Bushcraft Etiquette (resurrected)

[Toddy]

God, what a depressing thread. Its like the Ten Commandments but for people that wear ventile.

Do tell ....which ones do you not pay heed to then ?

I'm not a great fan of rules and regulations; I try very hard to give others courtesy and consideration; I admit I don't always manage it, but I do try; and it's a quiet pleasure when the company (often of strangers that we have only read of here online) gives both back as their normal behaviour.

I have camped where there was neither courtesy or consideration; where I stayed awake all night until I could pack and clear out at first light. Camped where the tents were shot up, where cretins ran amok through the camp, because they thought it funny, where parents ranted at other adults because their children were nearly injured by someone else's kit, sitting among that person's own camping area, because the parents had not consideration that they were responsible for their children and their behaviour....the list goes on.

Read it, take folks concerns onboard, and forget the thread exists. It's a rambling benchmark of how to interact courteously; that's it.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

ok as for creeping up on other peoples camps, and getting disturbed by undisirables, I had a right wierd thing happen to me. I had one night during the summer where I could camp out for the night. So I cycled down to the nearest outstanding local beach, ten miles long white sand, almost totally empty. I set up a camp on the most desurted end of the dunes. i was sitting there looking forward to the lovely sunset, when a bloke walks down the beach. Not wierd, until he breaks his direction and head towards where I was. Not directly, he scoots along the other side of the dune and then looks over repeatedly. Slightly worrying me I pick up my phone and my camping knife and walk out into the open beach. This bloke is over six foot middle aged and were a pair of white denim shorts that would fit an 8 year old girl.

This bloke then walks into the dunes and then starts bobing up an down like a meerkat, until he stands on top one dune minus the stupidly under size shorts and streches into the air. more meerkat bobbing occurs, he heads towards my tent. I start casing up just how fast i can run a mile over sand towards the next nearest person. Mr meerkat then starts looking at my tent, i think he opened it. He was wearing the microshorts at this point. I check if I have a phone signal at this point. I then calm myself down, he aint a thief, he is just a nudist, and a not very confedient one at that. Anyway I sit and watch about 10 more minutes of the meerkat bouncing back up the dunes. Then he starts walking down the beach, clothed. He walks past me then turns and says lovely sunset this eveing, and asks if I am staying over night. I say no, i am just about to pack up. Ok I am now bricking it. He then asks is there a nudist beach here. I tell him in quite a sharp tone I am not bothered about nudism and I have encounted quite a few in my travels, but snooping my tent and generally acting like a complete odd ball on a remote beach is not on. He never apologised.

 

[Wayland]

I was brought up to believe that manners maketh the man (or woman for that matter).

Sadly the older I get the more I see examples of people who have not been brought up with any sense of responsibility at all. I watch parents unwrap an ice cream for their kids and then throw the wrapper on the floor. I see people take everything and give nothing in return and I see people who do nothing but bitch and moan when anyone suggests there might be a better way of behaving.

Every civilised culture develops rules of some kind to smooth interaction between members of it's society. Like it or not such legal systems for the most part make the world a safer and more comfortable place on many different levels.

It would be nice to believe that "bushcrafters" were above the need for the guidelines suggested here but recent experiences at a BCUK meet up demonstrated that this was not entirely the case. Now that is really depressing...

 

[Robbi]

"but recent experiences at a BCUK meet up demonstrated that this was not entirely the case. Now that is really depressing..."


pray tell.

 

[ozzy1977]

Burning plastic and other rubbish on the fire makes my pi.. boil. if you can carry it in, carry it out

 

[Clouston98]

30. Don’t drive goats into the other team's camp when out on a competition
[/QUOTE

! Apart from that some pretty good rules . But in general I think the most important is to be a pleasant person to be around and be nice to others .

 

[Klenchblaize]

ok as for creeping up on other peoples camps, and getting disturbed by undisirables, I had a right wierd thing happen to me. I had one night during the summer where I could camp out for the night. So I cycled down to the nearest outstanding local beach, ten miles long white sand, almost totally empty. I set up a camp on the most desurted end of the dunes. i was sitting there looking forward to the lovely sunset, when a bloke walks down the beach. Not wierd, until he breaks his direction and head towards where I was. Not directly, he scoots along the other side of the dune and then looks over repeatedly. Slightly worrying me I pick up my phone and my camping knife and walk out into the open beach. This bloke is over six foot middle aged and were a pair of white denim shorts that would fit an 8 year old girl.

This bloke then walks into the dunes and then starts bobing up an down like a meerkat, until he stands on top one dune minus the stupidly under size shorts and streches into the air. more meerkat bobbing occurs, he heads towards my tent. I start casing up just how fast i can run a mile over sand towards the next nearest person. Mr meerkat then starts looking at my tent, i think he opened it. He was wearing the microshorts at this point. I check if I have a phone signal at this point. I then calm myself down, he aint a thief, he is just a nudist, and a not very confedient one at that. Anyway I sit and watch about 10 more minutes of the meerkat bouncing back up the dunes. Then he starts walking down the beach, clothed. He walks past me then turns and says lovely sunset this eveing, and asks if I am staying over night. I say no, i am just about to pack up. Ok I am now bricking it. He then asks is there a nudist beach here. I tell him in quite a sharp tone I am not bothered about nudism and I have encounted quite a few in my travels, but snooping my tent and generally acting like a complete odd ball on a remote beach is not on. He never apologised.

Nowt stranger than folk.

The things that go on beneath deer highseats you would not believe!

Glad you came though that one OK.


K

 

[dennydrewcook]

Amusing and so true

 

[DurhamBushcrafter]

Heres an etiquette thing that has not been mentioned...... SMOKING!

There is a difference between pipe or cigarette smoke and camp fire smoke.

If you must smoke, please ask if the people you are with mind, especially if you are downwind of them, nowt worse than a smoker sitting
next or a few feet from you and having to breathe in their second hand smoke. I am an ex smoker, so i don't mind so much, I believe it's just common courtesy.

Just my 2p worth!

 

[barbourdurham]

having just read through this whole thread (the missus is out, no disturbance!) it has become apparent that with regards etiquette and 'rules' its different strokes for different folks. one may find the behaviour of another disagreeable, whilest another may find the same behaviour acceptable. rules are of course, 'the rules' but these should be made clear to all concerned prior to a meet. we need to remember that those outside a meet are not constrained by the same rules and although their behaviour will cause annoyance, you have two choices: ignore it or take action. bleating about unruly antics will not solve anything.

i must admit that if i read a list as comprehensive as the OP i would feel unwelcome or overly policed, but that is just me, no offence intended. i prefer a very relaxed atmosphere where individual behaviour is acceptable. if something is happening i will just mooch off (a considerable distance if required) im not a bore or party pooper.

i generally head out on my own. i like the silence. i am happy with my own thoughts and dont require company to feel comfortable. if i do feel the need for company, i will seek it out. if the company i meet annoys me, i move on.

 

[demographic]

Rule No 109854763. Always avoid people who have too many rules.

 

[Toddy]

See post No.161

"Read it, take folks concerns onboard, and forget the thread exists. It's a rambling benchmark of how to interact courteously; that's it."

M

 

[backpacker]

Last year I was out wild camping around the Peak District (Dark Peak) for days and was due to meet up with my wife at a proper campsite which I did, when I arrived it was quite a nice site but the owner was greedy and was taking as many campers as he could to rake in the money, and within a day the site was packed to bursting also there was not enough facilities for the amount of people on the site, there was quite a lot of teenagers that was nothing but trouble and during the course of the evening they started running a mock around the site, they stole poles from one of the campers awning and was using them as spears, but even worse started picking up large pieces of slate and throwing them at the tents, there was a family tent no more than 30 feet away from our pitch and a piece of slate went through there tent and just missed a disabled child by inches which if it had hit the child would have possibly killed him, the family was distraught and complained to the owner who wasn't even bothered all he was worried about was the money.

The issue is that people go away at weekends to get away from the towns and city's for peace and quiet whilst there is a culture out there that likes to cause havoc and have no respect for others and carry out dangerous acts which could harm and maim people, but although this in only a minority it doesn't help when you are the person in the line of fire, needless to say I encouraged my wife to try wild camping and although she wasn't sure about it at the time but we went off to find an area to camp away from everyone and camped by a river in the middle of nowhere, and she loved it and since then she has started getting into Bushcraft and enjoying my world!


Sorry if this was not the best place for my rant but I had to get it off my chest!!

 

[Goatboy]

Backpacker, I understand your viewpoint. One of the reasons I feel that until they can be educated they should be coraled into area that they don't cause havock. One of the things I have against a lot of "course" (that term may annoy some here) fishermen is that they have caused me so much grief in the past.
Why I stay in the wilds or at a site that is properly policed. I ran a site (a very posh one) many years ago and it was un-nearving having to face up to drunk gits sometimes. But I had to do it to ensure that the good folk had a good time.
Pick your spots and your fights in life and you'll find the sweet ones.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[knifefan]

Interesting thread, I've never been a fan of rules and tend to treat people as they treat me.... However, it is a sad sign of the times that good manners and respect are quickly disappearing from our social landscape!!! All of which begins at home with the parents and follows on throughout school... This no longer seems to be the case and we will all be poorer for the loss of these social skills. This is not just a bushcraft/camping problem - it affects all aspects of our daily life

 

[backpacker]

Hi Knifefan,

I fully agree with what you are saying and I think things will only get worse as a lot of the discipline has gone from our schools and pupils tend to call the shots and the teachers have no control over the situation, my wife is a teacher and is thinking about leaving the profession due to the rules and regulations regarding pupils and discipline.

I have taught my kids to have respect for others and the environment and I'm proud to say they have turned out all good!

That's my rant for today!!!!

 

[Goatboy]

Rather than bushcraft rules we're talking of folk in general. Any group needs rules if it's to stay together. We don't talk of religeon here but my father who knew I.wasn't a Christian told me as a kid that that at least the rules helped folk stay together.
Rather than teach kids about how to treat others as I was we've fallen into what I think of as a "child seat" society. May seem obscure to some but rather than as I was taught; to look out for others first and always now it's personified by a common sight. One I saw again today... A little kid encapsulated in a big car with all the safety measures in a child seat with a tiara on. Totally protected wrapped in cotton wool. It seems that now kids are so reveared that they are brought up to think of themselves. Parents are hostage to their needs, teachers fear the power they weild and their rights are enshrined in law. Yes I agree kids are wonderfull but "little Timmy" isn't really going to grow up to be Prime Minister or a spaceman is he. There was something to be said for the old way of being thought to think of others and country first. It's frowned upon now to say it but whats wrong with being brought up to serve and protect? Are Scouts still.taught to help old ladies across the road? I feat not as while I was still using two sticks I still naturally gave up my seat to a pregnant woman. None of the bus full of kids even made a move to do so. It's not the kids fault, it's our generation of parenting adults who think the child so rare that they can't be taught to sacrifice for others. There are exceptions I know as there are still some good.kids out there but the cult of the child seems to be getting stronger.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[honisoitquimalypense]

after attending the wilderness gathering event in aug my first ever bushcraft event heres a brilliant idea for etiquette. dont steal other peoples gear!

 

[dungokunyet]

no more word about that, but out there still a someone doing good to each other

 

[modestadventures]

Trying my best.