The most essential bushcraft skill does not involve making things. It does not require tools. It does not require special kit. It only requires the right outlook and the right habits of mind.
The most fundamental bush skill of all is the ability to see, hear, smell, and understand what is happening all around you, all of the time, as much as you possibly can. It's what the military calls being in Condition Yellow.
Vacationers in the bush today usually come from a noisy town or city, where they are accustomed to a constant din of background noise from crowds, traffic, coworkers, family members, neighbors, television, personal music systems, cellphones, and many other advantages of civilization. Arriving in the bush, these harried people bring with them their worries, city habits, and preconceptions about nature. And they are used to tuning out the noise.
They need to relax. Not just in the way that vacationers often try to relax, but relax COMPLETELY, in the sense of releasing not only their tensions but their preconceptions. They need to TUNE IN to nature.
The first thing to do in the bush is to walk very slowly, stopping often to silently look around and listen. Try to notice the signs of other animals on the ground, on the trees, in the air. Listen to all the sounds around you. Are the squirrels scolding somewhere ahead? Are the raptors circling and squawking and congregating? Can you hear animals moving? Do you smell them? What kind of animals? Do you see scat or tracks on the ground? What animal left it? Is it recent? Which way was the animal moving? If tracks, what do they indicate about the animal's activities?
In other words, the first thing to do in the bush is to size up the local bush residents, see what's going on at that moment in the immediate area. Then you can move on slowly and quietly another five or ten yards and stop again, looking and listening. Move like a deer: just a little at a time, always watching and listening.
If you learn to do this, you will eventually see many more animals and much more activity in nature than you were aware of before. It is a special skill, not to be learned in a weekend or even a whole summer. You must learn to look not for preconceived shapes and colors, but to look for things that look slightly odd or different or out of place. You often won't see a deer, but instead you will see an irregular patch of color that does NOT look like a tree or bush or grass. Is it part of a downed tree? Is it a rock? Stand completely still and be quiet, and watch it for a while. Was that an ear that twitched? Did it move? Watch. Listen. Smell.
Look ALL around, not just in the direction you are going. What's happening behind you? Look at everything. Listen to everything. Eventually, you'll get a sense for what looks normal, what sounds normal, and what smells normal.
Of course, you have to watch where you are stepping when hiking; you don't want to step in a hole or on a rock that will roll, or on a slippery wet log. But you have to be aware of everything else around you if you want to experience nature as it really is. Be sure to look over that log, and quietly around the next bend or over the top of the next hill.
There is, of course, a safety issue here. A hiker who stops frequently to look around and listen is much less likely to walk blithely around a bend to find himself between a cow moose and her calf, or over a hill to confront a bear and cubs. But the bigger goal is to experience nature as completely and deeply as possible, to have as many moments of grace as possible.
These habits are as useful in the city as they are in the bush. They are the same habits that make a person better at defensive driving or at anticipating a criminal attack. They are also the habits that allow a person to better appreciate the colorful kaleidoscope of human activities and the enjoyable variety of things that people do.
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Then there is the weather. When hiking or camping in new country, it takes a while to get used to the weather patterns the signs that a storm is coming, the likely directions of wind during the night, and so on. But that's another story.
-IdahoBackwoods
The most fundamental bush skill of all is the ability to see, hear, smell, and understand what is happening all around you, all of the time, as much as you possibly can. It's what the military calls being in Condition Yellow.
Vacationers in the bush today usually come from a noisy town or city, where they are accustomed to a constant din of background noise from crowds, traffic, coworkers, family members, neighbors, television, personal music systems, cellphones, and many other advantages of civilization. Arriving in the bush, these harried people bring with them their worries, city habits, and preconceptions about nature. And they are used to tuning out the noise.
They need to relax. Not just in the way that vacationers often try to relax, but relax COMPLETELY, in the sense of releasing not only their tensions but their preconceptions. They need to TUNE IN to nature.
The first thing to do in the bush is to walk very slowly, stopping often to silently look around and listen. Try to notice the signs of other animals on the ground, on the trees, in the air. Listen to all the sounds around you. Are the squirrels scolding somewhere ahead? Are the raptors circling and squawking and congregating? Can you hear animals moving? Do you smell them? What kind of animals? Do you see scat or tracks on the ground? What animal left it? Is it recent? Which way was the animal moving? If tracks, what do they indicate about the animal's activities?
In other words, the first thing to do in the bush is to size up the local bush residents, see what's going on at that moment in the immediate area. Then you can move on slowly and quietly another five or ten yards and stop again, looking and listening. Move like a deer: just a little at a time, always watching and listening.
If you learn to do this, you will eventually see many more animals and much more activity in nature than you were aware of before. It is a special skill, not to be learned in a weekend or even a whole summer. You must learn to look not for preconceived shapes and colors, but to look for things that look slightly odd or different or out of place. You often won't see a deer, but instead you will see an irregular patch of color that does NOT look like a tree or bush or grass. Is it part of a downed tree? Is it a rock? Stand completely still and be quiet, and watch it for a while. Was that an ear that twitched? Did it move? Watch. Listen. Smell.
Look ALL around, not just in the direction you are going. What's happening behind you? Look at everything. Listen to everything. Eventually, you'll get a sense for what looks normal, what sounds normal, and what smells normal.
Of course, you have to watch where you are stepping when hiking; you don't want to step in a hole or on a rock that will roll, or on a slippery wet log. But you have to be aware of everything else around you if you want to experience nature as it really is. Be sure to look over that log, and quietly around the next bend or over the top of the next hill.
There is, of course, a safety issue here. A hiker who stops frequently to look around and listen is much less likely to walk blithely around a bend to find himself between a cow moose and her calf, or over a hill to confront a bear and cubs. But the bigger goal is to experience nature as completely and deeply as possible, to have as many moments of grace as possible.
These habits are as useful in the city as they are in the bush. They are the same habits that make a person better at defensive driving or at anticipating a criminal attack. They are also the habits that allow a person to better appreciate the colorful kaleidoscope of human activities and the enjoyable variety of things that people do.
---
Then there is the weather. When hiking or camping in new country, it takes a while to get used to the weather patterns the signs that a storm is coming, the likely directions of wind during the night, and so on. But that's another story.
-IdahoBackwoods
