and three grand of kit and no idea what it is all about. and the one guy with the bow. who was arguing with rangers that he had a right to take a deer with an arrow.
I used to get rabbits for a bloke who taught it but stopped when i seen the disrespect given to a creature by creatures.
If folk wish to learn then cool but take it seriously. and dont abuse the area you go to camp in.
ATB Tommy

 

[8885]

Bushcraft is what you lean as a teenager at disco and nightclubs?

 

[TOMMO.B]

Bushcraft is what you lean as a teenager at disco and nightclubs?

Id say

 

[JohnT]

I have a vivid memory of more than half a century ago, reading and re-reading Scouting For Boys. More specifically, the section on fieldcraft. If you are my generation you may recall the tales of Kim's Game, and the image of the Scout walking past the Tramp and registering the pattern of hobnails in his boots, enabling him to solve the crime for the police.

Yes, I know it was (and still is) all rather dated and contrived, but it did enthuse me to find out more and become proficient(ish) in the practise.

Years later, I was able to employ the techniques in S Africa, tracking a wounded animal to a successful conclusion. Massive self-satisfaction quotient.

The skills that we use are and always will be "Bushcraft", whatever label we would personally hang on it.

It is the smoke-and-mirrors, hocus-pocus, snake-oil sellers that have put a different perception on common everyday skills and application of knowledge so that we now feel uncomfortable calling our capabilities by that name.

As has already been said Bushcraft (Fieldcraft) and survival skills are two entirely different entities that have become confused due to those snake-oil salesmen.
We in ourz everyday lives have litrtle if any need for survival skills, we are too busy trying to survive modern life.

 

[VSS]

Bushcraft (in the UK) is a marketing term used by those people running "back to nature" corporate team building courses.
Fieldcraft describes the skills inherent to all true country people, used every day as they go about their business.

That's my take on it anyway.

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

modern bushcraft,,,sorry Andrew

 

[Apthorpe]

Bushcraft: The study of techniques designed to allow the modern urbanite to cheat natural selection by eking out a short or medium term survival in harsh and extreme environments which are otherwise lethal. Such environments may contain many unusual and hazardous features: (e.g. mud, plants, animals, weather etc.) and be notable for the absence of many of the basic requirements for sustaining life: (e.g. the absence of pre-packaged food, electricity, central-heating, ready availability of the Guardian, the internet and public transport). These techniques typically do not include developing the skill of instinctively knowing when to say "f**k this" and making your way at high-speed, cross-country to the nearest pub.

 

[mchughcb]

I love watching naked and afraid TV series. The amount of weight they lose in the 28 days to extraction is just awesome. Reduced to eating bugs , worms and shell fish. Not one of this experts as many episodes I've watched every hunted or trapped a single animal.

 

[kimh]

we as Stalkers are Crafty Bushmen and women that use our known skills in the country side pre and post pulling of the trigger

 

[Hayduke]

Bushcraft , kinda like Boy Scouts for adults who are loners.

 

[mchughcb]

Pretty good summation.

 

[Pedro]

Yes, it's being able to survive, if not prosper where civilisation hasn't reached. Lighting fires, gathering food, making a shelter, clothing yourself and all that stuff.

But is it not also a sort of knowledge you possess through observation and familiarity with your surroundings, allied to some common sense? The sort of countryside equivalent of street-wise for city folk. To be able to spot a deer where the person walking alongside you who has never been stalking would have to trip over it. The ability to watch birds fly out of a copse and know that there's a fox doing it's rounds there. Hearing the danger cry of magpies indicating where your bloody dog who won't come back to you is. Knowing that if you put a dog in that piece of cover, the pheasant will fly out in that direction. Looking at a dead rabbit and telling whether a raptor, a fox or some bugger trespassing has killed it. Even the knowledge to put on your waterproof coat when going out because it looks a little dodgy and you have looked at the weather forecast. Can't all that be part of bush craft?

 

[badbob]

bush craft is all about learning to live for months on end
on nettle and wild garlic broth
with the occasional woodlouse thrown in.

 

[mchughcb]

Yes, it's being able to survive, if not prosper where civilisation hasn't reached. Lighting fires, gathering food, making a shelter, clothing yourself and all that stuff.

But is it not also a sort of knowledge you possess through observation and familiarity with your surroundings, allied to some common sense? The sort of countryside equivalent of street-wise for city folk. To be able to spot a deer where the person walking alongside you who has never been stalking would have to trip over it. The ability to watch birds fly out of a copse and know that there's a fox doing it's rounds there. Hearing the danger cry of magpies indicating where your bloody dog who won't come back to you is. Knowing that if you put a dog in that piece of cover, the pheasant will fly out in that direction. Looking at a dead rabbit and telling whether a raptor, a fox or some bugger trespassing has killed it. Even the knowledge to put on your waterproof coat when going out because it looks a little dodgy and you have looked at the weather forecast. Can't all that be part of bush craft?

Bushcraft requires bush. Not a cultivated paddock with a hedgerow.