So how did you all get into this??

[Pignut]

Started as a cub in 87 and worked my way through the scouting movement, I am now an explorer Scout Leader.

That aside I have always had an interest in the outdoors, from playing in the woods as a kid to hiking in the scotish mountains. and then through an Environmental Science degree!

Generally just an outdoor kind of guy!

 

[Shewie]

I was brought up in a small village in Yorkshire and spent my early years playing around in the woods and moors building dens and treehouses, camping out and chopping everything insight with my SAK.
In 1989 I saved up my paper-round money and bought the new Lofty Wiseman survival book and I`ve been interested in all things survival and bushcraft ( I know they`re not ethically the same before everyone starts !! ) ever since.
I`ve travelled around Europe and S America backpacking and hiking but have always favoured spending time in good old blighty, in particular the Lakes and the Highlands. I`ve attempted to get into serious mountaineering with a view to leading but the costs of overseas expiditions and family life put a kybosh on that.
I suppose my real interest in bushcraft came from Mr Mears himself from watching Tracks and World of Survival.
I`ve attended a couple of bushcraft courses and really, really, really want to do some arctic stuff (one day) I`ve read numerous books by powell, kochanski etc. Now my weekends are spent outdoors doing something or other be it hiking with the bird , wild camping or bushcrafty stuff .

 

[Stutoffee]

Hi. Long time lurker here, first time poster.
I think my earliest memory of being aware of survivalism/bushcraft, was from a BBC documentary where a guy assembled a Kit in a peanut can, I must have been VERY young as the waterproof sheet in his kit gave me the idea of using my playmat/table cover/paint guard sheet that I used when drawing or painting. I seem to remember MY sheet had clowns or whatever printed on it & you were meat to colour them in with crayons & then wipe it clean.
Like many on here, Im sure, I also got involved in the Survival/Rambo craze & read "Survival Weaponry & Techniques", which I thought was pretty good, before it got bogged down in Paintball/Escape & Evasion etc & finally perished in the face of the anti-gun/knife (or anything pointy!) brigade.
Lately, I find myself just enjoying the outdoors, fresh air, freedom & little or no noise. Ive always enjoyed camping/hiking & started out with my late fathers "Troll" canvas rucsac (bloody heavy!), long ago replaced with a Berghaus Cyclops Roc, I might add. I still collect knives, I still take an interest in Survival technology, but I also enjoy the more primitive aspects of bushcraft, and have to agree I think Ray Mears' material is superb. My next project is the construction of a bow, based on instructions in one of his hardbacks, & Im always working on something, from modifying scales on a SAK to turning a traditional kukri into an almost tactical-looking bush/survival knife. I have SRKW Battle Rat, a couple of Beckers, and a slack handful of the so-called Combat knives (Inc a Gerber MkII), but IF Im honest, I use my Mora, my Becker Necker & assorted SAKs far more than anything else.

 

[BOD]

My first “bushcrafty” memory is at five years when my mother made me 2 toy tugboat/ferries with an axe and some firewood when we were staying in an uncle’s cottage on Paijanne, a lake in Finland. She must have used a puokko at some point because I still can’t believe anyone could use an axe to carve or shape a boat. I remember the strokes that shaped the cylindrical funnel. She captured the raised bow and sheer line of the lake ferries with one but knocked of the bow of the other making it flat like a barge. I never saw her do anything like that again though we often went for walks in forests for most of her life. We would “forage” in the pine forests collecting berries especially blueberries which I’d dip in sugar in my palm and gobble. She had been a model and nurse before meeting my father in London after the war so was not a person working on the land. She must have learnt from her father. That was the summer he gave me my first puokko.

None of these skills passed to me and we left Finland when I was 6 and the puokko seldom came out. I guess in British colonial Singapore it was not the done thing for a 6 year old to run around with what would be seen as a dagger by other kids’ parents!

I enjoyed the outdoors but did so with youthful testosterone and not much sense to the detriment of the wildlife and plants. I did walks in the hill stations in the Malayan jungle with my mother and saw my first Sakai on a trail complete with blow pipe– no T-shirts or bras then, all forest products. I got a blow pipe at 10 to the dismay of our pets.

After that it’s a familiar story - the army – which does not let you do bushcrafty things but insists on its way like sleeping tactical in a hooch but not a hammock. Little time to appreciate the outdoors but often got lost.

Then it was university, civilian life, office jobs and kids but the walks carried on now with the young ones. I got into SAR in Australia and that kept an interest going but I was (still am) a gadget-geek. But I seldom got away to spend enough time in the woods. Wife was always buying me books on the forests and came home one day with Lofty Wiseman’s book. Interesting but just a shelf reference. I always had reservations about gadgets (most of mine didn’t work that well!) and the dependency on an industrial society for ones survival. Everyone I knew was a high-tech camper-traveller.

My wife accepted a job in Brunei and I gave up mine and followed. Forest everywhere and at our backyard a cliff and miles of hilly jungle. Got a job in outdoor education but still very gadget and SAR oriented. Saw Ray Mears’ programmes and knew there was more to it

Then I met Stuart. I had not realized that there were people seriously committed to bush craft. I was like very dry tinder and his monomania was the spark. I ignited like an Oz bushfire and have been blazing ever since. There is forest galore here in Borneo and because I learnt Malay as a child I picked up the language quickly and I visit indigenous communities here and in Malaysia and just keep learning from them. Minimalism is the order of the day now (the gadgets stay at home except for the Petzl). I am going back to Perth in March to do a course with Bob Cooper the Australian outback guy.

And I now have shared ‘title’ to a few kilometers of rainforest with a big lake and huge trees for hunting, fishing and trapping. It’s not Paijanne but it is very pretty.

 

[Mike Harlos]

Hi,

Interesting thread

I've always been interested in the outdoors, growing up in British Columbia and having the ready opportunity to get out on some nice hikes. My youth was my "ill-informed and ill-prepared" phase of enjoying the outdoors... I shudder when I look back on some of the foolish situations I placed myself in!

With our children, our holidays have lately taken the form of canoe trips into the bush (a whole lot cheaper than Disneyland, and much more important for the kids), and I've worked towards being as informed and prepared as I can be (for which this forum is a great resource! - also took one of Mors Kochanski's summer courses last July). It's much more enjoyable to me to experience the outdoors with a bit of knowledge, and I want to be as safe as possible when others depend on me. Interestingly, my youngest daughter is doing volunteer work in Kenya right now, and in the fairly remote area where she is, the toileting facilities consist of squatting over a hole in the ground. She mentioned that others in her group found this to be quite a hurdle to get over, but for her is was just like our summer vacations

I think lots of nice canoe trips is how I'll look forward to spending future holidays and ultimately retirement (still a few years away)

Regards,

Mike

 

[RovingArcher]

I'm envious Mike. Enjoy!!!!

 

[BorderReiver]

I have drifted in and out since I was a lad.As a young 'un I was never in the house,always out and about.Occasional "camping"trips with a castiron frying pan and some sausages.

Then work and family stopped the playing.

A few trips abroad in the snow;up mountains;camping in desserts; all made me hanker for "the outdoors" again.

Then I retired a couple of years ago and started taking my time walking the dogs in the woods instead of rushing round.It was an eye-opener.There was much more to the woods than a bunch of trees standing about.

I looked round the internet a bit and found lots of refs.to "bushcraft".After reading a bit I decided to learn more and started to practice the various skills required to live comfortably with nature.I am still at the stage of knowing nothing and wanting to learn it all.

BTW,this forum contains more information than most of the other on-line sources put together. :You_Rock_

 

[Alchemist]

I too am much the same as the rest.
I have always been an outdoors person, playing sports, fishing shooting the air rifle etc. After Uni I joined the Army whch was a burning ambition. 4 and a half years of the Army was more than enough for me. What I realised in the Army was that I joined to do the outdoors macho stuff. In reality you dont get to interact that much with what you see.
We did a 2 day survival exercise where they gave us a great coat and our penknife only. Typical Army. We only got to start the fire because they left a few matches around (deliberately).
That got me interested. Then, the natural progression of what is survival? What is Bushcraft? Why dont people grow their own produce when its much cheaper and greener than supermarkets?
I couldnt tell you how to tap sap or start fire by friction but I love every opportuntiy to learn that bit more.
At the moment I walk with my ever expanding clan of dogs, Wife, me and baby and we like to chase rabbits, look at the birds, look at the trees and sleep respectively!
I have gone from dreaming about that plane crash with just me and my knife to looking forward to seeing what I can use nature for at home or away.
Was that a bit soppy?

 

[BobFromHolland]

Although I also was a scout in my teenage years I have roled into bushcraft from a slightly other area.

It is a blend of my interest in (mental) self-control and creativity. If I get a craft in mind I just need to master it. I have always been painting and carving stuff like erasers etc in school. In later years I started carving in wooden sticks during the summer holidays camping.

As a technician I have also been very interested in the technical side of working with materials. Things like the spring loaded traps etc. in the SAS survival guide (which was my first book on the subject) especially the release mechanisms have interested me havilly. Not to forget my interest in knots. With things like that I really cannot seem to get rest untill I master a skill.

When the TV was showing 'the bush tucker man' I was really loving that show. And with the Ray Mears shows ( I only started watching those when the extreme survival series were broadcasted) I knew that my interest was called 'Bushcraft'.

I must say I have only limited experience in the 'wilderness' I do most of my practicing in the garden and in my shed. I think I still need to get more used to the sounds of the forrests. I still feel a bit threatened by the thought of being attacked by aggressive creatures or lunatics allthough I know the odds of that happening (I must have watched too many stupid horror movies).

 

[Mike Harlos]

.....I must say I have only limited experience in the 'wilderness' I do most of my practicing in the garden and in my shed. I think I still need to get more used to the sounds of the forrests. I still feel a bit threatened by the thought of being attacked by aggressive creatures or lunatics allthough I know the odds of that happening (I must have watched too many stupid horror movies).

I think this is a really good point, and a significant barrier to more enjoyment outdoors for lots of people. I am forever imagining that some noise at night must be a bear that's about to drag me out of my tent, or that a cougar/mountain lion is about to get me from behind as I'm hiking through dense forest.

I think it would be great for Ray Mears to do a few shows on this very issue. There was a thread last year here where someone mentioned doing a course with him, and how helpful Mr. Mears was in talking through some of these primal fears that we have. I have a feeling that it's more of a common source of angst than many of us like to admit to.

I actually tried to send an email to Mr. Mears through his site, suggesting this would be an interesting area to focus a few shows on (for example, how different cultures address it). No answer, of course!

Mike

 

[Abbe Osram]

Seeking Thruth, Seeking Life, Seeking God!
cheers
Abbe

 

[Carcajou Garou]

I was born to it, as were my ancestors.
CG :yo:

 

[BobFromHolland]

I think it would be great for Ray Mears to do a few shows on this very issue. There was a thread last year here where someone mentioned doing a course with him, and how helpful Mr. Mears was in talking through some of these primal fears that we have. I have a feeling that it's more of a common source of angst than many of us like to admit to.
Mike

Thanks Mike

I couldn't imagine that I was the only one with this sort of feelings. I feel better allready

Bob

 

[Silver Fox]

I have always, and I can go back to some really early memories, been drawn to the feeling of freedom.

But the defining moment was a backwoods trip to the lake district in late febuary when I was 17, to cut it short, I got exposure. There was no harm done, 3 of us were away together and nobody had to rescue us, but it was way too close to being a mess. The money in my wallet was no more than decorated toilet roll for a time that felt like eternity. It was a failure and I made a vow to myself that I would :

a) Never be so reckless as to need anothers help.
b) Learn the skills to safely & comfortably enjoy the places I loved the most.

I've always been drawn to the wilder places around me, but that trip was the moment I realised fully that knowledge was worth more than anything I could carry.

 

[bushtuckerman]

Messing about in the garden trying to light fires and cook with my older siblings and friends since the year dot; finding and using anything that was sharp; watching the real bushtuckerman's absolutely brilliant programmes, later followed by Mr Mears'; in my earlier teens it was all about survival kits and yet more sharp stuff; a bit of walking here and there over the years.

I love the outdoors, what can i say

 

[BOD]

Why do so many members refer to Ray Mears as "Mr. Mears"?

 

[Abbe Osram]

Why do so many members refer to Ray Mears as "Mr. Mears"?

LOL maybe because the queen didnt knight him yet, otherwise we would call him

Sir Mears.

cheers
Abbe

 

[Longstrider]

I grew up within a minute or twos walk from the open fields and the riverbank. Family walks were taken where few others trod even when I still too small to walk all the way on my own and I learned that shoulder ride from Dad was a great way to be able to see more!
Once I was old enough to be considered "safe" to be let out on my own I would disappear over the fields for the day at virtually every opportunity. Building "dens", tree "houses" (rarely more than a few odd bits of wood wedged and tied in the crux of a tree in those days) and building camp fires was my recreation. Then I discovered that the river had fish in it.....
After more than one telling off for being by the water when I couldn't swim I learned to do so and took up fishing with a passion. I soon got to know and old gamekeeper who worked within cycling distance of home and he "took me under his wing", teaching me more about what he called "fieldcraft" (and life in general) than anyone had before or has since.
During this time I had gone through Cubs then Scouts, then Ventures and helping out with the Cub pack I had been a member of myself.
With a love of fishing, shooting, knives (and assorted other sharp things), fires, and simply being out where no-one else was I ended up spending most of my youth covered in mud and muck and generally having an absolute whale of a time.
I left scool and went to college to study to be a park ranger, and whilst away on the work section of my sandwich course (working as an assistant ranger) discovered that I had probably been doing too much in the way of the enjoying myself bit and not enough of the studying bit as the college decided that I need not return for the last year of the course.

Still, my love of being out there did not diminish and I have fished, shot, hunted and trapped, wandered about in the woods and on the riverbanks and enjoyed myself doing so ever since. I have a love of making things in a traditional way and an interest in so many aspects that come under the heading of "Bushcraft" that I know I'll be learning for as long as I'm upright.

 

[bushtuckerman]

Why do so many members refer to Ray Mears as "Mr. Mears"?

I dunno, i guess it's because repetitivity isn't always kind to the human ear. It'll be Sir Ray from now on then

 

[Sameold]

My first post after lurking for quite a few months but I've been really interested by the replies already posted. My first venture into the craft was with Ray Mears of course about 6 years ago. Before that I had always had an attachment to the land but growing up in the city and with immediate family removed from the land for many generations, there was no obvous way back to it.

Anyway back to Sir Ray of Mears! Well I can't remember why I did it exactly apart from the fact that I was having a crap time and it seemed like an escape from all the usual pressures of job, family, etc. Since then I've come along way, firelighting is easy and I've learned much about plants. I try not to get too kit obsessed (you can only use one knife at a time). I want a bushcraft I can use in daily life, being around horses or just even walking my dog. More recently I have been more interested in the old Romany way of life, there's much there that has been lost.

It's not really about being an expert (far from it) more a state of mind. My most powerful experience was just being overnight alone in an English beech wood, no knife, a small fire, a sleeping bag. If there was ever a time I felt truly in the right place, it was then. Thanks for your patience.