what other activities improve your bushcraft?

[hammock monkey]

i was lucky enough to go sailing recently, and it taught me some great stuff wrt weather recognition, navigation, knots, organising my self and generally getting in tune with the world in a new way, and it got me thinking....

What other activities has you done that have brought new skills, perception, or attitude to improve your bushcraft?

 

[Roy's Badger]

Surfing, for similar reasons. Except the knot tying. And the navigation bit. But a great way to feel at one with nature... and to remember how powerful it is, and how insignificant you are.

 

[hammock monkey]

since i asked such an interesting question...
2 more,
martial arts: i was pretty into kung fu, kickboxing and judo before moving away form my instructors but it was great for self confidence, perseverence, motivation & general fitness

also playing guitar & working for a hi-end studio recording desk manufacturer - good ear training to learn to focus my hearing and block out the stuff i dont want

 

[Silverback]

I am an ardent drug free powerlifter and the strength has helps me no end when it comes to my butchery - I can strip tendons and remove skin like using a bullworker (remember them ) and when it comes to carrying kit, if I can get on my back I can usually carry it

 

[gregorach]

Climbing gives you a great incentive to practise your knots...

 

[jasons]

Watching rambo films

 

[oldsoldier]

Improvising everything you can. Being able to look at something, and think "I can make that better/lighter/stronger..."
i am all about tasking shortcuts

 

[hammock monkey]

i've got hell of an image of silverback now...christ!

 

[Silverback]

Improvising everything you can. Being able to look at something, and think "I can make that better/lighter/stronger..."
i am all about tasking shortcuts

Is your real name Oscar Goldman

 

[fred gordon]

I think canoeing gives the freedom and makes you aware of the weather, especially the wind. Walking, keeps me fit, keeps the navigation sharp. Above all experience, it has taught me to respect my environment and the privilage I have being able to enjoy it.

 

[oldsoldier]

Is your real name Oscar Goldman

Not sure who he is, but I'm thinking that that was meant as an insult

 

[Philr]

Shooting, Kayaking, Walking, Climbing, Stickmaking, Pyromania, Scouts and Walking.
is that enough

 

[Mikey P]

Orienteering (nav skills & fitness), running/triathlon (fitness), climbing (fitness, confidence & ropework), mountaineering (fitness, weather perception, confidence, ropework, planning, decision making, nav skills). Oh - and walking the dog!

However, what I'd really like to do is spend more time practicing bushcraft - it's the best way of improving!

 

[Silverback]

Not sure who he is, but I'm thinking that that was meant as an insult

No not at all - Oscar Goldman was one of the scientists who built The Six Million Dollar Man' - We can rebuild him, better, faster, stronger - it was in the tagline at the beginning of each episode. I loved that show

 

[FGYT]

thinking out of the box

Computer Games by which i mean Age of Empire style where you have to plan and build a comunity and survive attack etc while progressing and gathering recourses.
good for Planning
Prioratising
Recoursing
Reaction to set backs etc
all in real or fast time

also good training for managing anything really requiring thinking about multilpe things and juggling prioiaties etc

Duncan

 

[Wayland]

Living history and re-enactment have taught me a few things.

 

[Longstrider]

In a funny sort of way it's all the other way round for me. I've spent most of my life outdoors doing something or other. I spent a great deal of my youth out and about with my old gamekeeper mentor. I've been shooting ever since I was about 7, and I've been fishing since I could walk as far as the river was from home (about half a mile). I've trapped, shot, fished, hiked, camped, whittled sticks, cleared brush, felled trees and had "camp fires" all my life. What time I haven't spent outdoors has most often been spent in my shed, making, bodging, inventing and generally making do with what I had to hand in order to make that which I wanted.
It's all these things that have lead me to enjoy bushcrafting rather than the other way round.

 

[capacious]

Rowing - beacuse the pain of a 5000m race, getting up at 5am everyday, the sound of my cox screaming at me not to slow down, and the shear agony of a 2000m ergometer test make me appreciate all the times when I sit in the peace of the woods and sleep until I wake naturally all the more!

 

[fred gordon]

Rowing - beacuse the pain of a 5000m race, getting up at 5am everyday, the sound of my cox screaming at me not to slow down, and the shear agony of a 2000m ergometer test make me appreciate all the times when I sit in the peace of the woods and sleep until I wake naturally all the more!

Have you tried speaking to a close friend about this

 

[Big Bad Stu]

Being a Building Surveyor.

You learn to trust your sight, learning to observe tiny detail. Feeling things with your feet when walking around like floor boards etc. Listening to the building and it's environment for creaks, expanding pipes etc. Trusting your sense of smell for damp, drainage issues etc.

I makes a walk in the woods interesting observing, smelling and feeling the environment you are passing through.

Stewey.