Youre no Ray Mears!
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Interesting stuff. Happy to say that the vast majority of experianced bushcrafters I have come in contact with are very helpful in assisting the skills growth of others.
This is a great point, Lepmeister! Come to think of it, every experienced bushcrafter, tracker, birder, etc.. I have come across has been eager to share his knowledge and was patient when teaching. It is easy to forget how terrific that is.
- Woodsorrel
As a teenager I have relatively little experience and I'm defiantly no ray. Whenever I've looked for a mentor or someone to teach me bushcraft I've felt a cold response people to me seem to think I'm to young to know enough so don't bother with me. I'm self taught and would love to go into bushcraft as a job but if no one is happy to teach how will bushcraft survive. That's my experience so far but the guys on here seem nice and willing to teach perhaps I am just unlucky with the bushcrafters near me 
I too have AS and some years back was also the only adult in a class of 16 year olds, I am now in the late stages of writing up a PhD thesis, so the world moves on.
Very good article, good points well made.
I've always been fortunate to be "crafty" I guess. I can pick up new skills with relatively little pain often just from books.
Having said that, I can still see huge gulfs in my skill and knowledge base.
For a start, I lack the patience for working with wood. I can bash a piece of metal into submission fairly quickly but wood demands a more co-operative approach.
The other problem I face is having a rather selective diet. I have a serious intolerance to onion and most plants just taste green to me. Frankly, I don't like the taste of green.
Left in a library next to a smithy and a butchers shop I would cope just fine but dropped in a wood without food I would last about a month at most.
I take an interest in learning these skills of course but I certainly don't beat myself up by comparing myself to people with differing needs or skill sets. This stuff that we describe as bushcraft is just something that helps me do other things I enjoy such as my landscape photography or living history.
I'm always happy enough to learn a few tricks that make life more comfortable when outdoors and equally happy to teach the few things I have gleaned along the way. I think I learn most because I have an essentially lazy nature. Like Chrysler's lazy worker, I'm always looking for the easy way to do things.
I've always been fortunate to be "crafty" I guess. I can pick up new skills with relatively little pain often just from books.
Having said that, I can still see huge gulfs in my skill and knowledge base.
For a start, I lack the patience for working with wood. I can bash a piece of metal into submission fairly quickly but wood demands a more co-operative approach.
The other problem I face is having a rather selective diet. I have a serious intolerance to onion and most plants just taste green to me. Frankly, I don't like the taste of green.
Left in a library next to a smithy and a butchers shop I would cope just fine but dropped in a wood without food I would last about a month at most.
I take an interest in learning these skills of course but I certainly don't beat myself up by comparing myself to people with differing needs or skill sets. This stuff that we describe as bushcraft is just something that helps me do other things I enjoy such as my landscape photography or living history.
I'm always happy enough to learn a few tricks that make life more comfortable when outdoors and equally happy to teach the few things I have gleaned along the way. I think I learn most because I have an essentially lazy nature. Like Chrysler's lazy worker, I'm always looking for the easy way to do things.
Since I'm an American, I don't do bushcraft. We do other things, I guess. Woodcraft, scout craft, Indian crafts, water craft, camp craft and so on. But just the same, I love this forum. It's a good way to learn more English. I've made a few posts now and then, which is not to say I've contributed anything. However, I think the important thing here in this context is why you do what you do. I have my own reasons and frankly, I'm not sure they fit bushcraft (or any of those other crafty things) very well. I don't carve spoons, field dress animals, build fires (unless necessary), or any of those other things. So what do I do?
I wonder that myself sometimes but mainly I am out and about to go down a trail I've never been down before. I say down because it's usually up on the way back. And I'm out there to see things, which I imagine others here do, too. Even a short two mile hike through the woods behind the house (which go on and on and on where I live) will usually reward me with a sighting of something wild and interesting. Some things are common, others much less so. Actually, where I live, I've seen just about as much and as often from the windows of my house in the suburbs, although our house is happily situated next to the woods. I'm sure that makes a lot of difference. I think the only thing I haven't seen at home that I've seen in the deep woods 100 miles from the house is a bear but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. I'm sure I'll never see a beaver, too.
I'm not a happy camper by myself, though, I'll quickly admit, and my wife no longer is willing to go to the woods with me nor is she much for cold and snowy weather. So at this point in my life, I'm mainly a day tripper (we don't say that, either). I'm lucky to be within a relatively short driving distance of some very good places for rambling, tramping and woods loafing.
All of the gear I've been accumulating over the last 50 years is, I suppose, the hobby aspect of the activity. I spend a lot of time messing around with it. In fact, last Christmas my wife gave me a reproduction WWI French army mess kit/gamelle. And I do use it, too! Curiously, once I'm outside and on the go, what seems important is turned upside down. All of a sudden, what I happen to be wearing on my feet seems more important than anything.
I wonder that myself sometimes but mainly I am out and about to go down a trail I've never been down before. I say down because it's usually up on the way back. And I'm out there to see things, which I imagine others here do, too. Even a short two mile hike through the woods behind the house (which go on and on and on where I live) will usually reward me with a sighting of something wild and interesting. Some things are common, others much less so. Actually, where I live, I've seen just about as much and as often from the windows of my house in the suburbs, although our house is happily situated next to the woods. I'm sure that makes a lot of difference. I think the only thing I haven't seen at home that I've seen in the deep woods 100 miles from the house is a bear but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. I'm sure I'll never see a beaver, too.
I'm not a happy camper by myself, though, I'll quickly admit, and my wife no longer is willing to go to the woods with me nor is she much for cold and snowy weather. So at this point in my life, I'm mainly a day tripper (we don't say that, either). I'm lucky to be within a relatively short driving distance of some very good places for rambling, tramping and woods loafing.
All of the gear I've been accumulating over the last 50 years is, I suppose, the hobby aspect of the activity. I spend a lot of time messing around with it. In fact, last Christmas my wife gave me a reproduction WWI French army mess kit/gamelle. And I do use it, too! Curiously, once I'm outside and on the go, what seems important is turned upside down. All of a sudden, what I happen to be wearing on my feet seems more important than anything.
Nice point - sort of sums up a lot of what's been nattered about here and elsewhere. I've been at a desk working, on duty and on call for almost 14 days solid, so I need to get "outside and on the go" soon.
Happy trails to us all.
I don't wish to retract what I said but maybe I overstated that point. I get out as often as I can, usually every weekend, but I don't get very far from home anymore. But I am fortunate in having a lot of natural area around where I live in the suburbs that's literally teeming with wildlife. There are several places good for a long walk of at least two miles and there are usually interesting things to see. Likewise, there is highly variable ground to hike through, from creeks and almost bogs to lakes (all man made). And the weather is always changeable. It's usually damp year-round, too. Temperatures vary from zero to about a hundred (Fahrenheit) in the course of a year. This morning it was right at freezing. So there's enough there to amuse me on a weekend outing. I could drive 75 miles for more of the same but with longer trails and more climbing.
Locally, the best place for a long hike is along the C&O canal towpath. The walking is easy, there are interesting side trips (they call them "billy goat trails") and a good view of the Potomac river the whole way.
But when I'm at home, I waste my time messing around with my collection of gear, all of which I will use in the course of a couple of months, although I haven't made an overnight trip for a while. I'm still buying more stuff, too, and I'm still learning new things (or re-learning old things). But I think I'm forgetting things faster than I'm learning things.
Locally, the best place for a long hike is along the C&O canal towpath. The walking is easy, there are interesting side trips (they call them "billy goat trails") and a good view of the Potomac river the whole way.
But when I'm at home, I waste my time messing around with my collection of gear, all of which I will use in the course of a couple of months, although I haven't made an overnight trip for a while. I'm still buying more stuff, too, and I'm still learning new things (or re-learning old things). But I think I'm forgetting things faster than I'm learning things.
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