When did you become interested in Bushcraft?

[Ash Blue]

I turn 18 in July so that's when I can start some Bushcraft courses. I first got interested in Bushcraft when I was about 14. It was one of the Ray Mears programs that came on the BBC. I remember it being an episode where he was with an African tribe.

I'm really interested to know how long you have been interested in Bushcraft? I know that a lot of people became interested when Ray Mears became popular.

 

[Biddlesby]

I am also 18, and with no real bushcrafty types in my family, I have always enjoyed Ray Mears. But I only really started doing things practically a few years ago.

 

[Outdoorsman]

I remember becoming 'interested' when I first saw ray mears' country tracks. Then continued to watch all his other programmes as they made them, but I never really wanted to go out and practice bushcraft at that time. Then I saw the first rambo film which sparked my interest in knife collecting, which inturn led me to become seriously interested in bushcraft. Me and my mates would always go into the woods as children with our sak's building debris shelter and bows and arrows e.c.t as most here would have done. We never had a name for it, it was just what young boys did. So I suppose I've been interested in bushcraft most of my life.

 

[Dr Onion]

I joined the cubs/scouts as a kid so I guess from then - we hiked and camped all over Scotland - it was great!

Dr O

 

[traderran]

I am 55 + and I started at age 6 or 7 with the scouts.

 

[litefoot]

i am not 18 and have not been for some time but first got interested while watching tracks on bbc1 years ago.
litefoot.

 

[Lodian]

Porably after going to an air cadet exercise called ballogie storm .
And going campinh i then got the sas book by john wisemen sorta took of from there, and watching Bear Grylls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKn-MXdCA-8

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

12 yrs old making forrest wood and bracken shelters. In the Highlands in the scouts.

Nick

 

[John Fenna]

About 40+ years ago, playing in the woods and fields of Herefordshire - tho I only thought of it as playing "dens an' huntin'" then. Finding a prehistoric loom weight/fishing weight at about the same time helped......
Later I called it "survival" and then turned my working life to "Outdoor Persuits" (everything from climbing thru caving to canoeing) and "self-suficiency" and then some young whippersnapper called Raymond started writing about wild foods (cribbing from Maybey?) and then the Beeb got hold of him for "Wildtracks" and the whole thing got a name - and a face to go with it...
Good Old Ray - where would we be without him!
John

 

[michiel]

I collected knives for a few years. I found this site eventually and got even more interested. I've been camping for years so that helped. I only discovered Ray Mears when I became a member on this forum. This is a great forum, but now I have BCUK dissease

Michiel

 

[pag_3833]

is have to say i was into bushcraft as a kid, always camping and messing on in the woods etc. then grew up and lost interest / moved to london etc(and found the world of pubs), then started watching natural world and ray mears and so on and inspired me to get back into it. So glad i did

 

[woodstock]

I was brought up in the countryside with elderly grand parents my grandfather was a persistent poacher I think he seen it as his right to roam and put meat on the table veg was supplied from his extensive veg garden no flower beds or lawns just fruit and veg and that's where I cut my teeth as a hunter gatherer I use my bush craft skills to hunt or just to be comfortable when wild camping

 

[Old Timer]

Just after my first camping trip in a friends garden. About 1960/61 I think.

 

[dtalbot]

Have always lived in rural areas so mucking about in the local woods building shelters and trying to light fires by friction was how we spent our school holidays from as early as I can remember

 

[Brian.T]

I was in the cubs/scouts as a kid and loved it, lost interest in my late teens, took it up again as a single dad of 3, lost interest again when they reached their teens, and now find myself inspired again, this time hopefully for good.

 

[David.s]

I was in the boys brigade, and went alot of walking etc, which i guess was my basis for outdoorsy stuff, always been interested in military, sas etc and got a few books with survival stuff. but my bushcraft interest was sparked of course by Ray Mears, then was bored one day and stuck "bushcraft forum" into google and this was the first result.

 

[Jodie]

Saturday July 8 2006

The day UKTV History showed a series of bushcraft episodes back to back. I'd always
enjoyed the programmes when they were originally broadcast but the high concentration
of delightful ingenuity in a short space of time floored me.

I'm more of an observer than a doer but I'm going on a weekend course in the use of
plants in a few weeks which will let me find out how I like being out of doors for more
than a few hours. If I hate sleeping outside you'll never hear from me again of course

My original post on how I found BcUK sums it up reasonably well I suppose:
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cach...munity+skis+Freeview&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk

 

[harlequin]

Well, I first got interested when I bought a book called 'The Outdoor survival Handook' by
... you guessed it Mr Mears. This was before he was famous and it wasn't fashionable enough at the time to reach the mainstream, but the obvious wisdom that it showed absolutely took me away to a place thatIi'd never seen/dream't about. I'm still trying to find my own wisdom (still looking!).

 

[maverix]

Well Ive been playing in the outdoors since 1979, hadn't really thought about what it was called etc. I just thought of it as a bunch of useful skills I had picked up along the way, Tho' I had watched the Mears / bush tucker man type TV shows, then after a number of years working as an activity instructor I found out that what I had been practising could be known as 'Bushcraft' that was only 2 or 3 years ago

 

[spoonman]

Having grown up in the country with my brother/sister/cousins it was our playground. I remember being taught when I was young (only 24 now) about how dock leaves can help nettle stings, nettle soup and of course the blackberry/raspberry harvesting and collecting mushrooms with my dad...brilliant memories! lost touch with it all in secondary school/college when I discovered sport/drink/women and only got back to it about three years ago when we got satellite tv. I saw RM doing his stuff and I was fascinated. I've since been on the fundamental & I'am booked into the journeyman next year and I discovered this super resourse right here!! still enjoy a few drinks though but women turned into woman!