Bushcrafter Subculture

[LeCastor]

If you search "Bushcraft" on YouTube you're bound to come across scores of videos. There are reviews of backpacks, knives, tarps, and all other related outdoors gear. You've got folks, mostly middle-aged white men, who are interested in keeping with the bushcraft/woodcraft traditions of outdoorsmen like Nessmuk, Horace Kephart, E.H. Kreps, and, more recently, Mors Kochanski. One of the guys I enjoy watching is Derrek Faria (sargefaria, on YouTube). His videos are lengthy but interesting and his Massachusetts accent is wicked ahh-some.

 

Growing up I used to see my Grandpa's dog-eared copy of Kephart's Camping and Woodcraft, and now It sits on my bookshelf with all my other outdoors books. I've been reading all of these authors/outdoorsmen above lately and thinking about how neat it would be to incorporate more of these ideas/activities into my Troop. My personal camp gear has become more canvas-based than nylon, for example. And I rely more on wool blankets now than sleeping bags.

 

Then, there are events like Woodsmoke out in Idaho where people get together to learn about the old ways of camping. I love Nessmuk's quote: "We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it."

 

Food for thought. Might this enliven our units' programs?

[DuctTape]

Sure it would. But I dont see it as incorporating "bushcraft" into scouting, I see it more as focusing on the outdoors aspect of scouting which should have the scoutcraft and woodcraft at the forefront instead of the "one and done prepare a fire" requirement to be checked off. If Scouts used their first class skills all the time, on most every outing then the same thing is accomplished. Instead those skills are a checklist to complete, instead of a set of skills which define a First Class scout and what he does.

[CalicoPenn]

" I love Nessmuk's quote: "We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it.""

 

Seems to me that this is pretty much the exact opposite of Leave No Trace. In Nessmuk's time, that bushcraft was indeed all about "smoothing" the woods and waters - it was about taming the woods and waters - bushcraft was about turning a campsite into a temporary compound - a home in the woods. We've come a long way in our thinking since then and I suspect folks like Kephart, Nessmuk, Kreps, Beard, etc. would understand and embrace the new ways of the woods - especially with the nifty new gear we have available to us today. I don't doubt for a moment that Kephart, who built fires for a purpose - and that was to cook, would gladly give up that chore for our more modern stoves in order to have more time to explore the woods he so loved. I realize we tend to romanticize the old days of wood and bushcraft, but that's because most of us haven't had to live with it. When I was just starting out in Scouts, we cooked every meal over an open fire - in just a couple years time, we started cooking all of our meals on stoves - I think the time we gained in making that switch to go out and do more was well worth the loss of the "romance" of cooking over an open fire (which frankly, wasn't all that idyllic - it was dirty, it was hot, a lot of time was spent being chased by smoke).

 

Yet - this is not to say that we should ignore these skills completely. I've been a blanket camper for a very long time now - I haven't owned a sleeping bag for years. I do enjoy camping under canvas - and when I do so now, it's under a canvas diamond fly - not a tent. It's good to know how to build fires by flint and steel or bow drill. I've built fires in public parks (as part of rendezvous) where you wouldn't be able to find where it was built a couple of days after I left. Ideally, we are taking the best of the bushcraft era and adapting it to leave no trace principles. Hopefully, we don't get all nostalgic about digging trenches around our tents, of chopping down a couple of birches to make a flag pole for our campsite.

 

[TAHAWK]

Bushcrafters, or so they tell me, aim to be comfortable with a minimum of equipment. They make things - mainly spoons it seems. ^___^

 

I was a "blanket" camper as a Scout. Only the rich kids had down bags. The rest had wool blankets in one form or another, usually marked "U.S." Polyester sleeping bags or polyester fleece blankets hadn't been invented yet. I for one am thankful that they have been invented, along with Thermorests.

 

One needed good fire skills in that era since a fire was needed about 4:30 AM to stop the hypothermia. Not much romance there., but you did come back with a "woodsy" smell.

 

Anyone campaigning to bring back "hip holes" to replace mattresses? 0___0

[LeCastor]

" I love Nessmuk's quote: "We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it.""

 

Seems to me that this is pretty much the exact opposite of Leave No Trace. In Nessmuk's time, that bushcraft was indeed all about "smoothing" the woods and waters - it was about taming the woods and waters - bushcraft was about turning a campsite into a temporary compound - a home in the woods. We've come a long way in our thinking since then and I suspect folks like Kephart, Nessmuk, Kreps, Beard, etc. would understand and embrace the new ways of the woods - especially with the nifty new gear we have available to us today. I don't doubt for a moment that Kephart, who built fires for a purpose - and that was to cook, would gladly give up that chore for our more modern stoves in order to have more time to explore the woods he so loved. I realize we tend to romanticize the old days of wood and bushcraft, but that's because most of us haven't had to live with it. When I was just starting out in Scouts, we cooked every meal over an open fire - in just a couple years time, we started cooking all of our meals on stoves - I think the time we gained in making that switch to go out and do more was well worth the loss of the "romance" of cooking over an open fire (which frankly, wasn't all that idyllic - it was dirty, it was hot, a lot of time was spent being chased by smoke).

 

Yet - this is not to say that we should ignore these skills completely. I've been a blanket camper for a very long time now - I haven't owned a sleeping bag for years. I do enjoy camping under canvas - and when I do so now, it's under a canvas diamond fly - not a tent. It's good to know how to build fires by flint and steel or bow drill. I've built fires in public parks (as part of rendezvous) where you wouldn't be able to find where it was built a couple of days after I left. Ideally, we are taking the best of the bushcraft era and adapting it to leave no trace principles. Hopefully, we don't get all nostalgic about digging trenches around our tents, of chopping down a couple of birches to make a flag pole for our campsite.

 

Wow, thanks for poo-pooing this right out of the gate. I believe you are taking Nessmuk's quote out of context. He continues:

 

"...We get it rough enough at home; in towns and cities; in shops, offices, stores, banks--anywhere that we may be placed--with the necessity always present of being on time and up on our work..."

 

As for your LNT comment, I'm an adherent to those outdoors ethics and lead LNT trainings. I'm not trying to advocate for trenching and burning down the woods. You can do bushcrafting without violating LNT.

[koolaidman]

" I love Nessmuk's quote: "We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it.""

 

Seems to me that this is pretty much the exact opposite of Leave No Trace.

 

I haven't read the book, but Nessmuk has been brought up on Clarke Green's scoutmaster podcast before. Clarke mentioned this quote as well. Clarke's went on the clarify the quote. The "smooth it" wasn't referring to how we camp, but why we camp. It is to get away from the roughness of our everyday life and to smooth our life out a bit. "To get away from it all".

 

[T2Eagle]

I grew up sleeping in canvas tents, usually without a floor, using blankets and a surplus bag for a bedroll, and doing almost all my cooking on a fire. I also wore galoshes that buckled and multiple pairs of bulky pants to keep the cold and snow out. I was often cold, easily wet, and spent an inordinate amount of time cooking and cleaning.

 

Last weekend I pitched a dome tent in about 5 minutes, stayed warm in a hollofill mummy bag despite the single digit temps, woke up dry despite the five inches of overnight snow, stepped out of my tent wearing good quality boots and snow pants, and had the jet boil provide me a hot cup of coffee before I was even really awake.

 

Then I had an entire day of great fun in the snow with my scouts. I am not nostalgic for yesteryear.

[perdidochas]

I read a lot of bushcraft stuff, but I don't particularly go for it myself. I believe in using the best technology (which doesn't mean the latest) in the outdoors. Wool socks are great, but I prefer synthetic wicking shirts. I like synthetic bags, but I would get down if my budget allowed. I'm with T2Eagle, I like modern camping.I like having a floor to the tent.

[LeCastor]

As I said earlier, I don't think bushcraft and Leave No Trace are entirely incompatible. Here's just one thing I found on the Interwebs by way of a "source""

 

http://midwestbushcraft.blogspot.com/2011/11/bushcraft-vs-leave-no-trace-response.html

 

Romanticizing camping might help enliven the outdoors spirit of youth today who need a little extra "reason" to go outdoors. I'm not saying we have to dig trenches, hipholes, etc. But bushcraft or woodcraft deserves a little extra nudge today.

 

Anyone ever read Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv? If not you should if you are a Scouter today.

[JasonG172]

Bushcraft?

 

Thank you for introducing me to this new term.