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

[Kat013]

At some point when I was about 6, soon after I'd learned to read, I started browsing through a set of about a dozen books that were a little like a child's encyclopedia set.. there was a volume titled "how things work", another on the human body, et. al., and one on the Natives of this continent. I put a couple of concepts together and figured out that there had been a progression of technology over time, and way back before that, people lived only with what tools, clothing, and shelter they could make straight from the environment. I knew right then I wanted to learn how to do those things, though I still don't know where that drive comes from.

I was in the Brownies for less than a year around the same time. We got to go on a day trip to Quartz Mountain in Oklahoma.. the Cub Scouts our age got to camp overnight. I realized then that I'd have to learn all this stuff on my own, that no one would ever bother to teach me or assume I had an interest, just because I was a girl.

My childhood was filled with camping and hiking trips, trips to the big lake where we'd spend an entire day exploring the shoreline, and fishing. There was a little target shooting thrown in here and there. When I was 14 I casually mentioned to my parents that I wanted a pocket knife for my birthday... my mom laughed at me. When I was 15 I opened a checking account; the first thing I bought was a Spyderco Endura (serrated, as I didn't know a damn thing about knives then), which is still my EDC folder.

The internet has done wonders for my knowledge base, this place more so than any.

 

[Myal]

My dad was a refugee , in his early childhood he and his family were "displaced" , stuck between Russian and German lines , trying to avoid troops , camps ... all kinds of stuff ... it made an impression on him enough that he taught his kids how to make do with nothing , and drilled an "alternative" view of things political into his kids

My Mum is a Koori woman whose family had been living under the radar , owning land , cars working at jobs and marrying without any permissions or licenses from the Protectorate of Aborigines , just passing themselves off as Gypsys ... they got used to packing up and just disapearing when anyone got too nosey about their background , to be "busted" meant they would lose their families and be sent to a reservation somewhere , everything they owned would have been confiscated ....

Mum taught us some good stuff , part of that was an "unatachment" to stuff , or a readiness to just up and vanish with only the barest of essentials and live with nothing , how to stay out of sight ,start over again .... its how her family kept their freedom more than once

I was born after my Father had become a citizen , and after the 66 referendum that granted Aboriginals the right to citizenship , but my folks still passed on the things they thought was important to survival , more than just woodcraft , but survival in a whole heap of areas ...

My Dad figured it would be better to put his money into a farm than a new house and car , to give us kids room to go stupid in our teenage years ... but they made sure that we knew how to look after ourselves in case of snake bite , got lost , car breaks down / gets bogged , along with the usual farm stuff , raise and butcher our own meat etc ... at 12yr old I remember teaching the folk who bought the neighbouring farm how to kill and dress out their animals

I guess I been into survival stuff my whole life in one way or another

 

[mmmotorcycle]

In Boy Socuting the Wilderness Survival merit badge jump-started me about three years ago.

 

[gdtrfb]

i read through most of the post (or skimmed), and I may be the only one that wasn't groomed from an early age to be an outdoor type. My parents were 1st gen and the outdoors weren't their idea of fun. (although grandparents hunted out of necessity- that was the only meat they ate 90% of the time)

They were very generous though, and sent me off to camp in the summer where target shooting, archery, canoe skills, etc. were taught. I learned to sail and sea kayak in HS working on the beach in S FLA. I fished a bit, but never got into hunting. I did a fair amount of coastal mapping and ecosystem mapping research in undergrad/grad school. Camped more for work than fun back then. Went to upstate NY and then CO after that and camped/backpacked since (winter and summer). I am not so much a survivalist as one that appreciates the outdoors.

Along came a wife and then kids. Not much survivor type scenarios with the wife, but simple tent camping in campgrounds, or cabin, etc. When the kids get older, I will take them backpacking and show them a bit.

I know much more about a variety of outdoor skills than most Americans, but have learned a great deal here and I am a neophyte compared to most that contribute content here.