CW, I mostly agree with what you're saying here.
I wrote my previous post to clarify that going to live and make an actual home out in the bush is not rocket science or out of reach of the average person's capabilities. IMO it's a totally different and seperate thing from "I wanna take my knife and go for x months into the bush, build a crude shelter, and spear rabbits and fish". I thought bringing up Dick Proenecke (who was not "surviving", he was living in the bush) and giving the impression that what he did is something the vast majority of people
cannot do just isn't so, in my experience - I think most people don't
want to actually do it.
As you say, you have to be a doer and not just a dreamer. But that applies to whatever people do - there will always be the ones who prefer to think, talk and dream about whatever lifestyle, and those who actually do it.
I'm absolutely with you on the survival-in-a-loincloth crowd, it just bugs me that frequently bush
life (not survival!) is being portrayed as an almost unachievable feat when it's not. Maybe my view is somewhat skewed because I've been living up north for 15 years and people up here tend to be jacks and janes of all trades; there aren't very many services and that's working as a natural selection process of who can hack it, I guess.
You're right, it is a steep learning curve and I am always advocating people try to live simply somewhere semi-remote, but with road access for a least year to pick up more skills, also
www.wwoof.org is an excellent way to gain just about all the necessary homesteading skills on the planet. But if you have all this:
-basic tool knowledge
-basic hunting and fishing skills
-a good work ethic
-a backup network of friends
-a place to do go do it (one huge challenge nowadays because it's extremly difficult to buy remote land out in the bush)
-money
-and most of all, enough desire and passion to go do it, and to do it right (leave the rose-tinted glasses at home and acquire the basic skills before you go),
IMO you're good to go.
I sidled up to bush life sideways and over a long period of years, partly because the books and documentaries out there harp on all the difficulties and the dangers. Maybe that's why it always bugs me when this comes up. I know now I could have done this even on my own. I'm all for waking people up to reality and discouraging the city slickers wanting to run off into the woods tomorrow and live off the land.
But at the same time, it should be possible to paint a reasonable picture of what bush
life (not survival) is actually like. I find it too bad if people get the impression that you have to have this vast array of hard to come by skills. In my experience, the challenge is no greater than living anywhere else - if it's new to you, it's hard at first and you gotta learn stuff. Some things are fun, others aren't. If you screw up, you may die. That applies to the burbs and city as much as bush life, it's just different sets of risk factors and challenges.
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