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View Full Version : Which essential bushcraft skill do you lack?



GalaxyRider
11-10-2012, 08:35 AM
OK fess up. Which bushcraft skill is your weakest suit?

For me it is the recognition of many plants. I read about the different types and their uses, then when I get outside they all just look green and leafy!

Anyone else have a bushcraft Achilles heel?

Humakt
11-10-2012, 09:07 AM
I'm exactly the same as you.

paulthefish2009
11-10-2012, 09:28 AM
Not to bad on small plants,it's trees I struggle with along with fungi. Paul

JonnyP
11-10-2012, 10:09 AM
Tracking

f0rm4t
11-10-2012, 10:51 AM
Tracking
Map & Compass
Plant ID
Birds & Wildlife
Hunting
Fire
Hiking
Shelters
Water Purification
Wild food


However! Talking bollox sat around a camp fire with a hip flask of good cognac is something I'm a professional at! ;)

paulthefish2009
11-10-2012, 10:56 AM
Tracking

Yeh good one Jonny,I've never even tried to track something,quite good at spotting rabbit runs and deer lay ups though. Paul

AL...
11-10-2012, 11:07 AM
Fungi ID

Cheers
AL

Roadkillphil
11-10-2012, 11:34 AM
Fungi ID

Cheers
AL

Yeah, me too. I know a couple but I see loads out and about and I'm always left wondering if theym edible or no.

Silverback
11-10-2012, 11:36 AM
Fire by friction
Fungi id

ian c
11-10-2012, 05:29 PM
I would say that i am useless at ID plants, fungi, and most wild foods but try to remember things when shown to me as i find it easier when someone who knows what they are doing shows me what to look for.

fish
11-10-2012, 07:02 PM
fungi , plants, flint knaping,basket weaving.

FishyFolk
11-10-2012, 07:17 PM
Plants - I have not got a clue, not very interested either. Only know a few berries + dandelion and stinging nettles. I have no clue about trees either...I know birch, rowan, spruce and pine...That's it. I could identify an oak to I guess, but they do not grow here.
Fire by friction. My stick does not even get warm....and then there is the whole punk wood issue!

Kernowek Scouser
11-10-2012, 07:38 PM
Identifying wild foods and catching live food are my weakest areas.

As I'm allergic to mushrooms, I don't even bother to try and identify fungi, as they are all evil as far as my digestive tract is concerned. And I think I have wild plant blindness as most green stuff just looks like a thistle or a mint leaf to me.

I can happily skin, gut and prep something someone else has caught, but the only meat I can gather myself, is the kind that comes in either a tin or vacuum packaging. Being heavy footed and an average shot seems to give my prey more than a sporting advantage.

jus_young
11-10-2012, 09:59 PM
Got to be plant ID. If I ever got stranded somewhere I would die of starvation within a couple of hours. Then I would also be very cold for those few hours as I haven't yet mastered fire by friction.

Mountain Goat
19-01-2013, 09:11 PM
All of them. :mad2:


Though honestly fire without cotton wool as tinder and identifying plants and fungi.

Ehecatl
20-01-2013, 11:44 AM
However! Talking bollox sat around a camp fire with a hip flask of good cognac is something I'm a professional at! ;)

Wot he said!

mark
20-01-2013, 12:54 PM
Tracking
Map & Compass
Plant ID
Birds & Wildlife
Hunting
Fire
Hiking
Shelters
Water Purification
Wild food


However! Talking bollox sat around a camp fire with a hip flask of good cognac is something I'm a professional at! ;)

I second that motion

sam_acw
20-01-2013, 01:29 PM
Fire by friction, axe work and I could always learn more plants.

treefrog
20-01-2013, 03:58 PM
I confess that I've never lit a fire by friction in my life; not enough time (or admittedly interest) to get into learning it. But here's my cunning plan:
whenever I'm out on a backcountry trip I take along 3 or 4 disposable lighters and some matches in a waterproof container, and I also bring a firesteel.
In the vanishingly remote chance that all my lighters and matches fail, and I can't survive without a fire, I reckon I've watched enough videos of other people doing it
that I can just figure it out on the spot. Wish me luck.

BJ
20-01-2013, 05:54 PM
I lack most of the skill but I make up for it in enthusiasm:)

bkemeny
21-01-2013, 09:27 AM
Fire by friction, natural cordage, flintknapping, plant ID, fungi ID. Planning to learn all of them in time :)

OakAshandThorn
21-01-2013, 05:45 PM
Definitely fungi ID. I haven't done friction fires yet :ashamed:. Tree and plant ID is no problem for me - I can identify nearly all native trees in Connecticut and southeastern New York. With shrubs and low plants, I'm decent, though it can get difficult in the winter months.
My tracking skills need to be improved, and to be honest, I haven't even bothered with trapping/hunting. It's futile with all the legal nonsense and the tangle of regulations in my state. If I lived somewhere with more relaxed hunting laws, I'd certainly give it a go, but definitely NOT in Connecticut.