Skill level?

[JBOGGS]

I am wanting to know what everyone thinks about the levels of skill that a person goes through. Example: a skill level #1 person could build a simple shelter, build a cooking fire with a lighter, catch and clean a fish and have a good evening doing it. If we broke it down into five skill levels what would you think level 1,2,3,4 and 5 should be able to do. Level 5 bushcrafter being like Ray.

I am trying to get a handle on my own skill level by doing this little poll.

Thanks

JBOGGS

 

[mrostov]

That would depend on a lot, and I think it would be hard to quantify, especially since bushcraft skills in one area may not prepare you well enough to be an expert in another. There is always something new to learn.

For example look at Les Stroud, the host of the Science Channel show 'Survivorman' and the one hour episodes that each covered a week of survival in a different climate and situation.

Les as a person Is a nice guy and he does seem to know his stuff. He's a Canadian and a former canoe guide. You could tell when he did the episodes up in Canada he really knew his stuff good and he handled the cold and the local environment quite well. After all, it was his home turf.

Then, when he came down to the US, some of the wild climate and terrain changes really messed with him, and from my own personal experience in the southern regions of the US, such as the swamps of the southeast and the deserts of the southwest, I could tell he was a tad out of his element.

In the Sonora Desert of Arizona he did some basic things wrong in harvesting desert fruit and all of his splashng around in that Georgia swamp water landed him a parasite infection that it took him a year to get rid of.

Like a typical cold weather Canadian he was complaining about the heat of the Arizona desert, yet I could tell that it was obviously sometime in the spring and it had yet begun to actually get hot (it was only in the 90's during the day). He passed up a lot of edible food and he didn't try and hunt any animals. The Sonora Desert is crawling with food, both flora and fauna, if you know where and how to look for it and harvest it. It is one of the most edible ecosystems on Earth with 485 known edible plant species. If they had filmed that episode 6 weeks later he would have been tripping over food. But, being a Canadian he would have melted in the heat at that point, so no more Survivorman episodes.

However, Mr. Stroud had a very good fundamental skillset and he was adaptable, smart, and tough, so he did better than most would have while enduring a harsh experience in a totally unfamiliar setting.

Was he a pro? Yes. Was he a newbie also? Yes. So where would you rate him? It is something that's a bit difficult to quantify.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

That would depend on a lot, and I think it would be hard to quantify, especially since bushcraft skills in one area may not prepare you well for another.

For example look at Les Stroud the host of the show Survivorman and the one hour survival episodes that each cover a week of survival in a different climate and situation.

Les as a person Is a nice guy and he does seem to know his stuff. He's a Canadian and a former canoe guide. You could tell when he did the episodes up in Canada he really knew his stuff good and he handled the cold and the local environment quite well. After all, it was his home turf.

Then, when he came down to the US, some of the wild climate and terrain changes really messed with him, and from my own personal experience in the southern regions of the US, such as the swamps of the southeast and the deserts of the southwest, I could tell he was a tad out of his element. For example, he did some basic things wrong in harvesting desert fruit and all of his splashng around in that Georgia swamp landed him a parasite infection that it took him a year to get rid of. Like a typical cold weather Canadian he was complaining about the heat of the Arizona desert, yet I could tell that it was obviously sometime in the spring and it had yet begun to actually get hot (it was only in the 90's during the day).

But, he had a very good fundamental skillset and he was adaptable, so he did better than most would have while enduring a harsh experience in a totally unfamiliar setting.

Was he a pro? Yes. Was he a newbie also? Yes. So where would you rate him? It is something that's a bit difficult to quantify.

You have a valid point - I think the question is more generic.
You could say "level 1" = Able to start a fire? ok if you are in the north pole doing this task you would need to be "level 100" but as a generic rule its sound..

Hows this / Able to spend One comftable night out with only what you can carry over one mile level one. Two nights out over two miles etc?
In therory this would be ok on the bases that.......the less you have the farther you could walk the less you carry is relitive to your knowledge, this is very very simplistic.
As Mrostov said "since bushcraft skills in one area may not prepare you well for another"
How ever most bushcrafy knowledge can be adapted imha.

 

[Tony]

I think that part of the problem with looking at it like that is you’re narrowing down the skill base that is bushcraft. For me it’s a huge thing that covers anyone that gets out doors, or even does stuff inside. I know people that are fantastic at fungi, trees and walking mountains, I know others that are fantastic at building shelters and skinning animals, but they’ve never purified water or know where to start with foraging and cooking. These are still people that get out there and are comfortable in the outdoors.

I know a photographer that’s started learning the names of the trees and how to forage, he doesn’t know how to build a shelter or carve anything but he’s still out there doing something to increase his knowledge. He says he’s bushcrafting and I agree with him (He’s far better at plant ID than I am ). The term reflects an attitude and a journey to knowing more about the environment around you.

It’s being comfortable in the Wilderness (generally speaking) I think that the first step is to be comfortable spending time in the outdoors. I know that having a deep and broad skill base helps with this but that comes further down the line. Having a desire to get out, try new things, learn and experiment, push oneself and get more from the world around them. I think that should be level 1 even if they end up in a B&B or go home of an evening.

There’s too many areas to the whole thing to narrow it down into levels, there’s people that know far more than Ray about a lot of things to do with the outdoors, he’s on a journey of learning just like everyone else. I’m loath to do a level system.

Saying that I do understand what you’re getting at, it’s nice to be able to measure ourselves as there’s so much to take in and learn and do. Just building a successful fire is an accomplishment and a skill, building one with damp materials is more so and as for building a good fire in the pouring rain, heck, that’s hard work!

I think that just getting out there is a basic accomplishment, then developing a basic skill set another, then developing further skills in areas of interest. A lot of people that get out have particular interests in certain areas, the basic skill set helps them expand these interests, it doesn’t necessarily develop the basic’s much, although they are being used so inadvertently they will be strengthened and expended.

And then you’ve got the environment itself, woodlands, desert, mountains, snow, water, Summer, winter, Jungle, prairie, ocean, river etc Being able to light a fire in one place doesn’t mean you can light one somewhere else, so it’s all based on you as an individual.

In my mind anyone that gets out and learns stuff or even sits at home making cordage and identifying plants they’ve picked, or some such, does bushcraft, woodcraft, campcraft (whatever term is comfortable), they are at a basic level and it grows from there.

 

[weaver]

I think you will need to approach this from a different perspective.

What skills are needed to survive and enjoy the outdoors and how experienced are you with those skills?

The basic 5 general skill sets are:

SHELTER- learn to improvise shelter in any climate with minimum tools
WATER- learn to find and purify water in various terrain
FIRE- learn several ways to make fire and use it for warmth, cooking and purifying water
FOOD- learn to acquire and prepare wild foods, both flora and fauna
FIRST AID- learn life saving first aid skills

After that there are plenty more to learn, practice and improve. You need to rate yourself in these basic skills and determine your weakness and strength. Then get busy learning the rest.

 

[British Red]

Sorry for the OT just noticed mrostov over here for the first time - welcome!

Red

 

[Mr_Rimps]

Its an interesting question but do we want to pigeon hole ourselves into skill levels?

Personally I get enough of "levels" and "grades" at work, I'm content at being as I am and learning off those that can do what I want to be able to do. And I can find that out over a few beers around a campfire

 

[tecNik]

Then maybe not a level or grade but a code that lists skills.
Like a bushcraft version of The Geek Code.

Wow! the geek code, that takes me back.

 

[Shambling Shaman]

I have to agree with all of the above - I was pointing out that the question was or could be approched from a more generic angle. I do not like being pigeon holed, I do what I do. I think the question is still sound and will get a good debate going

 

[Toddy]

Yeah the Geek Code takes me back too.........to when I was
-----GS/GO d/,d-- s: )(!a? C++ ULP E-- W+ N+ o K++ W O M- V PS+ PE Y+ PGP-- t 5++ X+ R+ tv-- b+++ D1+++ D++ G= e++ h- r+++ X+--;z+++ ------


Sorry, but really, it'll be like a school report card soon.......do we get different badges too?

Competence and confidence; in abilitiy and knowledge. Life skills in different environments and settings, company and age groups............how on Earth can that be 'defined' ?
Even if you stuck to the incredibly narrow 1,2,3,4,5, set of skills, would we then have to describe ourselves as a 34241or the like? Sounds like a very badly configured steam engine

I like our very open approach, where everyone is still learning, no-one knows it all, everybody has something interesting to show/ share/ teach/ learn and still it's a very individual thing. I'd hate to see that regimented, tethered and somehow *defined* .

There's a tremendous wealth of people out there, even if mostly they prefer to go alone or meet in small groups, they are generally quietly welcoming and genuinely good to know; if they were graded I think that would greatly interfere in the openess of our otherwise classless society.
Even the Schools can't agree on a set of standard transferable accomplishments, I don't see how we could either.

Might I suggest that a better way to get a handle on your own skill level might be to manage to be part of one of the meet ups and actually work with some of the other folks there? The atmosphere is good, welcoming, non judgemental. Show an interest or ask a question and the conversation and demonstrations all open up.


atb,
Toddy

Edit: ooops, sorry, just realised you're in the USA.....there's a lot of folks out there doing this stuff too though,
M

 

[fred gordon]

I am not in favour of Skill levels, although I can understand the attraction of measuring youself against some sort of yardstick. I think Bushcraft skills are part of Lifelong Learning. You can never hope to know it all. It's such a huge subject that many on this site choose to specialise. The knife makers, the leather workers, the bush string specialists, and so on. Lets keep learning for our own satisfaction and follow the maxim 'Know more carry less'

 

[Wayland]

Sounds like scout badges to me....

 

[Bisamratte]

Even a very experienced bushcrafter has something else to learn.

I think the Japanese got it right with the martial arts, when we hear that someone has just got their black belt, we think they are an expert. Actually the first black belt ( shodan) means that you have just learnt the basics. I think shodan translates as "first step" but I could be wrong. My point is that everything is relative, some people think that I know allot about Bushcraft just because I showed them that I can light a fire with flint and steel, in their eyes I'm up there with Ray . So called "experts" are called this because they have proven how much they know (degree, masters, doctorate, very difficult martial arts grading that I never did etc). I read somewhere that the old English definition of an "Expert" is: A person who has travelled 50 miles or more to voice his opinion on something.

I think it was one of these "Forgotten English" calender things....really quite informative but It could be wrong,........ who knows???....now who do I know that lives more than 50 miles away....I need an "Expert" opinion on this

Ok I'm defiantly going off topic now

So back to thread....People always have something new to learn so any scale of knowledge in my eyes is a bit iffy at best.

Sorry for waffling

Andy