Bushcraft course, any recommendations?

[Midge_Fodder]

Mycology, not much of a shroom fan tbh, but a valuable resource. I never learned it as it seemed pointless as I didn't eat them.

Snow work, I fancy in the future heading for some boreal winter outings.

Primitive camp cooking. Moving away from using modern means to get the most from fires.

Flint napping and in general primitive tool making.

I also want to lace together my knowledge to consolidate it all. I don't know whether I'm alone in this but sometimes I just feel that I lack fluidity. It's the interlocking knowledge I lack mostly.

[leon-1]

It's unlikely that any one course will cover the aspects that you have just named. For flint knapping the likes of Karl Lee and Will Lord are the people you need to speak to. Primitive skills I would look towards Patrick McGlinchey at Backwoods Survival School.

I know other established instructors that would pay good money to get away on courses with Pat (actually, so would I). He's a good guy and I've never heard a bad thing said about a course run by him.

Mycology is a bit of a difficult one, there are regional groups that you can tap into, look into "Fungi Forays", if that doesn't work then the River Cottage courses I have heard good things about.

All things are interconnected, making cordage is linked with shelter and traps and trapping, in turn connected to fire and camp craft, campcraft is connected to tool making so on and so forth. Your probably not that far off, but you just don't realise it.

[Midge_Fodder]

Well if I look at it this way I'm not dead yet so I must be doing something right lol. I'm beginning to think it's just been a bit of paranoia of sorts. Never having much of a bushcraft social life, I'm unsure of my own skills and whether or not they are up to scratch. Possibly it's a lack of reassurance in it all that's the issue. I suppose I will just have to think about it all, and if I have £600 spare use it to get some new goodies and some flights.

[leon-1]

I don't care who you are, you can always learn something on a course. I teach the stuff and through research and the people I know and meet I am learning all the time.

Accepted beliefs in one year can change in another. What are the most effective firelays? Which knots can be tied one handed? How many uses are there for stinging nettles? One piece moccasins are easy to make, but are they the most efficient use of the leather? What is the best wood to make a bodgers mallet from? How good are brambles when made into cordage? What are the most efficient shelters?

The list goes on and on. The subject is vast and the more you look into it the greater it gets. Small fissures in your knowledge become vast chasms, especially when dealing with people that specialise in one subject (Wild Food, Mycology, Lythic Technology, Fire, Trapping and Tracking). You maybe very good at tracking in the UK, but then take that skill set to Africa, most of the time you won't have a clue what you're looking at, you can see it, you can see where it may have gone, but the what the hell it is?

[Midge_Fodder]

You summed up my problem there. I don't know it all, probably never will. Just trying to work out where to go is a problem in itself. It's when you run out of books, or that some topics aren't discussed properly and or get missed out completely that you miss it. That's why I've considered courses, a chance to get the missing pieces to the puzzle.

[luresalive]

I've been on a couple of mr mcglincheys courses and they are superb, though he doesn't lead all the modules himself but often has other instructors teaching various task, though he is always on site.. His knowledge is second to none and if you want to do it 'primitively' he's your man.. If you do visit him bring him some Jaffa cakes! To be honest I think if you're going to spend money on courses you need to do it with one of the big three , Mears, McGlinchey or Kirtley..

[Midge_Fodder]

Cheers for all the advice guys. It's really appreciated.

[TinkyPete]

+1 to What Martin said, and with what you are trying to learn I would say you may need seperate people to teach them as they can be very intense subjects with a lot to back them up. I did a course with a specialist mycologist and after it I came up with an idea because even they can not agree what is harmful and what isn't in a lot of cases because it can come down to indiviuals physilogical make up unless it is a puffball (all are no harmfull) or it comes from a supermarket beware because most good mushrooms have a bad alternative which can only fully be identified under a microscope which I do not cary when I am out and about (but I do have a good idea of a few mushrooms which are generally good to eat) I would take a very good guide which has detailed drawings and discriptions as well there are a few out there. For flint knapping you can go on a course and also look what is available on the internet to learn there are some good tutorials out there, and you can always practice stuff like arrow heads and the such out of glass.

Cheap flights can be had to Norway of about £30 on way with very good bagage allowance of 5kg hand and 20kg hold as standard with extra being avialable and very reasonable prices. I know I have done a couple of trips out there and last January I went out with a group of 5 of us who wanted to practice and learn some skills out there in a realtively safe and organised enviornment which we did, out of our group 2 had done some winter trips low level, I had done the artic course in the military many years ago as part of an old exercise and the other 2 were guys we had camped in normal places with and we knew we could get on with but had never done any winter stuff before. We did a lot of research for ourselves and got a good comprehensive kit list together and although we approached parts alone we all came up with similar kit which a lot was ex miltiary winter kit but came form all over the place and no 2 people had exactly the same kit. Afterwards we have our own ideas and came away with different lessons learnt.

[Paul De Fitter]

Primitive camp cooking. Moving away from using modern means to get the most from fires.

Step 1 make a fire, let it burndown to a bed of coals
Step 2 bung on a slab of meat
Step 3 eat it, if it tasts of carbon, it's too well done, if it is still bleeding, it's under cooked.
Step 4 try again