What is "Bushcraft"?
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Hi Cariboo,
What I like about this forum is that old threads do get lost/ hard to find. If they didn't then we would stop communicating with each other and enjoying chatting and sharing our take on whatever is the subject. If old threads were always there to refer to then it would just become a "been there, done that" boredom site.
Go on! Do post the most obvious and over worked questions if you want to!!! Have a good chinwag. Don't look at the old threads unless you just want to read quietly by yourself.
Bushcraft to me is an exciting word. A good use for it might be in the question "What's your bushcraft?" It entails all the craft you yourself have gained about living in natural environments. For some it's knowledge, for others it's skills, for others it is how to have a great time sharing jokes and stories around a fire, for others it is a living............... Most especially it is the things about living in the natural environment that give you a buzz.
I have to agree with you Rich.
When I am in a "leave me alone, I don't want to talk to anyone:BlueTeamE " mood, but I need to find something out, I'll search the thread.
When I am in a " the whole world is marvellous and I love everybody
, sort of mood, I can start something fresh and more immediate. It's like having a chat to your neighbour over the garden fence.
Interesting. No offence meant to anybody, but i wonder about the merits of actually giving it a definition.
i seem to think that if you define a term, it slips neatly into a box and if you do anything that is not encapsulated by the definition, it's excluded as 'not REAL bushcraft'.
Some people come to the Bushcraft world (or this site) because their interest may be involved in Bushcraft. Wildlife enthusiasts, Naturalists, survivalists, people who follow outdoor pursuits, knife enthusiasts, canoeists, people with an interest in ecology and 'greener living', crafts people, history buff's, people who just have a thirst for knowledge or who have simply seen something on TV, the internet or read an article in a magazine or book.
Because all these things and more intertwine and mingle (just look at the thread topic's for diversity) then people stumble into (and out of) the Bushcraft world frequently.
The only issue i have with giving it a definition is, if the definition becomes inclusive, it automatically becomes exclusive and this site in particular and it's members and contributers are the most understanding and varied that it has ever been my privalige to converse with and not exclusive by any stretch. This is why i feel so many people come here, everybody will bend over backwards to help people with a question they have, newbie or 'old hand'!
Don't try to define it, try to enjoy it!
i seem to think that if you define a term, it slips neatly into a box and if you do anything that is not encapsulated by the definition, it's excluded as 'not REAL bushcraft'.
Some people come to the Bushcraft world (or this site) because their interest may be involved in Bushcraft. Wildlife enthusiasts, Naturalists, survivalists, people who follow outdoor pursuits, knife enthusiasts, canoeists, people with an interest in ecology and 'greener living', crafts people, history buff's, people who just have a thirst for knowledge or who have simply seen something on TV, the internet or read an article in a magazine or book.
Because all these things and more intertwine and mingle (just look at the thread topic's for diversity) then people stumble into (and out of) the Bushcraft world frequently.
The only issue i have with giving it a definition is, if the definition becomes inclusive, it automatically becomes exclusive and this site in particular and it's members and contributers are the most understanding and varied that it has ever been my privalige to converse with and not exclusive by any stretch. This is why i feel so many people come here, everybody will bend over backwards to help people with a question they have, newbie or 'old hand'!
Don't try to define it, try to enjoy it!
The problem for me of giving a definition to the range of activities we as a group undertake is that it would not take much for the definition to become a "label". Generally, "labels" tend to become rather derogatory.
I used to be a psychiatric nurse and "labels" were rife in psychiatry. Just mention the words Mental Health and what image do you get in your mind? A "mad" man running around killing people? Most people don't think any further than the headlines in the media.
The same thing could easily happen to "bushcraft", it would only take someone with "bushcraft" connections to go on a bit of a rampage for the whole movement to be vilified in the press : mad bushcraft man wielding a knife
I would steer clear of trying to definethis movement personally
I used to be a psychiatric nurse and "labels" were rife in psychiatry. Just mention the words Mental Health and what image do you get in your mind? A "mad" man running around killing people? Most people don't think any further than the headlines in the media.
The same thing could easily happen to "bushcraft", it would only take someone with "bushcraft" connections to go on a bit of a rampage for the whole movement to be vilified in the press : mad bushcraft man wielding a knife
I would steer clear of trying to definethis movement personally
I think it is almost impossible to define though. You may have one guy walking in the woods with just a knife, blanket, billy can and some other small items. A minimalist. Then you have the techno bushcrafter who has the latest in multi fuel stove and lightwight shelter with carbon fibre shock corded walking poles and god knows what else. Titanium everything aswell, zipper pulls, sporks, glasses, cup, tent pegs, all made from titanium!!
Hammock users swinging in the trees, ground dwellers using duluth packs and duluth sleeping rolls, all made in a traditional canvas and leather. Maybe they don't even stay out at night but look at the identifying and uses of wild plants. Funghi people who like to pick and learn abut funghi, animal lovers that watch birds and other animals in the wild. Maybe somebody else just concentrates on the fire discipline, making fire by various methods.
All of the above are bushcrafters, but their activities are vastly different to each others. It's too complicated to pigeon hole.
Hammock users swinging in the trees, ground dwellers using duluth packs and duluth sleeping rolls, all made in a traditional canvas and leather. Maybe they don't even stay out at night but look at the identifying and uses of wild plants. Funghi people who like to pick and learn abut funghi, animal lovers that watch birds and other animals in the wild. Maybe somebody else just concentrates on the fire discipline, making fire by various methods.
All of the above are bushcrafters, but their activities are vastly different to each others. It's too complicated to pigeon hole.
The man who goes out with all the kit is a camper. The one who studies plants is a botanist, or herbalist. The one who studies funghi is a mycologist. The bird watcher is an ornithologist. It's only when we combine all of these disciplines (and the rich knwoledge they unlock) in order to live from the natural world that we engage in bushcraft.
This site is, and should be, a wealthy resource of information for anyone who wants to use it, free and unbiased, without prejudice or judgement. But the term Bushcraft can't be defined by those who use this site, nor can we adapt a term to suit our own purposes.
This site is, and should be, a wealthy resource of information for anyone who wants to use it, free and unbiased, without prejudice or judgement. But the term Bushcraft can't be defined by those who use this site, nor can we adapt a term to suit our own purposes.
All of the above are bushcrafters, but their activities are vastly different to each others. It's too complicated to pigeon hole.
Absolutely.This is why I think we should not even try to define the term: "bushcraft" is just an umbrella term that encompasses all this activities.
Otherwise I think we will end up being legislated
, regulated , licensed etc etc
Absolutely.This is why I think we should not even try to define the term: "bushcraft" is just an umbrella term that encompasses all this activities.
Otherwise I think we will end up being legislated
, regulated , licensed etc etc
Can we call the man or woman who goes out on horse-back to hunt down foxes with hounds a bushcrafter? If we can then it truly will be licensed and regulated. I agree that we cannot pigeon hole the term or set perameters or boundaries. But we must remain true to the spirit in which the term was first coined, otherwise it will cease to carry meaning.
To reluctantly quote Ray Mears, Bushcraft is the knowledge that we carry in our mind and in our muscles. Or rather it is the search for that knowledge, for it is a mine of wisdom that can never be plumbed.
If we dabble in shelter building or camping or fishing or hunting, yet never rely on our skills in order to "live", then we live in anticipation of a moment that we never encounter.
To reluctantly quote Ray Mears, Bushcraft is the knowledge that we carry in our mind and in our muscles. Or rather it is the search for that knowledge, for it is a mine of wisdom that can never be plumbed.
If we dabble in shelter building or camping or fishing or hunting, yet never rely on our skills in order to "live", then we live in anticipation of a moment that we never encounter.
Topiary.....? Sorry couldn't resist it
The range of activities encompassed by the term "bushcraft" seems to grow day by day. For me it means getting outside and practising primitive skills such as firemaking, camp cooking, archery, tracking, carving, leatherwork etc
The range of activities encompassed by the term "bushcraft" seems to grow day by day. For me it means getting outside and practising primitive skills such as firemaking, camp cooking, archery, tracking, carving, leatherwork etc
I agree. There's a lot of hanging about in woods done in the name of Bushcraft, without much learning going on.
But then it is a good excuse for a few beers in the countryside.
..........
We Western Europeans living in the 21st century have an obsession with labelling things, be they objects, people, discoveries, habits, social types or activities. Why? To make it easier to find in an encyclopaedia?
'Bushcraft', if it has to be labelled, marks a return to a simpler, more naturally orientated style of living where value is placed on observation, conservation and feeling comfortable and closer to the environment around us. Practioners from the past of the numerous skills that we try and use wouldn't see the process of lighting a fire without a match as bushcraft any more than paunching a rabbit was bushcraft to a nineteenth century poacher. All we have gone and done is stockpile a catalogue of fabulous and reliable essential living techniques under one roof. 'Bushcraft' isn't any one thing - it's the supermarket where we practise skills that are now regarded as quirky by the vast majority of people.
What does it mean to practise bushcraft? I think it means that we use the experience of history, nature and trial and error to get closer to ways of life that we have all but forgotten but still value intuitively.
I'm sorry to b******t so extensively and mercilessly but I'm in one of those dreadful contemplative moods...
'Bushcraft', if it has to be labelled, marks a return to a simpler, more naturally orientated style of living where value is placed on observation, conservation and feeling comfortable and closer to the environment around us. Practioners from the past of the numerous skills that we try and use wouldn't see the process of lighting a fire without a match as bushcraft any more than paunching a rabbit was bushcraft to a nineteenth century poacher. All we have gone and done is stockpile a catalogue of fabulous and reliable essential living techniques under one roof. 'Bushcraft' isn't any one thing - it's the supermarket where we practise skills that are now regarded as quirky by the vast majority of people.
What does it mean to practise bushcraft? I think it means that we use the experience of history, nature and trial and error to get closer to ways of life that we have all but forgotten but still value intuitively.
I'm sorry to b******t so extensively and mercilessly but I'm in one of those dreadful contemplative moods...
We always talk about "practicing" skills. But what are we practicing for? So that we're prepared just in case we crash land in the jungle? A wise man once said "a weapon unused is a useless weapon", so it is with this knowledge and these skills. Unused they will remain quirky, fun, a pastime; but when we actually utilise them in order to "live" then we are participating in Bushcraft. Our skills become real, our knowledge tested.
The man mentioned earlier who goes out brimming with kit and gizmos is at war with nature, hoping to pit his wits against it. The casual hiker or birdwatcher scarcely dips his/her toe in. But the Bushcrafter must jump in head first, submerging himself completely, trusting that nature, and his knowledge of it, will keep him afloat.
The man mentioned earlier who goes out brimming with kit and gizmos is at war with nature, hoping to pit his wits against it. The casual hiker or birdwatcher scarcely dips his/her toe in. But the Bushcrafter must jump in head first, submerging himself completely, trusting that nature, and his knowledge of it, will keep him afloat.
xylaria
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
As you have used the swimming analogy, to learn to swim you have first put your toes in, then crawl, then swim, and then after a lot of practise swim in open water. I know I don't have a full skills base, very few of us come from culture where we have had the opportunity to develop the full complement of skills. But saying that i think most people here would do OK in proper survival situation. We all do what we do because we enjoy it, and don't really care what it is called. There is a joy in knowlegde for the sake of knowlegde. How many of us know that polar bear have poisonous livers and many of us would actually need to know it for real?
With many hobbies or even jobs you have a set of core kills or activities which are common to most, and as you grow competent in them you start learning other skills slightly more diverse . The same could be said for bushcraft, just knowing to shelter yourself from wind and rain, you probably learnt as a kid and little things like that all build up into something that is unique to you, sure others might know some of it too, but they may also know other stuff.
Perhaps if you turn the question around you get more of an answer, " What is not bushcraft?" ?
Peace.
P.S. As far as practising bushcraft goes, what about dentists or doctors many of whom have 'practises' ? Makes ya think eh? I don't want to go to one practising I want a proper one!
Perhaps if you turn the question around you get more of an answer, " What is not bushcraft?" ?
Peace.
P.S. As far as practising bushcraft goes, what about dentists or doctors many of whom have 'practises' ? Makes ya think eh? I don't want to go to one practising I want a proper one!
I agree that all journeys begin with tentative steps, and so they should. I would be the last person to suggest that someone should try to run before they can walk. That would be dangerous and irresponsible. Of course we all need to humble ourselves and learn patiently. I believe that it's impossible to have a full skills base, as the world of Bushcraft is infinite. What we know is dwarfed by what we don't. But Bushcraft is the never ending search to expand that knowledge. And the only way to do that is to submit ourselves to the natural world, to let it be our teacher.
I don't doubt that most of us would be able to feed, clothe and shelter ourselves in a survival situation. But Bushcraft can't be reduced to survival. Nor can we say that it's enough to do it because we enjoy it. That's to make it a pastime, a hobby. The indigenous peoples of the world don't tan hides becaue they enjoy it, or hunt animals for sport, or build shelters for fun. They do it to live. And yet in their necessity they find time to be inventive, creative, artistic. This tells us that they are in tune with their surroundings, perfectly supported by the natural world.
I don't doubt that most of us would be able to feed, clothe and shelter ourselves in a survival situation. But Bushcraft can't be reduced to survival. Nor can we say that it's enough to do it because we enjoy it. That's to make it a pastime, a hobby. The indigenous peoples of the world don't tan hides becaue they enjoy it, or hunt animals for sport, or build shelters for fun. They do it to live. And yet in their necessity they find time to be inventive, creative, artistic. This tells us that they are in tune with their surroundings, perfectly supported by the natural world.
I sit at our laptop sipping last years raspberry wine, connected to you via satellite from a small cabin in the bush on the edge of the Chilcotin Plateau B.C. My partner Aki is preparing greens from our bush garden, eggs from our chickens (free range bush chickens have yolks that are very yellow), the oyster mushrooms our four year old and I are harvesting from the aspen groves, and boletes from around the young pines. Today I took down a couple of big dead pines, peeled them and cut them to size. B.Cs pine forests have been destroyed by beetles. Everything. The bush is changing.
Were teaching our kids how to live in and with the bush.
Native cowboys come through looking for stray cattle that roam the free ranges of B.C. and are destined for your plates. They know a lot about the bush.
There are others in the bush. We are here because we cant stomach living anywhere else.
There is a lot more to this so called bushcraft. It is not just nifty tools to light fires on weekends. The bush is disappearing right before our eyes.
We know this because we live here. We live by it, from and in it.
What is bushcraft? It is an art.
Bushcraft in Canada is kind of a non entity. After greed finishes destroying the forests, then perhaps we will all get together and remember what used to be - and practice bushcraft.
http://www.caribooblades.com/insignificance_II.jpg
http://www.caribooblades.com
Were teaching our kids how to live in and with the bush.
Native cowboys come through looking for stray cattle that roam the free ranges of B.C. and are destined for your plates. They know a lot about the bush.
There are others in the bush. We are here because we cant stomach living anywhere else.
There is a lot more to this so called bushcraft. It is not just nifty tools to light fires on weekends. The bush is disappearing right before our eyes.
We know this because we live here. We live by it, from and in it.
What is bushcraft? It is an art.
Bushcraft in Canada is kind of a non entity. After greed finishes destroying the forests, then perhaps we will all get together and remember what used to be - and practice bushcraft.
http://www.caribooblades.com/insignificance_II.jpg
http://www.caribooblades.com
"Survival" making through the night.
"Bushcraft" enjoying the night and the morning after and looking foreward to the next night.
"Bushcraft" enjoying the night and the morning after and looking foreward to the next night.
"what is Bushcraft?"
I think the term "Bushcraft" is misleading it creates a vision of someone crafting objects from the woods and although that may be part of the experience it is much much more than that.
For me its a feeling to be close to nature, to be self sufficeint in a natural enviroment, to do away with artificial man made creations, to live by natures system not a modern or financial or governnmental system.
Lets rename it from "Bushcraft" to "Natures way"
I think the term "Bushcraft" is misleading it creates a vision of someone crafting objects from the woods and although that may be part of the experience it is much much more than that.
For me its a feeling to be close to nature, to be self sufficeint in a natural enviroment, to do away with artificial man made creations, to live by natures system not a modern or financial or governnmental system.
Lets rename it from "Bushcraft" to "Natures way"
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