the word "bushcraft"

[Paganwolf]

Pubic Topiary, Just do it as the Nike saying goes, call it what you want its a good ol eclectic term cocckingaroundinthewoodsuk.com just hasnt got the same ring to it and i think you may get a dodgy website if you looked that up....

 

[Tadpole]

Let rewrite history, whilst we are at it.
The buffalo wars never happened
There were no buffalo hunters in America
Buffalo Bill never shot buffaloy
Plains Indians were rubbish hunters as they never caught any buffalos
There were no buffalo solider
And they need to rename 60 places in the USA to Bison.
Or we can accept that Bushcraft is as good a name as any, for the myriad hobbies it covers.
From fat bearded middle-aged men carving spoons they will never use, in their garden, to people Like Biker ‘Betty’ camping three days crawl on broken legs from Nowhere with five items or less.
It’s just a word. No one is going to shoot you if you mis-use it.

 

[Culloch]

Ah, but surely the only difference between a buffalo and a bison is that one cannot wash ones face in a buffalo...

 

[Retired Member southey]

Ah, but surely the only difference between a buffalo and a bison is that one cannot wash ones face in a buffalo...

I beg to differ.....

 

[Paul_B]

SWMBO calls it " that Bushtucker Trial Boys Club Nonsense"

Quite apt at times if you've ever been to a Comrie Meet!

Only been to one Comrie meet and only made it for the evening of the day most left (after a heavy session by all accounts). Having said that it seems bushcraft involves a bit of sitting around a fire drinking god knows what and chatting about gear. I think I might like bushcraft rather a lot.

 

[Paul_B]

It is a good catchall word but it has become a word that people can poke fun at you for. I was at my first meet at Comrie a few weeks back and not knowing what anyone looked like and turning up last minute I had to go around walking up to groups that were sat around a fire asking if they were the bushcraft group. You don't know how many times I got a half sneer, half laugh for using the term bushcraft. I think it is like that for the term survival. Years ago there was a survival show on TV with Lofty IIRC as I was quite young. Later on that term got either over used or associated with the survivalists living out in the sticks waiting for nuclear ammageddon. It became a word associated with derision and got dropped a bit over here. Bushcraft has been popularised by RM's TV evangelism of the skills that form part of bushcraft and is now the best word for it as a result. However we are in a society where most do not get out in the woods or hills overnight for whom RM's programmes are less information programmes to learn from as more entertainment.

Anyway what I am saying is the word bushcraft is a very good catch-all word for what people on this site do but I think we should consider a new word as we will end up needing one due to the ignorant's prejudices.

BTW I don't think I practice bushcraft yet, I want to butI consider my activities as camp craft or wilkdcamping or backpacking. I'm yet to carve a spoon so I don't think I am a bushcrafter yet.

It is all irrelevant anyway. We are just doing what makes us happy and doing no harm to anyone so what name to call it is not the important thing.

PS I come from the walking/climbing/hiking side so I wear the latest outdoor kit/fabrics, I use the latest gear and probably look less at home in a bushcraft meet than a mountain film festival. I am a bushcrafter of sorts though but only the campcraft side. The tarping it in the hills and minimal impact side of bushcraft. I occasionally have a fire but only in a honey stove with ground protection. That is for minimal inmpact. No cutting down of living wood only using twigs picked off the ground if dry or from dry standing. However mostly I use a small gas stove. I prefer modern to primitive but I do believe some of my skills and approaches are only the modern version of what travelling man did in the past.

 

[Paul_B]

And I don't wear cloaks or look like Robin Hood's merry men but I do think that is perfectly acceptable as is any form of re-enactment of events, skills or ever. A more neutral colour clothing is a good idea for some things done in the "bush" so DPM or greens are ok, I prefer blacks myself but as my gear is mountaineering stuff in origin you tend to get a bright contrast colour in with it. Currently I have a lot of jackets with black fabric and red zips and details like velcro wrist adjustment tabs. Unfortunately the high end climbing/mountaineering get-up tends to be like that. Still I doubt I'd want to be near a fire with a £300+ hardshell so perhaps I need something in wool or other natural fibre (and colour).

 

[PaulSanderson]

great thread...i havent laughed so hard in a while.

the word bushcraft is a good 'general' term for everything we do, but as others have suggested it seems a buzzword for many companies to attach a premium to certain products. i often find myself looking in the other direction if i see something touted as a 'bushcraft' tool. i have the tarps, hammocks, 'bushcraft' knives etc, but for me one element of 'bushcraft' kit is also the ability to modify something or make something from scratch to fulfil a certain survival/bushcraft need.

...but at the end of the day, its only a word and i dont feel the need to put a label on what i enjoy. As Southey said, its generally cocking about in woods, praticing skills our ancestors learnt and wearing Eau De Woodsmoke...

 

[Paul_B]

I like the US lightweight gear market term "thru-hikers". That describes the thing I do which is campcraft and hiking skills. Anything bushcraft I do is related to that in some way. Although since I;ve been posting on here a bit I do feel the desire to carve my first spoon. Although I do like the idea of fingers intact and attached to my hand. But one day I'll join you, the middle aged beardy spoon carvers that someone mentioned.

Eau de woodsmoke? I still enjoy that sitting round a fire when the wind changes and someone has to move out of the smoke thing. Its a kind of bushcraft Russian roulette thing I think.

 

[John Fenna]

"Bushcraft Tool"
I like that....a tool who sits around his stove bemoaning the lack of bushcraft skills/ethos exhibited by all those who do not do as he does?

 

[PaulSanderson]

Its a kind of bushcraft Russian roulette thing I think.

Ha Ha im stealing that!! Although be careful of the use of the word "Bushcraft"...does it still count if its not in the "bush"?? Or how about if the fire wasnt started with "Bushcraft Tools"...

hmmm maybe "back garden fire roulette"?....doesnt have the same ring to it....dammit, its so complicated...

 

[shaggystu]

.....unnecessarily friggin’ big sharp implements......

whatever floats your boat i say, as long as it's between consenting adults and all that, but please, for the love of all that's holy, watch your fingers

 

[Retired Member southey]

whatever floats your boat i say, as long as it's between consenting adults and all that, but please, for the love of all that's holy, watch your fingers

I actually just had to give my self the Heimlich manoeuvre to dislodge a tea soaked malted milk I was eating while reading that, BRAVO!

 

[Tadpole]

I actually just had to give my self the Heimlich manoeuvre to dislodge a tea soaked malted milk I was eating while reading that, BRAVO!

See youm not a real 'crafter. A real 'crafter would have carved a stick to do it for him, just like his gan-pappy don-did. Nettle tea an a acorn biscuit.

 

[Retired Member southey]

I prefer to entice a wild caught stoat into my throat to remove the obstruction, I find it teaches a certain expedience of tracking skills.

 

[lab72]

I prefer to entice a wild caught stoat into my throat to remove the obstruction, I find it teaches a certain expedience of tracking skills.

Thats some serious skill that dude

 

[Tadpole]

I prefer to entice a wild caught stoat into my throat to remove the obstruction, I find it teaches a certain expedience of tracking skills.

Takes a lot more skill if you train an otter to do it.
take a lot of time to train for a track-an-otter-me.

 

[Culloch]

Takes a lot more skill if you train an otter to do it.
take a lot of time to train for a track-an-otter-me.

:notworthy

 

[Retired Member southey]

Tadpole, I salute you!

 

[PaulSanderson]

ha ha that is a moment of pure genius!! i second that salute...