What does Bushcraft mean to you?

[IBrown]

I have been on a lot of threads on this site and every time a question is asked about shelter, cooking, bags/rucksack, clothing etc.. it always seems to end up with someone name dropping about their expensive kit. I thought that skills such as building your own stove/knife etc were what bushcraft was about as anyone can just go to a shop and buy camping equipment, but being able to 'make' something out of nothing when the need arises seems to me to be a bushcraft skill.
Wikipedia descibes Bushcraft as,
I Quote "Bushcraft is a long-term extension of survival skills. A popular term for wilderness skills in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term was popularised in the southern hemisphere by Les Hiddins (The Bush Tucker Man) in Australia as well as in the northern hemisphere by Mors Kochanski and recently gained considerable currency in the United Kingdom due to the popularity of Ray Mears and his bushcraft and survival television programmes. Bushcraft is about surviving and thriving in the natural environment, and the acquisition of ancient skills and knowledge to do so. Bushcraft skills include; firecraft, tracking, hunting, fishing, shelter building, the use of tools such as knives and axes, foraging, hand-carving wood, container construction from natural materials, rope and twine-making, and many others. These are the kinds of skills well known to our ancient predecessors, many of which are still practiced today as an everyday skill amongst aboriginal and native peoples around the world"

The words WILDERNESS SKILLS pop's up everytime you look up the word Bushcraft. Expensive hi-tec tents, sleeping bags and other equipment makes you someone who camps out with expensive gear. Where is the Bushcraft in that. I go camping and hiking every year and have done for the past 40 years but I came to this site because I know nothing about Bushcraft. Although I believe in 'to each his own' surely the point of a site about survival skills should concentrate more on 'How to..' than on what expensive piece of equipment you can buy. Although this is an excellent site I am starting to get a bit disillusioned about the meaning of bushcraft and would like to know What does bushcraft mean to you? :campfire:

[Fletching]

I have some expensive kit, I have some home-made kit. I use either / or depending on what kind of experience I'm looking for on a particular trip. I understand the basic survival skills about shelter, water etc, etc. I don't think you can compartmentalise people into 'has expensive kit, so is just a camper' vs 'makes all his own gear, so is a true bushcrafter' groups. I've had army training and spent quite a bit of time out in the bush on ops. I guess, during that time I was truly reliant on the bush (veldt) and my meagre army kit, but did that make me a 'bushcrafter' then? I guess the answer can only be found if you head off for an extended expedition into a foreign natural environment with kit OR the knowledge to make whatever kit you need. As long as you enjoy yourself and are comfortable with your bushcraft skills and knowledge, whether or not you have Gucci kit or a hobo, it doesn't matter. :)

[klause]

I loved 'The Bushtucker Man' when i was a young man and my son loves Ray and Bear - It is good that this generation has good role models (better that our overpaid footballers for sure) and that our youngsters are being encouraged to venture into the woods with conservation in mind and not just to snap trees and leave litter. I personally think it’s about getting out of the house and getting my son off the estate where we live and into the woods.
Bushcraft has become very commercial but if that raises its awareness and gets us all outside then that can only be a good thing, can't it?

I too have both expensive kit, cheap and homemade kit all of which I love using (I do get an extra buzz if I’ve made it myself) and like Fletching I think it’s about enjoying the outdoors no matter what kit you've got.
I agree that it’s good to know how to look after yourself in the wilderness and I intend to learn as much as can over the years but the fact is I’ve only just started and would consider it foolish to go outdoors without the correct equipment - I'm not going sleeping under a field made grass blanket with my son and freezing our asses off, where's the fun in that?
This will be our first summer camping and practising bushcraft and I want us both to enjoy it safely.

DEBATE IS GOOD !

P.S. – Bushcraft courses are extremely expensive (as I am a single father of four) so this site and its various links are an indispensable source of knowledge to my son and I, of which we must take on board – go out and ‘PRACTICE’ – slowly and safely.

[Martin]

Firstly, I don't believe that 'bushcraft' exists as a thing, more of a personal concept. Secondly, I've done some thinking about this subject over the last couple of years and, when you watch either Ray Mears or the Bushtucker Man's programmes, they are frequently to be found in Land Rovers moving large quantities of equipment around the 'bush'. Their kit isn't cheap stuff, neither is it in short supply. Ray Mears' knives weren't made by him, nor were his cooking implements. He possesses the skills and knowledge to make fire from natural materials and so do I. He can make twine from nettles, and so can I. He can find water in hostile environments and trap food and prepare it for eating, and so can I. However, when Ray Mears pitches his tarp, he doesn't use natural cordage, he uses man made cordage that he has carried in with him. When Ray Mears ventures into the Outback of Australia, he doesn't do it on a rusty old push-bike because it's cheap and he doesn't do it on foot; he takes kit that is appropriate and safe and has back up just in case. When Ray Mears ventures into the Arctic, he doesn't do so with a woollen blanket for warmth, he wears the appropriate clothing and footwear for the conditions.

I could go on and on. I don't compare myself with Ray Mears, he has spent many many years building up his skills and knowledge and has made it a life's work. I do it at weekends if I'm lucky. When I go out, to practise some of these skills, I like to be comfortable which adds to my enjoyment (any fool can be uncomfortable). I also enjoy the company and companionship that 'bushcraft' has brought me. On certain weekends, I have 'survived' in just a natural shelter, with a knife, billy can and fire steel for company, on others I have walked many miles over Dartmoor with only 10 items in my kit, and on other occasions I have camped with all the luxuries I wanted.

In terms of expensive versus cheap kit, I chose to buy an expensive tent because it's very light weight, making it easier to carry, and will withstand a proper winter storm, making it safe when I solo camp in the middle of winter. Should I also have to buy a cheap tent just to take 'bushcrafting' so it doesn't offend people?? Similarly, with all of the other kit that I have spent my hard earned cash on, which is multi purpose. Should I buy an alternative kit which is cheap/second hand/military surplus just so that those who don't do much more than sit around the fire carving spoons or practising their bow-drill don't feel hard done by?

Please don't get disillusioned, it's just a case of 'horses for courses' or 'live and let live'. You have your idea of 'bushcraft' and enjoy it the way you want to as will others who have their own feeling of what it means to them.

Martin

[luresalive]

I think that Martin just said it brilliantly, especially about the landrovers and kit Ray uses, too many people have been blinkered into thinking it's a minimalist, must only have 10 items with me thing but that is as far from the truth as you can get and most definitely isn't bushcraft.

The word Bushcraft is bandied about too much today,and it has no real meaning in the UK, it's an australian/aboriginal term and should remain so, it's an all encompasing umbrella phrase to mean anybody doing anything out in the woods or wild places. Woodsman is too narrow a term as it relates to trees and doesn't fit if you spend time by the coast. We don't have any real wilderness in the UK so we can't use the term wilderness skills either, and if you say bushcraft to anybody they look at you blankly until you explain yourself. To be honest I think we need a new term that explains our hobby more effectively.

[klause]

To be honest I think we need a new term that explains our hobby more effectively.

Five trees and two bushes at the edge of our our estate frequented by drug addicts, alcoholic idiots and homosexual truck drivers craft !

[Bambii]

Martin, after that lengthy paragraph about you comparing yourself to Ray you then say ''I don't compare myself with Ray Mears'' Am i lost?

[Martin]

Martin, after that lengthy paragraph about you comparing yourself to Ray you then say ''I don't compare myself with Ray Mears'' Am i lost?

I was merely pointing out, obviously not very well, that to practise some of the skills in 'bushcraft' you don't need to be Ray Mears. As I went on to say, he has made the study of primitive skills a life's work, I have not and have no intention of so doing.

Martin

[luresalive]

Five trees and two bushes at the edge of our our estate frequented by drug addicts, alcoholic idiots and homosexual truck drivers craft !

Got the GPS co-ordinates??:p

[Roadkillphil]

What does bushcraft mean to me?

To me it is an ever evolving thing. I find with bushcraft, as in life also, it is best to walk the middle path. Too much in life do we humans create black and white situations and dilemmas for ourselves and reap only fustration from these seeds we sow.

To minimalise everything without enough knowledge and skill to provide for myself with little or no kit would be foolish and in the long term disastrous.
Also to take every last bit of gucci kit out with me would be expensive, cumbersome and maybe take some of the childlike fun I get out of camping.
When I learn a new skill which means I can ditch a piece of kit, then that is what I do, and thus my bushcraft evolves. Likewise, I feel that to purchase an item of kit that would enhance my experience is not a crime.
Unlike our ancient ancesters, we have mostly spent half our lives (usually less) learning the skills to provide for ourselves from the wild. They Had to do it from childhood. In our lives, to become a skilled metalsmith, woodsman, multi landscape forager, etc etc is improbable, so we must rely on others for trade to aquire tools, kit and knowledge for our hobby.

The question of what is bushcraft for me is not one that involves the calculation of how much or how little kit I use. I believe the answer (as with a great many questions humans pose) is different for us all and for me is mostly about the aquisition of the wide range of skills to be learned and more importantly the amount of pleasure to be derived from the sharing of this knowledge. I love to learn equally as much as I love to pass on what I have learned.

Hope this helps :D

PS apologies for the philosophical injection of existential path walking :D

[Fletching]

PS apologies for the philosophical injection of existential path walking :D

No apology necessary Phil, just give me your dealer's number. :)

[comanighttrain]

bushcraft is a set of skills which enable one to survive (and at some levels, thrive) outside of the synthetic environment we have. Examples would be of course shelter building, fire building and finding food.... It also inspires to do more with less and improvise where other would only panic. To be philosphical it all boils down to the need to survive and that some of us are naturally drawn to that...

[klause]

Got the GPS co-ordinates??:p

Its a secret - but i'll tell you for a can of Kestral super and a kiss ! lol.

[MikeWilkinson]

I love debates like this...My pennies worth...

I find it interesting that Ibrown finds that alot of these discussions boil down to people gloating about expensive kit, I find that away from the forum area labelled as kit a lot of the forum content deals with skills and or DIY projects, certainly the largest used area of the forum is probably the kit session, that merely reflects that not everybody is at mr Mears or Kochanski's level of knowledge on the subject and require some luxuries.

Also describing this site as a survival site is completely wrong. Survival skills are a part of bushcraft, however Bushcraft is not apart of Survival skills.
The difference - Survival skills are the short term skills needed to escape an unplanned event that threatens your life, i.e stranded, lost, in a war zone etc...
Bushcraft are the complementary skills needed to live in a certain environment. The key word being live - long term. They complement the use of equipment, as Martin points out Ray Mears and Mors all use modern expensive equipment despite the fact that they could probably do without it, however the use of said equipment allows them to apply their bushcraft knowledge in different areas.

Applying Bushcraft without equipment would be primitive living - a completely different subject all together and one not practiced truely anywhere in the world - even remote villages and tribes use modern materials and have the means to obtain various tools that having nothing to do with primitive living but everything to do with bushcraft - Tarps, Machetes, Knives, Worked Metal - Pots, Bottles, etc...
Now I am all for Primitive living skills, and I do my best to promote them on here as do many other people, else I wouldn't be here, I think most people on here know my love of Birch and Woodcraft, and when I post on these subjects I get a fair response from many members, so I don't think it is fair to say that this forum and the related website don't do enough about 'bushcraft', If there is a topic you need or want to know more about, post it and see how many people join in your discussion, more than you think I would bet.

Rant over - What does bushcraft mean to me - It is the application of knowledge in order to live more comfortably in the wilderness.
What does Bushcraft involve :- Woodland skills, Camping Skills, Woodcraft Skills, Firecraft skills, Knowledge of flora and fauna, Tracking and hunting skills, Survival skills, Navigation skills and Finally First aid skills.

Is Camping Bushcraft? Yes!!, Is living like a Caveman bushcraft? Yes!!! Is there a happy middle ground? Yes!!!

[Ben Casey]

I have been thinking about this since I first read it and I may be of the mark.
But would it not be to adapt and learn from the skills that you have and use them with the equipment you have.
To create a comfortable and happy enviroment with the main assets needed Fire, Water, Shelter and Food.
And to share this knowledge to others and pass it on to the younger generation.

Ben

[BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

I see the term Bushcraft as...'Ones knowledge of the wilderness and ability to extract resources to be used in whatever situation they are in'

[luresalive]

I see the term Bushcraft as...'Ones knowledge of the wilderness and ability to extract resources to be used in whatever situation they are in'

Define "wilderness"...I don't believe we have any in the UK, so what does it actually mean?

[BUSHCRAFTTOOLS]

Define "wilderness"...I don't believe we have any in the UK, so what does it actually mean?

Luresalive.....how about replacing wilderness with 'Outdoor/natural environment'

[luresalive]

Luresalive.....how about replacing wilderness with 'Outdoor/natural environment'

I think that is definitely better, but it needs to be more succinct, I do certainly like that idea.

[J_P]

basic survival skills (water shelter fire food safety rescue etc) are the footings for bushcraft, bushcraft is massively area/region/country/continent specific in terms of flora, fauna and skills etc, i see it as having the knowledge and being able to adapt and live comfortably in the outdoors where ever it is and with what ever you have, its not about the best kit, its the enjoyment of it all the wild life and the solitude (sometimes) every one has a different take no ones right and no ones wrong in my eyes as long as your having fun safely then its all good...

[paul standley]

Well Ian, you did ask...!

As it happens, I re-learnt a lesson earlier today that I had temporarily forgotten, which is that life is a) too short and b) what you make of it.

Might be we could look at bushcraft in a similar way...

[Kiltie]

Call it paranoia-I bet the rural Kosovans would never have dreamed of the day, but living in Blighty I have always harboured a fear that after hundreds of years of colonial boot stomping that maybe-just maybe one day what goes around may come around, we live on a tiny and vulnerable crop of land in the atlantic, if a hostile force attacked us and America turned a blind eye (hurricane Katrina) I would like to have have a fighting chance.

[Piney]

I would like to sit around a campfire with you guys. Nice group. Bushcraft is very simple to me. It is knowledge, skills, and ability. I am a simple person and to put it in another way it is self reliance in your natural setting. Kit is kit. I need a good knife, a way of making fire, the ability to gather and purify water, a means of getting food, and making or finding shelter. Practicing these needs is bushcraft to me. So I practice flint and steel one day, making cordage, making figure four dead fall traps, or learning the uses of natural vegetation. Good group here. Lets learn from each other.

[Realbark]

For me its about FUN. Bushcraft has a broad range of disciplines\activities and i only practice those that i enjoy, leaving the rest. For instance i have no interst in carving spoons or bowls so i rely on shop bought products for this. On the other hand i love fire so i play more with stoves, strikers etc.......which i make where possible.

Playing in the outdoors whilst learning how to get by on a learned knowledge (often by mistake :o ) with a little kit sums it up for me :)

[luresalive]

For me its about FUN. Bushcraft has a broad range of disciplines\activities and i only practice those that i enjoy, leaving the rest. For instance i have no interst in carving spoons or bowls so i rely on shop bought products for this. On the other hand i love fire so i play more with stoves, strikers etc.......which i make where possible.

Playing in the outdoors whilst learning how to get by on a learned knowledge (often by mistake :o ) with a little kit sums it up for me :)

Thats actually a very good point!! As bushcrafters it is assumed that you will have an all round knowledge of everything outdoorsy, and I've practised things that I have had absolutely no interest in ( like learning latin names of plants and the bowdrill) I suppose because it's expected from a bushcrafter, but after reading that concise post and getting an epiphany because of it I don't see why anybody should study anything they aren't interested in simply beacuse it's expected..that post was one of the most enlightening I have read in many moons!

[J_P]

jack of all trades and master of fun ;)

[GlenM]

It means freedom to me, and a connection with all things that came before............