Bushcraft course, any recommendations?

[Midge_Fodder]

I've came to a point in my learning, where I would like to seek professional training. Until now I've gleaned information anywhere I could and everything else I've had to teach myself. It's been something I've been mulling over for a long time now, and I think I've got my heart set on it now. What I've found now though is that there are so many schools offering courses, I don't know who to put my trust and invest hard earned cash with. If possible could anybody recommend me a reputable course to go on?

[janso]

Much of a muchness I think... I've had dealings with Survival School before - cracking attitude and learning environment. Same to be said about Paul Kirtley at Frontier Bushcraft.
Ultimately depends on how far you want to travel!

[Midge_Fodder]

Distance not an issue tbh, woodsmoke is the closest to me though

[midas]

As previously mentioned.Paul Kirtly,Frontier Bushcraft.Been voted Bushcraft n survival Skills Mag top man two years running.
He spent ten years training with Ray Mears,who thinks very highly of him.He's pretty down to earth n will reply to your questions n take on board your suggestion.Give his site a look.has a lot of very interesting "how to"short video's too on his site.Think Ray n Bear be too busy filming or on their Jollies.?

[Midge_Fodder]

Wasn't Paul Kirtley one of only 2 people ever to pass Ray's instructor test. I've seen his site before and I'm impressed.

[Blood]

Watching this with interest, I've had the same dilemma but have recently made a very good contact with Richard at Original Outdoors down the road from me in Ruthin. About to book on a foraging 1day wander in May.

[Midge_Fodder]

I'm hoping to do a 6 day immersion course. It is right though you can only get so far on your own and then you need one in the know to show you the rest.

[Blood]

Totally agree and that's my very same plan. Gonna be at least 600 quid tho...

[Midge_Fodder]

Aye plus the travel costs eek.

[midas]

Wasn't Paul Kirtley one of only 2 people ever to pass Ray's instructor test. I've seen his site before and I'm impressed.

YES!.n got the "Coverted special Bushcraft knife"

[Midge_Fodder]

Stag horn, that's quite a knife. Ironically he went on to design his own.......

[TinkyPete]

Paul Kirtley was Ray's Chief instructor and he also set up most of Ray's courses in their main format. I have had some instruction from him and he is a great bloke and really down to earth, Woodsmoke is also one of the top schools in the country as well. At the end of the day it comes down to what you want to learn and how much you want to pay and how far you want to travel.

[Blood]

http://www.woodcraftschool.co.uk/courses/natural-history/the-polish-carpathians.html

[Blood]

http://originaloutdoors.co.uk/the_wilderness_living_course/

[Midge_Fodder]

That one in Ruthin looks great tbh

[Martin]

Whilst the ethos of Natural Bushcraft is opposed to charging for bushcraft tuition, we all understand and accept that there is a demand for such business and presumably a section of the community who are prepared to part with cash to partake in courses.

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to think carefully what it is you want to learn and try to find out if you will learn those skills any better on a paid for course than you could through trial and error or at a meet with like minded people. I can't believe that paying loads of money will give you any more experience but may provide you with some tips to speed up your personal journey.

Perhaps you could list here, the types of skills you feel you are lacking in? It may help you to see what it is you want to learn and to take it from there?

Martin

[Midge_Fodder]

Whilst the ethos of Natural Bushcraft is opposed to charging for bushcraft tuition, we all understand and accept that there is a demand for such business and presumably a section of the community who are prepared to part with cash to partake in courses.

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to think carefully what it is you want to learn and try to find out if you will learn those skills any better on a paid for course than you could through trial and error or at a meet with like minded people. I can't believe that paying loads of money will give you any more experience but may provide you with some tips to speed up your personal journey.

Perhaps you could list here, the types of skills you feel you are lacking it? It may help you to see what it is you want to learn and to take it from there?

Martin

I'm pretty egalitarian about things myself in a lot of ways, but it's more about consolidation. Realistically before becoming more active on the forum I've gleaned as info from as many sources I could. After basically nearly 21 years (yes I started at 4) I have hit the wall lol. I'm proficient enough with the fundamental basics, however I'm planning longer trips away. Call it a refresher and confidence builder. I'd also like to study the more advanced side of things.

[Martin]

I'm pretty egalitarian about things myself in a lot of ways, but it's more about consolidation. Realistically before becoming more active on the forum I've gleaned as info from as many sources I could. After basically nearly 21 years (yes I started at 4) I have hit the wall lol. I'm proficient enough with the fundamental basics, however I'm planning longer trips away. Call it a refresher and confidence builder. I'd also like to study the more advanced side of things.

My point is, if you've been doing this for 21 years there's not much they can teach you, is there? What, specifically do you think there is to learn that will be worth forking out £100's for? I don't believe that there is any magic formula or secret to bushcraft. It's about sharing and learning and trying stuff for yourself. I stand to be shot down in flames but I know I'm not alone in this belief. I would urge you to write the list of what it is you're searching for. It may help you to decide if it's worth £600!!

Martin

[Midge_Fodder]

My point is, if you've been doing this for 21 years there's not much they can teach you, is there? What, specifically do you think there is to learn that will be worth forking out £100's for? I don't believe that there is any magic formula or secret to bushcraft. It's about sharing and learning and trying stuff for yourself. I stand to be shot down in flames but I know I'm not alone in this belief. I would urge you to write the list of what it is you're searching for. It may help you to decide if it's worth £600!!

Martin

That's a fair point. Cheers for opening up the forum for dialog. Having other beliefs in direction is never a bad thing. Shug

[Rasputin]

Whilst the ethos of Natural Bushcraft is opposed to charging for bushcraft tuition, we all understand and accept that there is a demand for such business and presumably a section of the community who are prepared to part with cash to partake in courses.

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to think carefully what it is you want to learn and try to find out if you will learn those skills any better on a paid for course than you could through trial and error or at a meet with like minded people. I can't believe that paying loads of money will give you any more experience but may provide you with some tips to speed up your personal journey.

Perhaps you could list here, the types of skills you feel you are lacking in? It may help you to see what it is you want to learn and to take it from there?

Martin

I agree ! T^

[Midge_Fodder]

Mycology, not much of a shroom fan tbh, but a valuable resource. I never learned it as it seemed pointless as I didn't eat them.

Snow work, I fancy in the future heading for some boreal winter outings.

Primitive camp cooking. Moving away from using modern means to get the most from fires.

Flint napping and in general primitive tool making.

I also want to lace together my knowledge to consolidate it all. I don't know whether I'm alone in this but sometimes I just feel that I lack fluidity. It's the interlocking knowledge I lack mostly.

[leon-1]

It's unlikely that any one course will cover the aspects that you have just named. For flint knapping the likes of Karl Lee and Will Lord are the people you need to speak to. Primitive skills I would look towards Patrick McGlinchey at Backwoods Survival School.

I know other established instructors that would pay good money to get away on courses with Pat (actually, so would I). He's a good guy and I've never heard a bad thing said about a course run by him.

Mycology is a bit of a difficult one, there are regional groups that you can tap into, look into "Fungi Forays", if that doesn't work then the River Cottage courses I have heard good things about.

All things are interconnected, making cordage is linked with shelter and traps and trapping, in turn connected to fire and camp craft, campcraft is connected to tool making so on and so forth. Your probably not that far off, but you just don't realise it.

[Midge_Fodder]

Well if I look at it this way I'm not dead yet so I must be doing something right lol. I'm beginning to think it's just been a bit of paranoia of sorts. Never having much of a bushcraft social life, I'm unsure of my own skills and whether or not they are up to scratch. Possibly it's a lack of reassurance in it all that's the issue. I suppose I will just have to think about it all, and if I have £600 spare use it to get some new goodies and some flights.

[leon-1]

I don't care who you are, you can always learn something on a course. I teach the stuff and through research and the people I know and meet I am learning all the time.

Accepted beliefs in one year can change in another. What are the most effective firelays? Which knots can be tied one handed? How many uses are there for stinging nettles? One piece moccasins are easy to make, but are they the most efficient use of the leather? What is the best wood to make a bodgers mallet from? How good are brambles when made into cordage? What are the most efficient shelters?

The list goes on and on. The subject is vast and the more you look into it the greater it gets. Small fissures in your knowledge become vast chasms, especially when dealing with people that specialise in one subject (Wild Food, Mycology, Lythic Technology, Fire, Trapping and Tracking). You maybe very good at tracking in the UK, but then take that skill set to Africa, most of the time you won't have a clue what you're looking at, you can see it, you can see where it may have gone, but the what the hell it is?

[Midge_Fodder]

You summed up my problem there. I don't know it all, probably never will. Just trying to work out where to go is a problem in itself. It's when you run out of books, or that some topics aren't discussed properly and or get missed out completely that you miss it. That's why I've considered courses, a chance to get the missing pieces to the puzzle.

[luresalive]

I've been on a couple of mr mcglincheys courses and they are superb, though he doesn't lead all the modules himself but often has other instructors teaching various task, though he is always on site.. His knowledge is second to none and if you want to do it 'primitively' he's your man.. If you do visit him bring him some Jaffa cakes! To be honest I think if you're going to spend money on courses you need to do it with one of the big three , Mears, McGlinchey or Kirtley..

[Midge_Fodder]

Cheers for all the advice guys. It's really appreciated.

[TinkyPete]

+1 to What Martin said, and with what you are trying to learn I would say you may need seperate people to teach them as they can be very intense subjects with a lot to back them up. I did a course with a specialist mycologist and after it I came up with an idea because even they can not agree what is harmful and what isn't in a lot of cases because it can come down to indiviuals physilogical make up unless it is a puffball (all are no harmfull) or it comes from a supermarket beware because most good mushrooms have a bad alternative which can only fully be identified under a microscope which I do not cary when I am out and about (but I do have a good idea of a few mushrooms which are generally good to eat) I would take a very good guide which has detailed drawings and discriptions as well there are a few out there. For flint knapping you can go on a course and also look what is available on the internet to learn there are some good tutorials out there, and you can always practice stuff like arrow heads and the such out of glass.

Cheap flights can be had to Norway of about £30 on way with very good bagage allowance of 5kg hand and 20kg hold as standard with extra being avialable and very reasonable prices. I know I have done a couple of trips out there and last January I went out with a group of 5 of us who wanted to practice and learn some skills out there in a realtively safe and organised enviornment which we did, out of our group 2 had done some winter trips low level, I had done the artic course in the military many years ago as part of an old exercise and the other 2 were guys we had camped in normal places with and we knew we could get on with but had never done any winter stuff before. We did a lot of research for ourselves and got a good comprehensive kit list together and although we approached parts alone we all came up with similar kit which a lot was ex miltiary winter kit but came form all over the place and no 2 people had exactly the same kit. Afterwards we have our own ideas and came away with different lessons learnt.

[Paul De Fitter]

Primitive camp cooking. Moving away from using modern means to get the most from fires.




Step 1 make a fire, let it burndown to a bed of coals
Step 2 bung on a slab of meat
Step 3 eat it, if it tasts of carbon, it's too well done, if it is still bleeding, it's under cooked.
Step 4 try again

:rolleye: