How did you get into WIlderness skills/bushcraft/survival?

I had a few boy scout skills and basic camping experience,and in high school attended an "Outward Bound" type survival school. I also had an interest in doing things the "old way", then I pretty much lost everything in a back to back Divorce/IRS debacle. I was in various states of homelessness for three years. Early on I read a magazine article by Tom Brown about urban survival, which helped considerably, I became aquainted with others who were living in similar circumstances, and had a pretty wide awakening about what it really is to have to survive on the fringes. After I got back on my feet, I took a few of Toms courses, and try to keep fairly prepared.
 
Scouts created a life-long interest in the outdoors, led to Emergency Service Explorers (We could do things in those, pre-sue everyone for everything days.), and led to two years in SAR. College, marriage, and work took a big chunk out of the middle, but I got back into Scouting in 1982, and so back outside at least once a month year-'round. I also quickly got into training Scouts and Scouting adults in outdoor skills, a motivation to keep learning.
 
I was raised on the ranch too. The whole family hunted and fished, Uncles, cousins, grandparents and parents. It was hard not to get involved.
 
Johny Rambo...... ahh yes. The movie First Blood, and subsequent sequel had a little to do with it. But I was interested long before. The movies just sent me into the "cheap hollow handle mall ninja" stage.

My family has alway fly fished, hunted, camped, and skied. We spent most of the time outdoors fishing. This and the Scouts really sealed it for me.

I remember the Black Stallion movie. The scene where the kid cut himself loose with the pocket knife his dad gave him from the poker game. Later on in the movie he used it on the island to make fire. I was memorized by that pocket knife. This was the beginning of my steel addiction. My quest for the perfect knife (pocket or otherwise) has never ended.;)

Fly Fishing, Scouts, The Black Stallion, and Rambo. Quite a mix ehh.....
 
It certainly started for me hunting with my father at the age of about 8. I would call my father a true "Bay Rat" anybody who lives along the Mid-Atlantic coast should know the meaning. I owe my deep respect and love for the outdoors to him. I have been in the woods or out in nature for the past 30 years. I must say that finding this site as well as a few others has increased my knowledge of wilderness survival skills and now I am passing on the tradition to my 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter.
 
I've been in Boy Scouts since tiger cubs, about 6 years old. Stuck with it and made Eagle Scout, then in Venture Scouts got my Ranger award after one of my trips to Philmont. I've always been into knives and the outdoors. I found this site by looking up H1 steel. The precipitation hardened stuff that can't rust...ever! I did a google search and it popped up a discussion about H1 from a couple of years ago, so I signed up, posted on it and voila! Now I'm here and you guys are stuck with me :p.

I have to admit that I had no idea what the hell half of the "lingo" was when I started here. I kept reading "mora this" and "mora that" so I thought, "what the hell is a mora?" :confused:. So I googled that and so now I know what a mora is and a psk and all of that other stuff that we use to shorten our typing :D. And I also know that whenever the word MORA is brought up, a lurking Skammer is sure to follow ;).
 
This was more of a way of life that I grew up with.

Grew up at the Base of the Mountain and the Mountain was our playground.

And having friends in a wide range of ages helps, kind of like the old one room school house in the positive sense.

Also being able to spend as much time with my Grandparents as my own parents was a big help too.

My Grandfather and his Father and Grandfather were all Mountain People.
This was a Blessing in learning Wilderness Skills that were handed down through the generations.

The interest in Survival Skills, also came from this same Grandfather, who was involved with Civil Defense and Training.

Plus he owned over 200 acres of Land. And was good training ground, from child to a young man.

These were real blessings in my education and my life.
 
I grew up in a rural area, without a lot of exposure to wilderness on a daily basis. Luckily, my dad took me to Canada for a week every summer on a fishing trip. We always rented a cabin, but at least one night every week we would tent camp out in the bush, and he and my grandpa would teach me a few bushcraft skills.

I'm 25 now, and I'm lucky enough to have married a woman that's very much into camping/hiking/bushcraft, so now i can really spend a lot of time learning and practicing new skills! :D If anyone in the Akron/Canton area of Ohio wants to get together and show off some skills, let me know!

-Parke1
 
I had the blessing of growing up on a small farm. At age 7 I was allowed free range
of 40 acres of woods with no rules other than "be back by supper". Many times I spent
the day in the woods sharing my lunch with my cat named Rascal who I had taught
to ride on my shoulders like his namesake raccoon from the book by Sterling North.

My folks subscribed to Mother Earth News (when it was really good, in the 70's).
Around the house there were copies of Stalking the Wild Asparagus, The Complete
Book of Outdoor Lore, the Foxfire Series, Big Game Animals of North America, The
Whitetail Deer Book, etc.

I read nearly everything Jim Kjelgaard ever wrote - not just Big Red, Irish Red and
so forth, but also Swamp Cat, A Nose For Trouble, and his other non-Irish Setter
books. Jack London - The Call of the Wild, White Fang, etc. I devoured Louis Lamour's
works. While he presented a somewhat romanticized view of the old west, it gave
me a hunger for independence and lonely places.

Starting at grade 6 I took my schooling by correspondence course and spent some
time in the woods nearly every day possible. I became a crow hunter because crow
season was open year round - it gave me an excuse to tote my shotgun everywhere.

Marriage and a career in IT sidetracked me for a while. However, a few years ago
I rediscovered the joy of simple things and spending time in the woods. To me,
Bushcraft is about simplicity. The more you know, the less you need to carry.
 
When I was a kid, at my first house we had woods with a very steep hill behind it. You had to grab the small trees to keep from sliding when going down. Way down below was "Roaring Brook," and I could hear and barely see it, and was fascinated. This was even before age 10. My parents would warn me "It's dangerous down there." Wrong thing to say to a curious kid...Whooom! Off I went and explored. It was a magical thing back then.

Later, at my second house, we had miles of woods, and after school every day and on weekends, I was off on another adventure, playing mountain man or army or any combo of the above, making shelters, fire, all sorts of things.

I loved Tarzan, too, and scared the crap out of my parents one day, when, at age 10 or so, I was inspired by the Tarzan TV show, put on my trusty red, white, and blue speedo (this WAS the 70s), climbed a tree and tied a rope, then took the other end and climbed onto the second story roof of the house. My parents came home from grocery shopping, and my mom, carrying eggs, etc. looked up and screamed in terror for her life, dropping the bag and breaking the eggs, as this howling, skinny pale thing came swooping down from the roof towards her unexpectedly, heightening the scare with his best Tarzan call, "AH-oooh-aaah!" I had trouble controlling the swing and crashed into her, knocking her to the ground and causing her to fracture her wrist.

They grounded me for awhile and took away my trusted olympic speedos after that (not to mention hiding all ropes), and were more careful about what stunts I was possibly pulling in the woods after that...

Because I was a little budding daredevil, my mother was always saying, "OH, Brian!" She said it so much, the neighbor's kids thought it was my name.. (Mom, when is "O'Brian" coming over to play?")
 
I've always been an outdoors fan ever since I was a small kid. Camping and woods skills have always been in my family. I can remember my father packing us up and hauling us on camping trips as far back as I can remember. I saw some family videos recently of me from when I couldn't have been more than 2 with a walking stick out in the woods on one of our trips. I never knew what any of it was called. Honestly, I had never even seen or heard the term "bushcraft" that I can remember before I found this site. My father and grandfather always made it very important since i can remember to be able to shoot well, use a knife, make what you need, and find everything around you that can be used in pretty much any environment.I started setting off on my own when I was about 5. It started off as tenting it in the backyard and then moved on to camping deep in the woods with my brother shortly after that. After that, I just decided that I liked going off into the woods for periods of time, a day, a weekend, whatever and had fun building shelters and hunting small game with my rifle and just hanging out by myself. I would still take friends along half the time, but I more enjoyed it by myself. I would pretend I was shipwrecked or something like that and have fun. It just kept going from there. Once I got into highschool, I joined ROTC to get a head start in the military. Through that, I had the oppertunity to do a ton of survival schools and courses from Marine, Army, Navy, and Airforce survival experts and instructors. I signed up for everything I could.Skip ahead past the military stuff. Now I'm a grownup waiting to have kids so I have someone to play "shipwreck survivor" with. lol. Now that I found this forum, it has given me a lot more information and ideas of things I want to learn. Plus, I now have a name for what skills I like to practice and have fun with, "bushcraft". Sounds cool too. ;)
 
I was born into it. The environment I grew up in, family traditions, and later the military. It would have been very difficult not to get into these things, especially with my kind of personality.
 
it started when i was 9, i read the book "My Side of the Mountain". the day i finished reading that i asked my parents for a knife so that i could move into the woods.

then my interest in teh outdoors took a backseat for a few years after that as i got into cartoons, ninjas and technology. then when i was about 14 i slowly started to get back into the PSK ideas and i spent more and more time reading up on them, and then it gradually morphed into what i do now, just get out and enjoy the woods with an ever growing knowledge base to take care of me in case i get into trouble.

i have also gone from carrying a 20 pound pack everywhere with me, no matter what, to a rather minimalistic camping/lifestyle.
 
As a kid, I spent a good amount of time living on the Navy base in Annapolis.

There were a few of us who ran barefoot to toughen our feet (the kid with the most leathery looking feet was viewed with awe).
The wooded area of the base was a place we could toughen up, build debris huts (not that we called them that, we called them forts!) we tried trapping/snaring rabbits and squirrels (never got one). Sat and listened and marvelled in the beauty around us. Shimmied up crab trees for snacks, ate wild blackberries and raspberries, laid in the grass for hours picking out animals in the clouds. Did the Boy Scouts for a while, went on a camping trip or two-loved cooking outdoors! Still do!

Moved to Minnesota and discovered fishing. Spent summers in a boat and winters in an icehouse. Never have been a hunter-would love to learn! Read many books that others in this thread have mentioned--still have them and pick them up for a refresher now and then.

My fascination with knives started when Dad gave me that blue Cub Scout folder...back in the day you could take them to school and I did...dangling off the little clip on my cargo shorts (remember those??) I carved hooks, spears, darts, whatever I could with that knife. Got my first fixed blade, a German-made, stag handled knife that was razor-sharp! It was love at first sight!

I buy books about survival, buy knives and gear and test them to make sure ITSHTF, that I will stick around. I don't know squat compared to many of the guys here, so I lurk, learn, try things in the yard, add to my stash, learn some more and stare with dismay at my bank account after a week of "presents to myself" show up!

Seriously, I am getting back into the great outdoors after years of playing corporate games, getting divorced, and starting over with nothing. Teaching my sons about survival in any and every setting is my number one priority. Life is good! This site has provided me with a sense of comeraderie, thanks all!
 
Just Born that way! Never wanted to do anything more than play in a creek somewhere...
 
There was a time, now mostly forgotten, when boys were given knives and raised to be outdoorsmen.
 
Dr. Mudd said:
There was a time, now mostly forgotten, when boys were given knives and raised to be outdoorsmen.
Click to expand...

It's sad that the general public today considers this to be politically incorrect, eh? Not to turn this into a political discussion....
 
Brian Jones said:
It's sad that the general public today considers this to be politically incorrect, eh? Not to turn this into a political discussion....
Click to expand...

Thats fine with me. My wife wanted the alpha male. Todays society made that an easy decision. Besides, later on in the zombie movie, all the sheeple will have them distracted while we're devising a plan. :)
 
My parents took us camping a lot.
My dad and some other neighborhood fathers and sons got together and did boy scout kind of stuff. It was a lot of fun with out the silly uniforms and militancy.
Lately it has been this forum that got me into preparing and practicing my skills.
 
When I was still in the womb my dad was reading my field and stream, Petersons hunting and other outdoor magazines. I read "hatchet" when I was a kid an always dreamed of going at it alone in the wilderness (yeah i know dreams of granduer). My father took me hunting ALOT and I went on my own when i could. The year turned into seasons fishing/hunting and I joined the boyscouts. My family has several farms and the one in PA we hunt/camp/fish etc on the most. I recently have gotten more into light camping and packing. My whole family's into the wildnerness/bushcraft aspect of things though, not just me.
 
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