WOODSMANSHIP "What does it mean to you!"

BIGREDD

BIGREDD

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Woodsmanship!
This is a topic that has never been discussed in detail on this Board or this Forum that I can remember. And it is a topic that has always been important to me with regard to hunting and the outdoors.
No "one" of us has all the answers nor is there a single person who cannot learn something with regard to his woodsmanship skills!
I believe that Woodsmanship is not "Survivalism" nor is is just "Camping" or "Hunting". But having a good sense of Woodsmanship can be of benefit to any outdoors activity.
What does Woodsmanship mean to you?
 
To me woodsmanship is learning the ways of nature. Be it in person, through a book or on TV. Learning animals behavior, predicting weather, lunar phases, directions, etc. It's looking at the big picture, and allowing yourself to become a part of it like a privilage. Not going there expecting it to revolve around you.
 
Woodsmanship! I've live it, breath it, do it and it just comes as natural instinct. I feel that it brings my natural primeval instincts to a peak. I can't put it in words honestly, I go and do what I feel is right. I combine horsemanship with woodsmanship. I rely on my horses, they rely on me, and we make a good team. Wouldn't it be great though if some of us could get together and agree on the contents of a book, I know already whom I would want as co-authors.....just another reason to preserve our wild Canada, east to west. :)
 
How to effectively deal with any situation, as it arizes in the bush. The bush equivilent of 'farm sense'.
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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Hey, take it easy on BR, he's just wanting some pointers OK, he's still thinking about leaving the safety of home. :D
And Pharaoh2 still has a headache from choking on small bones. bahahahah
 
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For me, it is my ability to walk into the bush with the most basic equipment (as little as a knife), and live comfortably....not just survive.
Improvise, invent, utilize...whatever it takes to be comfortable and fed. These skills are easily taught, but not so easily learned. Practice and experience both play a huge part.
 
A woodsman is a person who has spent enough time in the outdoors to understand the outdoors. Woodsmanship is taking that experience and puting it to good use in the outdoors. It's knowing how to react when that little voice inside you, your gut feeling, is telling you something. Woodsmanship is the confidence and humility to admit you, at times, have been scared ####less.
 
I agree with the above statements for the most part.
As well I find it hard to put my finger on any one thing, but I remember getting a little turned around in the bush once on a solo hunting trip, in Northern Ontario.

Woodmanship meant to me that day, staying calm, and taking a rest on a convinient fallen log. After a short smoke break, I got my bearings again and found the right trail out.

Good thread, I have not thought about this in years....
Cheers
 
BIGREDD said:
What does Woodsmanship mean to you?
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When you feel as comfortable in the bush as you do in your living room then you are heading in the right direction.

When you start doing things without conscious though and know without question the correct course of action in most situations then you are getting close to having "woodsman-ship"

When you finally learn enough to realize you will never "know it all" then you are very close to becoming an expert. ;)
 
This is great stuff... could be the beginning of a classic book of quotes on woodsmanship!:cool:
huntinstuff said:
Creativity and common sense in the outdoors.
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pharaoh2 said:
To me woodsmanship is learning the ways of nature. Be it in person, through a book or on TV. Learning animals behavior, predicting weather, lunar phases, directions, etc. It's looking at the big picture, and allowing yourself to become a part of it like a privilage. Not going there expecting it to revolve around you.
Click to expand...

John Y Cannuck said:
How to effectively deal with any situation, as it arizes in the bush. The farm bush equivilent of 'farm sense'.
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.
Click to expand...

walksalot said:
A woodsman is a person who has spent enough time in the outdoors to understand the outdoors. Woodsmanship is taking that experience and puting it to good use in the outdoors. It's knowing how to react when that little voice inside you, your gut feeling, is telling you something. Woodsmanship is the confidence and humility to admit you, at times, have been scared s**tless.
Click to expand...

'Boo said:
When you feel as comfortable in the bush as you do in your living room then you are heading in the right direction.

When you start doing things without conscious though and know without question the correct course of action in most situations then you are getting close to having "woodsman-ship"

When you finally learn enough to realize you will never "know it all" then you are very close to becoming an expert. ;)
Click to expand...




But this is classic Westicle....


Westicle said:
ok, does this involve getting out of the truck and off of the road ??

cause if it does, I don't count
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:D
 
I met a self proclaimed "master woodsman". As I recall he got lost in a mild blizzard for 2 hours in a triangular forested area(10 acres). The borders of the triangle were 2 roads and a ranchers house. that was the first time I'd heard of woodsmen.
 
gitrdun said:
Hey, take it easy on BR, he's just wanting some pointers OK, he's still thinking about leaving the safety of home. :D
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Kitchen, actually :D :D in view of some those shots he takes from inside the window there.

Good topic, BR. To me, it's more a never ending attempt to understand, enjoy and learn from the diversity of Outdoors and Wildlife.
 
the word


survivalist

sums it upfor me..like building a shelter out of raw materials at hand..living off the land


bringing a big mobile home ,filled with fresh groceries and tons of cold beer in the bush is not the cut
 
Woodsmanship.

whether out for a walk, hunting, fishing, lost, camping...

Woodsmanship I believe is not a spiritual sense of coming back to primitive belonging or something along those lines.

I believe it is the recognition that woods giveth, and can taketh away, and then having the skills to adequately deal with both.

I have been lost a couple times, and the first time there was no feeling worse on this earth. The man who was with me, simply looked at me, lit his cigarette and said "we better get some wood, you don't have any more cigarettes do ya"

We spent a night.

When we were found, the guys were walking up the trail off in the distance.
This man simply said, "There they are, hope they got some smokes"

He built a little shelter, had a nice little fire, knew that the next days weather would be fine, roasted a few trout, ....
His knife was not german steel, it was one of those Rambo Survival knifes, with 2 emergency smokes in the handle.

This is a way I Judge a woodsman. If when you are lost, or hunting, or whatever, if a person can you make you feel at ease because of your faith in their ability, they are a good woodsman.
 
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