Average age and background.

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DanBow

Nomad
Nov 29, 2010
269
11
Wrexham, North Wales
Hi All,

I was just here pondering my life and how I ended up here, on this site, doing the stuff that we do. I rolled to the bottom of the page and it shows who's online and how old they are and the thing that struck me is that the average age seems to be about 40.

So what is the typical bushcrafter, someone who has had an interest for years and just migrated to this site, or, like me, someone who had an interest in it when I was young then life, jobs and kids got in the way. Then a chance browse on the 'tinternet reignighted a passion?

Tell me.

Dan
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
There was a thread years ago, about the ages of folks on the forum, and the end result was a virtually perfect bell curve :D

Tbh, I don't think there 'is' a typical bushcrafter, but the median seems to be 30-45, with a lot of folks both sides of that :)

cheers,
Toddy
 

cbrdave

Full Member
Dec 2, 2011
574
193
South East Kent.
I am in the above age range being 40, always worked outdoors, always had an interest in the natural world but due to commitments never really got a chance to see more, now i have been reading, watching and looking on the web as much as possible as well as trying to get out more and do more crafts.
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,106
2,833
66
Pembrokeshire
Dang!
Looks like I am some kind of freak then.....
54 this year and always have been involved in the great outdoors in some way since I was a nipper - except for my teen years when I lived in Brussels (and even then I would get out of town to the woods and hills on occassion).
Started serious outdoors - ing when I was 18ish when I started training as an Outdoor Skills instructor.
Full time outdoors-ing from 22 as both my work and pleasure
A bit of a lay off in my 30s when I was recovering from injuries (I did a Fashion Design course ... but turned everything to making outdoor clothing :) - ended up designing for Craghoppers for a while... not the BG stuff!)

Been writing books and magazine articles on the great outdoorsy stuff for too long - but still love being out there although old injuries are coming back to haunt me :)
 

adestu

Native
Jan 19, 2010
1,717
3
swindon
Morning all
Being 46 now but still a teenager at heart I lived on farms all my youth so grew up outdoors.spent summers and weekends out in the woods.respect our fine countryside.go shooting when I can and camp out as and when.looking forward to finally doing a course or to and meeting others with the same interest.

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk
 

Stringmaker

Native
Sep 6, 2010
1,891
1
UK
This is a good question to make you sit and think for a while about who you really are.

I am 48, but came to things outdoor/traditional/natural only relatively recently i.e. within say 10 years. At the risk of starting another side discussion, I think it was Uncle Ray and his early TV work that got me interested initially. That only extended as far as watching rather than participating until early 2010 when I got involved in the schools project I volunteer with.

Since then, thanks to being able to "play in the woods" on a regular basis I have really got into learning traditional crafts and skills, plus avidly reading and absorbing from this wonderful forum. I can't imagine life without both now.
 
Feb 15, 2011
3,860
2
Elsewhere
Hope I'm not typical but I probably am :(... rapidly approaching my 52nd birthday ( Robbie Burns day:cool: )....
Born in souf London & raised in the leafy suburbs of N.W. london .....got into backpacking at around 19 y.o & in 81 I set off to do a tour of the UK with just a rucksack & dog,' a la John Noakes' for a year living as much as I could "off the land" unfortunatly I had to call a halt after 4 months due to police hassle...............moved to Paris in 84 & only went backpacking during the summer hols ( both in the UK & France ) with my then girl friend who is now my wife.....
More of less stopped backpacking in the 90's, we left Paris & moved to the country, bought a renovated a cottage, had a kid & only went family camping in camp sites.
I wasn't planning on ever going a wandering again but in 2008 the urge hit me once more & looks like it's here to stay. There arn't many 'exciting 'places to roam around here as it's mostly farmland but it'll have to do for now :)


Sorry if I bored you.....Thanks for listening.
 

Bushwhacker

Banned
Jun 26, 2008
3,882
8
Dorset
Here's my check list for the typical bushcrafter, you don't need to tick them all mind.

Likes Ray.
Likes/HATES (grrrr) Bear.
Likes fire (everyone should tick this).
Likes knives (as above).
Plays at World of Warcraft, larping or airsoft.
Ex-forces.
Tubby.
Weasely.
Beard.
Middle-aged.
Confused about further education choices.
Slightly autistic (self-diagnosed online).
Wears crocs.
Hates job.
Lives in suburbia.
Friends don't understand you.


I managed to tick 9.
 

copper_head

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 22, 2006
4,261
1
Hull
Im 26, always had a love of the outdoors inherited from my parents (my mum tells me I went camping for the first time at 4 months old). Started becoming interested specifically in bushcraft from watching Mr. Mears on Tracks when I was around 11. Loved his early series like extreme survival and my gran bought me the book which had an advert for woodlore on the back page.
I was lucky enough that parents paid for me to go the (junior) Fundamental BC course and never looked back really. Done some other courses and spend most of my free time in the outdoors in some respects. I play paintball am a massive tolkien fan and am looking at maybe getting into a re-enactment group this year.
(oh I get 8 on the ticks :))
 

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