Bushcrafty goals for 2017

[Barney Rubble]

Hi All,

I was just wondering if anyone has spent much time contemplating what they're Bushcrafty/Camping/Outdoorsy goals are for next year.

I'm not even sure if this is a thing that people do, alas it's a quiet day in the office for me!

So, in no particular order, mine are:

• Get out more - Try and do one overnighter per month (some solo and some incorporating a good hike to/from camp).
• Do more whittling - refine my spoon carving skills and branch out by whittling other items (an owl pendant is on my list)
• Continue to practice firelighting techniques - Learn more about natural tinders (other than birch or pine), improve tree identification and practice feathersticks.
• Volunteer with my local woodland trust - Helping them to manage and preserve my local woodland.
• Photograph some of the wildlife in and around my local camping spots. I'm thinking in particular of the owls and woodpecker (not always so easy but I have a trail cam!)
• Stop buying kit!! - I think I have a problem as I keep lusting after new items of camping equipment! I need to stop, I need to think more about making things and re-purposing other useful items.

I think that's a realistic set of aims for next year. I admit it's not entirely bushcrafty but does play to my interests when outdoors. So what about you guys, do harbour new ambitions for 2017?

 

[mousey]

Hi All,

• Volunteer with my local woodland trust - Helping them to manage and preserve my local woodland.

That's a good one, I might nick that idea.

 

[woodsorrel]

Yes, I set my goals for the year in early January and then post them on my blog. I think making them public helps spur me to achieve them. I find setting goals "guarantees" that I learn new skills and have new experiences during the year. Life can become so busy that I don't pay enough attention to learning and growing. The goals help me focus and provide direction.

I usually set three goals. I find more than this too much to keep track of. I also make sure they are "SMART" goals.

Looking back at this year's goals I find I hid one of them because it was a bit of a "stretch" for me and I felt self-conscious about announcing it. I was going to study with a Native American elder to learn about traditional skills used in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. This came close, but did not happen. I plan to try again this coming year.

Here are my goals for this past year (2016) and a general philosophy for how I set bushcraft goals: http://www.natureoutside.com/whats-your-bushcraft-goal/

Setting bushcraft goals is actually a fun thing to do.


- Woodsorrel

 

[Big G]

I'll be glad to see the back of 2016. Been a terrible year for our family, losing family members, pets

 

[mrcharly]

Clear up my garage so that there is enough space to set up a stump for some carving.

 

[Philster]

[*]Stop buying kit!! - I think I have a problem as I keep lusting after new items of camping equipment! I need to stop, I need to think more about making things and re-purposing other useful items.
[/LIST]

Ahhh...the New Year's Resolution of the Bushcrafter You are not alone, Brother!

 

[John Fenna]

My Bushy goals are:-
Get out more
Make more stuff for myself and not just for sale (but the stuff I sell pays for the stuff I make for myself...)
Get my knees fixed
Pass on more of my skills (?) to more people

 

[Man of Tanith]

1 get out more
2 share more time outside with my son
3 take son camping in woods
4 hopefully shift the 6th bout of bells palsy
5 finish moccassins
6 write up the massive amount of courses i attended this year for the forum
7 continue to hone down what i take to my own definition of essentials
8 meet up with mates a bit more in the woods
9 make more buckskin
10 continue to turn my woods into a work area as well as a chill out area

 

[John Fenna]

4 hopefully shift the 6th bout of bells palsy

Hey - it ain't so bad
I have had chronic BP for the last 20 odd years (left side of my face has not worked since a sparring accident which destroyed the nerve) the only down side is that my eye is changing shape now - which means my glasses prescription is more extreme than the other eye
Mind you I was never an oil painting in the first place!
Good luck though mate

 

[Man of Tanith]

Hey - it ain't so bad
I have had chronic BP for the last 20 odd years (left side of my face has not worked since a sparring accident which destroyed the nerve) the only down side is that my eye is changing shape now - which means my glasses prescription is more extreme than the other eye
Mind you I was never an oil painting in the first place!
Good luck though mate

I'd not mind if it stayed or went for ever
Its the completely unpredictable reoccourance that frustrates me.
That and having to go through the whole 111 call
Yes my face has slumped no its not a stroke yes im sure no i dont need an ambulance please just give me the usual steroid dose you usually do

 

[gjclayton]

I have so many projects on the go that neeeeed to be finished including a blanket shirt, a diy cotton tarp, refurb of a number of surplus kit and the making of bladed tools!!! I must finish them!!!!

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

 

[forest_girl]

Mine are:

1. Do at least an overnighter in the snow, if not a few days
2. Explore more of the Scottish highlands (I have a list of forests and woodlands to visit)
3. Try to fit in at least one camping trip abroad (Sweden or Finland)
4. Make some moccasins
5. Sort out a lighter/ more streamlined cook kit
6. Slowly replace synthetic outdoor clothing with natural alternatives.
6. Paint more on my trips so I have enough work to start selling

 

[boatnosepanbow]

Hi all, Boatnose Panbow here with his list of goals for 2017:

- successfully breed my captive nankeen kestrel with a wild lesser kestrel.
- employ more staff to help run my fantastic School of survival, doubling availability and adding more courses.
- travel to the North Pacific to trace some more fine yew wood for my long bow.
- whittle a small kestrel from local wood to send to my fans
- take the USA by storm with my incredible poetry
- meet honey G

I would say the usual 'visit here' 'camp here' 'build this'.... but I've more or less done it all :|

 

[passer]

Hi all, Boatnose Panbow here with his list of goals for 2017:

- successfully breed my captive nankeen kestrel with a wild lesser kestrel.

I'm curious as to why, you would want to try and mate a Australian bird with a European one.

 

[bigbear]

Well, first off, to those posting above who will be glad to see the back of this year, me too, is been a rotter, lets al hope for better days next year !
my big wish is to get out more, the death of Stead hall ood at Burley in wharfedale hit me hard, it was somewhere I could get to and get set up before dark on a friday all year, and now the lack of places in west yorks means a motorway on a friday night. Pathetic I know but I find that hard to face after a week of work. So, I need to man up and get to some new meets, met some new folk.
Here is hoping !

 

[GGTBod]

Bushcraft goals for 2017, continue working towards turning my hobbies into my profession

 

[nicksteele1990]

My goals:

1: Overnighters. As many as possible.
2: Fire by friction. Not just an ember, but enough usable flame to kindle a fire.
3: Cordage. From found natural materials.
4: Walk the sandstone trail. The whole thing. Not bushcrafty, I just like walking.
5: Meet a bushcrafter in person, maybe.

 

[Alexa222]

Planning to do summer camping and explore mountains of Austria with its refreshing Alpine air. The Salzburg region might serve very well. I looked it up when building the route https://tranio.com/slovenia,austria...o-buy-property-for-15-million-in-europe_5161/

 

[Highbinder]

Mine are simple,

- Get out at least once a month (last year I think I got 11/12 months not bad), at the least for an overnighter
- Learn a bit of carving and make some useable cups through coal hollowing (as I don't own a crook knife)
- Practice my firelighting; gotten too comfortable with esbit cubes. I want to start making my own charcloth this year.

 

[Tiley]

Goals for 2017? Painfully simple to articulate, rather harder to implement:

1. Get out more;
2. Improve what I do when I'm out and about;
3. Get an ember from a fire piston with greater consistency;
4. Make some salad servers and a couple more kuksas.

As I said, painfully simple but perhaps the greatest challenge will be finding the time...

I hope that everyone enjoys a happy, healthy and purposeful 2017!