Are BC intro courses worth it? Is money better spent a different way?

[woodymellor]

Hi guys,

I posted my beginners bushcraft kit ages ago, I need to update it now. It had to take a back seat as I found more work and had no spare time, but the upshot is that I managed to get some more money together to buy some more kit!

Anyway, my Mrs kindly bought me some vouchers for Woodland Ways for my birthday last year, £100 worth. They need to be used within 18 months and it's been the best part of a year already.

I had planned to spend it on the weekend intro to bushcraft course, which is nearly £200 in total, but as I'm gradually getting to the point of booking this thing, I find myself somehow wondering if the vouchers could be better spent. Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning the expertise at all and I'm sure that if I go ahead and book it, it will be an invaluable experience. But I've always learned better from teaching myself from books than from actual teachers - and although I'm not socially inept, I do prefer my own company or that of one or two others, rather than a large group. There's also the fact that I'm still on a budget and want to spend the vouchers as best I can, plus I could also be putting the extra money toward actual camping (i.e. wild camping friendly sites, travel etc.)

So I'm just wondering if I should spend the vouchers on a different course. It seems that a lot of what is taught on the weekend BC course can be learned from books, the web and fellow BCers, and I could practise it myself on wild camps. Or am I being foolishly optimistic?

Would I be better off spending it on the "Stoneage" course - where flintknapping is a much harder skill to learn by oneself? Or perhaps one of the foraging courses, for the same reason - it's so much harder to learn from a book.

Woody

 

[Retired Member southey]

I do personally think that if you have grown up with little or no contact with the outdoors, by that I mean no camping or wandering around out of town, no confidence in your self to get with the woods\tracks\hedge ways of our great outdoors, then yes an intro course will be of great benefit, but if you already get out and about, using skills that you have learnt\picked up\been taught through life then a basic course might feel just that, though you could look at it as a chance to finesse the techniques you have self taught with expert advice on hand for those little hints and tips you might miss in a book or video,

Of course you could always spend the money on books and see if you can get to a meet up lots of very knowledgeable chaps very willing to share what they have learnt remember though what ever you do it should be fun, else what's the point!

 

[Elines]

The course covers:

• knife choice and care,
• fire lighting techniques,
• tinder choice & preparation,
• game/fish & mammal preparation,
• shelter building,
• natural navigation,
• natural foods,
• natural cordage,
• knot work,
• tree & plant identification,
• water collection,
• filtration and purification.

That's a lot of ground in a weekend so if they and the group manage it, it sounds like good value. Main thing is - I guess - how much of thsi stuff have you picked up already and can actually do to a reasonable standard

 

[woodymellor]

Thanks for your thoughts.

I have always been a city dweller, and have no experience at all of being in the great outdoors other than a the occasional walk in the local woods, and some conventional camping. So far my meagre "knowledge" stems from books, tv, youtube etc., and then trying to apply some of that info where I can i.e. tree identification.

I also agree that a lot is covered on the course - but this also makes me wonder if they are squeezing too much in. Will I still be writing down my notes for shelter building while they run through knot tying at breakneck speed?

I think I'll just stop thinking about it and book it.

 

[Retired Member southey]

It will probably be taught in a natural progression from arriving to being comfy when sleeping, having eaten, processed water, that kind of thing

 

[vizsla]

but just think how many years of fun and pleasure you could have learning the skills yourself, trying out your own methods and learning from your own mistakes for free

 

[Bushwhacker]

You can experience anything in a week, a day even. Treating it as normal is something different.

 

[BushcraftAndSurvival]

Go for it, even a visual learner such as yourself would benefit from the kinesthetic, hands on experience that you will gain from a weekend n the woods with intensive coaching.

I teach weekend courses for another company and we cram a lot into a weekend, more than you would expect. By the end of sunday most people want to stay, despite not really knowing if they would enjoy it or not.

If you dont like it, then it's only a weekend that you have lost, if you do like it then it will open the door to so much more for you. Go for it