Bushcraft courses. Worth the cost?

[davidpingu]

Just wanted to start a general comments topic about this question.

For me I never seem to stop learning something when I wild camp, especially if it's with more experienced people.

I'm lucky enough to live near Harvestman who has a wealth of knowledge about plants and bugs and he'll tell you himself, I never miss an opportunity to learn something from him through my never ending barrage of questions to him about plant life in particular, mostly edibles naturally

Anyway, as much as I learn from friends, as well as books, youtube, this fantastic site and first hand experience as I try out practically the things I read about, I can never help but wonder if my learning would take on more structure if I attended bushcraft courses?

I see some people on youtube especially, who seem to have a phenomenal wealth of knowledge across various degrees of bushcraft. One person in particular is quite young, probably around 30 years old and hunts, prepares and cooks wild game, understands most aspects of firecraft, has an incredible knowledge of british plant species, can make cordage, baskets, shelters, birch bark utensils and lots more and it just makes me wonder how these people get to know so much? Sometimes I feel as though it would take me about 20 years to learn that much!

Did you think these people have attended countless courses to be so experienced or do you think they are self taught?

Can someone self teach bowdrill for example?

Interested to know what your thoughts are? There are lots of very knowledgeable people on here so I'd be interested to hear your personal experiences of how you built the knowledge you have? Where did you start? Did you go on courses or self teach?

If money was no object I'd just attend the courses but they aren't cheap so I'd be interested to know whether people here think they are fundamental in getting the most from our hobby?

Cheers,

Dave

 

[Man of Tanith]

I wouldn't say that they are crucial.
However I have attended the campcraft and fundamental at woodlore, introduction to bushcraft and bowyer at woodsmoke. outdoor first aid at firest knjghts. a private camp craft course with Paul Kirtly. the winter bushcraft challenge with wilderness survival skills and I am booked on the Hunter Gatherer with wilderness survival skills this october.
on all of them I can honestly say I have learnt things that whilst possible to learn independently have been made easier by havin a pro there.
the main thing is applying what yiu have learnt on a course to further educate yourself away from the course setting after being shown the methods and tricks.

 

[sandbender]

Yes you could teach yourself. In a way that provides an important advantage in that you will be learning in the environment that you know and use.

I have attended a few courses, some good, some very good, some were simply fun to attend.

I think that most of the schools mentioned by Man of Tanith provide a basic week long 'intro to bushcraft' course, I think most people would leave that one course having learned quite a bit. Additionally finding yourself in the woods with a bunch of like minded strangers who are all there to learn can be a valuable experience in itself.

If you can afford it, book a week long beginners course. If not, find some folks here that live locally and have a mini meet.

 

[Angry Pirate]

I would say that courses can be very useful. I've been wild camping and bushcrafting for over 25 years, many of the skills I've picked up have been self-taught or picked up from magazines like SWAT or Combat & Survival or the Lofty Wiseman book (we're predating the internet by a long way!) so lots of basic skills such as fires or shelter building were easy to practice. Foraging and animal prep less so.
Recently I attended a bushcraft weekend course and not only did I enjoy it immensely but I learned a lot. I now feel confident in animal prep and traps and snares, areas I didn't fancy injuring animals doing as part of my learning curve. Foraging was another area that I felt more confident in when an experienced eye was over my shoulder.
With the advent of forums like this and YouTube videos, was it essential? Probably not. Good value for money? In terms of experience, knowledge and above all enjoyment, absolutely yes in my case.

 

[Ruud]

Going on a course can be a humbling experience. I learned the bow drill all by myself, by going at it for two days, getting my first ember on the second evening, all with the help of Youtube. I learned carving and other skills also on my own, but after having done my very first bushcraft-course (Frontier Bushcraft, one week), I feel I have a better understanding of how good I am at some of these skills. If you have acces to information by going on trips with skilled people, spending lots of money on a course is perhaps not really necessary, but the programs of week long courses are designed to give classes about as much skills possible (tracking, trapping, fire, water, hypothermia etcera).

Are courses fundamental, no, you can train a lot of skills on your own, are they worth the money, yes, some companies offer great bushcraftcourses of very high standards.

In the end it is all about getting outdoors, doing stuff, failing at them and doing them again until some kind of perfection is achieved. It is on your own that you learn the most valuable lessons.

 

[cottonwoodroot]

Excellent point Ruud.
I wish I could give you a straight answer yes or no, but I think there are so many variables. For example, how many of us would succeed with the bow drill without any instruction. I banged away at it for quite a while on my own, and did not succeed until I finally took a video of myself and sent if off to someone with more experience. Turned out my notch was not wide enough to allow an ember to form.
So, I feel that a good course would be invaluable. However, I have also found that sometimes if you spend a great deal of time honing skills on your own (as you obviously do) you can get into a situation where you are taking a course with people who don't have the skill or knowledge that you do. This happened to me on a tracking course. I had spent hundreds of hours of dirt time on my own, however, the course was filled with beginners and we proceeded lock step together. It was a real waste of time and money. Even worse is when the instructor isn't as experienced as yourself, especially if you are a paying customer. Of course, there is a very fine line between a legitimate grievance and an ego trip.
I personally would pay a healthy sum to participate in a course with content that was relevant to me. I might spend some time reviewing the course outlines. Another thing I would do would be to sit down and think about the things I would really like to know. I remember going on a field school with a local plant expert who was the leading authority on wild edibles. I had read several of her books, and was basically starstruck. I didn't really want to ask questions as I thought it wasn't my place. However, once I got over that and asked specifically about what I wanted to know, she was able to use her vast knowledge in a way that I found personally useful.
In summary, I would say courses and the like are a fantastic idea, however, I would be careful about what courses I took, and who I took them from.

 

[backpacker]

Most of what I have learnt is self-taught and by reading books and just practice what you have read about, later on in life I was pretty lucky really as I was in the TA for some years and was put on a 10 day Survival Course with John 'Lofty' Wiseman which was fantastic I learnt a wealth of knowledge, My eldest Son has a hunger for Bushcraft and Survival and I was teaching him skills and then a course from Trueways Survival Came up so we both signed up for a Five Day Course which is also linked to Lofty Wiseman, and we both really enjoyed the course, so I would say if you are self taught there's no harm in doing a course as well and you meet other people with the same interests.

 

[Dannytsg]

As many have said, I do not believe they are crucial however they are definitely beneficial for giving/kick starting your knowledge of new techniques and processes you otherwise wouldn't have known.

I have done a couple of basic bushcraft and survival courses over a few weekends and have learnt new things each time but I have then taken that knowledge away and built upon it, adapted it and reused it based on my own experiences.

 

[nephilim]

I personally found that building a winter shelter, foraging, trapping and hunting courses were the best set for me. It can be transferred for all seasons and is a good skill to have.

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