Ozbow

Am really into this stuff Grundy,that is why we are Traditional,off for a few days now hunting the central North Island with the bare basics
nigel

as a kid my dad taught me a lot of bushcraft when we used to go out woodcutting but over the years i got a few books that have put me in good stead most of these idears are tried and true the books are wild food in australia by a.b&jw cribb ,the skills of the australian bushman ,bushcraft 1&2 by ron edwards he also has more and the ten bushcrafts book these are just a few of a number ive got but use the most i used these whilst in the army ,scouts and just teaching my kids these arnt survival books but good conmen sence books that can make your life easer as my dad always said any mug can ruff it

...nev...

Gundy,
just saw this thread ... I do a fair bit of this stuff and hunt this way a lot.
The most important thing is a Gossman Tusker ! lol

Some good stuff on this thread. I have my kit down now to the absolute minimum...the only thing I nearly always add is a novel...sleeping in the High county in a bivvy as the winter night sets in can be long and cold ... a read by headlamp can ease the discomfort .

Hey Tony
Cool hunt if you can produce a Yowie, from the what I have read it was supposed to be about the size of a black bear, I would opt for the heavier shafts and a roll of toilet paper! Though I believe the below artists interperetation of the long dead Thylocene could almost resemble a Panther (toung in cheek!)

But Bush Craft yes very keen to learn, all aspects! Bring it on!

Wish....got to have a Tusker!

Got Tim Lows little tome the other week and what a great book it is........In the Forward was a statement saying that the Aborigines stayed hunter gatherers and didn't become farmers simply because they didn't have to...If you can gather enough food to feed your family in an hour why would you bother with anything else?..A belief I've long held...........Ate my first live whichity grubs about this time last year when hunting along the Aberfeldy river.Great food they are but hard to find..Would be really really interested in getting out in the Vic mountains with a few like minded people and living from the bush not merely surviving from it.......

Vlad,

in western Victoria on the Volcanic plains there is evidence of more permanent settlements with stone huts, the strange stone ring alignments and stone eel traps that would continually be a source of eels and fire stick farming of the grasslands to encourage tuberous plants like Myrnong, orchids and bulbine lilies, while the lakes and wetlands were a great source of food such as water ribbons and club rush then chuck in some emu, roo and wombat for something to chew. The Volcanic plains were the place to live for food, thats for sure.

Simon

Yup mate very aware of that I recon the houses would have been around the Stoney Rise area?..........What is forgotten is that many of the aborigional "long term tools" like rock fish traps were destroyed by white men as a way to control the Aborigines.........

Yea the stony rises, a magical and eerie place and fallow deer in the reserve and some private properties through there if you don't mind getting lost (something I seem to do every time I visit).

A lot of the eel traps still survive in the floating islands reserve if you know what to look for and plenty of tool grinding stones. Just a shame all that lovely bushtucker was lost to the sheep that moved in, still there in pockets but most was lost.

I reckon two best places to be if you were trying to live off the land in this part of Vic would be the Stony Rises and the coast, even a bad fisherman like myself could live off the shellfish along the rocks and supplement that with pigface, the muntries, beard heath berries and warrigal spinach.

I'm slowly getting into that sort of stuff (natural fiber string making- I know a guy who makes his own bowstrings out of fig bark fiber by using the reverse twist!). I'm also making all sorts of hand and fire drills, although I haven't made fire yet . My interests are more associated with primitive long-term survival.
Good luck, Joe

Another fan of "bushcraft" here.

I dont like to refer folks off site, but having just sent someone here for trad archery info,
Im happy to let folks know about the BushcraftOz forums.

Aussie trad bow info and Aussie Bushcraft info...... nice combo IMHO.