Will our Bushcraft and Survival skills be put to the test

[wingstoo]

Hi Folks,

Having read the following...............

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05789668.htm

I was wondering how many of you think the skills we learn in Bushcraft and Survival will be made useful should we get caught up big time with this possible problem.

LS

 

[Stuart]

I don’t think knowledge of bushcraft would have any relevance in a viral pandemic.

If you get ill your going to be in hospital, if not your best staying at home and having minimal contact with the general populace

This topic seems more suited to a survivalist based forum than a Bushcraft one

 

[wingstoo]

Step carefully Stuart, we may need you to give your description of a survivalist.

When the shelves are empty because the drivers of the delivery lorries cannot go to work because they are ill, where are you going to go to get food for your family? out in the woods would be a good start, so tracking and trapping skills will be really useful, when there is no electricity in the home it may be useful to know how to make a light/heat source, no candles in the shops because the lorry drivers haven't delivered. No water in the taps because there is no power to pump the water, so water filtering, purification and collection would be useful knowledge.

I think that some of the skills people talk about and practice on BCUK will be useful to a lot of people should the above become a problem in this country, or any other, the readers and posters of this forum are from.

Also if you need to go out into the woods to gather your food then you would need some form of shelter if you are out over night, so shelter construction would be a useful skill.

So will the skills learnt in the area of Bushcraft and survival be useful?

LS

 

[maverix]

Plus im not too sure just how much of a threat the virus really is. (Im hoping by now people are learning i may have something of a cynical aspect in my nature.)

According to the W.H.O.s latest confirmed figures .00031 of the human population has contracted the disease of which about 50% of them died thats 114 people dead in 206 cases.

Nearly forgot to mention there is also a cure for it, just not one thats readily available. Tho at its simplest its a matter of filtering all your blood. (Im of to adapt my Katadyn Pocket

 

[Toddy]

Y'know this "armageddon" topic pops up every so often, and at the end of the day the answer is the same.....people just get on with things.
Fretting over the banner headlines that the *FLU* is coming doesn't make any difference. If bird flu *does* become an issue, then it will best be dealt with calmly, not with hysterics......and so far, in my life time, we've managed to 'survive' the damp squibs of The Bomb, Aids, Coulport, Enoch Powell's river of blood, Singapore Flu, (got that, not nice, ill for three months, but I'm still here and no one else in the family went down with it either ) the rampaging mobs of Ayatolla Khomeni, Saddam Hussein's nerve gas, Bhopal and Chernobyl.

Bushcraft is a compilation of useful life skills. That they are most applicable in the natural environment doesn't negate their usefulness.
Will bushcrafters be better able to survive TEOTWAWKI ?
Well, if bushcrafters are anything, they are capable, practical people; exactly the sort that would survive anyway

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[innocent bystander]

More people get killed in one plane crash, than 3 years of bird flu.
There is a lot of sensaionalism involved with BF.
There are better things to worry about.

 

[Goose]

I think it is overhyped, there is no epidemic anywhere to become a pandemic. 66 people died in Vietnam and Indonesia in the last 3 years! I bet more hunter gatherers died in the same area over the same period of eating something they shouldn't. That is without the healthcare we can expect in the west.
There was a genuine pandemic at the beginning of last century, killed more people(I believe) than the world war that was going at the time, we didn't become extinct then and I doubt we will now!

 

[Toddy]

...........
Nearly forgot to mention there is also a cure for it, just not one thats readily available. Tho at its simplest its a matter of filtering all your blood. (Im of to adapt my Katadyn Pocket

Attaboy!

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Stuart]

Definition of 'Survivalist'

"A survivalist is a person who anticipates a potential disruption in the continuity of local, regional or worldwide society, and takes steps to survive in the resulting unpredictable situation"

Other than having a contingency supply of stored water and food plus the knowledge required to ensure the biological safety of collected drinking water, I fail to see how the majority of bushcraft skills will be of immediate value in a potential disruption in the continuity of local, regional or worldwide society.

I also feel that you would be mistaken to believe that you could supply the total dietary needs of your family form the British country side, especially if the rest of the general populace was attempting to do the same!

if for any reason society collapsed to the point where a few weeks supply of food and the ability to procure drinking water where not enough to keep things ticking over whilst you stay at home, I would have far more things to worry about than my shelter building skills

lets stay firmly out of the realms of fantasy here and conclude that if a pandemic where to strike (we are over due one time wise) you are better off staying at home with a few weeks supplies and in doing so helping to prevent the spead of the desease by remaining quarantined in your house.

which is exactly what the government will be insisting (and probably enforcing) you do

I put to you again therefore that this subject be better suited to a survivalist type forum than a Bushcraft one

 

[Goose]

Nearly forgot to mention there is also a cure for it, just not one thats readily available. Tho at its simplest its a matter of filtering all your blood. (Im of to adapt my Katadyn Pocket

Now THAT is bushcraft!

 

[wingstoo]

Plus im not too sure just how much of a threat the virus really is. (Im hoping by now people are learning i may have something of a cynical aspect in my nature.)

According to the W.H.O.s latest confirmed figures .00031 of the human population has contracted the disease of which about 50% of them died thats 114 people dead in 206 cases.

Very true Maverix, but at the moment it is mainly a disease of birds, and the main human casualties have been those with a close contact with birds, there have been limited person to person probables, mainly in families, daughter to mother, son to father, niece to aunt which they think could be genetics.

They are worried that if the current problem gets mixed with a more common flu virus that it could make the mutation more adaptable, which could then make it easier to go from person to person. However that could be years away yet, but there again, who knows.

So will what we learn in the pursuance of Bushcraft and Survival help those of us with that knowldge to get through the shortages that could occur should the worst case eventuality come around.

LS

 

[maverix]

So will what we learn in the pursuance of Bushcraft and Survival help those of us with that knowldge to get through the shortages that could occur should the worst case eventuality come around.

LS

Possibly but we can sit here and wait if till the cows come home (or if they get the flu to stay topical) coming up with worse case scenarios, and that to me is what differentiates a survivalist from a survivor.

 

[wingstoo]

Okay, so people have checked the definition of a "survivalist" it may not be their own, but at least they don't think of them as gun wielding nutters, out to stop anyone who gets in their way, so thats a good start anyway.

As for the rest of the answers, glad to see that you are all taking it so seriously, and that you will never need your skills for real, just for your hobbies.

As all good boy scouts were taught, "be prepared", so that seems like it could be a starter for ten.

LS

 

[Toddy]

Why are you being soooo fractious?
This is a *Bushcraft* forum; of course you're going to get bushcraft answers, not *Survivalist* ones.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Phil562]

.
Well, if bushcrafters are anything, they are capable, practical people; exactly the sort that would survive anyway

I reckon Toddy got it just right, can we stop sabre rattling and play nicely

 

[wingstoo]

phil562,

To right, I ask a simple question and all I get is abuse from the people who you would think could answer a simple question. Picky bunch aren't they.

Just need to read my signature, says it all really.

LS

 

[Toddy]

Ooooh......Pot, kettle, black.... please see post #14

Toddy

 

[Phil562]

OK, I'm leaving the room after I just lit the blue touch paper

 

[-Switch-]

Anyone heard of the Ebola virus? It worries me more than any bird 'flu or terrorist SARS attack etc. I don't have any links to information as everything I've learnt about it has been from books, but I'm sure a quick Google will unearth something.

It's massively contagious and kills within 10 days of infection. If it ever got out of the jungle and into civilisation it'd wipe out 90% of the population within 6 months.

And no, I don't think bushcraft would be particularly useful if this were to ever happen.
Unless we're able to take a knife and some birch and whittle ourselves an anti-virus

 

[innocent bystander]

Theres the problem. It is such a simple question, but there is no simple answer. If a bird flu pandemic strikes we will all be bound by the same rules and regulations as everyone else.
Any powers that be will not be saying "Oooh your a bushcrafter, please wander around the countryside at will".
The influenza will not be saying "oooh your a bushcrafter, i'll ignore you as your prepared to catch rabbits, build shelters and filter water". It doesn't render you immune to it. Going out and doing your own thing strikes me a selfish. Your certainly not thinking of anyone else by spreading things about.