Geting Started in Bushcraft: What is Bushcraft?

Description

In this video I give a brief talk on what bushcraft is. This video reflects only my personal opinions, but bare in mind what bushcraft is to you can be a very personal one, it can have its own unique meaning to your self. however throughout all of these unique takes and perspectives of bushcraft there are a few fundamental aspects to the study on the whole.

Tags: Bushcraft,survival,bear grylls,camping,how to,get started,tutorial

Video Transcription

hi everyone today what we're doing is addressing a subject that I've been questioned on quite a lot and that is how to get started on bushcraft I've already done a video on how to get started in bushcraft but I feel that my knowledge is come a long way since I film that video and I wanted to give a more concise kind of entry for people in bushcraft now some of the things I'm going to say don't necessarily apply to everyone it's obviously my taken I can only view bushcraft as a subject from my own perspective and of course bushcraft does mean different things to different people but in this video what I'm going to be looking at is what is bushcraft what makes bushcraft a subject what is it what is the essence of it now as I've already just mentioned bushcraft is different things to different people but I think at the heart of it bushcraft has a fundamental core which has to apply to every one's outlook to bushcraft despite the fact that it's different things to different people it has to have some foundation now I tried to do quite a bit of research before filming this video and I think the person who explained this best was actually Ray Mears in his book essential bushcraft I'm going to read a quote from this for you in a moment which I think explains bushcraft at his essence really really well and then I'm going to kind of I'm going to hopefully take that in a slightly different direction to the way that I view it while it's bearing in mind the quote in this book which I fully agree with so let me just read that quote out for you if I can just find it so it says here bushcraft is a term I employ to describe a deeper knowledge of the wild and of nature it is a huge tree that branches out in many directions to botany zoology kraftwerk Outdoor Leadership and countless other divisions at its root though is a right reliance upon oneself and on nature in the study of bushcraft we step beyond survival and learn the subtlety that makes outdoor life both certain and enjoyable everyone who visits wild places will benefit from bushcraft knowledge what could be more natural than to recognize wild things around us and food shelter fire on water I think this is an excellent quote I think that really really gets the core of bushcraft it's all about self reliance upon the natural world and look and understanding the world in which we live in and how we can work alongside it rather than against it and it says that it goes beyond survival and I really agree with that survival is a really important subject but I think survival is really just the root of bushcraft and Bush cracker stands on top of that and really takes that survive large a whole step further survival skills are you know the skills that will provide you the knowledge and skill set to sustain yourself for a kind of limited period of time in order to get back to a safe place just to keep yourself alive for me bushcraft goes beyond survival and it means that you can sustain yourself almost indefinitely from the wild dependent on how much knowledge you have now knowledge is the key thing in bushcraft and a lot of the bushcraft forums a lot of the you know social media stuff the main thing that gets talked about is people's kit and gear to me gear and kit isn't bushcraft it's not it isn't at all that's commercialism and you know it's people showing off their toys there's nothing wrong with that I really like you know some of my tours and stuff I can't get a little bit fanatical about them but in my mind that is you know that's tools and Bush cut is a separate thing I simply use some of those tools to aid my bushcraft bushcraft isn't about the tools in essence with the correct amount of knowledge once you are well practiced well learned there comes a stage where if you are good enough it's possible to go out into the wild without those tools I'm not recommending people do that that would be a stupid idea to just go out with nothing what I'm saying is that with the correct level of knowledge it is possible our ancestors did it for thousands and thousands of years and with the correct skill set and the knowledge we could do that genetically those people that were doing that thousands of years ago are identical to us so

looking back to ray mears is a description of bushcraft being a huge tree which branches out in different directions I want to take that a little bit further and I want to say that all those web all those branches are connected by a web and that web is the skills that connect those branches of knowledge together at the core of it there are a key set of skills which really keep that web firm and the web splays out from that point so the key skills are in not really any particular order but the three main ones are the ability to create fire fire can provide a lot for us we'll look at that in a separate video being able to correct to sustain yourself by gathering food and water which is connected of course to fire and the third one arguably one of the more important ones is the ability to create shelter for yourself okay and all of these things come together whilst being separate skill sets they come together and bounce off each other and really strengthen each other in terms of being valuable skills and throughout this little kind of series of videos that I'm planning on doing that's what we're going to look at now in these videos i'm not going to do demonstrations i'm not going to demonstrate how to make shelter i'm not going to demonstrate how to make fire what I'm hoping to do is give a few examples of ways that these skills can be achieved and the reason I want to do this is I think for me a key thing in bushcraft is being able to go out there and come up with these ideas yourself or do a little bit of research and then go out and try what you've seen and read that being said the key thing the most important thing beyond all of your tools beyond everything the most important thing in bushcraft is knowledge knowledge of your environment is more important than any tool or any gadget or any piece of equipment now there's a few ways we can gather this information and in the modern day the modern world has given us a whole plethora of ways that we can obtain and get our information so some of the key routes that I use are primarily I tend to use YouTube I like to see people out doing things you know I'll put some more recommended channels obviously there's my channel but don't take my word from it you know different people do things in different ways look around if you're looking at how to start a fire yeah sure I got to have a look at my video of course for you to watch my video but once you've done that look at somebody else's get a few ideas in your head before you step out and try it because what works for me might not work for you and that is really really important the other method is of course books I've done quite a few book reviews an excellent one and I'm going to do a review of this today and stick it up in time to hook this video is ray me as essential bushcraft especially of you are just setting out books are brilliant but again just because somebody's written in a book doesn't necessarily mean that it is right do a little bit of research once you've done your research go out and experiment things ensure that you're in a safe environment that you're not putting yourself at risk practice practice practice once you have got that skilled down and once you have really really figured out how to do it make it harder so say you're lighting a fire practice in dry conditions with optimum kind of sorry the spokes just got in my face fine nails I'm talking about if if you're going to let a fire start by looking at using optimal resources do it a nice dry day with only a little bit of a breeze make sure you've got dry would even take someone with you by some kinna at the shop and practice like the fire that way once you've mastered it once you can do it without even thinking once it becomes second nature to you the next step then is to go out into the woods without the shot bore kindling and learn together the resources once you've masturbat method go out and do it in wet weather once you've mastered that go out and do it in wet weather in the dark gradually make it harder and harder for yourself and that way you will really master the skill and that's just one of the skills you know violating this is one skill but I'm not going to go into too much detail about that now so as I've said knowledge is key before you set out before you do anything before you leave your house before you leave the security of home and civilization ensure that you know what you are doing don't throw yourself at the deep in at the deep

you're not trying to learn survival skills you're trying to learn bushcraft okay don't put yourself in dangerous situations if you set out and initially immediately put yourself into a dangerous situation things are going to go wrong for you okay my camp here I you know I'm half an hour's walk away from my house you know civilization is just around the corner those farms all around me but still I prepare myself and make sure that if I do get into a bad situation I can get out and you know and that's where your knowledge and your skill sets comes in preparation preparation preparation I'm really sorry I've got a little bit of a ramble here so I'm going to pause the camera gather my thoughts and then continue okay so I've addressed the subject already of knowledge and how to start how to begin your journey into obtaining that knowledge another key question that comes up quite a lot when people messaged me on Facebook or YouTube whatever is where I go where do I learn bushcraft want to get out of the house so it's all well and good sitting and learning all about busca and survival skills from you from your home in front of your computer but if that's all you do you are not learning I don't care what anyone says you are sat simply watching videos and reading books about bushcraft that isn't learning that is arming yourself with the relevant knowledge in order to set out and do it if you never set out if you don't go outside you cannot learn okay so where do you go outside well essentially you can go anywhere to begin with that the first steps can be baby steps it can be little tiny steps if you have a dog you can practice your bushcraft watch it out walking your dog if you've got a back garden with a small patch of it is overgrown you can practice your bushcraft there you can even practice your bushcraft at the side of roads and lay bars you can practice it in you know the local park okay it doesn't have to be packing your bag and going out for a week you know it can be ten minutes spent in the garden having a look at some plants it can be a day out walking the dog it can be pulling over at the side of the road on your way home from work and having the look at the trees that are planting the lay-by so a little example of how you can practice this in any location is go to somewhere that is outdoors and house even the slightest hint of wildness about it if there is wildlife there it has a hint of wildness what should they have a look at what's around you look at the trees look at the plants or look at the animals pick something to look at find something you do not know about you do not understand you do not recognize so say for example you're in your Park you're walking dog and you see a tree it's a tree you don't recognize look at it look at its features look at its leaves look at the type of bar look at the shape of it look at the area in which it's growing with memorize those things take some pictures on your smartphone if you have to and then if you haven't got a book on trees with you or you don't own one I would highly recommend getting one then go back and learn everything there to know about that tree look at what can it provide you with where does it grow was it come from is a native species what properties are the walk does the would have can you find out in what manner that would burns with burns in different ways you know does the type of would lend itself to certain activities or you know crafting certain things and the outdoors and that is the key thing is looking at what nature can provide for us how can we work alongside nature to provide the things that we need so that's it that for me that is that's the baby steps okay once you've done that once you've armed yourself with some knowledge go and spend a day out practice your file item may be you know practice carving a spoon or something a light doesn't doesn't that doesn't have to be some fundamental key thing that you start with okay so long as it fits somehow into those three initial things that I've said shelter food fire those are your key things to learn to begin with in the next video what I'm going to look at is tools now for me tools aren't bushcraft tools are a bushcraft aid they are not a fundamental part of bushcraft they will however make the learning process significantly easier without them you are going to really really struggle the would come a time if you continue in bushcraft and fill yourself with enough knowledge that you might not need those tools you might not require them our ancestors didn't need them as I've already said we shouldn't need them with the correct amount knowledge however they are important one thing that I would recommend particularly for people starting out is don't go out and spend loads of money on a custom-made knife don't go and buy the latest gadget you don't need to that's not bushcraft that is commercialism do a bit of research look at the tools that people are using look at the ones that are commonly used by people who actually know what they're talking about okay in the next video i am going to give some of the things that I particular like and I recommend for getting started in bushcraft but by no means is it going to be a huge concise video it's just a really good little introduction of the things that I would recommend but don't just take my word for it speak to other people thank you for watching everyone you