- Messages
- 160
- Reactions
- 462
Because I'm a historian and like to poke things from all angles, I'd like to pose an interesting question.
At one time I had access to a great many old boy scout manuals, so am fairly familiar with their contents.
From an objective, 21st century standpoint, is there really any important field craft in them that is not currently transmitted in modern survival manuals such as the US Army survival manual, SAS survival manual, or any leading bushcraft manual?
When we get right down to it, the basics of bushcraft and wilderness survival remain unchanged, and while old books might have tips and tricks that were in vogue at the time, or simply included to make a new edition new, I'm hard pressed to find any crucial "lost" knowledge in these old books.
Interesting? Yes. Differing perspectives on common themes? Yes. Worth hunting down in hopes of digging out a rare nugget of survival wisdom that will keep you alive? Probably not.
Which begs the other point - romanticism. God knows I'm guilty of it, and I make money sometimes writing about basic wilderness survival skills. But it raises the question, how many of us truly are ever going to be in a situation where needing to know advanced bushcraft will matter? As a hobby it is one thing, but for the small percentage of us who roam far enough afield where more than a basic level of knowledge is important, I'd argue that unless you are chasing it for the hobby knowledge, acquiring bushcraft skills beyond a certain point and thinking them possibly useful is a waste of time. In fact, that really goes for any sort of survival skill.
I fear that the need for advanced wilderness survival skills is very limited when compared to other skills. I also fear that a great amount of romanticism, and idealized notions of what "survival" entails plays a part in this never ending quest to learn yet one more way to start a fire in the rain forests of the eastern Washington deserts, or whatever obscure nugget of detail is popular this week.
Just some food for thought. Old books and old knowledge is wicked cool, but I think sometimes folks get caught up the imagined, rather than real practicality of it all. Especially when it involves stuff from "back in the day" and other mythical "better times."
At one time I had access to a great many old boy scout manuals, so am fairly familiar with their contents.
From an objective, 21st century standpoint, is there really any important field craft in them that is not currently transmitted in modern survival manuals such as the US Army survival manual, SAS survival manual, or any leading bushcraft manual?
When we get right down to it, the basics of bushcraft and wilderness survival remain unchanged, and while old books might have tips and tricks that were in vogue at the time, or simply included to make a new edition new, I'm hard pressed to find any crucial "lost" knowledge in these old books.
Interesting? Yes. Differing perspectives on common themes? Yes. Worth hunting down in hopes of digging out a rare nugget of survival wisdom that will keep you alive? Probably not.
Which begs the other point - romanticism. God knows I'm guilty of it, and I make money sometimes writing about basic wilderness survival skills. But it raises the question, how many of us truly are ever going to be in a situation where needing to know advanced bushcraft will matter? As a hobby it is one thing, but for the small percentage of us who roam far enough afield where more than a basic level of knowledge is important, I'd argue that unless you are chasing it for the hobby knowledge, acquiring bushcraft skills beyond a certain point and thinking them possibly useful is a waste of time. In fact, that really goes for any sort of survival skill.
I fear that the need for advanced wilderness survival skills is very limited when compared to other skills. I also fear that a great amount of romanticism, and idealized notions of what "survival" entails plays a part in this never ending quest to learn yet one more way to start a fire in the rain forests of the eastern Washington deserts, or whatever obscure nugget of detail is popular this week.
Just some food for thought. Old books and old knowledge is wicked cool, but I think sometimes folks get caught up the imagined, rather than real practicality of it all. Especially when it involves stuff from "back in the day" and other mythical "better times."
