Is Camping and Bushcraft a part of prepping and survivalism? Your Views

[NorthernRaider]

The best bit to come out of this great thread is twofold, we have debated without getting nasty and we have ( OK Dev has) highlighted a serious gap in our preps in certain circumstances. It was wisely pointed out that many urban preppers whilst well meaning and kean to learn are focusing on learning WILDERNESS Survival skills either BEFORE of INSTEAD of focusing on URBAN survival skills.

And to our communities shame we have done little or no research or writing or practicing at working out useful information for the urban community.

[Scythe13]

So we are all in agreement then! Woohoo! This is a first, me and NR agree on something.

Conclusion:
The notion that Bushcraft and Survival Skills is not a part of prepping is.....fricking rediculous!

The notion that prepping is ONLY Bushcraft and Survival Skills is again.....fricking rediculous!


Also, the notion that Bushcraft and Survival skills is ALL you need to survive is fricking...wait a minute...in theory you could survive just on those skills. Damn this complicates everything now!

Granted it would be much easier to survive with many other skills, but considering bushcraft includes herbal remedies, shelter building, fire, foraging, water, making clothing from animal skins, making equipment and tools to survive....how weird. A rounded bushcraft survival skillset would be enough to survive.

What a spanner I throw into the conversation!

[NorthernRaider]

B & W skills are only going to be truly useful to the max providing you can get to the wilderness , If you cannot fix the bike, sail the boat, fix the engine or even get healthy enough to get out of the city the B & W skills are going to be somewhat limited doncha think?

If you cannot safely sharpen then handle and operate the expensive survival knife in a proficient manner then the tool is pointless ( no pun intended ) and your task much harder. So before you go learning bushcraft it makes sense to learn how to use and maintain and sharpen and repair your knife and master a bit of butchery BEFORE you go learning to be Ray Mears ?

That's the point (pun intended) I'm trying to make we can get by with fewer skills but we are so much more enhanced and better prepped by becoming more competent at multiple interlinked skills.

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I've thoroughly enjoyed this thread and have learned quite a bit, I'm grateful to one and all for the positive contributions.
Thanks

[Scythe13]

I'd have to agree (WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?!?) with you NR. If you can't get to the wilderness, you'd be in a bit of trouble. But many B&W skills are transferable to the city. There was that video about flint knapping where the guy made a glass bottle into an arrow head, just as one example.

As for the 'learn to use a knife' thing, I'd say that is a large part of basic bushcraft. Butchery is certainly a part of it. Every survival skills book I've got, video I've watched, or person that's taught me, has told me about butchering an animal. So I'd not seperate butchery from bushcraft.

Basic bushcraft required the use and maintainance of a blade, e.g. a knife. A more advanced level of bushcraft is the ability to MAKE your own knife.

[Devonian]

The "Wilderness" when used in a UK context does slightly perplex me.

Maybe parts of the Cairngorms could be classed as Wilderness, but the rest of the UK, including Dartmoor, is no more than "managed" Countryside/farmland and you are never more than a couple of miles from a road or farmhouse, and the majority of the time you can probably measure such distances in 100's of meters/yards.

So the real point of my earlier post is that even if you are in the countryside, in a real survival situation (post SHTF), are you really going to construct a debris shelter; or are going to use what is around you ie: a farmers barn/cow shed; a car; an abandoned house; the local church etc.......

Again I am not saying bushcraft is irrelevant - it is not, but the UK is VERY urbanised and there will be many better suited resources around us than we should be utilising for shelter; warmth; security; food and water etc etc.....

[Scythe13]

Dev, that's a great point, and to be fair, sometimes I'd say yes I'd use other stuff around, and other times I'd say no. If I wanted to stay more hidden, I'd opt for a lower profile 'wilderness' shelter. But even if I was using a farmers hut, certain parts of bushcraft, e.g. plant recognition, water sourcing, and the alike, would be very helpful, even with the extra manmade stuff around.

Would I spend hours making a wooden bowl? Hell no! I'd just go and get a bowl or source pan from the kitchen. Same as knives, I'd rather have one in my hand, than need to make one. I'm the first to admit I'd prefer an easier route.

With all that in mind, I'd also like to know what if I was forced out of where we are, and I had to bug out, I'd like to know that if all homes were occupied, or people were heading in that direction to occupy the building, I'd like to know that if it all goes wrong, I'm still able to build my own place for a night or 2, or however long. I can still get water, set traps, recognise plants, make tools. Having those skills gives me great comfort.

Yes, I'd like the easy route, but it's not always an option, and it's not always the wisest route to take either.

A very good question though, and one I think should ring loudly with many people.

[Tartar Horde]

I heartily agree with Devonian and his point about the urbanised nature of most of our countryside. I feel the "bushcraft" proponents sometimes fail to understand the realities of the countryside and how their skill set would be used. For example many Youtube and TV programmes show people camping, trapping etc in the most favourable of areas, Woodland stuffed with resources, rivers with fish etc, whereas the reality of our land is very different, and resources are wide spread in heavy agricultural areas. It gives a false impression of how hard it is too get a feed from the countryside. "Well fed" Ray Mears can easily find food and resources in his ideal terrain, picked for that very reason, and mainly on private land by the way, but lets see him survive in a normal "field system" of hedges, ditches and small copse, which is the norm for most of England. Some of the Youtube videos are very misleading and are really nothing but camping, but with more Camo The guy on Youtube who goes "surviving" in his stealth canoe with enough supplies to feed a small army three meals a day is a good example. This doesn't mean I diminish the importance of Bushcraft, rather the opposite I see it as extremely important, to me anyway. The realities of surviving for any length of time in our countryside, and living off the land should not be underestimated, and for me would be an absolute last resort, which is why I continually practice these skills, because if you don't use em you lose em.

[Scythe13]

(10 April 2014, 12:01)Tartar Horde Wrote: The realities of surviving for any length of time in our countryside, and living off the land should not be underestimated, and for me would be an absolute last resort

This is one of the points I try to make. If you have a 'worst case scenario' catered for, then everything you add onto it is brilliant.