bushcraft v survival - one and the same or different?
as a child I was a cub then a scout - in both due to the rarety of such things as gas stoves we practised what would be considered a basic skill - firelighting with nothing but matches and what was to hand for tinder then cooking tea on it. looking back at the old scout handbook - that was a survival manual but we didn't know it at the time and we regularly made bivvi's out of natural materials and proper safe fires.
as a teenager I watched eddie magees short lived series on survival for kids where he took kids my age into the woods and showed them how to survive for a few days and what they could eat to stave off hunger. good waching and probably only in the yorkshire tv area as thats where magee made his name tracking barry prudom around malton. next came peter duncan doing lofty's survival course and the excellent 'now get out of that'.
This led to a purchase of the big old lofty book and a subscription to survival weaponry and techniques a grand old publication which was part bushcraft/survival/self sufficiency and part survivalist manual with weapon tests and such long before the hungerford and dunblane incidents. Both of these and the magee book stressed that survival is a way of life and effects everything you do, forward planning, suitable training and expecting the worst meant that I always thought ahead and as usual overpacked when compared to my companions.
The army added a little to my general knowledge but the basics have remained the same for the past 60 years get an old raf or sac manual and see - if anything we are now a bit squeamish regards where our food comes from - in my day we had to catch and kill a sheep to feed the platoon.
As I left the army a new buzzword was springing around - bushcraft - centered around our buddy ray mearsafter his little 10 minute sequences on bbc2's 'tracks' programme - these were often to tame to be called survival so it was downgraded. Some people especially americans and UK forces regard it as a bit wimpy but his first book was a survival manual afterall so I can forgive him wanting to live comfortably, the tracks team tried to find a replacement when he left and went solo but that too fizzled out.
TV tried a few copies where they stuck people in different climates and scenarios which was very reminiscent of the earlier 'now get out of that' or even the 'adventure game', hugh mcmanners tried to take the mears slot but the public didn't like his idea of a bucket of blood being a suitable challenge prize regardless of its nutritional value and it soon went away. next came the daft desert island reality tv shows and the 'survivor' franchise neither inspired much confidence leaving the floor free for ray to mop up.
It takes him where he wants to go but I'll be honest while entertaining lenny in the jungle or joanna on the tropical island were more educational than rays stage managed extravaganza's. Hopefully he'll go proper back to basics so the general public understand what its all about and go wonder around the local forest rather than the amazon basin. Maybe then people will pay more attention to polution, conservation and the enviroment on their doorsteps.
worldwide interests in aboriginal and woodcraft skills are picking up - there's a lot of web based slagging off of dear old Ray - its a shame as they have many decent gurus like ron hood or doug ritter.(Maybe the american survivalist fraternity should realise that they're part of the reason the likes of al quaeda have the knowledge to improvise explosives so readily to hand with publications such as the anarchists cook book).
I dont do bushcraft per se - I do do survival - I teach the kids that its camping without the kit - bushcraft I regard in a similar vein as the difference between a tent and a caravan. I can do both the ray mears and the rambo type stuff if and when they're called for.
survival is having a sewing kit and plasters in your wallet, a swiss army knife and some matches at all times, checking and planning for the worst regardless of how sunny it is or how full the fuel tank is - in short its doing.
bushcraft is to me anyway mainly learning with a bit of practise to make life a bit more comfortable while camping or surviving. its nice to be able to use a firedrill to make a fire but its probably more important to have dry matches or a firesteel and the knowledge to make them work for you.
In short I regard bushcraft still as survival with an even bigger rucksac - its learning what should never have forgotten. As a scout leader I used to teach 18 year olds stuff I learnt as an 8 year old - too much PC not enough common sense. I love the nordic right to roam and have a fire - unfortunately our current crop of teenagers would burn the uk forests down in milliseconds.
I'm not trying to pan bushcraft as its allowed all those ninpara survival schools (yes such a company did exist up on the north yorkshire moors) to rebadge and find a new willing audience under names such as woodsmoke etc.. I hope the rise continues but also that it acknowledges and teaches the basics as it goes on.
I hope it makes sense - I didn't want to go on too long - hopefully the responses will pad out the arguaments.
Improvise Adapt Modify Overcome
tea and buns
Dave C
another intersting thing I've noticed is that the original survival schools were primarily ex forces run - now the bushcraft schools are often run by second and third generation survivalists who've never had the military experience and so approach it with a little more panache - I was taught to saw my way out a downed aircraft and kill every russian paratrooper in my path - now I would be told not to tread on the bluebells - I try to practise a mixture of the two
as a child I was a cub then a scout - in both due to the rarety of such things as gas stoves we practised what would be considered a basic skill - firelighting with nothing but matches and what was to hand for tinder then cooking tea on it. looking back at the old scout handbook - that was a survival manual but we didn't know it at the time and we regularly made bivvi's out of natural materials and proper safe fires.
as a teenager I watched eddie magees short lived series on survival for kids where he took kids my age into the woods and showed them how to survive for a few days and what they could eat to stave off hunger. good waching and probably only in the yorkshire tv area as thats where magee made his name tracking barry prudom around malton. next came peter duncan doing lofty's survival course and the excellent 'now get out of that'.
This led to a purchase of the big old lofty book and a subscription to survival weaponry and techniques a grand old publication which was part bushcraft/survival/self sufficiency and part survivalist manual with weapon tests and such long before the hungerford and dunblane incidents. Both of these and the magee book stressed that survival is a way of life and effects everything you do, forward planning, suitable training and expecting the worst meant that I always thought ahead and as usual overpacked when compared to my companions.
The army added a little to my general knowledge but the basics have remained the same for the past 60 years get an old raf or sac manual and see - if anything we are now a bit squeamish regards where our food comes from - in my day we had to catch and kill a sheep to feed the platoon.
As I left the army a new buzzword was springing around - bushcraft - centered around our buddy ray mearsafter his little 10 minute sequences on bbc2's 'tracks' programme - these were often to tame to be called survival so it was downgraded. Some people especially americans and UK forces regard it as a bit wimpy but his first book was a survival manual afterall so I can forgive him wanting to live comfortably, the tracks team tried to find a replacement when he left and went solo but that too fizzled out.
TV tried a few copies where they stuck people in different climates and scenarios which was very reminiscent of the earlier 'now get out of that' or even the 'adventure game', hugh mcmanners tried to take the mears slot but the public didn't like his idea of a bucket of blood being a suitable challenge prize regardless of its nutritional value and it soon went away. next came the daft desert island reality tv shows and the 'survivor' franchise neither inspired much confidence leaving the floor free for ray to mop up.
It takes him where he wants to go but I'll be honest while entertaining lenny in the jungle or joanna on the tropical island were more educational than rays stage managed extravaganza's. Hopefully he'll go proper back to basics so the general public understand what its all about and go wonder around the local forest rather than the amazon basin. Maybe then people will pay more attention to polution, conservation and the enviroment on their doorsteps.
worldwide interests in aboriginal and woodcraft skills are picking up - there's a lot of web based slagging off of dear old Ray - its a shame as they have many decent gurus like ron hood or doug ritter.(Maybe the american survivalist fraternity should realise that they're part of the reason the likes of al quaeda have the knowledge to improvise explosives so readily to hand with publications such as the anarchists cook book).
I dont do bushcraft per se - I do do survival - I teach the kids that its camping without the kit - bushcraft I regard in a similar vein as the difference between a tent and a caravan. I can do both the ray mears and the rambo type stuff if and when they're called for.
survival is having a sewing kit and plasters in your wallet, a swiss army knife and some matches at all times, checking and planning for the worst regardless of how sunny it is or how full the fuel tank is - in short its doing.
bushcraft is to me anyway mainly learning with a bit of practise to make life a bit more comfortable while camping or surviving. its nice to be able to use a firedrill to make a fire but its probably more important to have dry matches or a firesteel and the knowledge to make them work for you.
In short I regard bushcraft still as survival with an even bigger rucksac - its learning what should never have forgotten. As a scout leader I used to teach 18 year olds stuff I learnt as an 8 year old - too much PC not enough common sense. I love the nordic right to roam and have a fire - unfortunately our current crop of teenagers would burn the uk forests down in milliseconds.
I'm not trying to pan bushcraft as its allowed all those ninpara survival schools (yes such a company did exist up on the north yorkshire moors) to rebadge and find a new willing audience under names such as woodsmoke etc.. I hope the rise continues but also that it acknowledges and teaches the basics as it goes on.
I hope it makes sense - I didn't want to go on too long - hopefully the responses will pad out the arguaments.
Improvise Adapt Modify Overcome
tea and buns
Dave C
another intersting thing I've noticed is that the original survival schools were primarily ex forces run - now the bushcraft schools are often run by second and third generation survivalists who've never had the military experience and so approach it with a little more panache - I was taught to saw my way out a downed aircraft and kill every russian paratrooper in my path - now I would be told not to tread on the bluebells - I try to practise a mixture of the two
