Natures Craft - Bushcraft Fundamental Course

Last Updated on Monday, 11 July 2011 18:14 Written by JimN Monday, 11 July 2011 17:59

The other weekend I went on the BushCraft Fundamentals course from AndyN and the guys at Natures Craft. It was a bit of a trek for me but it looked to be a very comprehensive course for a very good price. Obviously I have an existing interest in bushcraft (hence my usage of BCL) and have been out a couple of times with Addo, Spamel & Scruff and they have been exceedingly helpful and understanding but I figured it was about time I formalised some of the theoretical knowledge I've got from books and videos.

In terms of kit I took along, I decided to sleep in the single hooped bivi under a DD tarp using a Snugpak Chrysalis Winter sleep bag. Most meals are provided but I decided to take my Swedish Army Trangia for preparing breakfast and coffees. I did want to try and stick all the kit in a single 60+40 litre backpack, although a good 1/2 of the main body was taken up with the synthetic sleeping bag, everything did eventually fit in the bag. I also took a Norwegian daypack for taking bits & pieces around camp & the woods.

Due to the journey I wanted to arrive early, to miss rush hour and in case of problems, and I got to the area of Andy's woods at around 4pm. Even though I was early Andy very kindly came and met me and we wandered up to the camp in the woods. Andy and his brother, Paul, were in the process of setting up the camp, a parachute shelter was erected and the fire was going, so I wandered off to find my pitch for the weekend. After setting myself up I headed back to the camp to chill. Other people were arriving and nipping off to set them selves up around the woods. There were seven attendees in total and everybody seemed to be able to find a nice spot and there was nobody visible from my camp

At around 7pm, when everybody had arrived, set-up and got a drink Andy gave an introduction talk, giving information on the camp set up (toilets, water etc.) and talking a bit about the course. The course was going to be given by Andy and another guy called Mike, who specialises in tracking. Everybody then gave a short introduction about themselves and what they hope to get out of the course.

The night was very clear and the temperature was dropping, some of us went for a walk around the outside of the woods, including Paul and Mike, and we started looked for tracks in the moonlight.

It was a very cold night, the temperature dropped to probably around -5, but it seems my "-10°c comfort rating" bag wasn't up to the job. Wherever the skin of the bivvy was against the bag (mainly my toes and hip) I could feel any heat being pulled out, so I didn't have a good night

I won't go in to detail on everything that was covered, but in summary we went over:

• Safe use and care of cutting tools, including Spoon carving; so different styles of knives, different law, how to makes cuts safely and the classic carving a spoon

• Tracking; I’ll admit that I was a bit ‘meh’ about this side of things but Mike’s interest was infectious and we all really started to take in more of our surroundings. There is a Badgers sett in the woods so it was very interesting to follow Mike and get an idea of the nocturnal activities. The evidence for various animals movements was all around us we just need to observe and I was very happy to be the first to find a badgers print
• Fire lighting, including by friction; I failed to get an ember on a bow-drill but it is something I persevere at. My favourite method was, and still is, using flint and steel and Andy ‘complimented’ me on the size of my steel There was a test on the last day and I built a fire from scratch and lit it using fling & steel and charcloth (I’d collected loads of silver birch bark, left in the camp to get some kindling but when I got back the best bits seemed to have disappeared

• Natural shelter construction; we built a couple of debris shelters and a couple of guys slept out over another cold night

• Game preparation; we all had a chance to de-breast a wood pigeon that was then served in a stew for the evening meal

• Nature lore and awareness; rather than being a specific topic this is something the pervaded the whole experience. There was a very interesting task on the Saturday evening, but I won’t say any more in case anybody else goes on one of the courses.
• Plant, Fungi and Tree identification - and their uses; you can sit and look at books all day but there’s nothing like a walk with somebody who knows what they are talking about to really make you remember the details.
• Safe collection and purification of water; just a quick overview of the dangers of dehydration & drinking impure water and some of the methods of cleaning water.

I should point out that, for the most part, it wasn’t a case of do all of one bit before moving on to something else, everything was in manageable chunks, designed to maintain interest and let the information be absorbed. The whole atmosphere was relaxed but Andy, Mike and Paul were very good at passing on the relevant knowledge.

Lunches on Saturday & Sunday and the evening meal on Saturday were provided and it was good wholesome food. The kettle was constantly on so there’s always tea/coffee available.

I’m really glad I went on this course and I feel I have come away from it with a better grounding in the whole bushcraft experience.

- JimN