Ray Mears Goes Walkabout - Your Views

[Nightwalker]

Thanks for the clarification on the fungi name Martyn & crazydave.

... So Ray was wrong...

I think we can forgive him this once, he obviously knew what he was dealing with and he probably knows of more uses of it than us!

 

[crazydave]

I have a friend who used to wander around garden centres and sprout off a few latin names to make seem superior

back to bushcraft - I think the personal video youtube metacafe approach is the best way get across to small user groups but its not easy making it seem interesting as a one to one training session I think dryad do the best ones at the moment. some of the small dvd offerings like the hoods woods stuff are ok to watch.

I'm wary from watching its development of 'bushcraft' being too small a niche under the general 'survival' umbrella. Yes I know its a sore issue, I've been in this debate in the past and no I'm not flipping trolling but you only have to look at the site now to see what creeps in like solar stills and so forth. Its not just me and a lot agree with me that survival as a subject bloomed in the 80's then dropped back but stayed on the agenda as the skills are used in swimming, hiking, climbing and so on alongside the scouts and military. It was always there and always will be as long as its required. I'm not sure how the bushcraft subgenre will fare long term unless its amalgamated into something else like trailwalking as it is its getting stuck into the camping catagory from some I know who see it as just that designer camping.As an example I was in town today and one of the chepo bookshops had a bushcraft and a survival manual next to each other in a nice big A4+ format so I had a look. the bushcraft one was half the price and thickness of the survival one as it was the same book but with chunks pulled out that didnt relate to wiccy ups and bow drills. Once again I am not slagging bushcraft off I'm just wary of it painting itself into a corner. I am more than happy with bushcraft and survival skills as a nice big topic encompassing everything. elsewhere in the world its wilderness and survival so we're used to playing second fiddle

Also unless there's a kickback from the public then the way the government is going the only place we will be able to use our knives is abroad and even then we wont be able to get them there as we wont be allowed to transport our knives from the house to the airport as they will be in public places.

maybe as part of the moots instructional videos can be knocked up on topics not allready out there. I cant see it being that hard to video each base properly then produce a copy for people - maybe its time to stop being followers waiting for the next rm series to emulate and take the lead

ray mears wise - les hiddins has a project or two to keep him going so maybe its time ray used his celebrity to help some of the tribes he documents by helping to save their way of life from modern encroachment in the same way richard leaky ran the kenyan wildlife parks to save the animals. I just get the feeling that he's fed up. mid life crisis maybe.

 

[Nicolas]

There are two kind of Bushcrafters, the tech freaks and the once that actually do it...
Let me explain:
The techfreak has to have every book needs to go out and watch every Ray mears Bear Grylls and god knows what else movie and clip.
But never ever actually sleeps outside or goes beyound a little daytrip

And than there are the once that actually do it and go out and stay a while outside learn primitive living, but I believe that relativly speaking the number of people who actually do bushcrafting (if you can say so) are very small.

 

[Bernie Garland]

There are two kind of Bushcrafters, the tech freaks and the once that actually do it...
Let me explain:
The techfreak has to have every book needs to go out and watch every Ray mears Bear Grylls and god knows what else movie and clip.
But never ever actually sleeps outside or goes beyound a little daytrip

And than there are the once that actually do it and go out and stay a while outside learn primitive living, but I believe that relativly speaking the number of people who actually do bushcrafting (if you can say so) are very small.

I couldn't agree more.

Bernie

 

[Kepis]

There are two kind of Bushcrafters, the tech freaks and the once that actually do it...
Let me explain:
The techfreak has to have every book needs to go out and watch every Ray mears Bear Grylls and god knows what else movie and clip.
But never ever actually sleeps outside or goes beyound a little daytrip

And than there are the once that actually do it and go out and stay a while outside learn primitive living, but I believe that relativly speaking the number of people who actually do bushcrafting (if you can say so) are very small.

You missed off the third type, the armchair shrafter, has all the books, all the dvd's, talks about bushcraft with meaningful authority and practices bushcraft in the back yard but never quite manages to get their bum off the chair and go up the woods, moor, hills etc to do it for real

 

[Bernie Garland]

And some that are brave enough to venture out go dressed as Rm clones,with the clothes and kit.

Bernie

 

[Kepis]

And some that are brave enough to venture out go dressed as Rm clones,with the clothes and kit.

Bernie

Too true
.

 

[nodd]

oh dear im going to have to sell all my kit now even though it works well

 

[nodd]

I have to say I have found the programs so far interesting especially the history parts, the book is a good read too.

 

[spamel]

Yeah, it's a trwo-part heirarchical system of genus and species. Species is the lowest "rank" in the heirarchy. For example we are Homo sapiens. That means we belong to the genus Homo, and we are the species sapiens. There is also Homo neanderthalis. Neaderthalis and sapiens are two different species, but they are related and are both of the genus Homo. The genus is often simply written at the capital followed by a full stop and is usually itallicised. For example H.sapiens or H.neanderthalis. The bacteria E. coli is actually Escherichia coli.

In the above example of Daldinia concentrica (D. concentrica), the genus is actually Daldinia and the species is concentrica. So Ray was wrong. The fungus was of the genus Daldinia, or more correctly, a Daldinia sp. (an unknnown species of the Daldinia genus).

Haah! Haah! You said Homo!

 

[madelinew]

You missed off the third type, the armchair shrafter, has all the books, all the dvd's, talks about bushcraft with meaningful authority and practices bushcraft in the back yard but never quite manages to get their bum off the chair and go up the woods, moor, hills etc to do it for real

Oh dear I'm firmly in the back yard camp at the moment. Enjoying dragging our camping holidays down as basic as I dare with my fussy lot but building up my own kit ready to wave good bye to the family and bog off into the woods on my own. Unless they want to come with me - which I doubt.

In the meantime, I'm practising my fire building techniques (badly) and knots (getting there)

 

[Nicolas]

oh dear im going to have to sell all my kit now even though it works well

no need it just means that you are most likely a sucker who would buy anyting of the ads are right and poppy enough













Only kidding

 

[Tony]

I've come into this late although i've read a lot of the posts so i'll not go over anything other than to say that i've recently watched the first one (we don't have TV at home) and I thought it was good, there were a few things that were..umm...commentable but i'll refrain because over all I enjoyed it and it was great to see some bushcraft type TV again.

I too would love to see some UK based stuff but i'd rather have this than nothing. Maybe we should get a signature list going (can't remember the name of the ) and see if we can push for some more UK stuff.

Anyway, yeah, I thought it was good

 

[spamel]

Tony, I'd suggest if you are gonna get access to the series after they have aired that you save BTM for last, or at least third depending on the last episode! Watch the poorer episodes first and you won't be as dissapointed!

 

[Nightwalker]

Something that crossed my mind whilst reading earlier posts on this thread, regards internet and homemade videos being useful and Ray doing his own thing. Lets say Ray did want to do a few certain topics here in the UK, what is stopping him from producing small skills or topic based DVDs of his own, available from his store only as other instructors and schools have done. This would surely allow him to bypass the constraints of producers and what not, allowing him to produce exactly what he wants. Its surely a win for everyone; he'll get more of what he wants, so will we and he will no doubt be able to reap the benifits more directly and make an investment. Do you think he will have contracts with the BBC that would prevent him from doing his own independent productions?

 

[spamel]

Personally, I believe the impact it would have on his School is the reason he is shying away from a UK based skill sets series or DVD set. I know that personal tuition can not be substituted with a DVD set that you watch on telly, but it is the next best thing. How many would opt for that set?

I thought the Birchtree productions was an honest attempt at doing what we want, but unfortunately it got stuck in a rut of gear. What would have been better would have been to have a number of different DVDs based on a particular subject. I'm not sure how well it could be done, the interest would start to wane after seeing a bloke climb out of the fifth sleeping system of some sort or other!

If i had the time and expertise with a camcorder type camera, I'd give it a crack. Who wouldn't want to?

 

[crazydave]

actually thats another thing I've noticed - shorter series but we still get the books.

 

[Mikey P]

There are two kind of Bushcrafters, the tech freaks and the once that actually do it...
Let me explain:
The techfreak has to have every book needs to go out and watch every Ray mears Bear Grylls and god knows what else movie and clip.
But never ever actually sleeps outside or goes beyound a little daytrip

And than there are the once that actually do it and go out and stay a while outside learn primitive living, but I believe that relativly speaking the number of people who actually do bushcrafting (if you can say so) are very small.

What about those who have the books in order to learn the theory, and then go out and actually practice it in the woods (maybe after practicing in the back garden)? I suspect many (including me) enjoy reading about stuff, or watching a DVD, and then going out and doing it. Perhaps not as hardcore as some but I've seen plenty of night skies in woods/fields away from home.

Maybe I'm just not confident enough to go out and solve every problem from scratch. Possibly, 'forewarned is forearmed'? Maybe it's because my work background demands as much preparation as practical before deployment - I guess it's risk reduction?

But then again, isn't that actually what the essence of bushcraft is all about? Reduce risk of death from starvation, dehydration, exposure? Effectively, bushcraft enables us to survive in 'comfort'.

Blimey - this is getting deep!

 

[Nicolas]

What about those who have the books in order to learn the theory, and then go out and actually practice it in the woods (maybe after practicing in the back garden)? I suspect many (including me) enjoy reading about stuff, or watching a DVD, and then going out and doing it. Perhaps not as hardcore as some but I've seen plenty of night skies in woods/fields away from home.

Maybe I'm just not confident enough to go out and solve every problem from scratch. Possibly, 'forewarned is forearmed'? Maybe it's because my work background demands as much preparation as practical before deployment - I guess it's risk reduction?

But then again, isn't that actually what the essence of bushcraft is all about? Reduce risk of death from starvation, dehydration, exposure? Effectively, bushcraft enables us to survive in 'comfort'.

Blimey - this is getting deep!

Nuh but of course you have people that buy all the kits and all the books and DVD's and still go out and do their stuff.

 

[madelinew]

What about those who have the books in order to learn the theory, and then go out and actually practice it in the woods (maybe after practicing in the back garden)? I suspect many (including me) enjoy reading about stuff, or watching a DVD, and then going out and doing it. Perhaps not as hardcore as some but I've seen plenty of night skies in woods/fields away from home.

Maybe I'm just not confident enough to go out and solve every problem from scratch. Possibly, 'forewarned is forearmed'? Maybe it's because my work background demands as much preparation as practical before deployment - I guess it's risk reduction?

That's the level I'm aiming for..........