Why do bushcraft and survival skills?

[backpacker]

I work in the Construction industry and I have been practicing Bushcraft and survival Techniques from a young age, But a lot of the lads keep giving me grief about Bushcraft and Survival Skills, They think people like us are wierdo's! because they say that we have plenty food and technology you don't need those skills in this day and age! with that one lunch break I had a big debate with the lads and said what would you do if the lights went out tomorrow? no power, no mobiles phones, Ipads, computers, transport the list went on! Telling them this could happen within twenty four hours giving them numerous amount of different scenario's.
In the end I picked 8 lads to take on the challenge off a long weekend Survival, I took them to my friends farm where he has a woodland, before they started I had taken all there mobile phones, mathches, lighters and any food and gave them a knife and fire steel between two a litre of water and a large baked bean tin to use as a billycan, Gave them the scenario of how they were where they were and said to them Survive, all I kept hearing them say Was Ray mears this and Bear Gryills that! it took them hours to light a fire, let alone finding water and making it safe to drink, as for foraging to find something to eat was poor, I had to step in to help them out and in the end they had a comfortable night, by the time we had completed the weekend, we had a debrief and could understand how much effort they had to put in just to survive a weekend! out of the 8 lads that took on the challenge I now teach 6 them the techniques on a regular basis.

Now they understand why us wierdo's as they put it, Do what we do! Happy days

 

[cranmere]

To a great extent it's like any hobby, it's fun. There isn't a lot of point to playing football or knitting socks or collecting stamps or doing sudoku puzzles but nobody is surprised by those. Bushcraft can be similar. It doesn't have to have any reason for it to be enjoyable.

I could also get philosophical and say that it satisfies a deep-rooted atavastic urge and that would also be true. There is something satisfying about going back to primitive skills.

 

[backpacker]

Cranmere,
I totally agree with what you are saying and it is satisfying and using and understanding primitive skills and thats why we do what we do, but as always you always get the sceptics out there, all the lads that had taken the challenge even though it was just a long weekend have all found something of interest in what they had done and what they acheived which is a good thing, the thing was I wasn't try to convert them but just to understand that when the going gets tough, it's not easy.

 

[Toddy]

The knowledge and skills greatly enrich my life Tool making, tool use, making things, foraging and seasonal change are hardwired into our brains. I reckon being aware of all of it helps keep us grounded and sane in a very un-natural world.

You think your friends thought you were odd ? I'm a housewife my neighbours think me a forlorn hope but then one spends two hours a day arranging her curtains while I reckon they're open or closed.
Good analogy that actually; mine are open and I'm watching two squirrel and five lbj's squabbling over the sunflower feeder

Good on you getting your friends out and interested

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Bonzo Frog]

So true, I think some people are just drawn to the outdoors. As Toddy puts these things are hardwired into our brains. Some us just awaken these urges and put them to use. I'm at my most happiest outdoors, it's where I feel most at home and for want of a better phrase "at peace".

Dave

 

[Mesquite]

The knowledge and skills greatly enrich my life Tool making, tool use, making things, foraging and seasonal change are hardwired into our brains. I reckon being aware of all of it helps keep us grounded and sane in a very un-natural world.

Those two sentences just about sum it up for me

The only thing Mary missed out was this wonderful hobby has given me friends that have enriched my life no end

 

[John Fenna]

Those two sentences just about sum it up for me

The only thing Mary missed out was this wonderful hobby has given me friends that have enriched my life no end

plus one to that

 

[weekender]

plus one to that

Plus another one, well put.


Sent from somewhere?

 

[Goatboy]

Good for you in getting your colleagues to give it a go. Making them walk in your shoes so to speak. For me it's about being able to be more a part of nature, existing with it rather than trying to fight nature with all sorts of high tech kit. If you try to fight nature you'll lose, she's a lot bigger and more powerful than all of human kind. It's great being able to be comfortable in nature, immersed and complete. Good on your mates for giving it a go and they'll hopefully come out with you again in the future and have some fun.

 

[THOaken]

I'll echo Toddy and Goatboy's points. "Survival" doesn't factor in at all for me. It's more about learning skills that enrich my life and help me to understand that nature isn't static. Almost everything has a use in nature. Really, Toddy's first sentence sums it all up.

 

[GGTBod]

You have all said it, i'll just add it gets me out in nature and boosts my confidence in myself and this enriches my life. I also wonder what we'd all do if the lights went out and the more i learn the less i feel like cattle bred as a workhorse for the rich who own stuff like companies and stocks and shares and basically run our world

 

[rg598]

I think a lot of the skepticism comes from the way bushcraft is presented to people. For me personally, I don't really distinguish between camping and bushcraft, so when I tell people that I am going into the woods, no one sees it as strange, or asks "why".

However, when you start telling people that you are practicing bushcraft so you can "be prepared", then the questions and skepticism start. To be honest, I am equally skeptical. I don't actually believe that bushcraft and survival skills are of particularly high value in an actual emergency situation, nor do I believe the world is going to end. If the power goes out right now (and it has on several occasions) I would be stuck in a city of 8 million people, and knowing how to start a bow drill fire would be the last thing I would need to know. If I was to actually prepare for such situations (power going out, etc), then I would be practicing a completely different set of skills for bushcraft.

I think bushcraft is fun. It is just a set of skills that we have derived from the experiences of past generations, and we incorporate them into our outings as the need dictates. I enjoy being in the woods, I enjoy practicing different techniques, and I enjoy the research. In terms of practical real world survival applications, I think they are more fantasy than reality. In a real civilization ending or impairing situation, knowing how to repair a gas generator or to replace the firing pin on a HK416 will be way more valuable than knowing how to make rope out of spruce roots. Just my opinion.

 

[Toddy]

I'm inclined to agree with Ross, with the caveat that knowing how to garden, smallholder style, and farm, would be a lot more useful (arguably is more useful) than a heck of a lot of the hype about survival with hitech kit and hidden storage dumps.
Guns and firing pins aren't really an issue over here, tbh.

Until I joined this site I didn't know that what I did was called bushcraft it was just making stuff, using stuff, going for a wander and a gather, kind of thing

Told you; it's sanity

cheers,
Toddy

 

[rik_uk3]

Cranmere,
I totally agree with what you are saying and it is satisfying and using and understanding primitive skills and thats why we do what we do, but as always you always get the sceptics out there, all the lads that had taken the challenge even though it was just a long weekend have all found something of interest in what they had done and what they acheived which is a good thing, the thing was I wasn't try to convert them but just to understand that when the going gets tough, it's not easy.

Want to meet sceptics and get strange looks? Tell people you collect old camping stoves.

 

[cranmere]

Want to meet sceptics and get strange looks? Tell people you collect old camping stoves.

And I bet it's the same people who collect old cars and football programmes.

 

[Blaidd]

Zombie Apocalypse Bushcraft Training.
You know it makes sense!

http://www.woodsmoke.uk.com/p/v/Courses/One-off+Mastercraft+Workshops/Desolate+Lakes

 

[tom.moran]

i do it because i enjoy it.

 

[tom.moran]

Zombie Apocalypse Bushcraft Training.
You know it makes sense!

http://www.woodsmoke.uk.com/p/v/Courses/One-off+Mastercraft+Workshops/Desolate+Lakes

so a normal bushcraft course with added zombies and added price

 

[backpacker]

Toddy, your first sentence says it all and that is what it is all about 'Knowledge and Learning Skills' also since I posted this thread I now have another 3 guys making it 9 total who want learn Bushcraft, and they are really keen on getting started!

Dave

 

[cranmere]

Some of it is the satisfaction of making things. A lot of us work in jobs where we never get that satisfaction, I do IT testing and QA for example so I don't do any of the making, just the breaking LOL. I get a genuine small buzz when I finish knitting a pair of socks, or making a basket, or as I did last night, finished a leather pouch.