TV Bush Craft, the down side

[Joules]

With all the TV coverage, we have had a big increase in the amount of vandalism...They may call it bush craft, I suspect youths with axes, spades and god knowes what, hacking at trees, living and dead... Not much chance of this lot going about it so you don't know they've been

The problem will be a knock on effect as you won't be allowed to take knives and axes, even to collect dead wood, and it gives the arragant few more ammo for banning anything but rambling.


Joules

 

[Snufkin]

It's a shame indeed. Last weekend I was out on my mountain bike in the local woods when I came across the remains of a campfire, not a particularly small one either. Well it's an FC pine plantation so stupid to light a fire there. Whoever started it had made an attempt to put it out but the base was still very warm. Luckily they were litterbugs too and had left a 2L squash bottle lying there. So my next hour and a half was spent riding to the pond, filling up the bottle, riding back and dousing the fire. The prats had also put stones round the fire, flints! Hopefully some of the ones that exploded did some harm

 

[swyn]

There may be an upside to the downside in that allowing sensible people to use woodland they can keep an eye out for the idiots. There were two fires started near me last year one needed the fire service, the other covered a 100 yard square and could have been worse but it went into green grass and died.

 

[ronsos]

good move snufkin.last year in my local wood,I came apon a group of morons(aged about 40 years plus,so lets give hoodie wearing youths a short break from Daily Mail style moral panic),drinking round a large campfire which was smoking away merrily the area littered with cans ,bottles and plastic bags. Discretion being the better part of valor ,I didnt say anything -apart from declining their offer of some Buckfast ,a rather robust tonic wine popular in Scotland for getting rid of those unneeded,fallow, braincells- and made my way home.I returned the next day to have a bit of a tidy up,bagging the rubbish and clearing up the fire.It took about an hour all in ,but worth it as there was no trace of what had the previous day, resembled Dresden post bombing.

 

[ScanDgrind]

There may be an upside to the downside in that allowing sensible people to use woodland they can keep an eye out for the idiots.

I have an agreement such as this with my local Forestry Officer. I get to wander and do the Craft in the woods ans if I see problems occuring I will take the relevant details and pass them on to him so that he can take action. Works great and makes a good relationship which works well for both parties .

Cheers,

Tony

 

[stotRE]

Sound like a good idea ScanDgrind, i should imagine that the forestry commision don't have enough manpower to police your area and by having responsible people operating in the bush helps them prosecute the "Richard Craniums".
Might have to do some recce's around cambridge to see if i can come to some similar agreement.

 

[Snufkin]

Excellent idea ScanDgrind

 

[Spacemonkey]

Don't forget though, that some just need a little re-education to lure them away from the Dark Side.

 

[Seagull]

Doubtless, there are some folk who take on just the televised aspects of woodscraft, without any real feeling for the spirit of it.

To be charitable, I dont think they do intend any real harm to the woods, in the way that stampeding elephant dont mean any real harm, they just carry on, doing what they do.

Times without number, I have happened on the devastation caused by thoughless littering and fires.
Auck! but eventually the place will recover to some extent, for Ive about given up my efforts to remove camp litter.

Why is it, that at such sites, theres allus incredible amounts of empty booze tins? .
And why do they build such huge fires? especially when they all use these chuck-away barbies to cook their economy burgers.

I just wish that these folk would come to understand that every action , in life, has consequences and its a mark of maturity to be responsible for such.
This is not an age related thing, its an indication that its the responsible individual who has the real grasp of the plot.

Still, and all, I cannot slate TV Bushcraft, but I would like to see a few mentions about preserving, by thoughfullness.

Enough, already!

Seagull

 

[Spacemonkey]

True, maybe those media luvvies who present such programs should spend a bit more time stressing the message of rubbish removal, responsibilty, and not leaving traces of the camp site? I absolutely hate it when you wander miles form anywhere and there it is- the ally can or plastic water bottle. Disgraceful. If they carry it all the way there, why can't they carry it back? After all-it's considerably lighter now.

 

[Toddy]

good move snufkin.last year in my local wood,I came apon a group of morons(aged about 40 years plus,so lets give hoodie wearing youths a short break from Daily Mail style moral panic),drinking round a large campfire which was smoking away merrily the area littered with cans ,bottles and plastic bags. Discretion being the better part of valor ,I didnt say anything -apart from declining their offer of some Buckfast ,a rather robust tonic wine popular in Scotland for getting rid of those unneeded,fallow, braincells- and made my way home.I returned the next day to have a bit of a tidy up,bagging the rubbish and clearing up the fire.It took about an hour all in ,but worth it as there was no trace of what had the previous day, resembled Dresden post bombing.

We get those eejits here too, I got so fed up tidying up the burn path after them that the next time they appeared I phoned the police, who arrived in short order and lifted the most noxious of them. My neighbours watched this and the *next* time the trouble arrived, *they* phoned the police and again it was nipped in the bud. We get left in peace now touch wood

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Andy]

I hate seeing the tin cans left over and horrible fire marks. Maybe I'm too young to notice these things but I don't think it's got any worse since the Ray Mears programmes have been about, I thouhg t it's been like that for years.
After seeing some people getting away from the police on mopeds (acoss a very muddy grass field) a mate and I thought we should follow them, not only were the mountain bikes quite capable of going acoss the ground without doing much damage but they also do it much faster. When the started playing at the next bit we phoned up the police to give them their location

 

[stotRE]

I hate seeing the tin cans left over and horrible fire marks. Maybe I'm too young to notice these things but I don't think it's got any worse since the Ray Mears programmes have been about, I thouhg t it's been like that for years.
After seeing some people getting away from the police on mopeds (acoss a very muddy grass field) a mate and I thought we should follow them, not only were the mountain bikes quite capable of going acoss the ground without doing much damage but they also do it much faster. When the started playing at the next bit we phoned up the police to give them their location

It is people like yourself Andy that will save this country from going down the toilet
I am reading "scouting for boys" at the minute and it has alot in it about politeness, chivalry,duty etc and it is these attributes that are missing from alot of people.
I salute you!

 

[Spacemonkey]

it has alot in it about politeness, chivalry,duty etc and it is these attributes that are missing from alot of people.

You mean the things that parents used to teach their children? I remember them...

 

[stotRE]

You mean the things that parents used to teach their children? I remember them...

Exactly, now all they are taught is binge drinking,how to get into debt and unprotected sex that leads to the dumb gene being increased.
Today be and my wife went walking in Thetford forest and had a great time(we even stalked a young red deer).
We didn't see another soul until we returned to the van were we were confronted by overweight chavs with disposable BBQ's and pitbull terriers on chains.
Don't mean to be elitiist but to alot of people they cannot see the woods for the trees.

 

[bushwacker bob]

On the bright side, 90% of visitors to woodland in the UK never go further than 1/2 a mile from the carpark.It just means you get a chav concentration around the carpark

 

[arctic hobo]

Exactly, now all they are taught is binge drinking,how to get into debt and unprotected sex that leads to the dumb gene being increased.
Today be and my wife went walking in Thetford forest and had a great time(we even stalked a young red deer).
We didn't see another soul until we returned to the van were we were confronted by overweight chavs with disposable BBQ's and pitbull terriers on chains.
Don't mean to be elitiist but to alot of people they cannot see the woods for the trees.

100% accurate

 

[Andy]

these disposable BBQs seem really silly to me, how much more it it to get a proper one that doesn't fall to pieces.

My flat mate read out a bit in the "newspaper" a few days ago about a woman who was complaining about the education her daughters had been getting at school nothing new there you might say.
She was complaining that the school had "allowed her three teenage daughters to get pregnant". I'm not sure which were pregnat and which had already had the baby but they were aged 16, 14 and 12 How on earth is that the school fualt, did they forget to put the pill in the girls bottle of milk before play time? (milk now comes in cartons which are thrown away rather then bottles )
I seem to remember getting a talk from parents about that sort of thing, infact I got a talk about it from my first girlfriends mum. I didn't need a school to tell me how not to get a girl pregnant nor did I need to school to tell me not t dump litter everywhere. I blame the parents for being incapable of bringing up children. My parents seemed to manage to get six kids knowing how to behave and they worked.

 

[OldJimbo]

I doubt that TV has much to do with it. Some people just operate that way.

 

[stotRE]

I doubt that TV has much to do with it. Some people just operate that way.

Unfortunatly mate in this country the some have become the many