A very good Paul Kirtley video.

[Midge_Fodder]

I would like to put up this video as it might interest some people. I thought it hit the nail right on the head IMHO
http://paulkirtley.co.uk/2014/integrating-bushcraft-with-modern-outdoor-life-bushcraft-show-2014-presentation/

[ian c]

I watched and enjoyed it, Paul Kirtley has several videos which are also very good.

[Midge_Fodder]

Seen them all so far lol. Top bloke IMO, seems really down to earth.

[simonc]

I also have watched all of Paul Kirtley's video's, I'm also a member of his blog. I've only been practicing bushcraft for just over a year now, as some of you know. But I find Mr Kirtly absolutly fasinating and he really knows his stuff "Great Bloke". He has been a great inspiration to me over the past year, and has also tought me a lot both from his video's and by emails he has sent me.
Yes I agree his presentation at the bushcraft show as you say Midge "Hit the nail right on the head"

[Midge_Fodder]

I've been doing bushcraft for 20 odd years and every time I read his blog I learn something. It is impossible to know everything on any subject, Mors Kochanski even said that too. It's such a huge subject at the end of the day.

[luresalive]

To be honest I'm a bit disappointed when he says he doesn't know what a'bushcrafter' or what 'bushcrafting' is, that's a bit like saying I don't know what a bird watcher is !! And he makes his living from it!! Also he says himself he comes at this discipline from a hiking and mountain biking perspective and learning bushcraft skills was just a way to enhance his trips out.. Fair enough, each to their own.. But I know what bushcrafting is and it's the knowledge and skill sets that I love and I come at it from being a life long 'bushcrafter'!

[Midge_Fodder]

I think it's more about the context of bushcraft. Bushcraft is such a complicated thing to explain. I suppose it's kind of like calling someone who has lived off the land, possibly for cultural reasons, possibly for work reasons a bushcrafter. Although that would be ignorant of the reasons why they have learned that knowledge. Mors Kochanski learned his skills by growing up on a farm, does this make him a bushcrafter or a guy who knows bushcraft through his upbringing?

[FishyFolk]

Bushcraft is so many things.
For me, and that "for me" is important, it is everything from knowing how to pack a bergan, and what clothes I need for the invironment and time of year I am in, to how to weave a basket from reeds to making a fire or whitling a spoon.

It's how to put up everything from a hi-tech tent to making a debree shelter, fishing in all it's forms, how to safely use a gun, knife, axe, and when not to. How to ski, how to read a weather map, etc..Even knowing when it's time to change the batteries on your GPS is bushcraft to me. It's basically all that we do. So no wonder he does not know what it is...i don't.

[luresalive]

Valid point re Mors but don't ignore the impact Roycroft had on him!! Back then we all called it survival, the only thing that's changed is it's name, but 'a rose by any other name...'
Kirtley, admire him as I do, admits himself that he's a mountain biker and hiker, the skills he posses are simply an accessory to his prime purpose.

[AJ]

Perhaps the problem stems from man's desire to stick everything in its own little box and give it a label. Our hobbies/lifestyles tend to revolve around sets of skills. Every skill may also be used in different disciplines e.g. knots are used in bushcraft but also sailing, using a roof rack, climbing, etc. to achieve different aims (holding a tent up, controlling a sail, securing a box to a car roof, not hitting the ground if you fall off). Some skills such as packing a bag or keeping dry could arguably be described as coming from other disciplines.

So I see Bushcraft as a set of skills that enable you to live comfortably/efficiently/chose your own word/ in the countryside. I will use some of those skills when I do other things which are not connected to bushcraft. Few, if any, will ever learn all the skills for all environments in all climates, but each of us picks the elements that he/she enjoys and calls it bushcraft.

So I guess I agree with this thread. That's it I'll shut up now. :)

[luresalive]

Yeah, I think that's it exactly.. There are no boundaries to what we now call bushcraft, it's simply what it means to you personally, if your a hunter, an angler, a forager or a botanist, it's simply defined by the boundaries you personally give it... Bushcraft is simply a personal interpretation of a set of skills or knowledge.

[FishyFolk]

I do not go into the woods to "do bushcraft". I go for a walk, or I go fishing, or I go just to enjoy the comfort of my hammock for the night. From I leave the sofa in my living room to start packing, and getting dressed until I am home again, I do bushcraft.

I have to choose what clothes and booths will be most comfortable or safe for the prevailing weather conditions and where I am going. I have to plan my route and get myself there safely. I have to find a suitable place to camp, make fire, cook and sleep. While there I may do some fishing or forgae for other food. and perhaps I will engage in something new i.e try something I've seen others do.
I have to break camp and leave the place possibly better than I found it, and get back home safely.

To succeed in all of that, I have to know what essential equipment I need, what is not essential but comfort items and what is ridicilous to bring ;-)
I need to know how to use what equipment I bring, and how to make myself comfortable.

It does not matter what activity I am into. Hunting, Fishing, hill climbing, hiking or simply camping. It's all bushcraft and bushcraft is being used in all of them.

Btw...what Paul Kirtley said about Norwegian families is true. We do go into the hills in winter, make a fire and cook something. When my wife and stepsons arrived form Thailand in 2009, it was January. The firrst thing I did was take them into the mountains for a barbecue. it must have been -20 degrees celcius up there... :-)

[FishyFolk]

I just repeated what I said earlier, ha ha, I'm sorry :happy-clapping::jumping-joy:

[AJ]

I, for one, appreciated the expanded themes of your later post. That, and the reassurance that I'm not the only one who does that sometimes.

[Blood]

I'm trying my best to describe it as Wilderness Skills to my boys, not bushcraft. This is purely because if the image conjured up from the main stream. Say Wilderness and it changes the conversation route straight away ;)
For me, it's all I need to thrive, not survive.

[Midge_Fodder]

I think wilderness skills is probably a better blanket term anyway, as it's not a card carrying club title. We all use the skills in all forms of outdoor life so wilderness skills works for me

[Valantine]

"Wilderness skills" also describes it as more of a pursuit of knowledge, which it truly is. A much better title T^

[Julz]

Loved reading this thread. I keep saying "I'm new to bushcraft but not to nature ". From my perspective as a newcomer 'bushcraft' seems to be becoming a trend and since I associate bush craft with Australia I find it an odd term to use personally. The term wilderness skills fits better for me though I usually just call it living close to nature, which I did for 17 years in Shetland till I moved south. Something that Paul Doesn't mention in this talk is that the teaching method he criticises under the parachute - those photos were taken from his own course. Personally I wasn't too keen on watching the whole talk as his presentation was critical of others. We're all different and have different ways of being and doing. If he had just spoke about his own methods he may have got more of my attention. I went to the bushcraft show this year and found it to be a very lovely community of folk from all walks coming together to share and do what they love. Be closer to nature. Bliss. :-)

[Big T]

We were talking about this at the last meet, and we came to the conclusion that most of us are "wild campers". We take equipment into the woods and use it to camp, this is surely different from "bushcraft" which makes use of the things around you and your surroundings.

[ammo]

I work for a foundation were my title is Wilderness skills instructor. I told them this is a better description, as i teach both bushcraft and survival.
Ray Mears uses a lighter and innertube. Some people use a firesteel, I don't think either is bushcraft, but both valuable wilderness skills.
Strangely enough i think nails, yes hammer an nails is bushcraft. Only been around since the iron age. Is nylon cord more bushcraft than nails????
As i say Wilderness skills instructor covers it all.

[alvino78]

good vid and some good personal views!