Hi!
After tree years in the Swedish north, I left the Arctic Circle last summer, sold my stuff and moved down south. Today I thought I am going to write to you a little post-mortem of my experience and give you some tips as I believe that we have here at BCUK quite a few people who share the same dream I had when I grabbed my gear and left city life behind me.
Lets rewind the tape a bit for all the new people here. About 3 years ago I went up to the north of Sweden to find a place where I would start an experiment of simple living. I was hoping for a possibility to live simple and free without all the fuss society throws at us.
In the first year I got my hunting license, bought some weapons and got a trapping license and even learned to snare birds. Then I bought a snow-machine and learned somehow to drive it. I tested a lot of Bushcraft stuff we only can read in the books about and spend quite a deal of time alone in the Bush to find myself.
Did I manage? No, I didnt. But it was a heck of a ride, I learned a lot but I didnt manage to break loose from the complications of our modern times.
The distance of travel and the high gasoline prices are killers. Small game hunting is not effective if one is after a simpler living.
I learned too that big game hunting, at least in Sweden, is more of an expensive hobby. Still it is much cheaper than anywhere else in Europe so.
I had a hunting ground of 600 000 ha with fishing permit and small game hunting for only 1000 SEK a year and that includes the fees to the government.
Hunting Moose is all together another Story. First you will have to find a hunting group who will take you into their team. The hunting teams share then the meat and will have to pay to the government 6000 SEK for each moose.
The trouble is that in this way your moose hunting becomes a hobby too and the meat price ends up being the same as the meat cost you in the store. Only that you will have to pay for all the cost of hunting too. As long as one enjoys it as a form of recreation it will be ok for the hunter. But as I was looking for another lifestyle and not a hobby I stopped hunting all together.
Lets forget about alternative living but embrace wilderness living as a hobby or as a very long vacation at least!
Here are some ideas for you:
On the Internet I found out that an expedition course could cost up to 2000GBP. Instead of spending that amount of money you should save it and you will have about 24 838,40 SEK. My neighbor leased a piece of land from Sveaskog for 1500 SEK per year. For that you get a spot of land you can call your own, except you cant cut trees there. With your own material you can build a small cabin there or put your shelter / Tipi up.
In Sweden you can move around anywhere, swim in a lake, build your own campfires, sleep in a tent for a night but then you will have to move on and leave the spot as you found it. In that way you could move around all summer doing Bushcraft. But if you want to stay for a longer time, you will have to call Sveaskog and tell them that you would like to lease some piece of land and tell them where you want to build a cabin.
So, for the money you would have spent otherwise on a single expedition course you can lease your own spot of land near a lake for 1.6 years! If you now take all your Bushcraft books with you and study wilderness crafts every day for over a year and a half you will be better off than after a 10 days course.
If you want to buy a cabin, you will have to spent about 40 000 SEK to 150 000 SEK. Off course there are cheaper ones and there are more expensive ones but around 60 000 you should be able to get a ok cabin with land. Usually all cabins are near to a lake.
If you want to buy cabins in Sweden you have to search early spring or beginning of summer from this link: http://www.blocket.se/
The north of Sweden is in everything cheaper than the south, housing, hunting, fishing, and even meat is cheaper but not vegetables and fancy things.
But lets say you dont like to be alone and like to share good fellowship, and on top of it all you would not even have the money for an expedition course either. But still dream the dream.
Well, give a call to the sledge dog companies; they often have interns as they have a lot to do but struggle with economy. These people are open for helpers and they pay in food and housing. I visit a woman who is living in the Wilderness not far away from my old place; she had several interns working for her. So why should it not work for you? Give these companies a call and you might spend half a year in the Bush, learning to drive dogs and not spending a dime except for the ticket costs.
http://www.kirunadogcamp.com/
PS.
I have a collection of very good Bushcraft books some are out of print, and some original Sami equipment you might be interested in.
Abbes Clear Out! http://hem.bredband.net/b796227/
All the best to you all and happy Bushcrafting!
Cheers
Abbe
After tree years in the Swedish north, I left the Arctic Circle last summer, sold my stuff and moved down south. Today I thought I am going to write to you a little post-mortem of my experience and give you some tips as I believe that we have here at BCUK quite a few people who share the same dream I had when I grabbed my gear and left city life behind me.
Lets rewind the tape a bit for all the new people here. About 3 years ago I went up to the north of Sweden to find a place where I would start an experiment of simple living. I was hoping for a possibility to live simple and free without all the fuss society throws at us.
In the first year I got my hunting license, bought some weapons and got a trapping license and even learned to snare birds. Then I bought a snow-machine and learned somehow to drive it. I tested a lot of Bushcraft stuff we only can read in the books about and spend quite a deal of time alone in the Bush to find myself.
Did I manage? No, I didnt. But it was a heck of a ride, I learned a lot but I didnt manage to break loose from the complications of our modern times.
The distance of travel and the high gasoline prices are killers. Small game hunting is not effective if one is after a simpler living.
I learned too that big game hunting, at least in Sweden, is more of an expensive hobby. Still it is much cheaper than anywhere else in Europe so.
I had a hunting ground of 600 000 ha with fishing permit and small game hunting for only 1000 SEK a year and that includes the fees to the government.
Hunting Moose is all together another Story. First you will have to find a hunting group who will take you into their team. The hunting teams share then the meat and will have to pay to the government 6000 SEK for each moose.
The trouble is that in this way your moose hunting becomes a hobby too and the meat price ends up being the same as the meat cost you in the store. Only that you will have to pay for all the cost of hunting too. As long as one enjoys it as a form of recreation it will be ok for the hunter. But as I was looking for another lifestyle and not a hobby I stopped hunting all together.
Lets forget about alternative living but embrace wilderness living as a hobby or as a very long vacation at least!
Here are some ideas for you:
On the Internet I found out that an expedition course could cost up to 2000GBP. Instead of spending that amount of money you should save it and you will have about 24 838,40 SEK. My neighbor leased a piece of land from Sveaskog for 1500 SEK per year. For that you get a spot of land you can call your own, except you cant cut trees there. With your own material you can build a small cabin there or put your shelter / Tipi up.
In Sweden you can move around anywhere, swim in a lake, build your own campfires, sleep in a tent for a night but then you will have to move on and leave the spot as you found it. In that way you could move around all summer doing Bushcraft. But if you want to stay for a longer time, you will have to call Sveaskog and tell them that you would like to lease some piece of land and tell them where you want to build a cabin.
So, for the money you would have spent otherwise on a single expedition course you can lease your own spot of land near a lake for 1.6 years! If you now take all your Bushcraft books with you and study wilderness crafts every day for over a year and a half you will be better off than after a 10 days course.
If you want to buy a cabin, you will have to spent about 40 000 SEK to 150 000 SEK. Off course there are cheaper ones and there are more expensive ones but around 60 000 you should be able to get a ok cabin with land. Usually all cabins are near to a lake.
If you want to buy cabins in Sweden you have to search early spring or beginning of summer from this link: http://www.blocket.se/
The north of Sweden is in everything cheaper than the south, housing, hunting, fishing, and even meat is cheaper but not vegetables and fancy things.
But lets say you dont like to be alone and like to share good fellowship, and on top of it all you would not even have the money for an expedition course either. But still dream the dream.
Well, give a call to the sledge dog companies; they often have interns as they have a lot to do but struggle with economy. These people are open for helpers and they pay in food and housing. I visit a woman who is living in the Wilderness not far away from my old place; she had several interns working for her. So why should it not work for you? Give these companies a call and you might spend half a year in the Bush, learning to drive dogs and not spending a dime except for the ticket costs.
http://www.kirunadogcamp.com/
PS.
I have a collection of very good Bushcraft books some are out of print, and some original Sami equipment you might be interested in.
Abbes Clear Out! http://hem.bredband.net/b796227/
All the best to you all and happy Bushcrafting!
Cheers
Abbe