The Rules Of Bushcraft!

[TheViking]

Survival = Stuck in the wilds trying to get back to civilisation (to be saved)
Bushcraft = Going into the wilds and living comfortably for a time

You get the idea.... Personaly for me, Bushcraft is a step beyond survival. Its not just surviving in the wilderness, it living with it and living there comfortably.

Most people will have there own deffinitions though.


Ed

Yep! Exactly my opinion too!

 

[Roving Rich]

You will always have too much kit. :roll:

Rich

 

[Ginja]

Some of you may remember the 'Charlie The Cat' adverts on telly (or perhaps the Prodigy remix ...)?

"Always tell your mummy if you're going out somewhere ... "

And don't talk to strangers, either.

G

 

[Kim]

And if you meet anybody who starts talking to you like Charlie the cat...run away......

 

[tomtom]

another rule of bushcraft (goodness i never realised there were so many)

STOP, LOOK, LISTEN

 

[Ginja]

And if you meet anybody who starts talking to you like Charlie the cat...run away......

... either that, or it's time for a refresher course on fungal foraging!

 

[MarkG]

And of course don't play with matches...... there's loads of other ways to start a fire

 

[Metala Cabinet]

Spend, spend, spend!

 

[leon-1]

It's good to have a sharp axe, but just be carefull that it doesn't slice through its cover and into your hand, as happened to me on Sunday :roll:

 

[Wayne]

Leon do you ever take that axe out and things go to plan?

You sure its not bad luck?

 

[TheViking]

You will always have too much kit. :roll:

Even if you only have the clothes you wear?? :roll: ):

 

[leon-1]

Leon do you ever take that axe out and things go to plan?

You sure its not bad luck?

Yep, untill Sunday I hadn't cut myself on any sharps for years, I put it down to it being a Hunters Axe and it wanted to draw blood ):

 

[TheViking]

"The more cutting tools you've got, the bigger the risk of cutting yourself"

 

[Metala Cabinet]

'Eventually it's going to hurt'

 

[Carcajou Garou]

He who comes out alive wins the toys = do what it takes
Practise daily the skills that you would do in the bush
bushcraft is a mindframe of life not a game
just a thought

 

[Roving Rich]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roving Rich
You will always have too much kit.

Even if you only have the clothes you wear??

Yep, You can make then too, out of cordage or animal skins.

The only essential is an edged tool, so an Knife helps, but then there is flint... ):
So Naked it is
I base this theory on an american guy called Jerry Mac Phearson and the wilderness living books he has written "Naked into the Wilderness"

Cheers
Rich

 

[TheViking]

"Naked into the Wilderness"

Did he go naked into the wilderness? Embarrasing to need rescue and then get naked into a chopper... :roll: It's foolish to go to wilderness without equipment of some sort. It's an underestimated force of nature, IMO. ack:

 

[Metala Cabinet]

Naked into the wilderness: if I read it properly McPherson's believes in being well-rounded in 'bushcraft' skills; there's no point in concentrating at being brilliant at just one or two areas of bushcraft but rather you should have a certain level of competence in all those areas that would enable you to not just survive in the outdoors but actually thrive. It's rather a 'boot-strap' approach; as Rich says you only need a sharp rock as a cutting edge and everything else follows on from there.

 

[Gary]

I am jumping in here haviong not read the whole thread so if I state something covered please slap me - errm forgive me.

Well rounded in all skills is the key to good bushcraft - better to carve a medium spoon and medium feather stick than to carve a spoon to make the gods go green with envy and a feather stick which wouldnt light if you nuked it.

This is harder than it seems too, we all have our interests be they knives, fire, cordage whatever and so we all (me included) tend to take the lazy path and do what we enjoy and ignore what we dont. So a word to the wise is work on all your skills, infact concentrate on the ones you dont like and use the ones you do as a treat!

Ultimately the well rounded (and Im not talking about my figure) concept is correct after all that is how our species became what we are today - we didnt specialise, we learned to eat meat and plants, we learned use our puny bodies to everything reasonable well instead of just learning to run fast or climb better.

 

[Womble]

That sounds about right. I really need to get a bigger skills base.