What Are Your Usual Bushcraft Activities?

[The Cumbrian]

Be as brutally honest with yourself as you can here.

Mine are as follows:

Watching wildlife programs on TV.
Watching Ray Mears programs on TV.
Walking or paddling somewhere picturesque, setting up camp, lighting a fire ( usually with a lighter and firelighters, or if I'm feeling hardcore, a flint and steel. I haven't made fire by friction since I was in Scouts 20 years ago ).
Fighting my way into my luxurious pit / hammock whilst well over the limit, trying to avoid falling into the fire on the way.
Going home the next day feeling like I've survived armegeddon with only the smell of woodsmoke on my clothes.

It works for me, what about you lot?

 

[-Switch-]

1. Cooking/eating
2. P!ssing about with fire
3. Chopping stuff up
4. Sleeping
5. Walking through the woods pointing at stuff then cross-referencing it to a Collins field guide
6. Pretending I know what I'm talking about.


That just about sums it up

 

[Toddy]

Depends on the time of year for me.
I use the woodlands around me, they are a year long resource that are part of daily life.I don't even need to wander that far from home to find almost all of the plants I seek. They are food, drink, medicine, materials, and a great source of pleasure for me.
I teach traditional handcrafts and living history so most of the core bushcraft skills are part of my job. Bowdrill...I taught over 600 schoolkids how to do this, this year alone. Cordage? I saw thousands of people and demonstrated it at over 20 public events. Campfire cooking not so much, maybe twenty days, but preparation of wild foodstuffs is virtually a daily occurance as is my use of my knife.
Everyone of us is different, the membership of this site shows that Armchair bushcrafters? So what, they enjoy the outside they do get to.
Right now, I'm sitting sewing and the computer is background reading.....ah but.....I'm sewing a OD wool hat from the left overs of my new swannie clone....does that qualify me as a housewife or a bushcrafter?

The smell of smoke kind of permeates doesn't it? My car still smells of it from Loch Tay a month ago, it's a pleasant reminder

cheers,
Toddy

 

[The Cumbrian]

Depends on the time of year for me.
I use the woodlands around me, they are a year long resource that are part of daily life.I don't even need to wander that far from home to find almost all of the plants I seek. They are food, drink, medicine, materials, and a great source of pleasure for me.
I teach traditional handcrafts and living history so most of the core bushcraft skills are part of my job. Bowdrill...I taught over 600 schoolkids how to do this, this year alone. Cordage? I saw thousands of people and demonstrated it at over 20 public events. Campfire cooking not so much, maybe twenty days, but preparation of wild foodstuffs is virtually a daily occurance as is my use of my knife.
Everyone of us is different, the membership of this site shows that Armchair bushcrafters? So what, they enjoy the outside they do get to.
Right now, I'm sitting sewing and the computer is background reading.....ah but.....I'm sewing a OD wool hat from the left overs of my new swannie clone....does that qualify me as a housewife or a bushcrafter?

The smell of smoke kind of permeates doesn't it? My car still smells of it from Loch Tay a month ago, it's a pleasant reminder

cheers,
Toddy

My Dad grew up very poor in 1950s rural Ireland, and most of the skills that I think that I have he used to use all of the time. He taught me loads about hunting ( with lurchers and terriers ) and snaring, a little bit of poaching and quite a lot about the wild plants that you can use as snacks, but nothing about staples as his parents had a smallholding. Curiously enough, he knew nothing about fire by friction, as the fire in his parent's house hadn't been allowed to go out as long as anyone could remember.

 

[RobertRogers]

1. Cooking/eating
2. P!ssing about with fire
3. Chopping stuff up
4. Sleeping
5. Walking through the woods pointing at stuff then cross-referencing it to a Collins field guide
6. Pretending I know what I'm talking about.


That just about sums it up

Too Funny! Fake it 'till you make it. Works every time.

 

[T1tch]

For me,
Surfing through this site, sponging up info
Trying to obtain permission for access to a woodland site to play in and untill I wrangle that, attempting to set the lounge on fire (I don't have a garden) - the goal is to adjust that statement to attempting to avoid setting the lounge on fire, but as I'm on friction lighting at the moment the risk is rather remote...

 

[Mike Ameling]

Hiking in and setting up camp are just too common of activities to really comment on - or even remember much of. But then most of my "camping" is 18th century style encampments and treks. And access to the "woods" or wilds is just steps out my back door.

So, usual bushcraft activities? Hmmm ... what pops to mind at the moment?

Fighting with the dogs (4 legged AND 2 legged) for the scraps of the trout and squirrels we hunted/caught and roasted over the fire.

Pushing that snoring buddy over onto his side and out of the "soft/warm" spot in the shelter.

Drying socks and mocs over the fire while trying to get some color other than white back into our toes.

"Thawing" froze toes by standing in the cold water trout stream.

Following the trail of ... dropped gear ... back to where a buddy started the trek.

Putting out smoldering blankets.

Choking down ground parched corn/squirrel/berry mush - (makes my mouth water just thinking about it) (and stomach twist into knots).

Drying tears from red smoked eyes.

Smelling like smoked beef for the next week.

Watching my carefully made natural cordage fish net drift away with the current.

Re-stitching the patches on my patched tarp.

Tipping the stew we were cooking all day into the fire - putting it out, of course.

Restarting that fire when all our "kindling" had been burnt up by a buddy too lazy to go get real wood to feed the fire.

Shooting (or missing) the wild turkey that just happened to fly right over camp.

Not poaching that deer that wanders into camp begging us to shoot it.

Whittling interestingly shaped hand-carved firewood (spoons, fireboards, bowstave, bowls, toggle buttons, knife handles)

Oh, and occasionally have a ... good time.

Yeah, these are a few of my ... favorite ... bushcraft activities.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[-Switch-]

Fighting with the dogs (4 legged AND 2 legged) for the scraps of the trout and squirrels we hunted/caught and roasted over the fire.


Shooting (or missing) the wild turkey that just happened to fly right over camp.

Not poaching that deer that wanders into camp begging us to shoot it.

You do realise you don't have to kill everything that wanders/swims/crawls within 100 yards of your camp

Putting out smoldering blankets.

Watching my carefully made natural cordage fish net drift away with the current.

Tipping the stew we were cooking all day into the fire - putting it out, of course.

Sounds like you have as much fun as I do when you're out

 

[bikething]

Whittling interestingly shaped hand-carved firewood (spoons, fireboards, bowstave, bowls, toggle buttons, knife handles)

a man after my own heart !

 

[8thsinner]

Well I went and spent the 25th out in a BMX track and it went something like this.

0800 wake
0930 arrive
1000 pitched hammock, sat had a smoke, pulled out liner, bag and bivvi and had a kip
1200 Scouted for fire woods
1230 started chopping all I might have needed.
1500 started building a vertical wind break
1600 Started fire, realised I picked only coaling wood so gave up
1700 Slept
2100 woke cold and had soup with esbit cooker
0100 woke cold, took a leak and spent 30 following minutes untwisting and rearranging hammock liner bag and bivvi.
0200 Proceeded to make subway style sandwhich with ice cold chicken tikka and salad
0300 Took a pee out the side of hammock into soup tin.
0500 woke cold again, figeted
0700 walked home leaving enough fuel to cook a boar probably


It's far from usual but this was my most recent outing. Depressing isn't it.

 

[BobFromHolland]

watching discovery channel & national geographic channel (ultimate survival with bear grylls is playing now)
watching range of Ray Mears DVD's
watching the old RM stuff on youtube (all country tracks are on there!!)
watching other bushcraft stuff on youtube
collecting 'pages' of paper birch bark that my neighbors birch sheds from time to time
wearing swandri ranger shirts and having a fire stick on my key chain (opening beer bottles with it mostly..)
reading RM / Mors Kochanski books
occasionally making fire in the garden with bow drill or fire stick and feather sticks
practicing hand drill
occasionally brewing coffee in a pergulator over a hexamine block when I'm on the road
eating the odd dandilion root that pops up in the garden
tapping my maple (2 meters high! ) in spring for a half cup of duce

boy, do I enjoy being a sad case!!

 

[canadianwildman]

I usally go for a hike in the woods and then I make a fire.
I usally take a coffee can so I can make spuce needle tea.
Then look for something to eat. Then I go bit hunting.

 

[spamel]

For me, "bushcrafting" can encompass a whiole host of outdoors activities. If you are looking at plants and trees, or identifying animals of some sort, then you are using another bushcrafting skill. Hunting involves the use of field craft which also comes into play with bushcraft, so again I'm doing what I like when I take the rifle for a bit of rabbit genocide. Firecraft, cutting tools, brewing up, water purification, eating, booze, they're all part of the game if they are in the right context. Sitting in your front room get pished isn't bushcraft, but doing it in the woods is!

 

[wanderinstar]

8thsinner.
I definitely think you are doing something wrong.

 

[Mike Ameling]

You do realise you don't have to kill everything that wanders/swims/crawls within 100 yards of your camp

Sounds like you have as much fun as I do when you're out

Yeah, we don't hunt/catch/eat EVERYTHING that wanders near camp - altho Davey has been looking pretty fat and tasty lately. And he does move a little slower with that limp. Hmmm ... and then we'd get to "cast lots" for all his gear ... hmmm ... naaah, better not consider that. If we didn't bring him back mostly healthy, we'd then have to deal with Ramona! And she's kind of fond of him - even after all these years.

We only hunt/fish during the appropriate season - with the required licenses of course. And hunting/fishing is only a small part of our camping/trekking. I haven't hunted at the annual October gathering I host in most of a decade - ditto fishing. I can hunt/fish most any time where I live - starting a few feet right out my back door.

But when we are gathered to camp/trek, I'm more interested in all the rest of the experience - like smoke blowing in my face all the time from poor firewood and even worse fire management, "lumpy" ground (I swear that rock wasn't there when I checked before rolling out my bedroll - must be gremlins), ice in my cup, sore muscles/back from all that "extra" gear I carried in that I never used, freezing rain/sleet, that rash from making cordage from nettles that were a little too green/fresh, and all those bad jokes and stories we've all heard too many times.

But through it all we somehow manage to have a ... good time. And we even learn a few things along the way!

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[gorilla]

sitting here and reading all the posts (probably too much!)
buying new kit (definitely too much!)
getting out when i can - camping as many weekends as i can, even if it's just for a night at my local spot - problem is, with 4 kids and a job with sh*tty hours and sh*tty pay, it's not as often as i'd like!
carving stuff in my back yard
but mostly i spend time wishing i lived by a wood and had more spare time
:Thinkingo

 

[spamel]

Living near a wood isn't that good a thing if lots of dog owners live near it too!

 

[woodstock]

getting out when i can - camping as many weekends as i can, even if it's just for a night at my local spot - problem is, with 4 kids and a job with sh*tty hours and sh*tty pay, it's not as often as i'd like!
carving stuff in my back yard
but mostly i spend time wishing i lived by a wood and had more spare time
:Thinkingo[/QUOTE]

I have just read your thread and it made me feel guilty I do live next to a wood about 60yds away lovely mixed ancient woodland I also have access to another 2 woods that I can camp /bushcraft and hunt to my hearts content but hardly use them, im going to try and get out a bit more often you have just given me a much needed kick up the backside

 

[BOD]

Lying in bed with a sore throat and a flu like bug, just browsing BCUK and watching old bushcraft related CDs is my usual bushcraft related activity at the moment.

Usually it would be a walk in some forest with the dog and a stop for a brew up while I forage around to collect and identify plants and their products.

In the backyard it would be lighting the BBQ or the fire with a bowdrill and experimenting with different woods. I have well over 2000 species of trees to get through. Then there would be some knife practice while making something or other.

Spamel has said that getting pished outdoors counts as bushcraft so I do that as well as I sit back in my chair with a beer watching the sausages or lamb chops cook.

 

[Cobweb]

^ Fair weather bushcrafter (has a hard enough time keeping warm in winter without freezing her bits off in a drafty hammock)

Watching Youtube vids (found those old country tracks - used to watch them when I was a kid)
Reading this site.
Drooling over kit I can't afford.
Feeling chuffed when I find a bit of kit on a Car Boot for 20p.
Setting fire to anything in the garden.
Wishing I could make a spoon but don't really have the wood to try.
Foraging for plants in the local forest/wood.
Annoying family and friends by giving them a sample to eat of said plants after just picking them.
Eating their samples when family/friends start to look a bit green at the prospect of eating 'weeds'.
Learning more and more about plants I can eat and use for medicine.
Sharpening my Knife and axe, especially to scare my mum ((naughty me)) (hates me touching sharp things)
Having 'real' barbecues and handing everyone I have invited a sausage on a greenstick.
Burning marshmallows over said barbecue and then flinging them into the hedge when they start dripping on my leg.
Going to meets and hopefully to the moot this year