Quo Vadis

[Montivagus]

New to the forum, I was wondering what you Frankie Howards were like.
Who am I talking to?
Have a sense of humour and choose the closest match.
Suggest another category if you feel misrepresented.
Give me one name that inspired you on your path to bushcraft
Mine is Lofty Wiesman.

 

[sandsnakes]

over forty grumpy old g1t!

 

[JonnyP]

Well it has to be Ray Mears who inspired me to bushcraft, and this site which has given me the like minded friends and the get out there and do it.............

 

[outdoorgirl]

Hmm... Well I guess you could say that Baden-Powell was my inspiration, as I was hooked on outdoor life after being in the Girl Guides. Lofty's SAS book was the first of many books on the subject, but I like to take inspiration and advice wherever I can.

Not sure which category I'd fit into - bit of a 'knife nut' (I have lots) but generally I'm the 'escape into the wilds to get away from it all' type...

 

[demographic]

A book I read when I was a kid.

My Side of the Mountain followed by Lofty Wisemans SAS Survival Handbook when I was a teenager.

Oh and The Shining Levels by John Wyatt.

And I was a farmboy.

 

[Spacemonkey]

Anyone noticed that we have a lot of Lone Gunmen??

Oh, and i always thought my first inspirational book was Lofty's, but I know remember having the Hardy Boy's survival handbook or something which was quite similar in parts, and it told you how to make a survival kit, shelter, fire etc, and then had adventure survival stories relating to each subject. A great book when I was 10 or so.

 

[Goose]

Anyone noticed that we have a lot of Lone Gunmen??

Oh, and i always thought my first inspirational book was Lofty's, but I know remember having the Hardy Boy's survival handbook or something which was quite similar in parts, and it told you how to make a survival kit, shelter, fire etc, and then had adventure survival stories relating to each subject. A great book when I was 10 or so.

Had just noticed that, and we have no knife nuts? Or can you only vote once?

 

[Montivagus]

I'm worried!

You can click more than one box. I think?!

And having thought about it Lofty took over from Biggles.

 

[outdoorgirl]

Ha! You can indeed click multiple boxes and vote for more than one option...

Oh, and I grew up on 'The Waltons', which definitely shaped my childhood - along with Robin Hood...

ODG

 

[Zodiak]

For me it was the BBC TV series of Swallows and Amazons in the 60s, which lead me to read all the books, join Cubs, learn to sail, buy a tent, go on long hikes..

 

[ilovemybed]

Farmboy for me, although it's still a loose fit... Long running family history of gamekeeping and estate work interrupted by bouts of military service.
Stuck in an office now (for one more month. Yippee!!!) paying off debts now so hovered over the "Office RM wannabe" too....
Inspirations include the old fashioned tramps and poachers who wandered round the countryside in the good ol' days. You never really see proper tramps any more; they died out with white dog poo...

Also the old mountain men. Never could miss an episode of Gentle Ben or Grizzly Adams.

Perhaps a bit of James Bond and MacGiuver thrown in too...

Ok, I've probably given away a bit much... Will stop there before I completely destroy and kudos I may have had

Cheers,
Neil

 

[Toddy]

Funny enough someone mentioned this the other day (we were talking about old time leather making)
What the h3ll did they feed the dogs that they produced that stuff? I haven't seen it since my childhood and somehow always associated it with dogs with worms

cheers,
Toddy

 

[leon-b]

well ray mears inspired me but i also go shooting so this interested me in the outdoor world especially the hunting side of it
leon

 

[queeg9000]

My earliest recollection of being inspired by bushcraft, has got to be Les Hiddins the bush tucker man, not exactly bushcraft in the style of Ray, mainly Australian army survival, but one hell of an interesting bloke to watch.
As kids we'd always be in the local woods, making shelters, fishing, etc so I've always enjoyed the outdoors, especially now, that i'm older (much) and stuck in a stuffy office all day!

 

[leon-b]

ive also always enjoyed the outdoors me and mates always used to be in the woods, we played 'manhunt' quite alot, its a bit like hide and seek but in the woods also when they see you you can run away that was good fun
leon

 

[stevec]

les hiddens, sat in front of tv waiting for sunday lunch to arrive!!
sc

 

[Goose]

Funny enough someone mentioned this the other day (we were talking about old time leather making)
What the h3ll did they feed the dogs that they produced that stuff? I haven't seen it since my childhood and somehow always associated it with dogs with worms

cheers,
Toddy

White dog poo died out with traditional butchers, there aren't as many bones around!
It was either a radio or TV programme talking about this a couple of years ago and the white poo was mainly calcium from eating bones, no dogs scrounging outside the butchers any more= no white poo!
But what really worries me is what happens to the bones now, do they get binned or is that what big macs are made from?

 

[jdlenton]

Mears on the tellly is what attracted me back into bushcraft after years of doing other things before that it was scouts and a survival book in the school library i also did a lot of climbing, canoeing, sailing, windsurfing and mountain stuff in my late teens and twenties. My family are very outdoors people too every summer we all spent six weeks under canvas across Europe now to do it with my family

 

[FeralSheryl]

Parents grew up in India then moved to England and had me. They then went on to work in Africa 9 months of the year when I was a kid so I pretty much grew up there, hearing many exciting bedtime stories about adventures in 'the Bush' in both India and Africa. I remember Dad driving me out to the very edge of 'the Bush' when I was about 5 one day and pointing to it saying "there it is". I could feel all my senses tingle and begged him to take me in but he said I was too young Thats where it began for me I guess.

Watched Daktari, fell in love with wildlife, wild places and bits of 'survival' kit. Grew up, discovered photography and worked in a wildlife rescue in the UK. Watched Mr Mears programmes and they seemed to tie it all together. A bit of a veggie tree hugger for sure (so I clicked that one) but not a hippy. My partner may beg to differ on that

 

[andyn]

Hmm inspiration...probably my parents for the first part of my life. Dad was an ex-landscape gardener for a farm estate so spent a lot of time there running around the woods and fields when i was younger. Both mum and dad were quite hippyish in their younger years and lived in the woods, on canal boats, down on dartmoor moors and travelling and living rough in europe between them. Used to love listening to their stories as a kid.
Cubs and Scouts for the teenage years but school exams got in the way and before long I had drifted to the dark side of telly and playstations and an urban lifestyle.
Ray Mears Bushcraft series, well the sweden episode actually, was the inspiration to get back into it and is also a great escape from the office life during the week hours.