for me - as a young kid it was a combination of Grizzly Adams, Robin Hood and my Grandad.
respect.
respect.
what got you started?
- Thread starter hammock monkey
- Start date
-
Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
Reading My Side of the Mountain when I was a nipper.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another; few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going--all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival. In a spellbinding, touching, funny account, Sam learns to live off the land, and grows up a little in the process. Blizzards, hunters, loneliness, and fear all battle to drive Sam back to city life. But his desire for freedom, independence, and adventure is stronger. No reader will be immune to the compulsion to go right out and start whittling fishhooks and befriending raccoons.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another; few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going--all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival. In a spellbinding, touching, funny account, Sam learns to live off the land, and grows up a little in the process. Blizzards, hunters, loneliness, and fear all battle to drive Sam back to city life. But his desire for freedom, independence, and adventure is stronger. No reader will be immune to the compulsion to go right out and start whittling fishhooks and befriending raccoons.
i just remembered that grizzly adams actually insired me as a 10yr old to go out and find traps out in the woods and set them off with sticks, blimey, i'd forgotten all about that...
my side of the mountain sounds great...think i might grab a copy.
in fact i think i'll try to get whatever books inspired people to get into being out in the world...
should be some great reads
my side of the mountain sounds great...think i might grab a copy.
in fact i think i'll try to get whatever books inspired people to get into being out in the world...
should be some great reads
W
Wibbl
Guest
My Side of the Mountain sounds like a very good book.
For me it was watching ray mears mostly, that and taking walks with my grandad in the wood when he was alive and then taking very long walks through woods and fields with my friends when we were about 10.
For me it was watching ray mears mostly, that and taking walks with my grandad in the wood when he was alive and then taking very long walks through woods and fields with my friends when we were about 10.
For me it was Ray Mears on country tracks, back before he was famous when he just had little five minute segments.
Also in the same program they did a bushcraft/survival challenge thing, where every year they got a bunch of people who didn't know very much about the outdoors, gave them a day or so with a very good forager (alas I cant remember his name) then got them to build a shelter and spend a couple of weeks living of the land, or more often NOT living of the land. It tort me as much about human nature under stressful conditions as it did about bushcraft, also hugely entertaining. Now thats what I call reality TV.
Also a bit of influence from time team and especially Phil Harding, who first introduced me to really primitive skills.
P.S. That book sounds grate, I mite have a look at getting that.
PP.S. Oh yes! that reminds me, Jean Auel's Earth's Children series of books were hugely inspirational. I read them when I was in my early teens and they really got me back interested after having lapsed a bit.
Also in the same program they did a bushcraft/survival challenge thing, where every year they got a bunch of people who didn't know very much about the outdoors, gave them a day or so with a very good forager (alas I cant remember his name) then got them to build a shelter and spend a couple of weeks living of the land, or more often NOT living of the land. It tort me as much about human nature under stressful conditions as it did about bushcraft, also hugely entertaining. Now thats what I call reality TV.
Also a bit of influence from time team and especially Phil Harding, who first introduced me to really primitive skills.
P.S. That book sounds grate, I mite have a look at getting that.
PP.S. Oh yes! that reminds me, Jean Auel's Earth's Children series of books were hugely inspirational. I read them when I was in my early teens and they really got me back interested after having lapsed a bit.
i have just always hane an interest in this sort of thing from a very urly age.
jack hargreaves theres another name from the telly. always something interesting if he was on!
chris
jack hargreaves theres another name from the telly. always something interesting if he was on!
chris
I had the Arabian desert as a playground for much of my early life and a copy of 'the SAS survival manual' for as long as I can remember, so Survival was a topic of my everyday play as a child and I have had an interest in it ever since.
I really got heavily involved though after a chance meeting with Ben McNutt and Lisa Fenton on a medical course, they invited me on a course at woodsmoke and introduced me to Bushcraft.
I really got heavily involved though after a chance meeting with Ben McNutt and Lisa Fenton on a medical course, they invited me on a course at woodsmoke and introduced me to Bushcraft.
I read My Side of the Mountain as a school kid as well, the found a copy of 'Survival for Kids' in the school library. Soon after that Lofty Wiseman published the SAS Survival Handbook and that was that. Tried out alot of the things in my parents garden, much to my dad's amusement and my mum's concern.
Now I have my own garden and the ability to get out onto Salisbury plain my mum and dad still find it amusing but my wife thinks I'm wierd.
Now I have my own garden and the ability to get out onto Salisbury plain my mum and dad still find it amusing but my wife thinks I'm wierd.
Oh heck - confession time!
For me it was Enid Blyton....in one of her books (dunno the title) some kiddies run away from wicked step parent to live on an island in a lake. They build a hut from green willow and it continues to grow, so they weave the new shoots into the walls for extra strength. The grass is full of wild thyme, food abounds - rabbit, fish etc. - and is easy to catch! The alfa male hunts, uses knife and axe and the girls clean cook and make things from rabbit skins.
I was hooked!
I quickly developed a knife fetish, plyed at being a "Hunter Gatherer" in the fields and lanes of Herefordshire, with an Elder shafted spear, and learned to shoot with a mates .177 - how come it never rained in those days but blackberries, apples and elderberries were allways full and juicy?
Then, many years later, I found "Survival for Young People" by Anthony Greenbank and there was no going back.......
Oh innocence of youth! Who watched TV in the summer?
Who is this RM whippersnapper, bring back Enid, the true Bushcraft Guru!
John
For me it was Enid Blyton....in one of her books (dunno the title) some kiddies run away from wicked step parent to live on an island in a lake. They build a hut from green willow and it continues to grow, so they weave the new shoots into the walls for extra strength. The grass is full of wild thyme, food abounds - rabbit, fish etc. - and is easy to catch! The alfa male hunts, uses knife and axe and the girls clean cook and make things from rabbit skins.
I was hooked!
I quickly developed a knife fetish, plyed at being a "Hunter Gatherer" in the fields and lanes of Herefordshire, with an Elder shafted spear, and learned to shoot with a mates .177 - how come it never rained in those days but blackberries, apples and elderberries were allways full and juicy?
Then, many years later, I found "Survival for Young People" by Anthony Greenbank and there was no going back.......
Oh innocence of youth! Who watched TV in the summer?
Who is this RM whippersnapper, bring back Enid, the true Bushcraft Guru!
John
wow, arabian desert...amazing. must give you a open outlook on the world.
i had the somerset hills, which i love
i had loads hidey-holes and 'dens' (makes my chuckle to myself just to think of it) and places where i knew where there were nests, setts etc. seemed magical.
i can remember the duncan dares with lofty - and a few other tv shows that inspired us to have baccy tins with survival kits in eventually. never really used them tho!
once the hormones kicked in i got into another type of bushcraft..ahem.. and music, but i never stopped watching wildlife. it wasnt long before i would be camping out in somerset and dorset on the hills with just a crappy old sleeping bag, a lighter and a few sos rolls!
the stuff i would see there - waking up with a fox with cubs a couple of metres away, same with a roe deer and young will stay with me for a long time. learning to brew up with what i found was great.
i remember lying on my back in a golden corn field, looking up and seeing the insects a few feet above me, the birds a few metres higher, then other birds above them, and finally a red kite circling above me.
life is good.
i had the somerset hills, which i love
i had loads hidey-holes and 'dens' (makes my chuckle to myself just to think of it) and places where i knew where there were nests, setts etc. seemed magical.
i can remember the duncan dares with lofty - and a few other tv shows that inspired us to have baccy tins with survival kits in eventually. never really used them tho!
once the hormones kicked in i got into another type of bushcraft..ahem.. and music, but i never stopped watching wildlife. it wasnt long before i would be camping out in somerset and dorset on the hills with just a crappy old sleeping bag, a lighter and a few sos rolls!
the stuff i would see there - waking up with a fox with cubs a couple of metres away, same with a roe deer and young will stay with me for a long time. learning to brew up with what i found was great.
i remember lying on my back in a golden corn field, looking up and seeing the insects a few feet above me, the birds a few metres higher, then other birds above them, and finally a red kite circling above me.
life is good.
W
Wibbl
Guest
WhichDoctor said:
I was going to add that to my other post, but I couldn't be botherd to edit it
This series is what made me stop and watch ray mears rather than flicking the channel over in the first place.
Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I started off in the late fifties with wild camping. Then in the army I got into survival. Then in ninety four I became aware of Y2K and started looking at self reliance. Now I embrace all these in bushcraft. I haven't learned a whole lot from Ray Mears, more like reinforcing what i already knew and fine tuning some of it a bit but I have learned lots about makin' stuff out of rubbish from Dick Strawbridge.
Eric
Eric
I think it was the scouts. Camping and being outdoors, learning about knots, mapreading and hiking, confidence in myself, etc. Moved on from there to the armed forces, and then I suppose to people like Lofty Wiseman (SAS Survival Handbook), Les Hiddins ('Bushtucker Man') and Ray Mears (via 'Tracks'). Always been into wildlife and that since primary school, really.
A combination of factors, I think. Interestingly, I reckon the main impetus/thinking behind it all has probably subtly changed as I've grown older and different things become more/less valuable to me. I'm far more interested in ecology and quality of life aspects these days, rather than in what type of knife I should have.
PS - Stuart, what IS your background?!? You go to the most interesting places, take the most incredible photographs, and do the most amazing stuff! Living the dream!!!
A combination of factors, I think. Interestingly, I reckon the main impetus/thinking behind it all has probably subtly changed as I've grown older and different things become more/less valuable to me. I'm far more interested in ecology and quality of life aspects these days, rather than in what type of knife I should have.
PS - Stuart, what IS your background?!? You go to the most interesting places, take the most incredible photographs, and do the most amazing stuff! Living the dream!!!
B
bushyboo
Guest
with me it was my dad every sunday we would go for walks in the pentland hills while my mum tidyed the house and got the dinner ready he would have us walking for miles and we would be hungry by the time we got back
after that it was the army cadets
donsnt half bring back memories
after that it was the army cadets
donsnt half bring back memories
well growing up in the countryside i got into making dens and i joined the cubs, from then on i always liked camping, fishing that sort of stuff and then a few years ago i started beating on my uncles shoot. but ray mears tv programs got me into bushcraft
leon
leon
Always been into the outdoor life. Then at school a friend had it suggested to him he do Duke of Edinbugh Award. He came away from first meeting talking about sleeping on mountains and stuff and I was mesmerised.
Went along myself after that. Drifted away from it all for a few years. I think I'm trying to rediscover my youth now by getting stuck into it again
Always used to watch Bushtucker Man, then RM.
Went along myself after that. Drifted away from it all for a few years. I think I'm trying to rediscover my youth now by getting stuck into it again
Always used to watch Bushtucker Man, then RM.
Good question. I think it was my parents. Picnics in the woods round an open fire cooking our tea, the billy can on the fire, my father whittling a stick to get the billy off the fire, my mothers pancake mix, tickling trout, climbing trees, endless summer holidays, and, of course, Ray Mears!
Years in the Scouts got me into the outdoors, but fell out of the habit when I left.
Seeing Ray on the TV got me interested in it again, now its a good excuse to get out of the city and meeting nice people!
Seeing Ray on the TV got me interested in it again, now its a good excuse to get out of the city and meeting nice people!
Ray mears for me. Plus the fact i have grown up in the countryside and just love everything about it!
I wonder what ray mears would think to us all saying that he started us off! Would be nice to hear from him on this forum!
I wonder what ray mears would think to us all saying that he started us off! Would be nice to hear from him on this forum!
Similar threads
