What is your motivation to learn Wilderness\Surv. skills ?

It's in my blood. An inherited desire and deep love to be outdoors. Hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, exploring nature, admiring creation, etc; have been how I fill my belly and adventurous spirit. Being prepared and thinking ahead is just imbedded in my cranium. Outdoor survival and preparation has always been on my mind and has become an enjoyable hobby. Plus you never know when something will go wrong.
 
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I own a playground where I can do all of these things, I have always done them even before I knew it was a hobby.
 
The more techno savy we become the farther away we seem to get from many of the skill sets that people just a generation ago developed and used. Ever try guiding your 25 year old daughter over the phone to light the pilot on her water heater and yet her grandfather would as a chore shovel in the coal and stoke the furnace as a boy. One generation passes by and the skill is lost. Not because of ignorance but rather it falls into oblivion through disuse.
A lot of the things my father and his father taught my brothers, cousins, and me growing up were never presented as Survival Skills or Bushcraft yet many of thier talents would be called that today. It was more "Well if your hunting late and its getting cold, here's what you do, now you try it" or "Cut yourself? Here try this" it worked so we used it. We did not know or comprehend that we were learning some lost art or wilderness survival skills. We would hunt the ridge and a relative in for the holidays would go along. By days end they knew how to dress out deer or build a fire because they saw it and did it. The same firemaking tools we used in the glen were the same ones we used in the house to light the stove. Going out to the barn and grabbing a chicken to butcher was the same type of thing you did with a brace of coneys or large mouth bass.
I have always tried to pass those things onto my children and as they have all started families of thier own I try to instill these same skill sets into the grandkids that are now coming around.
I must admit I cant seem to escape this feeling of greater urgency in the grandchildren's case. My grandfather never waited for me to put my ipad down.
But then again my grandaughter showed me a video of polishing the bottom of a 7 up can with salt until it reflected a sunbeam so intense it ignited a wadded up cotton sock. Grandkid 1 Grandpa 0. My father never had You Tube.
All things considered if you know how to do something well then pass that on to someone else eager to know it and if theres something in your skill set or bushcraft repertoire thats lacking find someone good at it and hang out with them for awhile until you have it too..
My brothers and I were blessed with the tutelage and prescence of able uncles and a father who truly cared for us. Not every kid has that parentage or guidance but maybe you could become that person to somebody else's child? Even if its just striking a flint with a screwdriver over some jute rope on the weber in the backyard. In just five minutes you showed a kid how not to freeze, how to heat the house, how to cook his food. It doesn't take much to go a long way.
A good place to start is an internet forum such as this.
 
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Mum was daughter of an Aboriginal man who didnt like the usual life of being confined to reservations , he held jobs , married a white girl , had kids , sent them to school , even owned a few motor vehicles , being pre 64 this was all highly illegal , natives had no rights to do any of these things then , so the family had to be good at just disappearing when ever anyone figured out what was up .

Dad was Jewish kid in WWII Germany , his family had some seriously scary experiences stuck often enough between Russian and German lines . Living for extended periods in the forests when ever they feared they had been given up as Jewish .

They passed their mistrust of government and interest in self reliance on to us kids , along with a bunch of know how as if it was just what EVERY family did .. when we went camping , built a shelter out of what we found , caught what we ate , and left leaving as little trace as possible to , us it was just normal . I think to my folks tho , it was their way of kind of training us , in case we had to just vanish for whatever reason . They knew how governments can change overnight , and that civil rights can be brushed aside at a politicians whim at times .

My parents passed on a lot of stuff , I went tribal for a few years , and added to what I learned , and then discovered it was all survival stuff when Y2K was a big deal .

Till then , and even now , it is to me just being responsible for me and mine .
 
Have to agree with this......the ability to take care of myself trumps all other needs/reasons!!

A nice middle class Jewish boy from North West London in a Jewish Scout Troop
The Scout masters and instructors were superb
Where did they learn their skill? Dont know

As a high scool kid, backpacking the countryside

On to ROTC in High School
More outdoor skills
Mountain backpacking and very light weight bivouacing

Long distance backpacking and then snowshoeing in the Earsten Seaboard in the US

Motivation?
Just learning to take care of myself outside
 
......Living for extended periods in the forests.......mistrust of government and interest in self reliance.......built a shelter out of what we found , caught what we ate , and left leaving as little trace as possible.......in case we had to just vanish for whatever reason......governments can change overnight , and that civil rights can be brushed aside at a politicians whim.......just being responsible for me and mine .

That is an incredible and inspirational story Myal. I guess my interest started as a kid. When not in school, most of my time was spent alone wandering the woods and waters of rural Georgia (state, not country). In the 60's and 70's a kid could do that sort of thing without worry. I was fortunate enough to have a dad that taught me how to shoot and fish. Although we spent very little time together but when we did, it was in the woods or on the water. I watched him sharpen knives and to this day cannot obtain the kind of razor edge he could with just a single carborundum sharpening stone, 3-In-One oil and a sheet of fine grit sandpaper. In the library at school we had a nice collection of older classic camping and woodcraft books which I discovered around the age of 12 and I devoured them. The sketches and drawings only fueled my wanderlust and a strong desire to live alone in the deep woods. It just struck a chord with something deep inside of me that is still present today. I never really feel comfortable or completely relaxed unless I am enveloped in wilderness, solitude and self-reliance. Having the knowledge and skills to survive in such a setting is just an essential part of my being.
 
The mental and physical edge I get from learning survival, wilderness skills is why I strive to learn as much as I can. I feel we must learn to use what we have on hand and learn to live with less, these are all ideals associated with survival skills. I will learn as much as I can and pass this knowledge onto my children who will undoubtedly need these skills in the years to come given our country's current path. But I must say that the clarity of mind and feeling of peace I have in the forest is also a good part of why I practice these skills.
 
Mum was daughter of an Aboriginal man who didnt like the usual life of being confined to reservations , he held jobs , married a white girl , had kids , sent them to school , even owned a few motor vehicles , being pre 64 this was all highly illegal , natives had no rights to do any of these things then , so the family had to be good at just disappearing when ever anyone figured out what was up .

Dad was Jewish kid in WWII Germany , his family had some seriously scary experiences stuck often enough between Russian and German lines . Living for extended periods in the forests when ever they feared they had been given up as Jewish .

They passed their mistrust of government and interest in self reliance on to us kids , along with a bunch of know how as if it was just what EVERY family did .. when we went camping , built a shelter out of what we found , caught what we ate , and left leaving as little trace as possible to , us it was just normal . I think to my folks tho , it was their way of kind of training us , in case we had to just vanish for whatever reason . They knew how governments can change overnight , and that civil rights can be brushed aside at a politicians whim at times .

My parents passed on a lot of stuff , I went tribal for a few years , and added to what I learned , and then discovered it was all survival stuff when Y2K was a big deal .

Till then , and even now , it is to me just being responsible for me and mine .

Lucky Man....
 
For me, it is simply a fun hobby which connects to some of my other interests and can actually be useful sometimes.

On a deeper level, I find knowledge and skills that increase my self-reliance to he satisfying.
 
Lost many years ago during a Colorado Elk hunt. Vowed never again to be lost or worried about my survival. Back then I was young and no knowledge. I am old and wiser now...
 
My motivation came about 21 years ago, I was in the Army working in Asia, got stuck out in the jungle for a while and told myself, I need to learn how to survive and put a survival kit together. We would fly out to these remote sites via a helicopter and work, and usually no issues, but issues will come up. We got stuck out in bad weather and I ask if anyone had survival tools of any kind and the answer was no, so my survival learning started. Before you ask, most Soldiers do not get survival training, later I did go through a small course at Fort Drum while I was with the 10th MTN DIV for cold weather survival. I still like to learn and read when I can about survival.
 
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