The difference between moorland managed for shooting on the right of the fence and grazed and denuded of heather and anything but grass on the left. (Image by Richard Guy)
Misunderstanding about the environment and about the work that goes on in the countryside abounds, often championed by well meaning individuals with the welfare of animals and the conservation of the natural world at heart but without the practical experience or appreciation of the relevance of wildlife management to accept that sometimes humans need to manage the environment rather than just let nature do it's own thing.
Mark Avery, former director of research for the RSPB published Inglorious in 2015 criticising grouse shooting and supporting his call for a ban on driven grouse shooting. While he does cite some very credible literature and does make some very good arguments against large scale driven grouse shooting he completely overlooks the benefits of land managed by game keepers.
I take a dim-view of 'celebrity environmentalists' like Chris Packham and Bill Oddie who should know better than to make some of the claims they do about grouse shooting and game keepers, although there are some in that industry who certainly do break laws and persecute wildlife the work of gamekeepers is still very important to the character of the British countryside. I do though have a little more sympathy with the kind of environmental 'miss-education' that can occur in schools.
'Environmental Education' is part of the curriculum in the form of topics such as climate change and sustainability and in a 2003 paper about environmental education in Australian National Parks *1 highlights the issue of teachers without the necessary understanding of the environment to deliver effective environmental education. The authors comment specifically that although teachers may have understood environmental issues from a social or cultural perspective they lacked a sound understanding of the ecological and management issues.
I have a similar concern having experienced first-hand the effects of misguided people who were concerned about the environment, they had certainly taken a position about the environment and were attempting to influence society which are two of the highest goals of environmental education but their position and action were informed, not by sound fact and local ecological knowledge, but by media and schools where the preoccupation seems to be to presenting global ecological and conservation issues without the context of local issues and badly informed teachers who will preach, rather than teach, about a specific, possibly emotional interest they have in the environment. To put this in context over my years of working in the countryside I have had traps and snares stolen or vandalised, valuable livestock released and been yelled at and verbally abused for cutting down trees and have been reported to the police for carrying out perfectly legal, necessary and beneficial environmental management activities.
Contrary to popular belief it is still legal to trap and snare many species of vermin and predatory mammals as well as some birds under the conditions of the General Licences as well as use snares which meet certain design criteria under the UK's laws. These traps fill a vital role in controlling species such as grey squirrel and mink but many dismiss them as illegal and cruel without any proper understanding of their role, function or the lengths which have been gone to to ensure modern traps are humane.
I do not believe that it is the role of teachers and environmental educators to address the issues or specific difficulties I have faced due to ‘environmental mis-education’ but there should be a responsibility to provide local context for peoples experiences in the environment rather than them forming perceptions of nature and the environment from TV documentaries of exotic animals, deforestation, global warming and other, very important, but very distant and intangible environmental issues.
If instead of using the easily accessible, celebrity endorsed, well marketed, neatly packaged but flawed examples of the negatives of wildlife and environmental management teachers were a bit more critical of the material they delivered and were willing and comfortable to step out of the school building onto a local farm, nature reserve, shooting estate, beach or hillside their students would see the day to day activities that go on out there and be able to relate to the climate and sustainability issues in their own community rather than form the opinion the cutting down trees is bad because deforestation in the Amazon is bad and that's all they have learned about at school.
Coppice management in a UK ancient woodland, a whole different kettle of fish to deforestation although tarred with the same brush in many peoples minds because they simply don't understand the difference.
While I don't expect everyone to suddenly start hunting and foraging their own food after a brush with the environment of their local area I do think that it will be much easier to have those conversations about where food comes from and why shooting and fishing are a legitimate and beneficial way of putting food on the table once people understand how the environment of their local area is maintained and managed.
My son mackerel fishing off the Dorset Coast
It's not only about food though or the rights and wrongs of killing something to eat but about respect for the people who make a living out of agriculture and countryside management and an understanding of the UK's unique landscape and countryside.
As bushcrafters you, and I say you because I am a deer stalker by trade and I train game keepers so to many I am one of the enemy when it comes to their opinions about wildlife and the environment. YOU have a unique opportunity to teach people about those things without being a direct part of an industry that many distrust and find distasteful and can do a great deal to educate people about their countryside.
References
*1 Lugg, A. & Slattery, D., (2003). Use of National Parks
for Outdoor Environmental Education: An Australian Case Study. Journal of
Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 3(1), pp. 77-92.
November sees the start of the Chinese water deer (CWD) season and to open it I often make an outing with a few like minded companions to make a good start on the cull. This is an account of one of those early season outings from a year or two ago:
Before we even reached our parking spot, we saw our first CWD, unperturbed by our presence we could only watch him briefly before trundling
on. Once parked, we wished each other good fortune and set off after a careful
re-brief on safety and communications procedures and where everyone would be
seated on this grey, damp and increasingly windy morning.
A few minutes later we had all taken up our respective
positions and began our vigil as the light slowly gathered in the east. Through
binoculars, dark shapes could be seen but not yet in sufficient detail to be
useful, weeds and the ever present ‘bog oak’ projections, can all take on the
form you want them to in poor light and patience is the only solution.
A double Crack and thump told me that Carl had found his
mark with 2 rounds in quick succession. I awaited Carl’s call so that I could leave
my seat as I could also see deer now, though not close enough for a shot and I
was eager to move but didn’t want to rush Carl and safety and communications
protocol demanded that we were in touch before I moved. Carl’s report came, he
had two deer and was observing another, as was I. We agreed that he would make
safe and I would leave my seat to pursue one of my opportunities, Steve hadn’t
seen anything yet but the day was young.
I was out of my seat and crossed a very rough track to the
cover of some tall weeds, from here I confirmed the position of 2 deer and
dropped back into deeper cover to make my advance unseen. Progress was slow to
avoid making any noise in the brittle cover and soon I had closed the range to
around 75 yards, a safe and comfortable shot even in this morning’s stiff
breeze. I opened up my shooting sticks and rested the rifle on top, made a few
minor adjustments and slipped behind the stock to take the first view of my
target through the scope. It was a good size yearling buck, no fangs to speak
of and moving confidently and freely with no sign of impediment. I slipped the
safety catch off and as he turned broad side on to me, two deep breaths, exhale
as I put the cross hairs just behind his shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The
rifle cracked and nudged me gently in the shoulder and I heard the bullet
strike its target and saw a shower of hair to confirm the fact.
Chinese water deer often shed huge clumps of fur when they are hit, this makes is fairly strait forward to track them down if they run from the point where they were hit.
My phone buzzed
almost immediately with a message that Steve had dropped a nice buck and I
replied that I had too. The deer I had shot had disappeared in to cover as they often do but
experience told me that I was only going to walk a very few yards to find my
prize. This was my hundredth CWD. I made safe
and started my gentle stroll to the spot where I last saw my deer and as I
expected, I found hair and blood at the point of impact confirming what I
already knew and a significant blood trail led the 8 or 10 paces to where the
little fellow lay motionless in a dry ditch. He was in lovely condition, fine
coat and fat. I carried out all of the carcass inspections required for meat to
be put in the food chain and got to work with knife and rubber gloves to prepare him for the carry out.
Back at home, the butchery confirmed that the animal was in
great condition, very fat from a plentiful supply of quality fodder, kidneys almost
invisible in a shroud of thick fat, this is going to eat beautifully!
This months review is going to feature some of the kit we used on our father and son trip to Sweden, both well tried and tested, there's no point heading so far afield with unproven gear.
Klättermusen Arvaker 60 litre modelled by yours truly.
The first review is my rucksack, the Klättermusen Arvaker. They don't make it anymore but I've had this for about eighteen months and it's seen extensive use in Scotland and Sweden in that time. It's by far the most comfortable rucksack I have ever used and although at 60 litres it doesn't have a huge capacity, they do also produce a 100 litre rucksack, the model that was contemporary with the Arvaker was the Mjölnir which has now been replaced by their Tor model.
Even when it's loaded heavily it is extremely comfortable, you can hardly feel the weight in it at all and I really wouldn't want to switch back to a rucksack without the proprietary load bearing system.
The rucksack has an aluminium frame which spreads the load and the hip belt is a perfect fit and is adjustable from four points so it can be tighter at the bottom or top depending on how your prefer it. The hip belt also includes the loop fields which can be found all over the rucksack. These can be used to attach a range of pockets and accessories. They are not designed for use with MOLLE but they do just about fit and a Maxpedition map and compass pouch fits perfectly on one side of the hip belt for convenient access, this means I don't have to carry my map and compass around my neck, and I hate carrying things around my neck.
The external stretch pocket fitted to the arvaker using the loop fields
A closeup of the butterfly bridge feature on the right pack strap, you can also see them in the picture above.
The shoulder straps feature Klättermusens unique 'butterfly bridge' technology which is best explained in the manufacturers own words;
"Key for carrying easier and increasing your endurance is transferring the load to the skeleton in an efficient manner, which our Butterfly Bridge does efficiently.
The benefit of load transfer is twofold. By carrying directly on your skeleton, you can simply lift more with better endurance. On the other end, the strain placed by regular systems on the muscles and ligaments is relieved letting blood pass freely through your muscles keeping you both free from pain and more alert."
All I can say is that this feature seems to work beautifully; I often find that the muscles of my left shoulder get uncomfortable when carrying a heavy rucksack but not with this pack. It is a little on the heavy side due to the frame but any actual weight the construction of the pack adds is more than made up for by the way it spreads that weight so well.
Although it is a roll top pack like many dry bags, it;s not guaranteed to be waterproof so anything you need to keep dry should be packed up in waterproof bags inside the bag. Although it resembles a dry bag it is constructed far more strongly and the Kevlar reinforced bottom will put up with being put down in brambles, bushes and on sharp rocks without you having to worry about damaging your pack.
The only bad thing about the Klättermusen pack is the price. The Arvaker used to retail around £250 as far as I remember and it's equivalent product that is available now is about £300 but the quality is undeniable, if you spend a lot of time on expeditions you will struggle to find anything more comfortable and it is comparable in price with other very high end packs like the Fjällraven or some tactical packs by Karriomor SF, TAD Gear and Mystery Ranch.
Another piece of kit we took with us, and which despite the craze amongst 'survivalists' for one tool knives I would recommend everyone include amongst their bushcrafting gear, was an axe. The fact that on a bushcraft trip to Sweden I didn't take a Swedish axe may seem a little blasphemous to some but for the last two years I have been using an axe by a Basque company called Jauregi. They make axes by hand to a traditional pattern and rather than having the axe handle inserted into the bottom of the head and secured with a wedge these axe heads are fitted to their handles in a similar way to tomahawks. The model I have is one of their pruning axes and it has a 50cm handle and a head weighing 0.8kg's.
When I picked one up a few years ago i wasn't necessarily looking for an alternative to my other axes out of any sort of dissatisfaction, I have a Wetterlings Swedish Forest Axe which I have had for over ten years now and which is as close to being the perfect axe as I've ever found, but it is a bit on the big side for every day bushcrafting, and for taking in hold luggage. I also have a Gransfors carving axe which is a specialist tool and not one to take on a bushcrafting trip. The Jauregi pruning axe is a little larger and longer than a hatchet making it more powerful for cutting and chopping but it's lightweight handle means it weighs no more than a hatchet.
Clockwise from top; Gransfors Bruks carving axe, Wetterlings Swedish Forest axe, Jauregi pruning axe
The beech handle is the only disappointment I have with this axe, it's a little on the skinny side, it has to be for the handle to fit, but that does make it a little uncomfortable so I wrapped a small portion with tape to provide a slightly chunkier grip, it can easily be unwrapped if I want to get the head off. Additionally beech is not going to be as strong as the hickory used in most modern axes. I understand that they are using traditional materials but there is a reason that Wetterlings and Gransfors use hickory and it's not that it's native to Sweden. Hickory is an American import and before we had access to it tool handles in Europe would have been mostly made of ash and while ash is an excellent material for tool handles it's not quite as resistant to impact as hickory and I'd prefer something other than beech but it's not the end of the world.
The handle was fairly rough when it arrived and while some might complain about that just pause and think for a moment that the Gransfors carving axe, which will cost you at least £50 more than the Jauregi is deliberately made with a rough handle, according to the design criteria of celebrated wood carver Willi Sundqvist, to aid gripping it. If a rough handle is a problem for you use it more and get some callouses.
Clearing a trail from windblown trees in Scotland last year
Looking out over Ullsjön and having a hot meal thanks to the firewood cut with our axe.
The carbon steel head does seem to be a little more prone to rust that some of my other axes but it sharpens easily and came with a very robust leather guard that secures with a buckle.
The Jauregi 50cm pruning axe and a home made froe
I've only found one place to get these axes from; the Finland based online knife, tool and outdoor supplier Lamnia. While I can't recommend it above Wetterlings or Gransfors axes it is a unique design and very effective and lightweight.
Whatever approach you take to choosing your gear make sure before heading off far from home to practice your bushcraft that you take tried and tested gear, don't head off on an expedition with a brand new rucksack or brand new boots use what you know and are comfortable with.
When Michael and I headed out for our adventure in Sweden we planned in advance where we were going to spend our time. Any outdoor activity, especially if you are far from home needs, to be properly planned so you can leave a detailed plan with someone at home so rescue can be arranged if you don't come back or get in touch according to schedule.
While you should be able to navigate from map and compass even if you haven't previously planned a route there really is no excuse for heading out somewhere without doing some planning in advance. This is especially important if you are taking a child with you, there may be terrain you want to avoid, or particular features you want to include in your route. I am fascinated by maps anyway so spending a few hours poring over a map is no hardship and has always payed off.
It's also important at the planning stage to make backup plans and 'escape routes', especially in mountainous areas where weather can change drastically and very quickly. These plans might include a route around a particular feature that could be dangerous in bad weather such as river crossings that might be too dangerous when water levels are high or mountain tops and ridges that might be too dangerous in snowy conditions or high winds. These routes might also be used in the event of injury or the need to depart from a route and head back to civilisation in an emergency.
This route with all necessary camp sites and escape routes can then be left with someone at home so if the worst was to occur and you didn't get back in touch when you said you would or you don't come back on schedule they can pass those details on to whoever becomes responsible for your rescue. We ended up having to use one of our alternative routes on our trip; we had hoped to get to the top of a mountain called Åreskutan a 1420 meter mountain which overlooks Åre, a popular ski resort during the Winter on our first day in the mountains but as there was snow already on the top of the mountain when we arrived we decided to reverse our route and head off up Ullådallen first. Taking an eight year old up a a snow clad mountain top without proper winter climbing kit would not have been a responsible thing to do and would have added significant unnecessary risk to our trip.
We were expecting snow on the last day of our trip but it had snowed before we get there and was settled above about 1000 meters so we stayed a bit lower down and headed up into Ullådallen on our first day instead of our last.
A depiction of Ullr from an Icelandic manuscript from the 18th Century showing Ullr on ski's with his bow. Image is in the Public Domain.
Ullådallen takes it's name from the Norse God of Hunting Ullr. According to mythology Ullr was the son of Siv and foster son of Thor. He was skilled at skiing and a talented bowman and is also celebrated as the God of skiing and archery. It is a popular destination for skiing in Winter and for hunting and fishing.
A sign informing hikers that hunting was in progress and that dogs may be loose in the area.
We had planned to camp near Ullsjön on the second and third nights of our trip and do some fishing and exploring but now this was to be our first stop, it was important that our trip not be all about hiking each day. I've done my fair share of expeditions when I have needed to hike day after day after day and they haven't always been fun and I wanted to make sure this was fun for Michael and not something he had to endure.
The hike up Ullådallen from Åre started on the 'trollstigen' or troll tail and fittingly considering that our destination takes it's name from a Norse God the troll trail starts with a a crossing of the mythological 'bifrost' the rainbow bridge that links Asgard (the world of the Gods) with Midgard (earth).
Michael heading through the bifrost, the platform above him is one of the many mountain bike routes that are popular around Åre outside of ski season.
On the troll trail we saw signs off all sorts of mythological creatures such as trolls and hob goblins.
We needed to plan a route that wouldn't be too strenuous for an eight year old but was remote enough to feel like a genuine adventure for him and the troll trail and some of the well marked hiking trails got us up out of the valley to the head of the trail we would follow to Ullsjön. We had picked a camp site there where we thought we would have access to a small shelter, these are marked on maps in Sweden and are popular places for people to stop and stay while hiking and camping, they can be a bit hit and miss though so I never know what to expect, some are positively luxurious others are a bit more spartan.
Our little shelter on the banks of Ullsjön, you can see the long drop toilet behind the shelter and further up the bank a tiny cabin used by the Sami reindeer herders when their reindeer are ranging in the area.
Our route around the foot of Åreskutan into Ullådallen took as through Buustamon a little collection of holiday cottages and a small hotel which serves the area in holiday season and which takes it's name from the old jamska dialects word for wind shelter; 'buusta' and a dry place in a marsh 'mo'. And it was indeed the last dry place we encountered on our hike. From there on it was very wet under foot and we had several miles of hiking through marshy terrain until we eventually saw the lake we were heading for. Even though it was a fairly misty, damp day with the low cloud hiding the mountain tops from us the scenery was beautiful and seeing the occasional mountain hare already in winter pelage and flocks of cross bills in the pine and spruce trees was great. We were both happy though when we spotted the lake and realised it would only be a few more minutes before we could get out of our wet boots and dry our socks by a fire.
fishing at Ullsjön with Rödkullen which we would climb on our last day in the mountains in the distance.
It was a great place to stay close to the lake and on the edge of a beautiful patch of birch forest with junipers and spruces scattered amongst the lichen bedecked birches. The juniper was a great source of firewood as we found plenty of dead dry branches amongst the thicker, larger growths of juniper and that as well as some dead birch that we collected made the basis of all our camp fires.
Michael hiking through the birch forests at the foot of Åreskutan on our way out of Ullådalen.
We never did make it to the top of Åreskutan, the snow never did clear and actually fell quite heavily the night after we headed out of the hills. We did make it to the top of Rödkullen a smaller 900 meter peak to the west of Åreskutan which Michael had taken to calling Raven Hill after the hill and outpost at the foot of the lonely mountain in The Hobbit. We had been looking at it from our camp site and decided that as it was clear of snow we would change out route so we could climb it on our way back. That route change would also have us climb out of the marshy ground earlier than we otherwise would and get somewhere drier.
Climbing up our of Ullådalen
Looking back down Ullådalen with Ulsjön in the background.
While our adventure didn't take us anywhere truly remote in the grand scheme of things it was far enough from everyone to feel like a real adventure to an eight year old and being able to hear a wold cry under the moon by our camp fire one night was a real thrill. Uullådalen and it's surroundings were beautiful despite the fact that we only briefly had clear skies and sunshine and it's a place I fully intend to return to explore more fully, hopefully with members of my family at mys side again.
Hopefully this adventure has only encouraged Michael to pursue more opportunities to get outside and explore, we had a great time and I'm really glad he chose to take me on his adventure.
My recent trip to Sweden with my oldest son Michael should have yielded a bit more wild food than it actually did, our plan was to do some fishing, now we dedicated a whole day to fishing but didn't actually catch any fish, we did though find some delicious fungi to incorporate into our meals.
Michael has grown very adept at spotting penny buns or as the Swedes call the karljohann svamp, the year one of the most sought after culinary mushrooms in Europe and absolutely delicious, it was too late in the season to find many but we found enough to supplement our first meal at our camp site near Ullsjön.
Frying the penny buns in the lid of our billy can before adding them to our meal of meatballs and rice.
We found plenty of crow berries and blue berries but they were all far past their best and not worth picking.
We found a really good haul of hedgehog fungi, something I don't see a lot of in the UK although it isn't rare here, and made several meals of them. They are known as blek taggsvamp in Swedish but don't be confused by google translate, if you type 'hedgehog mushroom in Swedish' into google you may find it leads you astray. hedgehog in Swedish is igelkott and the Swedish word for lions mane fungi is igelkottstaggsvamp (literally hedgehog spine mushroom) but that isn't the same as this.
A billy can lid full of delicious fungi, we made skewers with some of them and picked more for a stew later in our trip.
It wasn't only in the wilderness that we found mushrooms, I've said before that the UK is behind the rest of Europe as far as wild food, particularly mushrooms, are concerned and this just highlights that. This is Hötorget in central Stockholm and the market stalls are loaded with Chanterrelles and other fresh produce, I haven't seen anything like this in the UK.
Even the manikins in the outdoor shops are out picking mushrooms.
Check back in tomorrow for more about our adventures in Sweden.
Last week during the half term holidays I had the immense privileged to take my oldest son Michael to Sweden for a father and son adventure. My wife and I have promised all our children a trip abroad as their eighth birthday present, as long as we can afford it. Michael turned eight earlier in the year so the October half term was planned as his trip to Sweden.
On the trail heading toward Ullådalen
He wanted to see where I used to live and to go camping and fishing, luckily camping and fishing makes trips abroad much cheaper than they otherwise can be and I think I was as excited about the prospect of getting out in the Swedish countryside as Michael was.
Today's post will be about the travel aspect of bushcrafting and camping abroad. With budget airlines offering flights for as little as £9.99 nowadays getting away to Scandinavia or other European destinations to do a bit of bushcrafting really isn't difficult or expensive anymore. You can get a return flight to Stockholm or Oslo for less than the cost of a train ticket to London.
The problem comes from all the kit that you need to take with you to enjoy the outdoors. Yes as bushcrafters we boast about our ability to make do without heavy tents, stoves and other 'modern' camping kit but even if we can pack light enough to fit all our kit in a tiny cabin bag there will be things we need to take which can't be carried as hand luggage; knife, saw and axe will never be allowed in the cabin and you will have to purchase space in the hold. The price for this varies from airline to airline and with the time of year. On our recent trip a 20kg hold bag cost us £25 per flight, a total of £50 on top of the price of the ticket, but as that only cost £46 for the both of us that still was very reasonable, under £100 for both of us to get to Sweden.
There is a very valid question to ask at this point; is it cheaper to buy bushcrafting tools when you get to your destination than to pay for the hold luggage?
Gransfors axes in the Sveavägen branch of Natturkompaniet
Would it be less hassle to buy tools at your destination that have to carry hold luggage?
Well if you could fit absolutely all your kit into your cabin luggage and just buy cheap tools when you arrived that might be cheaper but consider the fact that although you could buy a knife, axe and folding saw for under the £50 that our hold bag cost is it going to be simple and easy to find them once you arrive? For us it would have been impossible our travel schedule brought us to Stockholm after the shops shut and onto a train with only a few minutes to spare before it headed off overnight to our final destination. Additionally if the budget tools that could have saved you money aren't available you haven't saved yourself any money at all. Yes you could buy a Hultafors Heavy Duty knife (£4) a fiskars X7 hatchet (£19) and a bacho lapplander folding saw (£16.50) for under £50 but could you do that without internet deals and all at a single shop in an unfamiliar country? probably not. Also consider that by the time you have packed you sleeping bag, tarp and a change of clothes and waterproofs you will still need a hold bag to fit it all in, especially in winter and the option to save money on hold luggage and buy when you arrive doesn't seem so sensible.
[NOTE: the prices in the text do not necessarily match the Amazon prices shown here, but I can highly recomend the Bacho saw, the fiskars axe and anything by Hultafors]
The added benefit of packing your own tools is that you can use the tools that you are familiar with and presumably quite attached to and ones which you trust in terms of their performance and quality.
With most our kit packed into a single hold bag and the rest in small cabin bags we travelled about as cheaply as I think it is possible, it helps that we were travelling 'off-peak' at a time of year when flights are a little cheaper anyway and also in terms of our final destination which is a popular ski resort in Winter.
A key to making this kind of adventure fun for children is not to load them down with too much kit, I carried both sleeping bags, all the shelter kit, both fishing rods and the bulk of the tools, leaving Michael with a small bag for his spare clothes, a spare poncho liner, his knife and some snacks. At eight years old loading him down with too much kit could easily have turned a fun adventure into a misery, there will be a time and a place for him to carry heavy loads but this wasn't it. So as a parent be aware on trips like this, whether at home or abroad, you will need to carry the bulk of the kit otherwise your children won't enjoy it, definitely make them carry something but not everything. For this reason a 80-100 litre rucksack is an absolute must for overnight trips especially in Winter. If you are out camping and bushcrafting with children you might be carrying multiple sleeping bags, multiple changes of clothes more food than you usually would, it all adds up and a bigger bag is the only solution.
hiking through the birch forest near Ullsjön
When we set out on this trip the plan was for Michael to carry one of my smaller rucksacks with the straps all cinched tight, this was as good as we could do at the time but in an outdoor shop in Sweden I discovered the Osprey Jet, a proper rucksack that is sized to fit children. This would have been a better and more comfortable option for him and although he doesn't know it yet Michael will be getting one for Christmas if Father Christmas is on form.
Once we had made it to Skavsta airport which is Stockholms equivalent of the UK's Stanstead we had a little over an hour on the bus to get us to the centre of Stockhols where we could catch the night train to Åre, a nine hour train ride away in Jämtland and quite close the the Norwegian border. The connection bus cost £44 for a return journey and seats on the night train £72.52, a cabin with beds would have increased the cost considerably but can still be had for a reasonable price, a return trip with beds would have cost in the region of £180.
When you are bushcrafting abroad be extra careful with vital documents like boarding passes, passports and money, keep them in a waterproof bag and try to keep them in one place so you don't forget and panic about them. When you are transiting through bus stations and airports have them to hand in a pocket but while you are on the trail a sealed dry bag in the main compartment of your bag is the best place for them so they don't get soaked or lost.
So don't think that bushcrafting abroad is out of reach, Michael and I went to Sweden for about £212 and were there for five days. Yes if you start to add accommodation on to that it adds up and if you want to eat out at restaurants then that adds to the price but our grocery bill was about £38, not including the pizza we had in Stockholm before we came home. The rations we bought for the trail and our nights camping included rice, dried potato, korv, rice porridge (it comes in plastic tubes like dog food and doesn't weight anything near as much as tinned rice pudding), hot chocolate, vegetable stock, tomato puree, tortillas and cheese. We had hoped to supplement that with some fish but were very unlucky in that respects but did forage a couple of meals worth of mushrooms which you can read about in tomorrows special edition of the Foragers Diary.
Last week there was no post on the Bushcraft Education blog, I have tried to post every week this year and am aiming to continue and even increase that going into 2019 but last week I had a very good excuse for missing a post, I was in Sweden for a Father and Son bushcraft trip, to make up for that there will be daily posts for the next few days to share our trip to Sweden with you, some of the gear we used, some of the bushcraft skills we practised and some advice about travelling abroad to practice bushcraft.
Todays post though is a news post, I said when I posted the first of these that they may become more regular if they proved popular and if the amount of news demanded it, and it has so here goes:
Following on from last month's post which featured a lot of news about the recent surge in 'prepping' and survival bunkers there are a few more relevant news stories this month;
The lawless, post apocalyptic Australian wasteland inhabited by Max Rockatanski and endless gangs of degenerate petrol heads isn't quite the picture this article paints but it's clear that the subjects of this article are preparing for that very situation. Prepper Jim Greer, geography teacher Mel; who also teachers classes on preparedness, food production and permaculture, and preparedness blogger Nick Sais who runs the Australian Preppers site and forum are all gearing up for a potential apocalyptic event prompted by their concern that the world is spiralling towards a major disaster.
The article points out that the 'doomsday clock' has recently been adjusted to two minutes to midnight, the closest it has ever been to a man made apocalypse since the US and former Soviet Union were testing Hydrogen bombs in 1953.
The doomsday clock is a symbol of the likelihood of a man made global catastrophe. It has been maintained since 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Sciences Science and Security Board. Originally it was published to represent the dangers of nuclear and atomic warfare but also represents other potentially damaging human influences such as climate change, disruptive technology and weapons of mass destruction. The current time of two minutes to midnight is not only based on the threat of war but also on the disruptive affects of climate change.
Something not considered in the time shown on the doomsday clock are the more radical motivations for prepping, resisting rogue and tyrannical governments and ZOMBIES! The Zombie apocalypse idea is a popular one at the moment, largely motivated by zombie themed films and television programmes but lets face it; it's never going to happen. That doesn't mean it doesn't get a lot of press though.
The Sun published an article on the 10th of October based on research on the number of people preparing for apocalyptic events and also reported on some advice by a University Professor on escape routes from major cities and the suggested contents of a survival kit. Saying that research has been carried out into people preparing for the zombie apocalypse the 'research' isn't all that rigorous or useful, it's clear from the article that the research was commissioned by NOW TV to celebrate the latest season of the Walking Dead coming out and gives us stats like;
"The study of 2,000 Brits also found the average adult believes they could evade a zombie bite for just over nine weeks, 13 hours and 26 minutes."
The responses are clearly based on peoples perceptions of survival based on watching too many zombie TV programmes rather than a true understanding of survival and wilderness living. Many principles offered as 'survival hacks' in the article are also grossly over-simplified like the suggestion that when shortages of fuel occur wood can be used as a simple alternative to fuel cars, while wood gas generators are relatively simple technology a single sentence saying it's simple doesn't quite do the technology justice.
The article focuses it's survival advice on scavenging food from supermarkets and modern sources rather than the skills of hunting and gathering but that is the part of bushcraft and survival that is of most interest to me, long term survival won't be possible without a knowledge of wild food, foraging and hunting even if you camped out in Sainsburys you would eventually run out of corned beef and beans so it was disappointing that this article missed out on this topic entirely and instead went with the popular view of the apocalypse of scavenging and looting. It almost seems at times like people truly want the apocalypse to occur so they can rush out and loot themselves a land-rover and a load of camping kit and live like kings. Some of the modern apocalyptic fiction novels sometimes read like wish lists of outdoor kit, that's not to say they aren't entertaining but they probably aren't realistic.
Speaking of apocalyptic fiction I can recommend this series of books which I read recently;
While TV programmes about fictional zombies might have been the catalyst for the research presented in that article by the Sun, and repeated in similar articles in other publications, there are other survival themed TV programmes at the moment that are very popular. From moderately educational programmes like Dual Survival, Survivor Man and of course anything by Ray Mears to reality TV style programmes like Alone and Bear Grylls Island. Thinly disguised as social experiments a lot of these reality programmes are just opportunities to see people get upset about eating things that aren't wrapped in plastic or available at McDonalds and arguing about how to go about the task of survival.
Someone has recently shared an article in the Metro about their experience on one of the Bear Grylls 24-hour survival experiences. One thing that shouldn't surprise anyone is that Bear wasn't actually running the course, while these experiences might carry his name it doesn't actually mean he will be there. The description of the course though indicates that it follows the format of his TV programmes and is more of a survival experience than any sort of training. 'Dynamic river crossings' that just seems like code for jumping into water, a regular occurance on his programmes this is one of those things which is more likely to get someone killed or injured trying to copy Bears antics than anything else he does, it is just a matter of time before someone kills themselves jumping into shallow water or when they smash into a shopping trolley that's just bellow the surface, it's not responsible to teach or demonstrate this as a survival strategy.
As well as news about 'his' courses Bear has also been in the news for an incident on one of his shows. As reported on Digital Spy during a celebrity edition of his series The Island where groups of people are stranded on an island and expected to survive a celebrity who I'd never heard of apparently, I didn't watch the series, tied up a pig and effectively kept it as a pet rather than killing and eating it. While it was tied up, which it obviously didn't enjoy and as it struggled it ended up strangling it'self and dying. Now this chap, Pete Wicks, had been imposing his newly adopted pescatarian diet on his companions by adopting this pig as a pet insisted that the pig be berried rather than eaten even once it had died and instead of making use of it floated it out to sea in some kind of mock Viking funeral. This seems like a huge waste to me especially as it was later pointed out that he was more than happy to kill and eat fish, there seems to be no moral justification for killing one type of animal for food and not another. A showdown between Bear and Pete came later when Bear daid the decision not to eat the pig deprived the camp members of vital energy which they weren't getting anywhere else. Pete responded and said he had been providing yucca and fish for his companions but according to bear that was clearly not sufficient.
does it really make a difference if it comes wrapped in cellophane or skin? This red deer certainly had a better life than most farm animals and went from happily grazing to dead in a fraction of a second, can there be a more ethical way to source food than that?
This raises questions of the ethics of hunting and gathering, something we address here on the BushcraftEducation blog fairly frequently and which will be a recurring topic on future posts. To me though there wouldn't have been a second thought about this, in a survival situation, even an artificial one like this, I wouldn't have had to think twice about eating the pig. I buy bacon why not eat a pig, killing and butchering an animal is something I am skilled at and even for these urbanised celebs certainly would be something they could easily work out. At the end of the day if a lion, fox or buzzard can eat meat why can't we?
There are strong arguments for a reduction in meat eating in general to limit the environmental impacts of industrialised agriculture and the demands on water and other resources that raising farm animals places on the environment but there is a difference between eating wild meat and farmed meat. Wild meat places no unnatural demands on the ecosystem, it's there anyway and I haven't heard anyone make the argument that we should cull wildlife because they are drinking our water and farting into our atmosphere like the arguments made against farmed beef and dairy cattle.
A Pere David Deer
More robust arguments can be made against trophy hunting though and this month the fact that people can pay to shoot deer at Woburn Abbey and other Bedfordshire estates has hit the papers. That may come as a shock to the urban population but as I am in the game, wildlife and deer management industry I have known about it for a while, it's not something that has ever been kept a secret and is entirely justifiable. The hunting of 'trophy' animals has probably been popular ever since some stone age hunter gatherer said to another "mines bigger than yours" and nowadays there is a well developed standard of trophy scoring and grading and many species which are sought after by trophy hunters. It may seem distasteful to some to hunt something because it had big antlers, big teeth or beautiful feathers but if we think about the specific situation being described in the article those deer are going to be shot anyway so why not take advantage of the willingness of trophy hunters to shoot them to pay some bills?
The 'rare' deer being shot at Woburn are Pere David,a a species only still in existence today thanks to the conservation efforts of the Woburn deer park. For about 70 years the only surviving Pere Davd in the world were found at Woburn after they became extinct in their native China but in 1985 they were re-introduced in China from Woburn and now number in the thousands. The herd at Woburn though numbers a few hundred animals which must be regularly culled to prevent them from outstripping their food sources. As we have no large predators in the British Isles that cull is up to humans to perform, why not let people pay to shoot some of the bigger older stags if they are going to be shot anyway?
The same is true of any trophy deer stalking in the UK humans are the only thing controlling deer numbers which are at an all time high in the UK and they can be immensely damaging. I have been involved in deer management, stalking and culling professionally for years and part of funding this management is letting out some of that stalking to clients who will stalk deer under my guidance rather than me shooting them all. It is an entirely justifiable and necessary aspect of deer management in the UK.
Perhaps peoples squeamishness when it comes to the idea of trophy hunting or killing an eating 'Colin' the pig is related to the attitude that got a young girl hurt in Bushy Park recently. The same people who would decry the hunting, killing and eating of a wild animal as barbaric and unnecessary in this day and age are the same ones who treat them like the background of a selfie. Having worked closely with deer for years I've been bitten, butted, kicked, trampled and squashed I know not to get between them and where they want to go and certainly not to make a target of myself during the annual rut. Last year I had to perform first aid on someone who was kicked in the face by a red hind which jumped over them and gave them a swift kick to the face as a parting gift and once had a massive bruise reaching from my groin to my knee after a red stag knocked me over and stood on the inside of my thigh.
There is only one thing on a red stags mind at this time of year and he will fight anything that he perceives as a threat or competitor. Now a seven year old girl having her photo taken may not be a sexual competitor to a 150kg red stag but it isn't going to wait to work that our before goring it. Wildlife does not exist just for peoples entertainment and a bit of respect of their power is required when you are trying to get your selfies, if you want a close up photo get a proper camera don't sneak up with your phone at this time of year or it will end badly.
My oldest son whittling a face on a piece of lime wood.
The last newsworthy topic to feature in this post will be an article reporting claims from a professor of surgery that students are loosing the dexterity to perform surgery as they have no manual skills and are spending too much time 'swiping' on tablets and phones. I used similar evidence and anecdote as the rationale for a piece of research I did a few years ago which you can read about in full HERE.
Get those children out there in the woods and dirt playing with sticks, collecting fruit, throwing stones in the river, whittling, collecting firewood, splitting kindling and developing some old school strength and manual skills that will fix them.
I hope you've enjoyed this month's news post and as long as there continues to be as much bushcraft, survival and relevant educational news we will continue to post these news posts monthly. They will appear on the last Friday of each month, although this one is slightly out of sync due to our trip last week and has displaced the normal foragers diary post.
Keep an eye on the blog over the next few days for an account of the recent Father and Son trip to Sweden.
.svg#/media/File:Doomsday_clock_(2_minutes).svg)
