Increasingly find myself spending more and more time in the wilds. Are there any almost fulltime bushcrafters/huntergatherers out there ( traditional huntergatherers excepted ) Up here on the West Coast of Scotland with a the benefits of modern equipment I would have thought a skilled person could live a simple if meagre life. What stops other folk doing it ??? Or is it really just a hobby and not a lifestyle???
What stops folk being fulltime bushcrafters?
- Thread starter Seabeggar
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It could be a lifestyle. Quite simply, they used to be called tramps. You are gonna need to buy some things though, or resort to poaching. You cannot fish ib England without a license, although I believe you can in Scotland so there you may be OK. Don't quote me on that though, maybe somebody can confirm that.
Meat would be difficult to come by without poaching, and remember it doesn't matter what you take, if it isn't on your land or land that ytou have permission to hunt on then you are poaching. Two guys got prosecuted for doing just that a few months back.
The rest of the stuff you will want to eat, greens fruits and nuts, are seasonal. How will you get by when the seasonal foods run out? Back in the day, there would have been large tracts of wild plants and fruit bearing trees etc, but nowadays it is all getting replaced by concrete jungles. Sea food is still a free resource though, and you can get fish, seaweed, shellfish and other goodies from the sea most of the year round.
In short, it is doable, but I reckon it would be hard work.
Meat would be difficult to come by without poaching, and remember it doesn't matter what you take, if it isn't on your land or land that ytou have permission to hunt on then you are poaching. Two guys got prosecuted for doing just that a few months back.
The rest of the stuff you will want to eat, greens fruits and nuts, are seasonal. How will you get by when the seasonal foods run out? Back in the day, there would have been large tracts of wild plants and fruit bearing trees etc, but nowadays it is all getting replaced by concrete jungles. Sea food is still a free resource though, and you can get fish, seaweed, shellfish and other goodies from the sea most of the year round.
In short, it is doable, but I reckon it would be hard work.
What stops me from jacking it all in is a hefty mortgage and the fact that I`ve got used to the lifestyle I have already. Self sufficiency is one route but I don`t think we`re ready to try that yet. The fact that now both me and SWMBO have got steady careers ahead of us, it would be shame to jeopardise all we have on a dream that might never work out.
There`s also the fact that a true life in the wilderness couldn`t happen in the UK so there`s the added drama of emigration. I have found my perfect retirement spot in British Columbia so I`ve got that to work on for a while.
For now I prefer to enjoy bushcraft as a hobby and not as a way of life.
Rich
There`s also the fact that a true life in the wilderness couldn`t happen in the UK so there`s the added drama of emigration. I have found my perfect retirement spot in British Columbia so I`ve got that to work on for a while.
For now I prefer to enjoy bushcraft as a hobby and not as a way of life.
Rich
The lack of available land in the UK stops me. To live comfortably without too great an impact on the natural resources takes a huge area of land and we just don't have it the numbers don't add up.
I would have thought a skilled person could live a simple if meagre life. What stops other folk doing it ??? Or is it really just a hobby and not a lifestyle???[/QUOTE]
We got sucked in to commercialism like the sheep we are or will become I spend a great deal of time outdoors and when I do I live very simply either basher or bivi bag or sometimes hammock I always take my rifle as you cant beat a rabbit and pigeon stew on a evening with some greens we could live in a feral way if we choose to but I think we have been softened up over the years so we depend on our creature comforts or at least some people do
We got sucked in to commercialism like the sheep we are or will become I spend a great deal of time outdoors and when I do I live very simply either basher or bivi bag or sometimes hammock I always take my rifle as you cant beat a rabbit and pigeon stew on a evening with some greens we could live in a feral way if we choose to but I think we have been softened up over the years so we depend on our creature comforts or at least some people do
Suppose it's really just down to money. If I had enough then I could either buy the land I'd need or move. I could then devote myself to a more bushcrafty / self sufficient life. Also SWMBO and I look after her elderly parents and her mother has had a stroke and needs quite a lot of care. Though one day they will not be here and we're planning some radical lifestyle changes and are going to try to quit the rat race.
Nobody can give you the answer, you have to test it and see. Take off a year and do it and you will learn a hell of a lot about yourself. One of the biggest things for me was the thought:
"Great, and what now?" You arrive, you got your dream and see a ****load of stuff you have to do every day or you suffer. Then you start working and working and working, not for a joyfull living but for your naked survival. Living starts after you fixed the survival, thats what I discovered for me at least.
I never tried it but if I would do it again I would try to do it in a alternative group setting, a group of like minded with different educations going together, helping each other working together. Much like these religious folks in the us who only use horse, have no light etc etc I think they are called Amish people. Alone its not possible to survive, as a group of likeminded it should work.
you can read my old Thread, there are some good tips in.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27431
cheers
Abbe
Quite a few people used to, but the Criminal Justice Act 1994 and changes to the benefits system put and end to it for most of them...
The other important question, which Abbe has more experience of than most of us, is "would you really want to?" It all sounds wonderfully romantic when you're thinking about it, snug and secure at home in front of the telly, but when you're hauling firewood across the moor in driving hail in the middle of January it's a different matter. Don't underestimate the psychological effects of isolation either - we're social animals, and without adequate social contact most of us go nuts surprisingly quickly. We all like to hear the stories of the bold mountain men carving out a life in the Yukon, but we tend to overlook how many of them either went completely mad, drank themselves to death, or just lay down in their cabins and starved.
The other important question, which Abbe has more experience of than most of us, is "would you really want to?" It all sounds wonderfully romantic when you're thinking about it, snug and secure at home in front of the telly, but when you're hauling firewood across the moor in driving hail in the middle of January it's a different matter. Don't underestimate the psychological effects of isolation either - we're social animals, and without adequate social contact most of us go nuts surprisingly quickly. We all like to hear the stories of the bold mountain men carving out a life in the Yukon, but we tend to overlook how many of them either went completely mad, drank themselves to death, or just lay down in their cabins and starved.
If your interested in using modern-equipment to help living more in the wild you might be interested in Les Stroud's 'Off the Grid' documentary. You can find out more about the documentary at the bottom of this article.
rancid badger
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Anyone remember the Lion TV series "castaway"?
Now that was an object lesson in not getting involved with the media!
Mind you, Ben Fogle did all right out of it-eventually
Cheers
R.B.
Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Tried it when I was much, much younger. I stuck it for nearly six months but went back home to my dad when it got really cold. It's not much fun if it's forced on you full time and better as a hobby. It can still be a lifestyle chioce even if you sleep in a comfy bed each night. Keeping a bushcraft mentality and applying it in all that you do, like not dropping litter, practicing minimal impact, having respect for all living things and stuff like that means you can be a full time bushcrafter without the need to live rough. Bushcraft is a state of mind within the individual. Wilderness living for a few weeks a year is just a spiritual holiday that recharges the bushcraft concept.
Eric
Eric
Morality too.
There are many times in the course of your life when you need the state - the NHS often and schools for a little part. The state runs our society (not always the way we would like agreed) to ensure some things run well(ish).
We all take from this. The only way to put back is to pay tax. You pay tax by earning and spending, otherwise you are just leaching it from me and others like me who pay tax.
Minimalist is fine, but we are a collective and must pay a little in. No man is an island.
Eric, that was a fantastic post I agree with wholeheartedly.
There are many times in the course of your life when you need the state - the NHS often and schools for a little part. The state runs our society (not always the way we would like agreed) to ensure some things run well(ish).
We all take from this. The only way to put back is to pay tax. You pay tax by earning and spending, otherwise you are just leaching it from me and others like me who pay tax.
Minimalist is fine, but we are a collective and must pay a little in. No man is an island.
Eric, that was a fantastic post I agree with wholeheartedly.
A wise man once said said:
That's right Eric. Having a toe in both pools is not only sensible, it's inevitable and essential really. Even taking things extreme where bushcraft really does meet survival, the last of the worlds nomadic h/g folks take advantage of and trade with the 'modern world' to make things easier.
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