Skills to learn

[cbr6fs]

Really depends on what you want to do and where you are going.

For me and the things i do the first 2 priorities are

1/ Navigation
2/ First aid

I can understand folks building shelters out of sticks and making fire by rubbing sticks together for fun, but it's not really a necessity it's more of a hobby in my opinion.
So it's worth sitting down and thinking of what you fancy doing.

 

[bushcraftkid2001]

Firefighting is a really important skill, once you have got the hang of that, it opens up a world of possibilities:shelters, food, water...

 

[Robson Valley]

Excellent ideas. Navigation and first aid are tops.
Just plain being careful with any and all edge tools has to be #1.
Being competent to build a fire is a great psychological boost.

For 3 months, I lived almost 60 miles, upstream on the Churchill River, from the nearest road.
Getting out of there by boat, injured, would have incredibly difficult.

 

[Michael]

I agree with all of these but second the need to become able to use edged tools safely.

 

[Gray]

All good advice, make sure your comfortable with your kit. No point taking food if you dont know how to prelare it and cook it so start at the beginning taking food you can cook, a stove you know how to use, simple fire lighting equipment, plenty of water and enough layers to stay warm. Read up on this forum, get yourself away on meets and talk go people, ask things you want to know. The rest will come slowly but surely, if it feels likd a chore and your not enjoying it, your doing wrong. Ask, ask and ask some more.

 

[Quixoticgeek]

WATER!

Having set off this Spring for an over nighter with what I thought was plenty of water, I found myself having to ration what I had, and ultimately suffering from dehydration. Had I had the knowledge to know what water around me was safe, and what wasn't, as well as the means to treat said water, I wouldn't have been in trouble.

Learn to find water and learn to treat it. From there, everything else will form.

Julia

 

[Robson Valley]

Minding yourself, such as water treatment, is a given.
Being competent to build a fire in the afternoon of a horribly rainy day
trumps any psychological merit that any other element might have.

Do it. Go out on an unbelievably crappy day with the sole intention of building a fire.
Practice is what makes the whole bushcraft experience such a delight.
Get it done. Make the fire. Enjoy. Possibly cook something. Go home.

I say this only because everyone in my family was expected to be competent.
"Dress accordingly. We go." was a family motto. Show up or shut up.

I can find tinder in a rainy forest here at 53N and get a fire bundle going in less than 2 minutes
with my little Kershaw and a spark rod. No. Big. Deal.
I don't need to, I don't want to, but because I hunt the high country logging roads,
I believe that I need to remain competent when the crap hits the fan.

 

[cbr6fs]

WATER!

Having set off this Spring for an over nighter with what I thought was plenty of water, I found myself having to ration what I had, and ultimately suffering from dehydration. Had I had the knowledge to know what water around me was safe, and what wasn't, as well as the means to treat said water, I wouldn't have been in trouble.

Learn to find water and learn to treat it. From there, everything else will form.

Julia

Not really anything we can do to know 100% what water is safe and what isn't.
We can make a educated guess by estimating it's source and guessing if it's likely to have been contaminated by animals, human waste or chemicals, but clear well oxygenated water is just as likely to make you ill as a muddy puddle as far as we can see with our naked eye.

Some folks lead people to believe they have some sort of mystical power, that by looking at water with the naked eye and guessing to it's source they can tell if it's safe, in reality though it's nonsense they have no more idea than the rest of us.

You can swing the odds in your favour.
Avoid low level water sources especially those in, around or running through high population areas
Avoid low level water around farms
Filter, boil or chemically treat any water you take

None are a guarantee of safe water, you could take water from a stream 2000m above any sign of animal or human life, filter it, then boil it, then chemically treat it, but still some harmful chemical contamination may still be in it.
Unlikely but still possible.

 

[Robson Valley]

Oh, for heavens sake! Water quality? Can't you shoulder a couple of liters on your own?
All I want to do is kick your butt out into my back yard. From 3P to 8A it is dark here in the mountains at 53N.
It is just -5C but windy. Lots of wood, help yourself. 36" rock dusty snow, help yourself.
Make a cup of tea.
If you can't, come back into the house and figure out what will work tomorrow.

 

[Harvestman]

Different environments, different skills.

 

[sandbender]

"...Oh, for heavens sake! Water quality? Can't you shoulder a couple of liters on your own?..."

He lives in Greece. Having circumnavigated much of the Peloponnese and Cyclades May through November I can vouch for needing quite a bit more than a couple of litres on your back and that knowing where to look for wells and cisterns is a very useful skill over there.

 

[ejsilver26]

I too have been looking at boning up on new skills and wondering where to start. I spend a lot of time in the woods (I live on a farm) and like to dabble in "the art of bushcraft", but wanted some direction and a list of skills to learn. I live in Canada, not the UK or the USA, but frequent both sites. On BushcraftUSA, they have BushclassUSA. It is a list of skills that would be useful to learn, a forum to share your learnings and practices along the way. I'm not trying to bring people away from this site (both are well written and have great members), but I find that it is really well done. I do admit that it may need to be "tweaked" for various areas and situations, but it is a great place to start.

Just my 2 cents worth.