is the bushcraft dream over ?

[william#]

has bush craft been something that has been delivered to us through the media and the idea fed with repetition through more and more programs that idealize this activity dubbed "bushcraft" and relieved many of money though courses and equipment.
have we just been sold a re invention of scouting ?

 

[shocks]

possibly but its scouting for adults. Thats enough for me to sign up!

 

[Lithril]

I think it depends on what your definition is of Bushcraft, personally bushcraft has been around for a lot longer than scouting, but it wasn't called bushcraft but living.

 

[Tiley]

have we just been sold a re invention of scouting ?

With scouts now being offered badges for quad biking and shiatsu massage, I would say no. Although there are strong links with scouting in its original guise, bushcraft also includes a good number of other, wider, historical and cultural influences that continues to make it ceaselessly interesting. You don't have to go on a course; you don't have to buy shed loads of gear. It is something that you can explore at your own pace and under your own criteria. This alone makes it possibly the most liberating leisure activity currently available. Of course, the most important part of it all is that you get out, do it and enjoy it.

 

[SimonM]

possibly but its scouting for adults. Thats enough for me to sign up!

It was my rediscovery of "backwoods" skills through the likes of Bushtucker Man & RM on TV that got me back into Scouts as a leader.

I now pass on my enthusiasm for the outdoors to a new generation - so it can't be all bad!

Simon

 

[Silverback]

A relatively new word that takes a whole host of skills, some new but most old and packages them neatly together under a collective term

 

[andy_e]

Back! Stay Back! I'll kill the next man that tries to make me sing - Gingangoolie!

 

[shep]

I think it's a sign of the times that as any interest gains popularity and becomes part of the zeitgeist, it will develop a commercial side. For better and worse.

In fast-paced lives we can dabble in different interests as the mood takes us and paying for a course is often the easiest way to quickly get up to speed. People just don't like taking things slowly anymore and those able to offer courses and equipment are there to make a living from them.

The trap is believing that a week's 'fundamentals' course and a Swanndri shirt make you a 'Bushcrafter', and therefore part of some elite club. The commercial side offers the easiest way in, but can dampen creativity and individuality. I always found the Scouts too structured for my liking and the commercial side of Bushcraft may be imposing a similar sort of 'standard'.

It's up to individuals to keep a perspective on what we're being marketed versus what is really needed in terms of both courses and equipment.

 

[Nightwalker]

With scouts now being offered badges for quad biking and shiatsu massage, I would say no. Although there are strong links with scouting in its original guise, bushcraft also includes a good number of other, wider, historical and cultural influences that continues to make it ceaselessly interesting. You don't have to go on a course; you don't have to buy shed loads of gear. It is something that you can explore at your own pace and under your own criteria. This alone makes it possibly the most liberating leisure activity currently available. Of course, the most important part of it all is that you get out, do it and enjoy it.

I think that sums'up the situation up well.

Bushcraft tis what you make of it. We all know that RM has done a great deal to promote the (broad) subject of Bushcraft and not only that but other meaningful things that for him comes hand in hand with it, like a respect for our ancestors, the creatures and natural world around us etc. I know the 'mass-media' & TV can be manipulating and annoying at times, however I am only greatful that Ray Mears has promoted the subject and got more info out to us the public as I thank him for inspiring me from a youngster to get out there and exlpore and experiement with nature.

Yes its a little concerning perhaps how popularized it is now, with many people getting out and giving it a try but sadly forgetting to clean up after themselfs and respect the land. But like I said without RM & the avaliability of other material I wouldnt have learnt a lot of the Bush knowledge I have, nor been inspired. Hell if it weren't for RM/TV using the term 'Bushcraft' so much I wouldnt have fuond this beautiful community!

 

[w00dsmoke]

has bush craft been something that has been delivered to us through the media and the idea fed with repetition through more and more programs that idealize this activity dubbed "bushcraft" and relieved many of money though courses and equipment.
have we just been sold a re invention of scouting ?

I think what Ray Mears did was a very clever form of marketing and self promotion and in doing so it was a trade off for what he wanted to speak to the masses about and that is to validate and legitamise adults and kids in wild areas with knives and such practicing essentially "lost" or indegenous and rural skills that are usueful to know if you live occasionally outside as well as raising an awareness and heightened respect for our environment and other cultures. If you put this in a historical context, what Mr Mears has done has turned the tide after a backlash of anti knives anti running about in the woods survivalism of the 80's after the publics reaction/perception off and too events and films such as First blood and events such as crazy survivalist freaks killing all etc. Now it is morally acceptable and legitimate to carry a knife and use it within a context that the public/police did not really have a "box" to put you in before. Now they all have. Well done Mr Mears for that one!

What the clever people in marketing have done and myself and many of folk on here have surely fallen for it...is to jump on the bandwagon of bushcraft and created a need within is that never really existed before, to own all these extras and market brands as "your not a reall bushcrafter unless you own anything Mr Mears uses..."

Well I'm not sorry to say this but Mr Mears has got it wrong on many occassions and if we all followed his example we would be mugs and the marketing folk would be loving us.
My personal gripes are that sometimes so called experts get it wrong

e.g.
1. Have you ever seen Mr Mears use an underblanket? How many times on here do you read about folk buying hammocks and asking about how to get a warmer sleep?
2. If you ever used a tarp set up like his in Scotland, you'd be wet, cold and have no tarp left.
3. Everyone under the sun wanting to know what "Rays" kit is...I'd prefer to know what some of you guys on this site used on a regular basis such as Brttish Red, Spamel or Eric the wise and everyone else.

Anyone at all who spends some time in their own wild space will soon realise that some of the virtues of the equipment and practices that some experts prosletyse about are total crap. Then the voice of experience will fall in and remind you about marketing guru's who convinced you to buy a plastic spork instead of a using a metal long handled spoon/or fork, when it finally falls apart on it's fourth trip!

Bushcraft is what it means to you and your practice should never be judged on the kit that marketing folk say you should have.

So getting away from bushcraft being an artificial marketing ploy, your practice is who you are and as long as we have legitamised it who the heck cares what you call it as long as we share and learn from each other in the most creative and dynamic way possible to keep and develop our skills for whatever need you want to fulfil.

:notworthy

 

[PaleoHunterGatherer]

I think what you say has some merit, but as long as there is some wild place left that is relatively accessable there will always be 'bushcraft' no matter what you name it.
The challenge is to be bushcrafty in places Like L.A., New York, London, etc. Until they turn the whole world into one large urban sprall, we should be ok .
Cheers
Alex

 

[rik_uk3]

The term "Bushcraft" is not ideal as we don't live in the 'bush' but I can't think of an alternative. For me its just old style camping, and does remind me of what we did in the scouts 40 years ago.

I do admire RM a lot, he comes across as having a wealth of knowledge and seems a genuine chap and I'd love to share a beer or three with him.

However, everyone has jumped on the bandwagon, from people advertising red camping kettles on ebay as "perfect for bushcraft" through to the abundance of bushcraft instructors that seemed to have popped up all over the place

There is also a lot of pressure (or so it seems to me) for people new to this style of camping to have the right kit, "must have" gear, like you 'must have' a crusader mug, swanni shirt, £25 head torch, fjallraven trousers, ventile smocks, you can't wear DPM, tents are OK if its a tipi, if not it has to be a hammock etc. I talked to one lad last summer, it was his first trip, he had spent about £500 on kit because he thought "well, you got to have it"

So, I like this type of camping, but don't like chasing kit labels

 

[Nagual]

The popularity of any past time is often just a fad, but with modern technology it spreads faster and is more pronounced then before, perhaps. One thing to remember is that for those who have no interest in bushcraft or something similar they don't really care or even know what it is, much less that it might be similar to Scouting.

I count myself as a wannabe bushcrafter, I live in an area that is all town and farmland with little or no woodland other than evil Forrestry Commission places, even they are several miles from here. However I was, during the brief sunny spell that was a Sunday afternoon in July trying my first carving with axe n knife, this was a wonderous thing to my neighbours kids who sat patiently as I demolished an entire branch to a twig sized stump. So hopefully the love of playing with nature will pass a little onto them continuing the fad perhaps?

In essence the love of playing ot working with nature is becoming more and more of a lost art, or even more worrying, becoming an oddball thing to do. I do feel sad that people think you are wierd because you want to go into the outdoors and do what people on this site do.


I'm going now to feel sad and stare at the cityscape out my windows and to the hills beyond my reach.


Nagual

 

[UKHaiku]

This sort of debate is always interesting - especially for those who've read Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley..

I know that I'm constantly fighting against this external pressure to always buy the newest, latest gadget, tool or accoutrement - which is why I'm finding this sort of forum invaluable for cutting through all the marketing BS, and actually connecting with people who have similar interests to me, and lots more experience...

 

[Mirius]

Scouting was as much a creation as Bushcraft. Just as there is now the RM vs Mors etc back then there were several people vying against BP for the 'credit' of it's invention. BP gathered up some existing things, created a product, added a name and ran with it.

Bushcraft is in my mind a parallel thing to scouting and while it's 'creators' are likely to have been influenced by the Scouts and similar organisations, I think there are too many differences to call it scouting, though many core skills are shared. But then I could pick the army cadets since they pre-date the scouts - is bushcraft just cadets?

So no, I don't think it's scouting with a marketing spin.

 

[Hedgehog]

Hedgecraft is surely more suitable for the greater portion of these isles.

With a healthy bit of Pubcraft thrown in for good measure of course.

 

[spamel]

3. Everyone under the sun wanting to know what "Rays" kit is...I'd prefer to know what some of you guys on this site used on a regular basis such as Brttish Red, Spamel or Eric the wise and everyone else.

I use whatever Ray uses!



Only joking! I have Swannis, Zebra billy cans, an aussie hootchie that I got for free and a GB axe. I wear DPM though, usually either the trousers from a temperate set or the windproof smock. I don't want to go full cammo because I've left that part of my life behind when I left the mob! I like swedish gear and love canvas and leather kit at the moment. Woolen blankets are gonna be a summer thing for me, I have a Hex 3 too so am guilty of the teepee thing! Sorry!

Chasing labels is a big thing I think, but that is because it is tried and tested kit. When ten people are saying that this tarp is excellent and bomproof, you can pretty much assume you are gonna get what they say you're gonna get. Why buy a cheaper tarp that may fail and you end up paying more in the long run?

Ray's done a lot for the folk who want to get out and about, even some of his programmes which don't involve bushcraft skills that we would use are brilliant viewing. I'm thinking the peace of the film where he made his canoe. Such a nice film to watch, so peaceful and a beautiful place, truly somewhere I would love to visit for a long time!

People look too far into it, if it was running would we be having a similar discussion on a running forum? Does one even exist? And if so, why? What we've got is a massive umbrella to go out and try our hands at whatever we want to do outdoors, I am gonna give geocaching a whirl as I have found that there are actually a large number of caches in my immediate area that I can try out on before going further afield. It's outdoors, using navigation skills, so as far as I am concerned it is a bit of bushcrafting.

 

[stotRE]

Bushcrafting can be as big or as small as you like.

You do not need validation from faceless cybercrafters nor do you need to be constantly travelling the world walking in Rays footsteps.

A Kuksa whittled in your backyard is as relevant as one made my a Sammi sat in a teepee,in some respects it is better because you have a good wooden cup and you also have learn't another skill.

To me bushcraft is about new skills and not a new type of metal mug.

 

[w00dsmoke]

.

You do not need validation from faceless cybercrafters .

Oh but you do need validation or your on a serious charge the next time you are out with your knife bud!

 

[dwardo]

Its all over ? Nooo and i have booked a few days off this week to get out to the woods
But thats ok as i call it "woods time" anyways

Ah pants to it all i say ! Get out there and have fun and learn as much as you can. I use a GB axe and a tarp etc and would not have realy thought about such items without the influence of Mc Mears and the likes. I do watch all of his stuff and others but i dont go out and follow them to the letter i simply use them as a source of information not a way to live my life...we have the government for that lol

Unfortunatly i didnt have anyone to teach me the skills i needed to spend a few days in the woods safely and comfortably and to enjoy the outdoors. I guess as these were skills that my grandfather didnt have time to teach my father(probably too busy dodging german bullets) i needed to learn some how.

Its all about what you want out of """bushcraft"""" and i dont get too hung up on people who want to tidy it all up into a nice parcel that they can understand without having to think about it too much and then file away.

For me its all about getting out there learning about our natural surroundings and lost skills and for some reason i find peace out there which carries over into my home life. The other things "woods time" teaches me is conservation and the importance of low impact living and a general respect for things which can be easily lost, especially when we are so far removed from the effects of our decisions. For me "bushcraft" was mearly a door to Wildlife spotting, tree fungi and plant ID, Wood working, tool making and loads of others i cant think of right now.

Sorry for the ramblings had half hour to wait for a download lol.

Leon.