Definition Of Bushcraft

[rickety-root]

Hi everyone. Wondered if all you wonderful enthusiasts out there might not be able to help me with a little something. Am doing a little project about bushcraft for school and was wondering what is your personal definition of bushcraft UK-style; not the commercial Ray Mears / Bear whatever-his-name-is rubbish, but the honest to goodness, back garden, garage and shed, weekend in the lakes kind of bushcraft. What does it mean to you?

Would really appreciate your ideas and personal insights.

 

[spamel]

You have just gone and opened the can of worms that took so long to close a while back!! Stand by for endless arguments and nonsense!!

 

[British Red]

This got heated last time it was brought up and I was about to suggest we didn't rake it over again. But its for school and I shouldn't be such a grumpy bear

So might I suggest that the "rules of engagement" are that we don't argue with or flame one another's definitions?

Here's mine

"I have absolutely no idea what Bushcraft is. Its a handy "catch all" title to cover lots of activities including outdoor pursuits , camping, nature, woodworking, naturalism, botany, paleo re-discovery, survival skills and, perhaps most importantly, acting like a big kid and making dens in the woods. The one thing I do know is the particular "meal" that each person selects from the extensive menu of skills and interests is different"

Red

 

[Tadpole]

Hi everyone. Wondered if all you wonderful enthusiasts out there might not be able to help me with a little something. Am doing a little project about bushcraft for school and was wondering what is your personal definition of bushcraft UK-style; not the commercial Ray Mears / Bear whatever-his-name-is rubbish, but the honest to goodness, back garden, garage and shed, weekend in the lakes kind of bushcraft. What does it mean to you?

Would really appreciate your ideas and personal insights.

In my youth, what is now called bushcraft was called “hedge hopping” or rough camping. The aim was the same, to get into the country and be comfortable without spending shed loads of money, money being in short supply.

When I walk I’m a walker, when I climb hills, I’m a hill climber, when I’m foraging for wild food, I’m a forager. When I am camped I am a camper.
In my head, I am me; bushcraft is merely another title, like “foot ball fan”. If you call yourself a foot ball fan, it still doesn’t tell people what team you support, or anything about your passion. It just explains to others in ‘simple words’ what you already know.

 

[JonnyP]

For me it is learning to utilise what nature provides....

 

[C_Claycomb]

A definition of "BUSHCRAFT"?

There have been quite a few l...o...n...g threads on here trying to do just that; some have been heated :BlueTeamE ; and there has never been any agreement, unless it is something like Red's suggestion which keeps things fairly open ended.

For me, its a handy lable that is widely enough understood, thanks to Ray's programs, that I can use it to convey the gist of my interests to the general public, without going into specific details. If you ever try to nail down precisely what "bushcraft" means, you will find that it is one of the most slippery and subjectively non-descriptive words in use! Which does not bother me in the slightest!!

Further reading
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=17182
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=14306

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=4

Run for the hills ....
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=12653

I am sure there was something more recent.
One way of trawling the older threads is to do a search for threads with "bushcraft" in the title, but to filter it so that you only see threads with more than, say, 25 replies. That is how I found the threads above.

Good luck with your project

 

[John Fenna]

Yep - British Red, that works for me plus, perhaps, a little personal and Spiritual rediscovery - but I get that whatever I attempt!
John

 

[twisted firestarter]

I wasn't here when it kicked off before so hope I don't offend anyone
My personal definition of bushcraft in a word is 'survival' ,but not in a 'head for the hills'with a stockpile of guns way. I had a book when I was about the same age as my son is now (7) which was simply called survival. It was basically about keeping some essential things in an old tobacco tin like matches dipped in wax, needle,pen knife, compass etc. and learning about how to use those essentials with a level of confidence. The tin lived in my side pocket for quite a long time as I remember. Now several decades later I find myself fascinated by those basic skills again, except that now it's called bushcraft. Good luck with your project

 

[Goose]

Survival, you want to get out of the situation as quickly as possible in as best condition as possible.
Bushcraft, you want to stay in the situation as long and as comfortably as possible.

If I am going for a walk for a couple of hours I can take a flask and sandwiches.
Going for a day I need to take the means to make a couple of brews and a couple of meals. A flask isn't enough.
Going for a few days I need to have the means to replenish water and add to my food, a daybag isn't enough.
Going beyond a few days I can't carry enough food or fuel so I need to get it as I go, getting into bushcraft territory.
Moving to a log cabin in the wilderness(Don't we all wish?), and being self sufficient means using natural resources for most things, even matches and first aid kit will run out, now we are bushcrafting for real!!!

I think, for me, that is what bushcraft is about "playing" being self sufficient, taking the tools and basics to get started and then having the skills and means to make as you go. I could take a flask when I go for walk but I prefer to take a trangia and brew kit.
I leave most of my kit in the back of my car, if I broke down and had to await the AA I can keep myself,and pasengers, warm and fed/waterd for a night(maybe two) if needed but that is surviving.

 

[Ogri the trog]

I like the way you put that Goose.
Bushcraft to me..... ermmm... a set of skills to keep oneself comfortable in the outdoors without the need for modern technology; perhaps that'd cover it.
I used to call a similar skillset "Backwoodsmanship", a bit of a mouthfull but to me, it portrays a countryman who would live amongst his work in the outdoors.
The "modern technology" term is a misnomer, I don't have the skills to make good cordage, so I take paracord, but I use it to construct a primative shelter.
I guess that the "playing at being self sufficient" covers it, as does playing cavemen, cowboys & Indians, or regressing into a second childhood.

Good luck with your Bushy project Rickety.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Klenchblaize]

Spending too much time in front of a PC contributing, I use the word advisedly, to this site!

 

[heath]

Spending too much time in front of a PC contributing, I use the word advisedly, to this site!

Not sure I get you

 

[pothunter]

Bushcraft a collective term that encompasses the will, knowledge and ability to exist in the natural environment whilst utilizing resources and not exploiting them.

Additionaly I have been most impressed by the desire of other bushcrafters to share their knowledge for no other reward than to further the craft.

 

[sargey]

not really fussed about the labels, largely because of all the aggro it can cause.

[hippy mode]
however, i do associate the bushcraft bit with the "particpating in nature". obviously you could climb a mountain and look at the view. i do, but it's only looking. i see it a bit like getting a christmas present and only looking at the outside of the wrapping paper and the pretty bow. with bushcrafty hobbies from bird/mammal watching, to foraging, tracking, camping, cooking with a fire, you're unwrapping the present, smelling it tasting it, playing with it, taking it apart to see how it works, and hoping you can get it back together again. it's about unwrapping and making use of the gift of nature.

[/disengage hippy mode]

as to the survival skills or bushcraft skills, it matters not a jot.

cheers, and.

 

[twisted firestarter]

Survival, you want to get out of the situation as quickly as possible in as best condition as possible.
Bushcraft, you want to stay in the situation as long and as comfortably as possible.

I am stuck with the term survival because that is the tag it was given when I was a kid. To my mind they are both just words and the important thing is to aspire to feeling comfortable whatever the circumstances throw at you. I can't improve on Tony's description on the home page - "Bushcraft is about being confident and comfortable in the natural environment"

 

[spamel]

Hey, it seems to be going OK so far!! My ideas are constantly changing on this, at the moment, I think it is more a fact of what style of bushcrafting you are gonna do. Are you going primitive with pyrites and flint for firelighting, cooking with hot stone ovens and hot stones to boil water in animal skins, animal furs for sleeping and flint tools for cutting? Or are you using all the modern stuff, a cooker, stainless steel billy can, sleeping bag, basha or tent, a bergen to carry it all in and a fireball to start your fires with using the back of a nice shiny knife?

Maybe though, you're sort of half way, with a billy on an open fire and blankets to sleep with under a debris shelter, starting your fire with a traditional flint and steel and some charcloth. Bushcraft can be so flexible in the way you approach it, but in the end it's all in the doing.

 

[easilyled]

Wow some really brilliant and inspiring definitions. Everyone has their own idea of what bushcraft means to them. To me it means "sustainability". Whatever I do or use has to be sustainable.

For example yomping half way across Dartmoor carrying water and gas to make a brew is not bushcraft. Nipping into a local field, making a fire, boiling some water and making some nettle tea is sustainable and is to me bushcraft, even if you are in the middle of a city.

An extreme example I suppose, but to me it is about "being a big kid and making a den in the woods" which I think is brilliant and inspired, and being sustainable.

 

[Nightwalker]

I've enjoyed reading some of the descriptions, British Red about sums it up for me.

For me I enjoy practicing the wide variety of "Bushcraft" or outdoor skills (fire, food, tracking, shelter etc...) that are traditional and I think link us with our heritage. I like to know I am practicing the same skills that our ancestors used on a daily basis to live (or "survive"), to me its a living link to our forefathers; which is rich in skills and knowledge and is a way of life more in harmony with nature than our civilization are today.

 

[Doc]

Bushcraft comprises the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for living comfortably and sustainably outdoors with minimal equipment.

Bit longwinded, but at least it's one sentence.

 

[heath]

Some great input folks.
I was talking to Rickety about this last night and I think that he's really asking two questions. It would be interesting to know not only how you define bushcraft in a technical way (ie what it involves) but what it means to you or what it is about.
Not sure if I've explained that very well. Please correct me Rich if this isn't what your looking for.

For example: for me bushcraft is about a lot of things, it started out the same as many of you I'm sure playing in the woods with knives and fire and building dens like some others have mentioned.

Survival has always played a part and been an interest of mine, this is part of what bushcraft means to me.

As I've matured, (well ok, grown older) it means a lot more, it is about tradition and heritage and, sorry to get a bit Tyler Durden, it is for me a reaction to the modern world. Not in a flint and fur kind of way but in that so many traditional skills are being lost, and I'm not necessarily talking about building birch bark canoes either, I mean things like how to sharpen a knife or light a fire properly.

Also it is about being able to make and adapt things. I live in a throw away society and people have asked me "why are you carving a spoon, what is the point, surely you can buy one really cheaply" my response is "because I can, and that is important to me" I want to be able to make things. Now this is where I might sound a bit silly but it makes me feel more of a man. To me a man should be able to use a knife and make and provide, these things are being lost and replaced with stereotypes of loutish behaviour.

I know I'm ranting so I'd better stop now.