What before RayMears?
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Orlando before old mearsy called it bushcraft people in the UK like Lofty Wiseman and Eddy McGee taught it as survival and the army in many respects taught it as fieldcraft.
Bushcraft is what Mors Kochanski has been teaching for the last 40 years over in Canada mind you SO I guess he really coined the phrase and Mearsy popularised it thanks to the dread media of TV!!
Bushcraft is what Mors Kochanski has been teaching for the last 40 years over in Canada mind you SO I guess he really coined the phrase and Mearsy popularised it thanks to the dread media of TV!!
In the sixties/seventies there was interest in self sufficiency, John Seymour, was a great advocate, and I believe he still runs a self sufficiency course in Ireland (his books are good reading too), I think over the years there has always been "bushcraft", it is just the emphasis that has changed.
Mors Kochanski coined and popularized the term in Canada publishing the book "Bushcraft" in I think 1987, Ray brought Mors style of wilderness living to the UK and popularized it here under the same name.
KIMBOKO said:
although most scout badges aren't sharp enough to cut stuff with - I'd stick with axe and knife.
Stuart said:
Interesting fact Stuart especially as Ray Mears started woodlore in 1988. I heard somewhere that Ray was supposed to have been taught by Mors Kochanski, I think I picked that up on the bushcraft course I did in the lakes last year.
Either way as you and Gary both said is would seem Mors Kochanski was teaching look before Ray Mears which was what Faca was asking I believe.
Mears stands on lots of shoulders. Tons of stuff written long before Ray got his first wool socks. 
A classic example would be Horace Kephart's Camping and Woocraft first published in 1906. This book was extremely popular in its day and that fact that it's still in print tells ya something. And it's not just serendipity that Kephart dedicated his book to Nessmuk. Lots of others. Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, E. Kreps, Ellsworth Jaeger. Many others published in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. The old woodcraft style of camping has only recently declined here in the US as intensive use of many popular trails in the backcountry necessitated new methods that are less destructive. If you want to do "bushcraft" nowadays, you need to go off the beaten path.
A classic example would be Horace Kephart's Camping and Woocraft first published in 1906. This book was extremely popular in its day and that fact that it's still in print tells ya something. And it's not just serendipity that Kephart dedicated his book to Nessmuk. Lots of others. Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, E. Kreps, Ellsworth Jaeger. Many others published in the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. The old woodcraft style of camping has only recently declined here in the US as intensive use of many popular trails in the backcountry necessitated new methods that are less destructive. If you want to do "bushcraft" nowadays, you need to go off the beaten path.
bambodoggy
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
bambodoggy
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
LOL my first survival book was Penguins book called Survival and I bought that when I was 9 years old back in 1980, I lost these book years ago but it was a very good book.
I learnt a lot of things about the country from the old farmers that helped out on the farm and in the woods and I experimented and explored this I would now know as bushcraft but in them days it was just being comfortable during work or play.
Mears has just been in the right place to be noticed and invited to have a slot on a TV program (Tracks or Country Tracks, I think) this then became his own program.
He is a media person that has shown us many skills from around the world with the help of media research and money. He stopped being an outdoors person years ago and is now a media presenter.
I learnt a lot of things about the country from the old farmers that helped out on the farm and in the woods and I experimented and explored this I would now know as bushcraft but in them days it was just being comfortable during work or play.
Mears has just been in the right place to be noticed and invited to have a slot on a TV program (Tracks or Country Tracks, I think) this then became his own program.
He is a media person that has shown us many skills from around the world with the help of media research and money. He stopped being an outdoors person years ago and is now a media presenter.
i could be wrong but the raymond mears book in the photo liabary first edition is only worth around £250 in excellent nick. now thats what media can do for you....
Before Ray Mears? Why the Scouts of course!
Even though I never was one, I always wanted to be
.
Even though I never was one, I always wanted to be
.
Adi Fiddler said:
Well I have just looked in my copy and it says it is his first book on the subject of Survival is the book you mention on survival ??
Ah I am mistaken I have two copies one was published in 1995 and the other in 1990 were as The Complete Outdoor Handbook I have was published in published in 1992 and the second copy I have was published in 1994. Sorry for confusing the subject
I will keep my mouth shut in future
I will keep my mouth shut in future
before ray mears nobody was allowed outside except farmers :shock:
...............and they didnt go out at night much
Tant
...............and they didnt go out at night much
Tant
