What are the aims & purpose of Bushcrafting?

[Spirit fish]

Its because there are always VULTURES on the lurk....these are opportunists who are looking for any possible means to make money.

Buschcraft and prepping are BIG money makers these days. Just spread some fake news on politics, leftwing organisations, one world order, vaccines and people start prepping and stocking....

Unfortunately these companies and individuals gives the false impression to consumers that if a scenario should occur where you must rely on survival skills and equipment....that their products will be the best and the situation will be just like camping....they create the impression that its easy and that no skill is needed.

I don't see that it would change anytime soon



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I'm in agreement

 

[Spirit fish]

Wax on wax off...isn't that Barbour-Ryu.

As for aims and purposes...
Eight years on, and this is still the best description out there that I have seen.

I don't mean any offence here, but an older practitioner seeing that standards are slipping, the young are all about gadgets, not about learning skills, etc, well, I think that coming to see things that way is all but mandatory as you get older, and I am sure that people in their 70s were saying the same sort of thing in the 1960s!

I don't "do bushcraft" either, I just like to travel, camp, hunt, fish and make things that use skills that fall within the centre overlap of that Venn diagram. I think the number of people who go as far as Keith has done have always been a rare minority, rarer still that they stick at it for so long. In years past one might meet such people in person at events, but that was hit and miss. Now with the internet there is greater visibility and accessibility, lots of people who just dabble here and there. There are still people who practice a lot of skills, but a lot of them do not post on forums, do not make videos, and with all the noise from those that do, they are easy to overlook.

I like that diagram

 

[Spirit fish]

Having read the original post and replies.I wonder if there might be a place for the "traditional" bushcrafter?.By this i mean someone that tries to use a relatively simple approach.Trying to avoid ultra modern equipment.
I say this as an angler using the traditional approach for my fishing.Split cane rods,reels of the era willow creels,cork and quill floats etc.I do use modern hooks and line.I also use a box of matches for lighting fires. ; - )

Do u use old lures to? I'm a big fan of devon minnows

 

[Spirit fish]

And there you have hit upon my biggest loathing of the way 'bushcraft' is taught and practiced in so many circles - conservation, nurturing nature, and living with the environment should be the start of all 'bushcraft' learning. Kids (and adults) should be taught about the fragility of the land before they're taught how to exploit it.

I agree

 

[Robson Valley]

Ecology. Derived from the Greek 'oikos' = house. Literally the study of the house that we live in. Appreciate that.
Classical ecology has 3 parts = energy flow from one trophic level to the next, nutrient cycles which tend to go hand in hand with energy flow and thirdly, population ecology.

Those things can be studied in a comfortable chair in front of a fire on a rainy night. Start with a classic text such as Eugene Odum's ECOLOGY. After several billion years, it has not gone out of fashion.

I say that because there's so little mention of that as an aspect of outdoor observation. It's all the material things which seem to occupy everyone's attention.

Learn the plants of your region so you better understand the workings of the landscape. "Leave No Trace" is a joke. Every single one of your footsteps crushes more air out of the soil to asphyxiate both plant and animal life. A pathway is barren because all the air and life has been crushed out of existence. Forest soil compression is a great shock to life for replanting. "Flotation" is a mechanical engineering subject for all farm and forestry equipment.

The most difficult paleo skill that I ever learned had the most amazing results = learn to sit still for 15 minutes. That's all you need. You can breathe, of course, you can move your eyes but that's it. Nothing else at all. Sit still. You can practice that almost anywhere.

I don't believe that I could do it anymore, but when I could, the forest wakes up and resumes it's daily business and trade. The animals of all sizes come to you.

 

[Herman30]

It´s so much simpler in Finland. We just do "retkeily" and that can mean just about everything done in the outdoors.

 

[zackerty]

Bushcraft is making do, with what you have, where you are...

Think outside the square...

Seriously, adapt or (maybe) die...

Skills are accumulated, and practised to make perfect...

 

[henchy3rd]

For me, it’s just getting out into the wilds away from the norm.
To immerse oneself in nature & not think about society & everyday life.
I also think bushcraft in a broad spectrum is arching back to
the Hunter gatherer times(it’s inbuilt in humans through millennia of years).

 

[billycoen]

I like to pack a few bits and bobs in a daysack,and wander off with me dog,usually into the woods,no noise,just peace and calm.My "bushcraft"skills are minimal,i could light a fire if i had to,and put up a tarp for shelter,cook some food and that's about it.But it does for me,(and muttley).

 

[Toddy]

Bushcraft is making do, with what you have, where you are...

Near a river and no rod or even fishing line, but you have a 22 LR...shoot a fish and jump in and grab it... ( tongue in cheek... ) ( and also where you legally allowed to actually discharge a firearm... )

Think outside the square...

Seriously, adapt or (maybe) die...

Skills are accumulated, and practised to make perfect...

Not in the UK re shooting fish, or a sneaky net or trigger trap either.

It's bushcraft not 'survival' for most of us who get out and about here.
Survival where I live is head up the hills in the wind and cold and rain

Skill accumulation ? yes, very much so
Knowledge and ability to use resources, and realising that seasonality plays an enormous part in their availability.
The constant changeability is a great pleasure to most of us, and it constantly stretches the way we interact with the natural world around us.

Yesterday was lovely, and I have bags of mugwort, melissa, and totally out of season meadowsweet flourish, drying to attest to it, today we've had three inches of rain....another good for ducks day ......Hallowe'en and not a single frost so far though.