Remarkable story about the light fingered hermit
- Thread starter Qwerty
- Start date
By food and supplies you mean everything he possessed other than his sunglasses, for a period of 27 years was obtained by breaking into other people's property and stealing - not just food but clothes, camping equipment, boots, gas, stoves, radios etc. We have people like that here but they live in squats or slums and we call them career criminals. He may live in the woods but he's no different.
widu13
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
and with comments like that, that is exactly what is wrong with the Country (World?) today
Oh, I dunno. I think since time immemorial this has been a problem with the world. "let he who is without sin" and all that...
The bit that gets me is that he decided not to try and get his own food by fishing as it was too much work! That makes him a "lazy thieving scumbag" in my book - not a survival hero. I am of the camp that thinks that therapy in jail is a good option. Stealing from the handicapped is just LOW!
That wasn't far from here. Part of me is kinda sorry they caught him.
It isn't uncommon to stumble across camps like his in the woods. I think I've posted some pics here in the past. I think a lot of them survive by 'dumpster diving' behind restaurants and stores at night. I've had tools, a grill, and game cameras stolen from my camp, too.
Like John, I'm surprised he didn't fish. Not only is the fishing fantastic around here, but it's fun.
It isn't uncommon to stumble across camps like his in the woods. I think I've posted some pics here in the past. I think a lot of them survive by 'dumpster diving' behind restaurants and stores at night. I've had tools, a grill, and game cameras stolen from my camp, too.
Like John, I'm surprised he didn't fish. Not only is the fishing fantastic around here, but it's fun.
TurboGirl
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
He'd've done better raiding your crayfish traps and replacing them minus the haul, if your blogs anything to go by!
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27 years? I bet he needs an eye test and i'd hate to see the state of the lenses in those glasses! Sorry-just being my old lens technician self...
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
He stole propane cylinders and lugged them into a wood rather learn to gather and dry wood that didnt smoke. Not been detected in a woodland for nearly 3 decades is really cool, but he was a plonker that learnt very little. As for meditating to quote buddha "before enlitenment, chop wood gather water, after enlightenment chop wood gather water" IE if you cant provide for your own physical needs you arent on a spiritual path.
Say all you like with the moral high ground well and truly taken and a quick slip into Daily Mail headline type posts; but I have a funny feeling he did better than any of us could have done
Its was never about "bushcraft" its was about his own survival
We all know you couldn't really survive in the UK by foraging wild food and hunting so he would have had no chance in the enviroment he was in had he not pushed his foraging a bit further.
I agree he probably had some mental health issues in which case he should be cared for not imprisoned. That seems particularly cruel in this case
Just my view obviously not everyones
Its was never about "bushcraft" its was about his own survival
We all know you couldn't really survive in the UK by foraging wild food and hunting so he would have had no chance in the enviroment he was in had he not pushed his foraging a bit further.
I agree he probably had some mental health issues in which case he should be cared for not imprisoned. That seems particularly cruel in this case
Just my view obviously not everyones
Perhaps you couldn't live by foraging in the UK. I don't know enough about it to intelligently comment. But in Maine (and other places over here) there are quite a few people who live by hunting, fishing, and trapping year round. Enough so that no one even gives them a second thought.
You're right; it wasn't about bushcraft. it was about living without having to work.
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Done properly by people that know what they are doing hunting foraging fishing and gathering your own wood is should work out less work than working an 8 hour shift 5 days a week. I still dont get the steal and carry propane rather than collect dead standing. Living wild and never learning to hunt or fish, he didnt even nick a book with trapping methods. He was a idiot. That caused himself more work. There are people that in Uk that can live mostly by foraging, or shoot most of their meat. There is/was a bloke that lived in woods near me for a few years. He hasnt been seen for bit so people dont know if he has moved on or died. He did steal some things, he shop lifted butter and lard, he took milk from door steps in winter and some clothes from washing lines. They were thefts of nesscity not lazyness, he mostly survived by eating wild game and weeds. He was ex army and probably had mental health issues.
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Apparently you've never butchered a moose and salted it out. Nor spent 12 to 16 hours a day cleaning and smoking a supply of fish for the winter. Nor ran a propper trap line. It's damned hard work.
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Sounds more like he just didn't want to work for a living and is using military experience as an excuse. After 21 years of service I quickly tire of hearing the slackers use that excuse.
I think the last people to do that in reality in your neck of the woods and quite successfully were native Americans
We put a stop to that
I call you on how many people are living solely by those means in reality i.e trapping and foraging with no purchase, unlawful appropriation or trade involved
I don't want to get into a big debate about it but because it moves into the nether regions of bushcraft Vs survival Which has been beaten to death
I suppose my main point is that to survive each individual must do what is neccessary within their capabilities
Which that fella did quite well for quite a while And did no real harm at all
Got to disagree there. If someone burgles homes, he does harm - he steals the portion of life the owner put into earning the money to buy their things - that time cannot be regained. If you really think he has done no harm, best leave your home unlocked and post a sign saying "help yourself".
Quite a few people that I know of. Not without purchase true enough; you have to buy the traps, the guns, the ammo, the fishing tackle, the archery equipment, and the appropriate licenses. Nothing illegal at all though. You buy those things (an investment of about $3000 initially for equipment and licenses the first year and another $ 300-$400 per year thereafter) and sell the furs for about $$35,00 per year if doing it full time and treating it as your only job. I helped a cousin run his part time trapline one season and he made a good chunk of change doing it as a hobby. All perfectly legal. In Alaska the investment is a bit more perhaps but then so is the rreturn.
Without the trapping aspect (and thus no monetary return) I still know personally of a few dozen people who subsist entirely on hunted deer and trot-lined catfish; again, all perfectly legally.
You're partly right in that it's not "bushcraft." But then it's not "survival" either. It's simply the way they're way of life. And there's no debate involved; it's fact.
Also seems a bit interesting that when you speak of "my neck of the woods" (the eastern side of the country, particularly the Southeast) you seem to believe that the pre-Columbian Native Americans here were primarily hunter/gatherers. They weren't. They were primarily farmers with established trading routes extending 100s of miles.
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They should do a TV programme about the ones you know, the last lot on TV were full of crap.
