WOODSMANSHIP "What does it mean to you!"

I think it means having a good understanding of the environment your in and being cosiderate of everything in it. take only what you need.;) male adult stars are also reffered to as woodsmen:eek:
 
here's what I've learned:

Don't eat any yellow snow!

Don't follow the fat guy across ice

Don't follow inside 10 paces of the guy infront of you when making your way through the bush....ever heard of loading a branch?

Don't ever think you are walking straight!

Don't leave a path or canoe without a compass heading (or turn the dahm GPS on and mark a waypoint)

Don't ever let someone else take a shot because you think they are better than you..chances are they are not.

Don't leave home without extra boot laces in your pack

Don't ever think that just because you took a dump first thing in the morning that you aint gonna have to dump again in the woods

When refering to the above, one peice longjohns are a bad thing in December when you've really gotta go NOW!
 
Woodsmanship means maintaining a level head in difficult circumstances.

It means being able sense (feel, see, anticipate) what your next step SHOULD be, AND following through with it.

It means seeking and accumulating the skills needed to help you and yours survive and hopefully thrive whatever scenario you are in (shelter, fire, orientation, tracking, trapping, etc.).

It means recognizing when your skills are appropriate enough to be a leader, or to be a follower and to learn from the leader.

I'm a boreal boy in the Arctic - it's time for me to be a follower and student again for a while...
 
A good woodsman will leave no sign of his passing. This means no beer cans, no candy rappers, no flagging tape and no empty shell casings.

Nothing but a gutpile which the ravens will take care of in 24 hours.
 
Slooshark1 said:
A good woodsman will leave no sign of his passing. This means no beer cans, no candy rappers, no flagging tape and no empty shell casings.

That I disagree with. I have crossed many a blazed trail while hunting/hiking through the woods. Some as old as dirt and mostly made by trappers of long ago. On one trail we found a small pile of lead sealed tin cans.
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To me, it's being self sufficent and comfortable.
Bring the stuff you need. What you need depends on the person.
Some guys feel they need to bring half the damned camp with them, satellite dish included! Other's are only carrying their rifle and a bag of jerky. As long as I don't have to carry it for them, who cares.
I don't go hunting as much for meat as I do to leave the cell phone and service truck at home. Just get out on your watch, relax, and unwind. Pick up your stuff at the end of the day, and leave no sign that you were there.
 
Woodsmanship is forever changing! What I learned, I learned from my father and my uncles and a bunch of other old timers, but mostly I learned from doing and being. Mostly I remember the awesome sense of just pure being. When talking about woodsamanship it was often in reverent terms and many times in reflection at the end of a day basked in the glow of a camp fire.

Many of us don’t have time for woodsmanship anymore. We mix the art or gift of pure being with monster pick up trucks, high tech clothing and camp gear, satellite GSP, the most sophisticated optics. Etc. Reverant terms are often replaced by cyber talk and the only glow is actually a glare from a computer screen.

The essence of what should be at the heart of woodsmanship, can not be limited to the woods, but has been experienced by men of the prairies, mountains, desserts and the sea.

In any event, woodsmanship or whatever you call it……… I wish to thank Big Redd for suggesting the topic.
 
If you go out with a trapper for example you will quickly find that in his world, you are a greenhorn, and not just about setting traps. They have ways of doing things that boggle the mind.
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Couldnt agree more, I'm a rookie trapper. I have been out with a few older fellows that new the bush, I felt like a stunned urbanite following them around.

Example:
I walk for 20 minutes through the bush from one set to another. I see moose tracks, deer tracks and some mink sign.

A 78 year old trapper carrying 45lbs of traps and gear walks the same piece of bush in 12 minutes. After the little hike he could tell tou where every critter in the bush was, what it had for dinner last night and what it was likely to do tommorow.

These guys have always blown me away with all the little invetions they come up with to make a day in the bush a little easier.
 
It's when your time in the bush isn't just recreational, it's not lifestyle, it's your life. When hunting, trapping, fishing, and gathering native plants for food is the same as going to the grocery store you area woodsman. When finding the trees and foliage to build the tools and shelter you need is like going to the hardware store you are a woodsman. When you have the knowledge and gumption to overcome the odds of whatever situation faces you with only the supplies on your back, you are a woodsman. I'm sure some of us, not me, are fantastic out there, but most of us, me, while being savy, would be right f**ked if it got bad and we had to survive more than 5 days. There are no mountain men anymore....:(
 
Woodsmanship is sharpening your chain without a file guide . It's knowing how to ajust your high and low speed jets without a manual . It's mixing your gas and not having to read the instruction . Woodsmanship is a union of you and your chainsaw in waist deep snow or soaked to the knees in a swamp . Woodsmanship is piece work and a good woodsman can drop and limb as much habitat in a day as a skidder can haul .
 
I hope this guy can make a meal out of sawdust!!!
Woodmanship to me means many things

You must let the animal inside out. Animals have no weapons, just thiers senses, which we must learn to use.
They find shelter, we build or find.
They find food or become food, this happens 24/7 365 days of the year.
Find them, and you will find food
Find the food, and you will find water nearby
Watch, listen , learn, and remmber one thing,
Mother nature will not be crying at your grave site, always no matter what, it it even a small little pain in the neck back pack, take it with you at all times.
And make dam sure you got what it takes to make it in a pinch, and what's not in the fanny pack or back pack, it better be in your brain. because your gonna needed most then
Been there, done it, and can do it again.
 
Right now ...it means I'd rather be camped on a lake a few miles way back-in, fishing speckled trout out of a canoe with a fly rod ... than stuck in here banging on a key board !
 
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