• Welcome to The Bushcraft Forum

    You are currently viewing the site as a guest and some content may not be available to you.

    Registration is quick and easy and will give you full access to the site and allow you to ask questions or make comments and join in on the conversation. If you would like to join then please Register

The first skill

Ark79

Site Manager
Messages
20,938
Points
2,320
Bushcraft is a Funny thing as it’s links can be tied into so much... survival,camping,fishing,general days out,back garden and so on....
There are many many skills to learn when out bushcrafting.

What was the first skill you learned relating to bushcraft??
 
Bushcraft is a Funny thing as it’s links can be tied into so much... survival,camping,fishing,general days out,back garden and so on....
There are many many skills to learn when out bushcrafting.

What was the first skill you learned relating to bushcraft??
Probably learning how to build a shelter at very young age Mark followed by fire lighting
 
I think It was at my fifth birthday.

We were sitting in the Garden in Switzerland, overlooking a fantastic valley in Graubünden, and my father explained me how to open and close my new Victorinox Spartan and how to use all the tools on it.

Surely I learned shelter building, tracking animals and cross country skiing earlier.

To tie hiking boots is a skill too? May be when I was three years old? No idea!

Hide and seek belongs to my earliest skills.
I learned to blend in nature in the Kindergarten.

Animal and plant ID I learned very soon too, with the language.

Yes my father was an old boy Scout.

He surely teached me walking as the first steps for hiking.

When I was six, my bushcraft skills had been nearly complete.

When I was 12 years old I founded an independent boy scout patrol.

The first 4 weeks wild camping summer hike I did with them, when I was 14 years old.

I told the parents of the boys, we would call them only in case of Emergency.

;0)
 
Last edited:
Bushcraft is a Funny thing as it’s links can be tied into so much... survival,camping,fishing,general days out,back garden and so on....
There are many many skills to learn when out bushcrafting.

What was the first skill you learned relating to bushcraft??

Aye 'bushcraft' is a bit of a catch all term, I can't think what my first skill was, I was always wanting to be out playing and making forts or dens in trees etc, probably my first bushcrafty knowledge was stay the feck away from nettles. :lol:
 
As a child fishing with my father , playing in the woods with other kids , den building and camping out .

As a young soldier fieldcraft , combat engineering and a robustness in the outdoors all developed into the skills I use now in my wild camping , bushcraft and outdoor activities ...,,,,
 
Same as most I suppose.

The seed was sewn with hours spent walking with my Grandfather and his dog in the woods as a youngun.
We would often build very small debris shelters.......light a small fire........and find walking sticks.
He bought me my very first sheath knife too.

Time spent in the Army in woods.... on open planes/Moores and jungle in all kinds of weather helped a lot too.
 
Waking this up, sorry :)

I think everyone should get/have this at the very least on a basic level:

1/ first aid - can help oneself and others (a few of us in 5th grade, helped to save our teacher when he nearly lost a finger on a rotary saw (boy there is a lot of blood in a thumb) and loads of cycling friend who had dropped, lass even saved 2 people lives with her skills)
2/ swimming (and not to be scared of water but know how dangerous it can be) - can get you out of canal, river, lake and help others (I know I have and pulled a few friends to safety)
3/ map/compass reading - it does imply that you got a map, but learning to read a map you also learn how to read terrain and help you to find shelter/help if needed (I have never knowingly got lost, might just have had a small detour :) )
4/ knife/axe handling - this will help you not ending up hurting yourself and will help you on the next points
5/ fire - will keep you and others warm, cook food etc
6 shelter - keep you and others dry and warm

The first two could and should be taught in school, even map reading and knife handling (heck I learned a trick or two in home economics :)

I'm not saying that you should be able to do heart and lung transplants with a paper clip and duct tape, or navigating through the Gobi desert with just the stars etc. But at least know which end of a knife is the business end that could cut you, how to read a map to find out where there is a good chance to find a defibrillator/help/shelter. I do hope that the ones among you who have offspring's have told them how to dial 999/112 as soon as they can speak even a few words.

But then again I was lucky - carpenter grand dad, father and uncle who were scouts, parents that told me to bugger off get lost and come back and tell us what you found, as long as I was home as soon as the street lights turned on - I got to faff around with fire, sharp things and maps from the time I was knee high to a grasshopper.

That said before I ramble on longer, I do need to brush up on my shelter building and fire starting (I haven't even tried to make fire without a fire stick or matches in 40 years or so)
 
Waking this up, sorry :)

I think everyone should get/have this at the very least on a basic level:

1/ first aid - can help oneself and others (a few of us in 5th grade, helped to save our teacher when he nearly lost a finger on a rotary saw (boy there is a lot of blood in a thumb) and loads of cycling friend who had dropped, lass even saved 2 people lives with her skills)
2/ swimming (and not to be scared of water but know how dangerous it can be) - can get you out of canal, river, lake and help others (I know I have and pulled a few friends to safety)
3/ map/compass reading - it does imply that you got a map, but learning to read a map you also learn how to read terrain and help you to find shelter/help if needed (I have never knowingly got lost, might just have had a small detour :) )
4/ knife/axe handling - this will help you not ending up hurting yourself and will help you on the next points
5/ fire - will keep you and others warm, cook food etc
6 shelter - keep you and others dry and warm

The first two could and should be taught in school, even map reading and knife handling (heck I learned a trick or two in home economics :)

I'm not saying that you should be able to do heart and lung transplants with a paper clip and duct tape, or navigating through the Gobi desert with just the stars etc. But at least know which end of a knife is the business end that could cut you, how to read a map to find out where there is a good chance to find a defibrillator/help/shelter. I do hope that the ones among you who have offspring's have told them how to dial 999/112 as soon as they can speak even a few words.

But then again I was lucky - carpenter grand dad, father and uncle who were scouts, parents that told me to bugger off get lost and come back and tell us what you found, as long as I was home as soon as the street lights turned on - I got to faff around with fire, sharp things and maps from the time I was knee high to a grasshopper.

That said before I ramble on longer, I do need to brush up on my shelter building and fire starting (I haven't even tried to make fire without a fire stick or matches in 40 years or so)
Welcome to the family mate and a good informative post there
 
Like many of you ,as a child i spent a lot of time outdoors with my brother and friends building camps,making fires and just enjoying the freedom of the outdoors. i also enjoyed reading and one book struck a cord with me. It was called the Brendon Chase and the story was about 3 brothers who run away and spend the summer living in the woods ,sleeping in a hollow oak tree, living on what they shot or caught. They even turned it into a children's.television series. The author wrote under the name of BB and i have read many of his books.
 
My brother had the book as a kid but I didn't read it until I was about 17 and still enjoyed it. Have occasionally looked for it since but no joy. Will have another nose later....
 
Well one skill that's not been mentioned is that of standing on one leg hosing down the tread of my boots before going back into the house. It's a life saver since Mel would have killed me otherwise! :rofl:






We just take our boots of before going in :whistle::p
 
We just take our boots of before going in :whistle::p
To hose off or to grovel about taking off boots and putting them on again every ten minutes...a gritty question. With three great big dogs it soon becomes irrelevant.

As for the first bushcraft type skill I learned, probably navigation.
 
To hose off or to grovel about taking off boots and putting them on again every ten minutes...a gritty question. With three great big dogs it soon becomes irrelevant.

As for the first bushcraft type skill I learned, probably navigation.

Going off on a slight tangent and doesn't solve the falling over problem but I've got an old pair of light weight suede boots with the laces loosely done by the door. You can slip your feet in and out and are handy for nipping out, sort of outdoor slippers.
 
Wellies ;) (Microphone drop):D
...but can you get dog wellies?...seriously though, youre quite right Mark, my big old Dunlop Purofort not only keep me dry but quite a few times they've also stopped me getting hurt with their steel toe caps etc
Back onto the subject, I've always been facinated by maps and compasses so navigation.
 
Back
Top