Definition of Bushcraft

[rg598]

Bushcraft is arguing on the internet about what's the right and wrong thing to do when sat in some woods 1/2 a mile from a motorway. This is offset by a mutual love for biscuits.

LOL! +1 Also, don't forget to sprinkle a good dose of mysticism and wishful thinking to reinforce our common bonds while we argue about the above subject.

On a more serious note, there are many different catch phrases that get tossed out whenever we start a thread like this. Some of the worst ones come from Ray himself. He loves statements about how you should carry knowledge and not tool. He then stops, pulls out a heated canvas tent, a set of cast iron pots and 100+ pound of gear. It would appear that being one with nature and thriving within it is a lot easier with several Range Rovers, and a crew to carry the gear.

 

[Elen Sentier]

Hi Elen,

To me it's living comfortably within nature, so that neither of you is harmed and can thrive.

Maybe a bit simplistic but how I feel.

Thanks,
GB.

I like that

 

[Elen Sentier]

Bushcraft is arguing on the internet about what's the right and wrong thing to do when sat in some woods 1/2 a mile from a motorway. This is offset by a mutual love for biscuits.

And a mutal love of tea . I gotta laugh about the moorway bit though: when i was up in Glencoe in Feb (which was fab) I laughed to Magpie that I make a 10hr journey to come and camp in the wilds only to say awake listening to the A road across the river !!! At home, I'm 3/4 of a mile from the nearest B road and we hear no traffic at all, so it was noiser "out in the wilds" than it is for me at home.

I'm thoroughly enjoying all the answers and it's very good to read them all, so thank you all ... and keep 'em coming

 

[nuggets]

LOL! +1 Also, don't forget to sprinkle a good dose of mysticism and wishful thinking to reinforce our common bonds while we argue about the above subject.

On a more serious note, there are many different catch phrases that get tossed out whenever we start a thread like this. Some of the worst ones come from Ray himself. He loves statements about how you should carry knowledge and not tool. He then stops, pulls out a heated canvas tent, a set of cast iron pots and 100+ pound of gear. It would appear that being one with nature and thriving within it is a lot easier with several Range Rovers, and a crew to carry the gear.

That made me chuckle - i like that !!!

 

[Tiley]

On a more serious note, there are many different catch phrases that get tossed out whenever we start a thread like this. Some of the worst ones come from Ray himself. He loves statements about how you should carry knowledge and not tool. He then stops, pulls out a heated canvas tent, a set of cast iron pots and 100+ pound of gear. It would appear that being one with nature and thriving within it is a lot easier with several Range Rovers, and a crew to carry the gear.

Hah! Fair comment. Perhaps this is what differentiates bushcraft from survival: the ability to be comfortable in the wilds. I'm sure Mr Mears would argue that the Range Rovers and all the clobber are there for his camera crew; since they brought a tent for him, it seemed churlish not to make best use of it... or something like that.

Now, when it comes to the pithy issue of biscuits, that is a very different matter. Personally, I've never really understood the point of Rich Tea biscuits, despite my avatar; I reckon Ginger Nuts tick the box for me when in the woods or anywhere else, for that matter.

 

[Satyr]

People getting misty eyed and talking about being closer to nature while unpacking hundreds of pounds worth of equipment and camping 1/2 a mile away from their car then copying what they saw Ray Mears did on TV.

 

[rg598]

Hah! Fair comment. Perhaps this is what differentiates bushcraft from survival: the ability to be comfortable in the wilds. I'm sure Mr Mears would argue that the Range Rovers and all the clobber are there for his camera crew; since they brought a tent for him, it seemed churlish not to make best use of it... or something like that.

If being comfortable in the woods requires that much gear, then I don't see how bushcraft is all that different from survival. I can survive quite comfortably in the woods with a truckload of gear also. Bushcraft is supposed to be this thing that lets us "thrive" and be comfortable in nature just with the use of this mythical knowledge that weighs nothing. I think we all know how to be comfortable in the woods with 100+ lb of gear. That's what bothers me when he starts talking about how the knowledge lets him do all those things, while I am plainly looking at him knee deep in gear. Anyway, I still like the guy, it just bothers me when he starts with this stuff.

Like Satyr put it:

People getting misty eyed and talking about being closer to nature while unpacking hundreds of pounds worth of equipment and camping 1/2 a mile away from their car then copying what they saw Ray Mears did on TV.

 

[Bumbler]

Why does it have to be called 'bushcraft'? Big Ray kidnapped that term from Richard Graves, an Australian, where they do indeed have 'the bush' as their wilderness. We have had the term shoved down our throats so persistently that we've come to accept it, despite not having anything like the Australian bush in which to play/survive. I'm sure it's far too late to re-brand our magnificent, if slightly pointless and self-indulgent activity but was there really anything actuall wrong with the more appropriate 'woodcraft'?

But back to the thread (after my little rant), I reckon that, for me, it is the best education, challenge and fun that I can have in the outdoors.

Were sort of tearing our hair here in Norway too. We don't even have word for bushcraft in hour language...well we do have a collection of words but non really cover it.

 

[petrochemicals]

I'll be honest, bushcraft intrests me a great deal, but what it means to me is living off the land for weeks on end with limited equipment.

Or hunting and killing With Jimbo and Ned.

But coming from the uk, your going to have money but no time, or time but no money to get to a country where it's possible.

For my part I'll just have to skirt around the edges of it.

For real western bushcraft you would have to look at the mountain men of america and canada, but I don't think they have broadband.

I would love to start out in nova scotia with 10 pounds of durable things, and arive in alaska a few months later, be quite nice that

 

[Bumbler]

I'll be honest, bushcraft intrests me a great deal, but what it means to me is living off the land for weeks on end with limited equipment.

Or hunting and killing With Jimbo and Ned.

But coming from the uk, your going to have money but no time, or time but no money to get to a country where it's possible.

For my part I'll just have to skirt around the edges of it.

For real western bushcraft you would have to look at the mountain men of america and canada, but I don't think they have broadband.

I would love to start out in nova scotia with 10 pounds of durable things, and arive in alaska a few months later, be quite nice that

Lars Monsen did it in 3 years

 

[Bumbler]

To me bushcraft is just application of knowledge needed to thrive in the bush. Weather it's how to take care of kit i.e to sharpen a knife, set up a tarp or a modern light weight tent, knowing how to dress in cold or hot weather, knowing why and how you should dress in layers, how to make a tent peg if you don't have them, knowing when to simply go home, and when to button down and weather the storm, knowing how to build a fire, or safely light an MSR rocket stove, knowing how to use an axe, and when it's better to use a saw.

If it's applied 50 meter from your car or home, or if its 500 miles into the Canadian wilderness is all the same to me. And axe will hurt you the same in the Boreal forest of Sweden, as it will in your own garden. It takes bushcraft to know how to minimalize the danger. It's just the chanses of surviving it, or how long you will have to suffer before you get help that is different.

 

[Dave-the-rave]

I just like sleeping outside in the cold
snug as a bug in a warm doss bag.

 

[Swallow]

First time we got back from the Moot, the Mrs. immediately started going into Post Moot Blues. I didn't. For a brief moment our urban setting looked exactly the same. All these lights and campsites (houses) in close proximity, the only thing lacking was the trees and the camaraderie. From that point of view the green cross code looks like urban bushcraft. Like it says in Crocodile Dundee "we don't have any crocodiles but a fast movin' Chevy will sure make a mess of ya".

I like Thomas J Elpel's name for what we are interested on in this site, "Primitive Living Skills". This name took an interesting twist recently when I was reading a book from the 1800s which was using the word Primitive in place of the word "Primary" so I looked it up and the root was

Latin primitivus ‘first of its kind,’ from primus ‘first.’

So in a way what we are talking about is First Principles. To me that kind of Kiboshes the modern sense of the word which usually implies "out of date". Particularly when you consider that the basic needs of air, heat, water, food and sleep are unchanged. Aside form the amount of middlemen introduced, the acquisition of all these things is basically unchanged as well. i.e. is a reservoir anything other than a big Container, or have we stopped eating plants and animals.

Incidentally if you find Ray gear heavy, Thomas J Elpel has a series of Videos called the Art of Nothing. In Vol 1 - 3 days at the river with nothing but our bare hands - he goes camping with his 13 year daughter with no gear at all.

 

[rik_uk3]

Survival = staying alive until rescue comes

Bushcraft = being comfy and enjoying your woodland camping.

The Art of Bushcraft = Glamping but to a passer bye making it look like your some sort of 'hardy' survival type

 

[crosslandkelly]

Survival = staying alive until rescue comes

Bushcraft = being comfy and enjoying your woodland camping.

The Art of Bushcraft = Glamping but to a passer bye making it look like your some sort of 'hardy' survival type

Lol, I like that.

 

[santaman2000]

As in another thread, the art of crafting bushes:

 

[John Fenna]

Survival = staying alive until rescue comes

Bushcraft = being comfy and enjoying your woodland camping.

The Art of Bushcraft = Glamping but to a passer bye making it look like your some sort of 'hardy' survival type

Or
Survival - get out of the woods
Bushcraft - get out into the woods
The Art of Bushcraft - chill out in the woods

 

[Wayland]

Best one I read was on here a couple of years ago.

Bushcraft = Living. & Survival = Not dying.

 

[Midnitehound]

As in another thread, the art of crafting bushes:

Oh I do like that, I collected elephants from all over the World when I was younger, only little ones. Used to travel by clippers, the planes that is.

My Grandfather used to collect every kind of exotic animal. My Grandmother once said he'd have an elephant if he could. He paid the visiting circus that was pitched on the common at the back to tether a baby elephant in the garden when she went shopping one day, darn near gave her a heart attack when she got back. He did have a wicked sense of humour.

Bushcraft to me is sitting around a fire having a chat and a laugh with good people and good food. I really should try harder!

 

[tom.moran]

ok its a little soppy, but my definition of bushcraft is 'home'