I take the best from both worlds. You then become greater than the sum of both skill sets combined.
I too mange a hybrid between the two, and I would even add in much of my lightweight backpacking experience. I see bushcraft as a recreational activity where you can learn and improve a lot of outdoors skills, using technical means to minimalist and primitive.
Primitive skills are valuable, but not very efficient for survival. What they do offer is the ability to understand the basics, that can help make survival with more appropriate tools much more efficient…which is important in a real survival scenario where time and calories are gold.
Another aspect is improvising skills; using what you have on your person to make, repair, modify, etc. other tools to make the basic tasks more efficient.
I’ve carried a minimalist fishing setup in my survival kit and I’ve practiced with it. However, I’ve learned to improvise with bone gorge hooks and using live bait. While one is more efficient than the other, the skill of locating a potential fishing hole and actually fishing is still the same.
Having cordage (one of the essentials) is important, it’s light, compact, and easy to carry a good amount to make a variety of tasks much easier. That said, I’ve practiced making cordage with natural fibers, vines, roots, etc. I’ve found using vines for certain primitive shelters doesn’t take long to find and use and saves my other cordage for other tasks. Also, I can leave quickly and not worry about retrieving a valuable item.
I normally carry two compasses in the outdoors, but I still find value in making a primitive sun dial if not pressed on time.
I much prefer to pack along even a compact Sil-poncho/tarp for shelter, but I can still appreciate the need to practice primitive shelter building. Even with a tarp, you may need to fortify it with windbreaks, insulation, etc. The concepts of a shelter are the same, whether you have a tarp or not. Having a tarp can make shelter building much more efficient, but primitive shelter building skills can help improve efficiency.
I’ve dug tubers up with a large knife, but I prefer to find a suitable branch/stick and carve a digging stick.
Fire making is often debated. For me, the value of primitive/bushcraft fire starting is the effort necessary to put into the preparation, obtaining, collecting, and preparing good tinder, and having enough small stuff on hand to keep a fire going. Whether it’s a fire bow/drill or a Bic lighter, the preparation is the same. I do have prepared tinder (paraffin-soaked cotton pads), but if the weather is good, time isn’t a huge concern, I prefer to find, prep, and use natural tinder to save the more reliable tinder for when I need a fire going much master.
Survival is typically based on minimalist kit that is a very finite resource; there are uncontrolled environmental factors, limited calories to burn, and where time is usually a valuable commodity. For me, bushcraft is a recreational hobby that allows me to refine certain skills that will make survival more efficient, conserve those valuable resources, and offer me more solutions to potential problems I could face. They complement each other in my world.
ROCK6