Pointblank2U
US Veteran
Tried and True will always remain Tried and True.
Old School Skills--A thing of the past?
- Thread starter Mule Packer
- Start date
I have stated this before. I was involved in Scouting from Weblos. I'm from small town, country and farmlands. I lived, camped and hunted the woods. (No deer ticks then)
At the end of Scouting I was a lifeguard, taught woodsmanship and went to Philmont in 64. We still had marksmanship training when I attended and was a Summer counselor at Camp Lavigne.
There is no doubt in my mind that all that experience helped me survive and prevail in Vietnam. Son of a WWII Vet, Grandson of a WWI Vet. Lots of uncles who served, Navy, Marines. Have one Marine still alive who when I was a kid would tell me to drop and give him 20 as soon as we met, everytime.
Days long gone by.........
At the end of Scouting I was a lifeguard, taught woodsmanship and went to Philmont in 64. We still had marksmanship training when I attended and was a Summer counselor at Camp Lavigne.
There is no doubt in my mind that all that experience helped me survive and prevail in Vietnam. Son of a WWII Vet, Grandson of a WWI Vet. Lots of uncles who served, Navy, Marines. Have one Marine still alive who when I was a kid would tell me to drop and give him 20 as soon as we met, everytime.
Days long gone by.........
jlrhiner
US Veteran
I have a book, titled "THE FORGOTTEN CRAFTS", full of the things our ancestors used to do daily to make living easier. Anyone know how to make a stile? How about a simple broom? Or soap from lye? (Anyone remember where lye comes from?)
The neat thing is, that book was published over 20 years ago. It's targeted toward the Boomers who had forgotten their history. It won't be long before we could publish an update that would be twice as thick.
I feel sad for the folks that revolve their lives around electronics. They'll never really know where they are unless their iPhone GPS tells them. (And then they aren't sure!) They would set and starve if the electric can opener doesn't work or the George foreman doesn't fire up.
The neat thing is, that book was published over 20 years ago. It's targeted toward the Boomers who had forgotten their history. It won't be long before we could publish an update that would be twice as thick.
I feel sad for the folks that revolve their lives around electronics. They'll never really know where they are unless their iPhone GPS tells them. (And then they aren't sure!) They would set and starve if the electric can opener doesn't work or the George foreman doesn't fire up.
Arik
Member
Remember when people didn't need to use a compass to tell them what direction to go? Back then people could just look up at the stars and know how to navigate. In the day time they knew the terrain enough not to get lost.
Remember when hunting involved actual hunting and not just sending a chunk of lead at 2500 fps? Back then people had the skills to stalk and kill their prey with a speer.
Remember when people didn't need any fancy stick and wire to catch fish? A Speer and quick reflexes were enough to put food on the table
Let's face it, what you're talking about was common for your time but not for the age before. Now what was everyday to you is outdated and there are better options. Obviously not everyone knew how to use a compass or we would never need a GPS.
Remember when hunting involved actual hunting and not just sending a chunk of lead at 2500 fps? Back then people had the skills to stalk and kill their prey with a speer.
Remember when people didn't need any fancy stick and wire to catch fish? A Speer and quick reflexes were enough to put food on the table
Let's face it, what you're talking about was common for your time but not for the age before. Now what was everyday to you is outdated and there are better options. Obviously not everyone knew how to use a compass or we would never need a GPS.
How many kids today are in scouts, and how many actually go camping or several days hiking in the wilds? I think most scouts I see now have merit badges in computer use, or similar. Do any of them know how to tie multiple different knots?
1morethan8
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
A GPS is a good navigation tool.. as long as it's not the only tool you use!
No one tool is best.. be it compass, map, or GPS. But, when used together it's a great combination! One I've used for many years and I have no problem hitting a small spot anywhere in the 2 million acres out my backdoor.. day or night, in any weather.
No one tool is best.. be it compass, map, or GPS. But, when used together it's a great combination! One I've used for many years and I have no problem hitting a small spot anywhere in the 2 million acres out my backdoor.. day or night, in any weather.
BLACKHAWKNJ
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We can't paint with too broad a brush. Whenever anyone complains about kids and TV, I remind them that TV has been with us since about 1947 and many families are in their third and FOURTH generation of boob tube addiction and if the kids are growing up as semi-literate yokels, they're just following the bad example set by their parents, grandparents, etc. And as one teacher put it, "Children should be sent to school to be educated, not raised." A justified complaint of teachers is that kids come to scholl with their heads stuffed full of all the nonsense they see on TV. Hey, those of us who grew up in the 50s and 60s-those westerns really portrayed the Real Old West, right ? On another board someone lamented the decline of "dad" skills, when you grow up without a dad-like Old Blackhawknj-who's supposed to show you these things ? The warnings about having a generation or more of young males raised solely by women have come true, we now have several generations of young males who have grown up clueless about how to act like a man. And I have met plenty of people who had "dads" who were useless around the house-"couldn't boil water" to use an old phrase.
Alpo
Member
My younger brother and I were Boy Scouts. My older brother was too cool to join something that would call him a "Boy".
So elder-brudder is loading a U-haul with stuff to take back to Dallas. He takes a chunk of cordage, ties it to a batten with a hatchet knot, runs it around the stuff, then tie another series of hatchet knots to another batten.
Younger brudder and I watch him for a minute, then join in. Two half-hitches to one batten, loop it around and throw a taut-line hitch around the other batten, and go on. Was kinda amazing how much faster we were than elder-brudder. And he would be able to untie our knots without resorting to a knife.
J. R. WEEMS
Member
Some of these replies make me smile. I remember a few years back, we were hunting up in the Bighorns-- my partner had fell and hurt a bad knee and decided to give it a rest that day. I took the jeep and took off-- did a lot of walking that day but no luck so I was out to dark. When I got back to camp everyone was rushing around-- I ask where were they going? To look for ME was the answer. I had to laugh and told them I had all I needed on me or in my pack and could of stayed out for a couple weeks if need be-- The younger guys just looked at me-- a couple of older ones just smiled--- Was giving my 18 year old Grandson a ride home from work one night-- conversation turned to tools- he confessed he ahd never seen a drill that plugged into the wall. 
MK
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Agree about the scouting.. I hardly ever see scouts these days.
Maybe there are still a few, but I guess they hide well, and never wear
their uniforms. I learned a lot of camping and outdoor type stuff in the
scouts that I've used all my life. Fer instance starting a fire..
I'm almost always the designated fire starter when camping with other
people that hardly have a clue.
And while I do have a hand held GPS for woods use, I still keep a good
old fashioned compass in my glove box in case it goes kaput.
Remember the scout motto? "Be Prepared" I think it was..
We shot .22 rifles and had scoutmaster gun demonstrations when I
was a scout. I remember one camp out where one of the scoutmasters
brought and demonstrated almost every type of rifle one could think of,
including an elephant rifle. BOOM!!!
The PC sissies would probably call a SWAT team if that were to occur
these days..
Maybe there are still a few, but I guess they hide well, and never wear
their uniforms. I learned a lot of camping and outdoor type stuff in the
scouts that I've used all my life. Fer instance starting a fire..
I'm almost always the designated fire starter when camping with other
people that hardly have a clue.
And while I do have a hand held GPS for woods use, I still keep a good
old fashioned compass in my glove box in case it goes kaput.
Remember the scout motto? "Be Prepared" I think it was..
We shot .22 rifles and had scoutmaster gun demonstrations when I
was a scout. I remember one camp out where one of the scoutmasters
brought and demonstrated almost every type of rifle one could think of,
including an elephant rifle. BOOM!!!
The PC sissies would probably call a SWAT team if that were to occur
these days..
jlrhiner
US Veteran
As I sit here writing in my journal in cursive with a fountain pen.
jlrhiner
US Veteran
jlrhiner
US Veteran
Biginge
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
Does this mean I should abandon my Jon E handwarmer and Zippo lighter? Who remembers those thin chest waders that NEVER made a full day without leaking. Even when you wore jeans over them.
Makes you sort of wonder how people are going to cope when everything costs twice as much as it does now and thier income never increased. I know a group of very smart young folks that think the old ways are cool. I try to teach them what I know and they are extremely grateful. I think they see the same thing I do. They know that becoming self sufficient is going to become very important soon because the support system that we know today may not continue through their lifetime. My wife and I both believe that our generation (boomers) had the highest standard of living of any before us and for the generations to follow ours it will be in decline.
Some of those old skills are going to be needed again to get by. Hardly anyone knows how to use anything anymore unless it has a keypad. I laid out a drainage system for a young guy last summer and loaned him a mattock to dig it. He said he had never seen one before.
Some of those old skills are going to be needed again to get by. Hardly anyone knows how to use anything anymore unless it has a keypad. I laid out a drainage system for a young guy last summer and loaned him a mattock to dig it. He said he had never seen one before.
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carpriver
US Veteran
My sons were Scouts, they hikes many trails and could navigate with a map and compass, They were given a Marbles match safe and a good marbles knife. They learned knots, fire building and fishing with a hook and line. We had 10,000 acres of state land behind our home. the boys had a very good knowledge of much of the area. they would go fishing with out a pole and come home with a nice mess of trout. In deer season they would bring home a deer. Most years they hunted on shoe shoes. The boys spent several night camping in sub zero weather. build a show shelter with snow and pine bows and could heat it with a pine knot. learning the skills to live in the woods are valuable skills.
model70hunter
Member
The change from a Red Chief tablet and a #2 pencil started as far back as the 70's.
I went to an electronics school in Atlanta, GA. The idea was to get ones FCC 2nd class license. The instructor told us it might be best to learn to do the math problems with a pencil. Some problems might have an answer that had 10 or so zero's after the decimal point. I had taken a nice calculator with me but decided to learn it the old fashoned way.
Keep in mind that our respective companies had sent us here and was paying for the school. They expected one to graduate and pass the FCC testing. Then there was the little matter of not passing and not having a job when you returned.
I was a phone guy, needed my license to hang in Microwave towers.
A couple of guys worked for the railroad and needed theirs for the same reason. They used their calculators for months, never broke out a pencil. We went down to the federal building the same morning to take the test. I sat down pulled out my click pencil, egad a modern # 2, and started taking the test. I had studied every night and weekend, I was going to pass this. As I left the room with my passing grade I noticed the Railroad boys sitting there with their arms crossed.
They drug back a couple of long and sad faces to the institute. Seems the calculators died with in a few minutes of powering up to take the test. They bought the same model before the came. Oddly enough the batteries died within minutes of each other. They did not pass.
What was the difference? Maybe it was simply that me a farm boy was not afraid of a little extra work to get it done right and they took the easy road, fueled by laziness.
This parallels today's education system. Lead kids down the easy road but as cheaply as possible without a true expectation of learning anything also is part of the fuel.
And yea I was a Boy Scout. I learned how to use a compass and the stars. I have driven from Chicago to the west coast without a GPS. If I was young and someone said you need to walk west to Colorado, no compass and no GPS, No problem.
I went to an electronics school in Atlanta, GA. The idea was to get ones FCC 2nd class license. The instructor told us it might be best to learn to do the math problems with a pencil. Some problems might have an answer that had 10 or so zero's after the decimal point. I had taken a nice calculator with me but decided to learn it the old fashoned way.
Keep in mind that our respective companies had sent us here and was paying for the school. They expected one to graduate and pass the FCC testing. Then there was the little matter of not passing and not having a job when you returned.
I was a phone guy, needed my license to hang in Microwave towers.
A couple of guys worked for the railroad and needed theirs for the same reason. They used their calculators for months, never broke out a pencil. We went down to the federal building the same morning to take the test. I sat down pulled out my click pencil, egad a modern # 2, and started taking the test. I had studied every night and weekend, I was going to pass this. As I left the room with my passing grade I noticed the Railroad boys sitting there with their arms crossed.
They drug back a couple of long and sad faces to the institute. Seems the calculators died with in a few minutes of powering up to take the test. They bought the same model before the came. Oddly enough the batteries died within minutes of each other. They did not pass.
What was the difference? Maybe it was simply that me a farm boy was not afraid of a little extra work to get it done right and they took the easy road, fueled by laziness.
This parallels today's education system. Lead kids down the easy road but as cheaply as possible without a true expectation of learning anything also is part of the fuel.
And yea I was a Boy Scout. I learned how to use a compass and the stars. I have driven from Chicago to the west coast without a GPS. If I was young and someone said you need to walk west to Colorado, no compass and no GPS, No problem.
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Mulepacker:
Right-on!
My friends get a real kick out of watching me sharpen Kitchen knives on an Arkansas Stone. Nothing special to me, but they only know the Automatic Sharpeners. Now they know WHY my knives are so sharp!
AND........ I DO carry an old Marbles Brass Match Safe with strike anywhere water proof matches when out in the Field Hunting. I insert it into one of the elastic Shell loops in the vest pocket where my Marbles Brass Compass also resides. I do get some laughs and comments from younger folks from time to time when they see me taking a compass reading when going into the woods.
Right-on!
My friends get a real kick out of watching me sharpen Kitchen knives on an Arkansas Stone. Nothing special to me, but they only know the Automatic Sharpeners. Now they know WHY my knives are so sharp!
AND........ I DO carry an old Marbles Brass Match Safe with strike anywhere water proof matches when out in the Field Hunting. I insert it into one of the elastic Shell loops in the vest pocket where my Marbles Brass Compass also resides. I do get some laughs and comments from younger folks from time to time when they see me taking a compass reading when going into the woods.
My old Silva has served me well but I'll stuff a handful of Bic lighters into various pockets about my person every time.
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