Why isn't Ron Hood given enough Credit?

[Toddy]

Sorry, here we go, OT again

See, that's the kind of mindset I expect from the military; practical, get the job done. Unfortunately, the armed to the teeth wannabee type are all too common Unless I'm camping, or deliberately after timber, I don't carry an axe, I do carry a pair of pruners (wonder how long before they're a proscribed tool )

I think it's horses for courses. I won't wander into the arctic in the depth of Winter, or the Jungle or Desert or Veld.........so an awful lot of the Survival stuff just does not compute. Techniques and 'primitive' technology are fascinating though.

We are the first Industrialised nation, arguably the first Post Industrialised one too, our bonds with our roots in our lands were severed early. I suspect that most of us are just trying to re-connect with those to enrich our lives, let us breathe.

atb,
M

 

[sapper1]

Surely the difference between survival and bushcraft is as follows


survival is what you do when disaster strikes be it a plane crash,hurricaine ,tsunami and suchlike.

bushcraft is when you go to the outdoors fully prepared to have a good time and be comfortable.

I may be wrong ,I often am.

 

[mick miller]

I don't think so, it seems a very individual thing, for me the term bushcraft relates to the skills and knowledge necessary to live without many of the modern materials we all take for granted. For instance an example of bushcraft in my mind would be the use of leaves to protect cooking meat rather than tinfoil. Another would be wearing buckskin clothing sewn with sinew rather than a modern synthetic garment.

I found it interesting how this thread quickly lost track from 'Why isn't' to 'what is', perhaps it's because over the pond the term bushcraft isn't so commonly used, or perhaps it was partly influenced by the tone of the survival.com website but whichever it's worth keeping in mind that Ron and Karen are not so-called survivalists. Far from it.

Given the amount of useful material (much of which can be adapted or directly translated into our own environment) contained in the films and the casual, relaxed and irreverent way in which it is delivered I am surprised more isn't known about the Hood's over here or that their stuff isn't more popular. As I mentioned early on, there are a couple of moments that may cause you to wince or cringe, but that's it. The food preparation filming isn't for the faint hearted thats for sure!

Perhaps the ignorance around the Hood's is simply down to a lack of slick marketing and production? Ron and Karen film themselves with a simple camera set-up, no booms, dollies, trucks etc. no 20 man production team, maybe a couple of mates and the dogs is the best they get. As such it lacks the slickness of a high-budget production where you can essentially wrap a turd in so much fluff and smoke with crisp graphics and a great soundtrack (I can think of one 'celebrity' this country has birthed whose material fits this description, the surname rhymes with frills).

Simply put, it's not very attractive to a TV exec and therefore it becomes a little bit 'niche'. I have to say I only got one on a recommendation of a trusted friend so it's all word of mouth for the Hood's I guess? They really are worth watching though!

 

[ANDYRAF]

Well having read this thread and palpably felt the emotions it raised, I've been and looked at some of Mr hood's stuff that's on U tube and find very watchable and the information passed across in an informal and understandable style. Hopefully in the future I shall procure some of his DVDs and make my own assessment as to its relevance to my outlook on life.

Thank you to everyone who has commented on the subject matter, but I will make up my own mind as to its relevance.

Does it matter what it is called as long as we enjoy the practice and benefit from its lessons.

Andy

 

[British Red]

Sounds very sensible Andy - content over being stressed by the title every day. I'd be interested in a good review of one of the DVDs if you get one - I have often thought about getting one but without an ability to "preview" the content I have always had second thoughts. There are a goodly number too so I have never really known which one to get

If anyone has them a brief synopsis of the contents of each and a short review would be very welcome

Red

 

[Fire Starter]

Well done Dave, you are bang on with your description of bushcraft as it is now. It seems that most people that shout the loudest about what bushcraft is do not practice bushcraft but merely bushcamping with all the new kit and clothing that goes with. Putting up a tarp and hammock, cooking you salami in a zebra pot over a fire, drinking your stags breath from a wooden cup or titanium mug, making your stew in a Dutch oven etc, etc, etc, the millions of people outwith this forum would call this camping. It appears that the main skills on the forum are making up a knife from bits you buy or spoon carving. Even the the so called bushcraft schools at the Wilderness Gathering this year seemed to be lacking in any bushcraft skills apart from one or two, the others were more interested in selling new kit than educating the punters on bushcraft/survival skills. It seems that there are too many people on this forum who label what bushcraft is and what it isn't, all a bit odd when most them do not practice the subject in any depth whatsoever. Maybe a definition from people who teach and practice the subject of bushcraft on a daily basis would be better.

 

[ANDYRAF]

Even the the so called bushcraft schools at the Wilderness Gathering this year seemed to be lacking in any bushcraft skills apart from one or two,


Maybe a definition from people who teach and practice the subject of bushcraft on a daily basis would be better.

Contradiction?

I'm sorry that to you the Wilderness Gathering was a waste of Time and therefore money, I didn't go so I can't comment on the content and context of these courses.

However I don't think throwing petrol on an already burning fire helps.

Andy

 

[scanker]

I don't think a definition is needed at all. I'm certainly not interested in one. Then again, I've got a Ti mug and a Dutch Oven.

Whatever "bushcrafting" is, it's most definitely different things for different people. It's not a science. There's no correct or incorrect definition. In my opinion.

I enjoy going out into the country, relaxing and being comfortable, chilling out and watching nature and wildlife. You can call it what you want. I reckon I do mainly "outdoor gourmet cuisine and camping". There's still a lot of stuff of interest to me on this site though, even though I wouldn't label myself "bushcrafter".

 

[Wayland]

I'm not a "bushcrafter" so I don't care.....

To me it's just about being more comfortable outdoors than in.

Call it what the heck you like, but I will use traditional skills and equipment, modern skills and equipment, historical skills and equipment, survival skills and equipment and a good measure of common sense to achieve that objective.

I really don't see the point in this incessant arguing over four syllables in a language that changes daily.

 

[jojo]

I really can't see why people get so heated about definitions. From watching the bits of R Hood's videos on you tube, it seems to me that American "survival" = British "bushcraft".

Survivalists are a different kettle of fish.

What is important is the message, be it presented by R Mears or R Hood. A difference is that R Mears' programme are slickly professionally made, aimed at entertaining the wider audience, whereas R Hoods are "home made" teaching tools.

As an example, how to build a shelter, the best possible place to do it under the circumstances or the reasons why you're there in the first place: whether you fall in the "wilderness" through accident or walk there for the pleasure, you need a shelter because the cold could kill you, either way.

Same about about hypothermia : the necessary knowledge is the same.

I watched the few clips of their videos, and to me they try to impart the same info and skill that R Mears programs do.

So, I s'pose, he is not given that much credit for what he does over here, because he has not gained the same exposure through the media as R Mears has.

I wouldn't mind seeing some of his DVDs now.

 

[Bernie Garland]

Well said JoJo and Wayland.

Bernie

 

[crazydave]

Well done Dave, you are bang on with your description of bushcraft as it is now. It seems that most people that shout the loudest about what bushcraft is do not practice bushcraft but merely bushcamping with all the new kit and clothing that goes with. Putting up a tarp and hammock, cooking you salami in a zebra pot over a fire, drinking your stags breath from a wooden cup or titanium mug, making your stew in a Dutch oven etc, etc, etc, the millions of people outwith this forum would call this camping. It appears that the main skills on the forum are making up a knife from bits you buy or spoon carving. Even the the so called bushcraft schools at the Wilderness Gathering this year seemed to be lacking in any bushcraft skills apart from one or two, the others were more interested in selling new kit than educating the punters on bushcraft/survival skills. It seems that there are too many people on this forum who label what bushcraft is and what it isn't, all a bit odd when most them do not practice the subject in any depth whatsoever. Maybe a definition from people who teach and practice the subject of bushcraft on a daily basis would be better.

again I think it depends on what the person teaching defines as coming under the bushcraft umbrella or should that be tarp and also thier ability and knowledge. there are some hopeless 'schools' out there taking trade off the good ones and its that which concerns the few of us who are actually bothered about what is being taught. survival suffered a similar issue back in the 80's with every ex para on the block buying a landrover, opening a survival school and running courses most of which were rubbish and didn't last long.

if you can pick a copy up or find enough online to watch then look at ron hoods stuff for what it is then it is pretty good - I've only got the basics one and two. not sure if I'd get into trouble with the mods if I sent copies out. same goes for the hiddins stuff I've got.

on a similar vein whos that bloke with the dog doing home made dvd's on ebay, by rights he too should be worth a look for quantity if nothing else but I havent seen any clips anywhere.

on clips there's a really good half hour interview with les hiddins which I found - of course him being an ex army survival instructor might put a few off I can only find the transcript

http://www.abc.net.au/talkingheads/txt/s2078574.htm

there's a matching video somewhere too

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay...=35&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

 

[Templar]

hi all,

this seems to go back to a thread I started when I first got here about the definition of bushcraft...

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12482

Karl...

 

[BOD]

on clips there's a really good half hour interview with les hiddins which I found - of course him being an ex army survival instructor might put a few off ]

I may be wrong but I do not think Les was ever an "army survival instructor" in the sense that, for example, Woody is/was.

While making soldiers a bit more familiar comfortable with indigenous food resources enhances their survivability, his role was more to establish a survival doctrine and from the start built on indigenous knowledge.

Some time ago, I was told that Les, after talking to the SASR about bush tucker, politely (and wisely) declined their offer of participating on their survival course and presumably of becoming a survival instructor.

He had no need to prove anything.

 

[Templar]

Maj. Hiddins was employed by the ADF to catalogue natural foods found in the more inaccessable parts of Northern Australia, he was the one to gather all all the info for the military "Snack maps", he was an adjunct to the now defunct Army Survival Wing, based out of the School of Infantry in the 1980's and very early 90's, more info can be found here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Hiddins

At the moment all survival training is run by the RAAF and selected Regular army units, but there is no actual doctrine for the teaching or testing of it.

(except for the RAAF school as it is aimed at downed aircrew and actually has a test of objectives at the end, unfortunatly the Army courses don't as there is no recognition given for these courses in your service record in the Green Machine, they are seen as being a form of adventure training, not as a requirement for your job)

The current training offered to the SASR is run by civilian instructors from WA Police and other subject matter experts from the various Universities. The Military aspects of Combat Survival are run by in house instructors.

just my two cents...

 

[Sniper]

Reading through this entire thread has been entertaining, however the question asked was why Ron Hood has not recieved more credit.
The answer is quite clear, to me at least, quite simply he is reasonably unknown, perhaps an unsung hero to some but to most, unheard of. I have never heard of him or his wife before reading this thread, therefore I for one would not credit him for any thing simply because of being unaware of his existance. What has been described of him here has, though, made me interested in finding out more and like BR would like to hear a proper review of his dvds before I would release some of my funds towards buying them. But definately the curiosity has been piqued!

 

[John Fenna]

Same for me!

 

[demographic]

Not being fascetious, but who?

cheers,
Toddy

I don't feel so daft now that I know theres others thinking the same thing.

Never heard of em till I read this thread.

 

[Humpback]

I followed the link to get to his You tube clips and found them interesting and helpful so much so that I then spent some time searching sun compasses before returning here.

He would get more recognition in the UK if his dvds were more accessible; I too don't want to order from the US without some idea of the content. I shall get his primitive navigation dvd now though.

The guy with the dog is I believe http://www.birchtreeproductions.co.uk/default.asp and I have all his series and found them entertaining and useful and was able to see a clip before buying at Springfields in Burton.

If the dvds were available from a stockist here (hint hint) I'm sure we would have heard of him before now.
Thanks to the original poster for introducing him to me.

In conclusion, (sorry Toddy), I'm not sure whether I'm a bushcraft or a survival fan and frankly it doesn't matter, Ray's church is a broad one . But I am sure I'm not a survivalist.

Right, my sun compass should be glued now off to find true north.

Alan

 

[Toddy]

No apologies needed, I do get vexed when (please see my definition of the semantics) Suvivalists insist on their voice being the only one that addresses every aspect of our activities and interests........there are hundreds of survival forums on the net, got to admit most are a big yawn..........why do they persist in trying to hassle this one It surely can't be just the name.
I don't use the word bushcraft to describe what I do when talking to most folks.........and yes, I can make virtallly all my own kit, and frequently do, I am also incredibly fortunate in that I have a growing group of friends who also make, and are happy to barter I do get out lots, I generally forage daily too.............mostly because the perception of those who don't do it is of RM, and with the best will in the world, small cuddly middle aged female does not = RM

And yet, notice how yet again an innocuous thread turns to Bushcraft/ survival/ Survivalist, and there's suddenly the need to restate our interpretation of the word and our chosen definitions of the differences on a British Bushcraft forum

I think on balance I'll stick to the bushcraft, and mention survival with a small s in the same breath when talking to Americans

Maybe it's the title........ ' more ' credit, we just don't know them so they haven't influenced us so they will get no credit.

Funny old world.

cheers,
Toddy