Bushcraft skills.

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Apr 6, 2018
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Hey Guys! :)

So @HarglBargl and I hike a lot, and we are hoping to start camping soon! I'm so excited, and I love the idea of being able to survive in the wild by yourself, with your own skills and maybe a knife or two.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to start learning these necessary bushcraft skills? I have these... ;]

20180505_064135.jpg


Anyways I hope you all are having a great Saturday! :)

~ Sparkly

PS: I'm on my phone, so I hope this post turned out okay. :p
 
Hey Guys! :)

So @HarglBargl and I hike a lot, and we are hoping to start camping soon! I'm so excited, and I love the idea of being able to survive in the wild by yourself, with your own skills and maybe a knife or two.

Does anyone have any recommendations on how to start learning these necessary bushcraft skills? I have these... ;]

20180505_064135.jpg


Anyways I hope you all are having a great Saturday! :)

~ Sparkly

PS: I'm on my phone, so I hope this post turned out okay. :p


Look into connecting to like minded folks near you as well, short day walks or fishing trips are a great way to meet people and learn a trick or 2. :)
 
I'd say that the notion of learning to survive in the wild with just a knife and some skills is way too ambitious if you have no grounding.

The truth is that is extremely hard for anyone to do that and a great deal of it comes down to fortitude of character, luck, location and climate. Sure you can learn your wild edibles, flint knapping, a bazillion ways to make a fire and so forth, and those things may increase your chances of success, but to begin with start small. Start very very small.

It is a matter of fact that there are way too many goons in this scene trying to peddle stuff. In that back when that stuff was just objects. Looksie “my wonderful survival wool frock and hollow handled knife, yours for just...”. These days it is even worse because what they are peddling is ego and image. It's not even all about the “hit” count and revenue, it's often a vanity thing when social media serves as a loudhailer and a mirror. You can often winnow those people out early because of their names. Anything that sounds akin “Free Spirit”, “Lone Wolf”, Survival Gimlie” or an old Indian name like “Pondersonbullshit” is usually best swerved. In fact, be suspicious of all the big name Gurus. I don't necessarily mean just mean the lowest hanging targets either. I saw one of the more popular ones that is usually age exempt from ridicule quite recently chatting crap. I'd already seem him making a bit of a clod of himself with a fishing kit he apparently had a life long proficiency with, and he gave me a real chuckle when he he tried to climb into a pack that he was advocating. This time he was offering up a cautionary take about stropping a knife by hand and how it could get so hot it could effect the heat treatment of the steel. Leave all that fiction to those that wear buckskins and play the nose flute.

That isn't to say there aren't some good stuff out there. For example Survival Russia has some good bits you can harvest https://www.youtube.com/user/Moscowprepper A good example is the device he has to make cordage from plastic bottles or his reasoning behind his survival firearm selection. The key thing here is that he draws information from skills leaned by very poor people in a very tough climate in a way that isn't fanciful. Likewise, we all know that the fig4 trap works. I think every bushcraft course out there uses it to part fools from there money. If you want a better insight into survival trapping go look at how Pakis trap rats or Asian villagers corral small fish. Once you've grasped the principles and properties you can use other materials to catch other things. That's far more real world useful to you than the nth post showing a fig4 next to look at my fuzzy stick I made. In fact, as I type I have a guy in mind that used to post a lot of pictures showing his survival throwing stars. These were essentially two foot long bits of stick tied into a cross shape and pointed on all ends. You could point out till the cows came home that it would not penetrate a bit of toasted bread at 30paces even if you could hit it reliably. And anything bigger that you may have chance of hitting would just fart at you and run away. But literature does show that Indians did make something similar so they would be defended as worthy posts. Devoid of any context though the tyro would surely go hungry. There's loads of that kind of boswellox out there. Then we've got the axe /chopper men, like you weren't planning to stay of in the woods you were just going about a picnic, something went wrong and you were stranded overnight, and you popped out your inflatable axe that you carry on your keyring just in case. Well those people aren't worth the cheese off the dog's bits either. Being out with an axe and making a birch bark kayak is surely a fine activity on its own. Saying that has anything t do with survival though is rather like saying you have survival skills at putting out a fire when you deliberately set fire to X and brought the fire truck to put it out with. You'd be better off learning how to use a knife like the one you have in the picture to make a rake. With a rake you can make a deep thick warm debris shelter and curl up in it snuggly bug way more efficiently that knobby can be wailing on logs with his chopper. You'll be the one getting a sleep in first.

I could go on and on with my pet peeves over this stuff but I'll spare you. If you do really get into this stuff then great but start small. Do the basics of regular pedestrian camping and then feed in some skills that transfer. You can go from boiling water to how to find and clean water. What if you use a few small twigs to hold up a windshield round your stove – can that be scaled up to be an emergency fire heat reflector. Can you go from toasting something on a stick to improving that with a 3 pronged toasting stick. Can you make a pair of improvised tongs from a couple of twigs to pull a dropped sausage from where you don't want your hands. What about your fishing stuff? Can you expand your skill to make an improvised float that cocks properly? You don't have to start at the big end trying to carve salmon hooks from bits of bone and plaiting nettles into a line. Feed bits in gradually. Leave the carving shuttles to make a huge net that spans a stream till later. Why not just skin up and sit there making a small string purse net you can stick a bottle in and keep cold in a stream. Might take you an hours or so but you'll get the basic foundations right. A lot of good basic stuff used to be taught to kids everywhere as a foundation for life. When people try to look of that stuff now they often find the cartoon version with scant relevance to anything truly useful. It is one of the major differences between bushcraft and neo-bushcraft. Start by doing something useful and go whittle a clothes peg.
 
I'd say that the notion of learning to survive in the wild with just a knife and some skills is way too ambitious if you have no grounding.

The truth is that is extremely hard for anyone to do that and a great deal of it comes down to fortitude of character, luck, location and climate. Sure you can learn your wild edibles, flint knapping, a bazillion ways to make a fire and so forth, and those things may increase your chances of success, but to begin with start small. Start very very small.

It is a matter of fact that there are way too many goons in this scene trying to peddle stuff. In that back when that stuff was just objects. Looksie “my wonderful survival wool frock and hollow handled knife, yours for just...”. These days it is even worse because what they are peddling is ego and image. It's not even all about the “hit” count and revenue, it's often a vanity thing when social media serves as a loudhailer and a mirror. You can often winnow those people out early because of their names. Anything that sounds akin “Free Spirit”, “Lone Wolf”, Survival Gimlie” or an old Indian name like “Pondersonbullshit” is usually best swerved. In fact, be suspicious of all the big name Gurus. I don't necessarily mean just mean the lowest hanging targets either. I saw one of the more popular ones that is usually age exempt from ridicule quite recently chatting crap. I'd already seem him making a bit of a clod of himself with a fishing kit he apparently had a life long proficiency with, and he gave me a real chuckle when he he tried to climb into a pack that he was advocating. This time he was offering up a cautionary take about stropping a knife by hand and how it could get so hot it could effect the heat treatment of the steel. Leave all that fiction to those that wear buckskins and play the nose flute.

That isn't to say there aren't some good stuff out there. For example Survival Russia has some good bits you can harvest https://www.youtube.com/user/Moscowprepper A good example is the device he has to make cordage from plastic bottles or his reasoning behind his survival firearm selection. The key thing here is that he draws information from skills leaned by very poor people in a very tough climate in a way that isn't fanciful. Likewise, we all know that the fig4 trap works. I think every bushcraft course out there uses it to part fools from there money. If you want a better insight into survival trapping go look at how Pakis trap rats or Asian villagers corral small fish. Once you've grasped the principles and properties you can use other materials to catch other things. That's far more real world useful to you than the nth post showing a fig4 next to look at my fuzzy stick I made. In fact, as I type I have a guy in mind that used to post a lot of pictures showing his survival throwing stars. These were essentially two foot long bits of stick tied into a cross shape and pointed on all ends. You could point out till the cows came home that it would not penetrate a bit of toasted bread at 30paces even if you could hit it reliably. And anything bigger that you may have chance of hitting would just fart at you and run away. But literature does show that Indians did make something similar so they would be defended as worthy posts. Devoid of any context though the tyro would surely go hungry. There's loads of that kind of boswellox out there. Then we've got the axe /chopper men, like you weren't planning to stay of in the woods you were just going about a picnic, something went wrong and you were stranded overnight, and you popped out your inflatable axe that you carry on your keyring just in case. Well those people aren't worth the cheese off the dog's bits either. Being out with an axe and making a birch bark kayak is surely a fine activity on its own. Saying that has anything t do with survival though is rather like saying you have survival skills at putting out a fire when you deliberately set fire to X and brought the fire truck to put it out with. You'd be better off learning how to use a knife like the one you have in the picture to make a rake. With a rake you can make a deep thick warm debris shelter and curl up in it snuggly bug way more efficiently that knobby can be wailing on logs with his chopper. You'll be the one getting a sleep in first.

I could go on and on with my pet peeves over this stuff but I'll spare you. If you do really get into this stuff then great but start small. Do the basics of regular pedestrian camping and then feed in some skills that transfer. You can go from boiling water to how to find and clean water. What if you use a few small twigs to hold up a windshield round your stove – can that be scaled up to be an emergency fire heat reflector. Can you go from toasting something on a stick to improving that with a 3 pronged toasting stick. Can you make a pair of improvised tongs from a couple of twigs to pull a dropped sausage from where you don't want your hands. What about your fishing stuff? Can you expand your skill to make an improvised float that cocks properly? You don't have to start at the big end trying to carve salmon hooks from bits of bone and plaiting nettles into a line. Feed bits in gradually. Leave the carving shuttles to make a huge net that spans a stream till later. Why not just skin up and sit there making a small string purse net you can stick a bottle in and keep cold in a stream. Might take you an hours or so but you'll get the basic foundations right. A lot of good basic stuff used to be taught to kids everywhere as a foundation for life. When people try to look of that stuff now they often find the cartoon version with scant relevance to anything truly useful. It is one of the major differences between bushcraft and neo-bushcraft. Start by doing something useful and go whittle a clothes peg.


Thank you so much for this wonderful post B baldtaco-II ! :) I'm still reading it but I wanted to thank you it was very thoughtful for you to write so much to me about this! :]
 
Start fishing and hunting. Then sleeping out. A 22 and some fishing gear is a good start. And a lean too. And a cooking kit. An air mattress. A better knife. A saw. Maybe a tent. A good back pack.. It don't stop. Good jacket, better pants, boots, flashlights, fire starting stuff, what else.. Lol
 
Bushcraft/camping skills:
Find flat ground without roots
hammer in tent pegs without turning them into horseshoes
Camp for four nights in four locations and still have all your gear
pack your bag in the rain without getting all your kit wet
cook in the rain without your food turning to soup
get lost/leave gear behind/ have to backtrack / have to quit, without it turning into a domestic dispute
walk a day without sleep, without it turning into a domestic
eat a meal your partner burned without criticizing

Take it easy. There is a reason few couples walk together. But those who do tend to be strong.

There are a million skills to learn, don't forget the basics. Being able to set up a tent in wind doesn't often rate on the list, but it can literally save your life. Practice skills with your off-hand, you never know when you'll lose one. Get a good first aid course, not just a bandaid one.
 
I would look for one of Creek Stewart's books to just peruse when you feel like it. He is very down to earth and practical. The episodes of his survival stories on the Weather Channel are worth watching too. You can buy a bunch of books on "woods craft" and never really look at them much. It's almost like you think that just owning the book will impart the knowledge into your brain sort of like an automatic download by Microsoft.

The old classic by Horace Kephart "Camping and Woodcraft" is worth buying paper back (vs Kindle or the free pdf download) if for nothing else to read about how things used to be 100 years ago. There is lots of good advice in there too. Tents and gear in general have improved dramatically in 100 years.

As far as starting goes, I would find good hiking boots/shoes first, hat, rain gear, carry a knife, and carry whatever day pack you own to keep a few odds and ends in like water, compass, guide books, maps, and small first aid kit. A water purifying system might be useful as well.

Hanging out at REI will certainly drain your wallet as there is so much cool stuff.

Honestly, there really isn't all that much you need know to bushcraft if you take the perspective of leaving no trace. Be familiar with maps, trust your knife, have at least a rudimentary knowledge of what a compass does and how it is used and so forth. Big difference between day hikes and week long hikes. You carry most of what you use. Maybe build a fire or three. Making stuff is mostly about having fun and not out of necessity. Learn a few knots for tying up tarps and so forth in the woods.
 
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Just go out there and do things. :thumbsup:

People really overthink it a lot of the time.
Basically, go out there to camp, and make some things.
-Carve a spoon
-Make a debris shelter
-Practice getting the fire going more easily each time
-Cook a steak or yummy vegetables with the fire
-Etc.

Maybe you don't want to sleep on the raised platform you make (it might be too wobbly or "pokey"), but use it as a bench/table for you stuff.

If you just practice a few of the things you want to try out, you won't get bored while camping. :)
 
I agree, just get out there and do stuff. There is no pressure to do something really out of the ordinary. I'll take a store bought spoon any day over some hand carved beast I might do from a log/branch. Could I make one? Sure if I want to take the time... Bearthedog always posts interesting stuff and the one thing he has done that really grabbed my attention is the mallet. One would sure beat a rock to hammer in a tent stake. You just need a saw and a knife. Debris shelters are fun and nothing special until you really need to make one (mostly common sense unless really large). Parks/public lands sort of frown on making such things in general and cutting a lot of stuff down.

Knowing how to make a snare would be more important and perhaps build a fire without traditional fire starting materials (bic lighter, matches, and so forth). I have yet to do that.
Making something to hang a pot over a fire is useful information.
I have been building fires in the woods since I was a kid.
I would start car camping first, hike, and branch from there. You can experiment with equipment that you might actually use.
 
Navigation is possibly one of the hardest skills to feel confident in, actually be good at (easy to let yourself believe its going well until its too late) and also one of the fastest to rust. So yeah, good map and compass skills are well worth the effort put in.
 
Land navigation isn't that difficult. One just needs a competent teacher and tests. It's a non-negotiable/important skill.
 
Land navigation skills are important and it pretty much is map based. I would say anything more than your casual dayhike at a park should involve a map unless the trail is very well used. I can think of a couple in the Smokies that are in the 4-5 mile range that a simple sketch with the trail on it is probably okay as long as you stay on or close to the trail. I personally like to look at the trail in relation to the topography as it often gives me a better feel for things. The little trail maps at state parks are okay if you know the terrain and pretty much just want to know where other trails and their names and so forth intersect. Honestly, I seldom look at the topo map unless I'm taking a rest or for some reason not sure of things. I seldom do long distance hikes. The compass comes into play even if you haven't been following closely.... you at least know quickly your directions. But that doesn't tell you how to get out.
 
Dude, to all of you who have written here and given me great suggestions and tips, I greatly appreciate it! :) I've read ALL of your posts closely and carefully and you BF friends are seriously smart! ^_^ Thank you!

Once again, if I didn't respond to you specifically I'm so sorry! I'm so bad at keeping up. :/
 
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