Has Bushcraft changed for you? A.K.A personal evolution of bushcrafting

[Man of Tanith]

Before i start im not after a definition of bushcraft nor arguements that something is or isnt bushcraft
when i joined BCUK i was mainly interested in just gettin out,i had a 120ltr webtex bergen burstin at the seams with army surplus kit,ate ration packs, had a knife i had bought following a ooh shiny moment that was only used to cut open the ration packs and possibly the paracord used to tie out my Basha.my sleepin bag was a 58pat monster.
all my clothing was army sup too.
I carried masses of stuff that i deemed essential but never used.
fast forward 7years to now.
Often i use blankets no sleeping bag, my kit fits into an lk50 and haversack (That i made myself) ive a small belt kit which again ive made most of.
i use fresh food not rat packs (a definate improvement) and its supplemented with foraged stuff
my knife tends to be the M.o.r.a i was given by the mrs or a mora classic. It still cuts cordage (bankline as a rule now its cheaper than paracord) but its whittled,butchered meat and fish,stripped bark for cordage, made pothooks,constructed primative hunting tools and of course carved the obligatory spoons (one day i may even show them on here one day......)
I've lived for a week using only the clothes on my back and a small selection of kit that fitted my belt kit and a 20ltr pack
my interests now lean towards more skills being used and less reliance on kit (its only taken 7 years for this)
when i go campin now its a chillout and oppourtunity to get some sleep (wonders of kids there) or test skills without an audience.
my kit tends towards natural materials not army surplus (theres still dpm kit in there but nowhere near as much)
Ill use more resources from the area now than i used to.

so my ramblings may give you the general gist of what im aiming at.
how has bushcraft changed for you?

 

[bushcraftkid2001]

When I first started 2 years ago I was influenced by a mate who loved prepping, bear grylls survival type stuff ect. So eay on, I was fascinated by survival tins, bear grylls, prepping ect. I dressed in camo a lot (matching DPM if possible) I relied on the SAS survival guide. I coveted knives I now cringe at- big serrated survival knives like the LMF2 and ontario blackbird. Then I watched MCQbushcraft on youtube and became fascinated with bushcraft. I got a mora. But my camo phase continued. Then I read the daniel boone challenge post on here and went to the bushcraft show. Now I dress in traditional wool clothes and cotton combats (although I still wear a bit of camo) and try to learn and practice skills that the old woodsmen and pioneers and our ancestors use.

 

[nic a char]

"I've lived for a week using only the clothes on my back and a small selection of kit that fitted my belt kit and a 20ltr pack
my interests now lean towards more skills being used and less reliance on kit (its only taken 7 years for this)
when i go campin now its a chillout and oppourtunity to get some sleep (wonders of kids there) or test skills without an audience.
my kit tends towards natural materials not army surplus (theres still dpm kit in there but nowhere near as much)
Ill use more resources from the area now than i used to." =

 

[decorum]

Medical issues have had me rediscover the joys of camp craft over journeying ~ lots of cross-over though

 

[John Fenna]

Ooooh - long process for me!
Started as a long distance walker in plastic fantastic kit, got into Survival and the camo thing, now I dress as much as possible in naturals and do more of the camp craft thing.
My kit started as hi tec as possible but is simplifying all the time - modern stuff has no soul

 

[Johnnyboy1971]

Yes it has in a big way. I started when I was 14/15 years old after reading through the old SWAT magazines.
I started out with old surplus kit and if I'm honest not much of it. German poncho for shelter German mess kit for food and water and a German sleeping bag (the one with sleeves). All this was stuffed inside a canvas pack. My mate was in the TA and had managed to get us some hexi cookers. Damn those were the days.
Skip forward 20+years and pretty much the same as Man of Tanith, big Bergen bulging at the seams but not enjoying myself as I did. After a few good long talks with my mate NLW i now have a goal to get back to the good old days.
A couple of weeks back I was chatting to MoT about a similar subject of dumping all the new shiny gear and going back to cheapish well made surplus gear and concentrating more on skills an resources than the gear we use and show off with.

Now at almost 44 I'm more content with just being out and about for a walk round the nature reserve with the kids or a couple of nights out catching up with friends and not getting wrapped up with sharp or shiny bits.

 

[leon-1]

Like John it's been a long process and there's been a lot of changes, the more I learnt, the more I learnt I had to learn. I teach, but I am still learning and probabaly always will be. I started with a smallish pack as a lad, the pack got larger, then it got smaller again. Now it's a case that my pack is large again due to the amount of training kit I carry, when I am out socially things can be somewhat smaller.

 

[Swallow]

I've been reading "Vagabonding" recently.

Moving outside the book's supposed aim (travelling the world on a shoestring budget) I've found the core of it can be applied immediately regardless of circumstances and without going anywhere. The core of it I see as being.

1. Moving through the world deliberately.
2. Being time rich.

As contradictory as it sounds.......those can be applied here and now for 5 mins to great benefit. For example getting hooked on the buds coming out on the trees in the local park and being fascinated by them, or noticing an unusually large collection of bird poo on the path and looking up to find a nest.

Though that may only seem radical to someone like me who is very much in the habit of being in my head and "doing" stuff.

 

[Big Stu 12]

To where I am now.. been a long journey, starting in the cubs a four decades ago, making my way through life with loads of camp craft/survival/outdoors activities getting into all the new kit until Marriage decided that I would have to give up, then about 12 years ago, the split happened and I slowly started to re-discover myself and what I like... the outdoors,

its only really the last three years that I've really started to revisit old skills, skills that have been lost through lack of use, now heading back to the old camp craft ways and leaning to the Backwoods ways, using older less modern kit, made from natural materials, I really need to do more of the less kit stuff as I enjoy it, but car camping seems to be the way I am going.

Saying that skills are what really interest me, and spending more time in the woods out of the modern world, along with the way life has changed for me in in the way of being married, and having a very good job, to today where I am single and have a job where I earn enough just to get along happily and enjoy life this has made me look at life from a total different view.

 

[XRV John]

As someone just starting out, crossing over from motorcycle camping when rallying or touring, this makes interesting reading.

Turned up for my first meet at White Rose Wood three weeks ago with two rucksacks, tent and sleeping bag. Plan is to get that down to one rucksack but probably with lots strapped to it!

I'm at the start of the journey where you guys are long gone down the path

John

 

[Man of Tanith]

John.
we all start somewhere mate.

You aint seen the list for when i take the family

 

[Big Stu 12]

As someone just starting out, crossing over from motorcycle camping when rallying or touring, this makes interesting reading.

Turned up for my first meet at White Rose Wood three weeks ago with two rucksacks, tent and sleeping bag. Plan is to get that down to one rucksack but probably with lots strapped to it!

I'm at the start of the journey where you guys are long gone down the path

John

Its a long path, let it evolve to what you want to do, there are loads of forks in the road, bud some you will enjoy some you will not, but on the whole there is a great journey of learning and many delights to be found ahead of you.

 

[sunndog]

I'd say i'v very recently gone full circle. I started out as a lad with a thirst for knowlage and gaining skills. Then as the years past became more and more stuck in my ways.
Then i joined up on here and was reminded what an incredible breadth of skills there to learn.....i'v been all over the world in the interveening years and been lucky enough to learn from four different first nation peoples. I'v given myself challenges and spent short periods truly "living off the land" BUT its a pleasure to be reminded that i have only just scratched the surface of of this massive umbrella skill set we call bushcraft


.....adam

 

[Ogri the trog]

Like many have already mentioned, my journey started a number of decades ago in Cubs, I went through Scouts, cadets, the armed forces and more lately my own business teaching outdoor skills. I have enjoyed the places that the journey has taken me but the journey itself has been great too, with diversions, loops, U turns and forks in the road.
I have met a number of characters and many people that I am proud to call friends, who in turn have left in me habits and techniques that I try to emulate - often poorly.
I know that there is more to come, people to meet, things to learn and teach so I am as much a pupil as anyone.
Getting out is not as easy as once it was so I now find much of my woods time being vehicle based with a huge haul of kit, depending upon the wishes of the client or group I expect to meet.
Bushcraft has truly entered into every facet of my life and I feel the better for it.

What a great question

Ogri the trog

 

[rg598]

I've gone through a bunch of changes. I grew up in Bulgaria. My main exposure there was through farming (on a small scale). Most of the skills revolved around farming and taking care of livestock. I was young, so I mostly wasted time in the woods. A lot of the stuff I did I suppose falls into bushcraft.

Then I moved to the US and started going into the outdoors here about 14 years ago. I was just out of high school and had no money. There was an army surplus store across from my college, so in those early years I was completely decked out in army surplus gear. My pack in those days was about 45lb (20kg) which I struggled to carry. That's when I first tried doing any serious winter camping. I remember I had a huge survival kit.

After a few years of doing that I discovered Ray Mears and bushcraft forums. I dove in head first. I got all of the "bushcraft " gear. I was head to toe in wool and canvas and carried enough cutting equipment to level out a forest. I built natural shelters, made fires, did plant ID, and even carved a spoon.

After a few more years, I decided to stop trying to do any particular "style" of outdoorsmanship, and just do what worked for me. My trips have always involved traveling on foot through the woods over distance. Bushwhacking and going to isolated locations with only the gear on my back has always held the most appeal for me throughout all the changes. I started looking for tools and techniques that fit best into what I was doing. I significantly cut down on my gear, although I had already started doing that in the previous phase.

After a while I figured out what I need and started doing it, taking on more challenging trips. At some point, that became fairly easy. After you have set up your camp a few hundred times, it becomes routine. At that point I started adding things to my trips. I got a bit into climbing, fishing, hunting, trapping, etc. It gives the trips an added element which keeps them interesting. The weight of my base gear has reached about 12lb (5kg). That occurred by choosing lighter items, not by necessarily using less items. I had already brought the number down in previous years.

Now I'm at the point where I'm pretty set with the gear I need and am happy with what I have and how I do things. Now I spend my time planning out and then doing trips that I find interesting.

During that time, at least as I perceived it, bushcraft changed as well. I don't think most people would consider what I do to be bushcraft, at least in terms of what it seems to be these days.

 

[Tor helge]

I haven`t changed much other than that my older body craves more Comfort, hence the hammocks and inflatable sleeping pad.

 

[mousey]

I'm maybe in the middle at the moment, started with local walks and playing outside then a bit of camping for one or two nights. During college, Uni and through my early twenties went longer distances and extended trips around UK from a week to a number of months, depending on work and other stuff going on. Marriage and kids in mid twenties, became a desk jocky and still there 10 years later. Right now my trips are with the kids, my wife and I can't go away together as we have a whole load of pets we wouldn't want to put on anyone [or trust anyone enough to look after them properly] and she's not that outdoorsy really. But the kids are young and like being outside [as most kids do] When they are old enough to look after themselves and the house without starving or burning it down I'm planning to get back to longer walks maybe get back into climbing or sailing or perhaps give canoeing a go.

For me there has always been a journey walking and camping to different spots each night, rather than stay at one location over several nights, and as such I've always had a pretty light pack, I want to get as light as possible without going completely bonkers over it or spending too much money [or indeed spending any money at all - bit tricky that last bit].

 

[vestlenning]

When I was a kid/young, equipment where simple but adequate. As an adult I was told that you have to have mountain boots to walk the mountains etc. I didn't know this - how did I manage all the being out and about without all this stuff? For some years I saw it this way, but to my luck I didn't buy a lot of outdoor this and that since my interests were elsewhere. After yet some time I got back to the roots thought wise, and that's where I am now, both in mind and in practice: As little (fancy) ready made stuff as possible, as much DIY as possible. Craft on!