Welcome to the first episode of the Primitive Camping and Bushcraft Podcast. Host Chris Speir introduces the podcast's purpose: to provide practical tips and insights into primitive camping, bushcraft, and survival skills, all derived from his book, "Primitive Camping and Bushcraft." Chris shares his background, the importance of building a community through their Facebook group, and what listeners can expect in future episodes, including deep dives into various outdoor survival topics.
Introduction
Book Overview
Community Engagement
Host Background
Podcast Structure
Personal Stories
Engagement and Interaction
Future Episodes
Closing Remarks
[MUSIC]
Welcome to
Primitive Camping and Bushcraft.
My name is Chris
Speir and I'm going to be
your host as we
journey into the great outdoors.
So whether you're a seasoned
pro or just start your outdoor journey,
this show is going
to help equip you with what
you need to know to
enhance your outdoor experience.
In each episode,
we dive deep into various
aspects of primitive
camping, bushcraft, and survival,
providing practical
tips and insights to help you
connect with nature
and thrive in the wilderness.
We'll explore topics from my
book, Primitive Camping and Bushcraft,
a step-by-step guide to
surviving and thriving in the great outdoors,
and go beyond
what's written on the pages,
giving you even more detail and insights.
Join our thriving community
on Facebook with over 6,000 members,
all passionate about
primitive camping and bushcraft.
This Facebook group
allows you to connect with
like-minded
adventurers, share your experiences,
ask questions, and get inspired by the
stories and tips from
fellow outdoor enthusiasts.
You guessed it, the name of this
Facebook group is Primitive Camping and Bushcraft.
For those that want to follow along
with the book, Primitive Camping and Bushcraft,
it's available at
all major online retailers
including Amazon, Barnes
& Noble, and Books A Million.
It's going to be your go-to guide for
everything that we
discuss here and much more.
So, let's dive into today's
episode of Primitive Camping and Bushcraft.
Hey guys, welcome to the first episode of
the Primitive
Camping and Bushcraft Podcast.
My name is Chris Speir and as I mentioned
in the intro
there, I'm thrilled to be your
guide on this journey into the wild.
So whether you're
a seasoned adventurer or
you're just
starting your exploration of the
great outdoors, this podcast is designed
to provide you with
knowledge and skills and
some tips and
tricks and stuff like that so
you can do better
in your primitive camping
trips and bushcraft
trips and stuff like that.
So in this podcast
series, we're going to be
diving deep into
my book, Primitive Camping
and Bushcraft, and
basically we're going to
go like almost page
by page through the whole
book and just break it down.
So this book is available online at
all the major retailers and stuff like that.
You don't have to have the book to follow
along, but it just
gives you better context
if you do and treat it
more like a textbook type deal.
But each episode is
going to be covered with
different topics
from essential gear, first
aid, advanced bushcraft techniques
and cooking methods and stuff like that.
My goal with this is to equip individuals
with practical
tips and insights that will
enhance your outdoor
experience and help you reconnect with nature.
But before we dive in, get
into the specifics and everything.
I'll give you a
little background about me.
My name is Chris Spear.
I started Spear Outdoors, which is an
online community and tips, tricks and hacks.
I do all kinds of videos
on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube.
I have a YouTube channel
with over 70,000 subscribers.
I got a Facebook
page with 136,000 followers.
I got a TikTok
account with 500,000 followers.
We got a Primitive Camping and Bushcraft
group on Facebook
with 6,200 followers or more.
So at the time of
recording this, but what
I'm wanting to do
is grow that community and
get a bunch of start the
conversation, start the debate.
I'm wanting to look into getting you guys
more in conscious
about asking questions about
camping and stuff
like that and get everybody
involved into the
conversation, not just me.
I'm wanting to get
a bunch of people together
and a bunch of
group, people grouped together
to start communicating about it and just
find a good place,
as they say, a safe place to
talk about tough
topics and stuff like that.
And a little more about
me, I'm a retired military medic.
I served in the United States
Air Force and I retired from there.
Most of my career, I spent
training new medics on how to be medics.
I spent a lot of my time as the
911 dispatch and emergency operations.
I spent a lot of time on ambulance
operations and so I knew
first aid and I knew EMT like
the back of my hand.
So everything to deal with
ambulance operations, stuff like that.
And I was the go-to guy.
And then I spent several years in
anesthesia, helping the
anesthesia personnel whenever
people come in for surgery.
So there was one point that
I could start an IV and a mosquito.
But anyway, over
the years, I've learned a
lot about primitive camping and bushcraft
and a lot of this
is just life experiences.
I know a lot of this
stuff seems to be just not
regurgitated and I
don't want to say regurgitated
because I didn't copy anybody.
But the thing about
this is that it's step by step.
It's given.
You have to be able to
do this in order to do this.
In order to filter your water, you
got to have something to filter it with.
The obvious thing
is that if you're boiling
water, that is the
easiest way to disinfect
your water where you can drink it.
But a lot of it is just common sense.
A lot of this book is common sense.
That was the word I was looking for.
But primitive camping and bushcraft
aren't just about surviving in the wild.
Primitive camping is more of allowing you
to bring more
modern conveniences with you
on your hiking trip or camping
trip or your overnight stay in the woods.
When a lot of people talk about primitive
camping, the first
thing that comes to their
mind is pulling their camper or their
travel trailer up to
a KOA or a little state park
or something like
that and hooking up to the
electricity and the
water and having a little
fire and a fire ring.
That's it.
My idea of primitive camping is getting
away from all those
scenarios and just getting
out there by
yourself or with a partner or
friend or something
like that and just heading
through the woods,
finding a place and setting up camp.
Depending on what
you brought in your bag,
you're going to
depend on the amount of food
that you brought.
You might have to source your own food.
If you brought enough with you to last
the amount of days that you're going to be.
A lot of times
whenever I load my backpack,
I bring a couple
of days worth of food and
I know that I'm going to have to
source my own food while I'm out there.
So fishing, foraging, hunting, whatever.
Whatever methods that
you need to get your food.
But primitive camping and bushcraft,
they're not just about surviving in the wild.
It's really about thriving and
finding joy in the simplicity of nature.
With this podcast,
we're going to make it a
comprehensive guide
to mastering these skills.
We're going to use this book to walk us
through and just have
fun on your weekend trip or
longer experiences in the woods.
Throughout this
series, I'm going to share
some personal
stories and some lessons that
I learned and practical advice.
Each episode will be packed
with all kinds of information and tips.
So whether you're
listening at home in your
car or you're
actually out at a camping place
listening to this podcast,
we're going to be able to learn together.
You can learn as you go.
Like I said, being
in the Facebook group, I
realize a lot of
folks don't have Facebook.
So that's why I'm posting
this on the podcasting platform.
So if you're listening on a podcasting
platform, you like what
you hear, go ahead and follow.
If you like
Facebook, go ahead and sign up
for the Facebook group and join the 6,000
members in there
and let's make a community
that frequently
talks about primitive camping
and bushcraft and stuff like that.
So what you can expect from this podcast
series, and I'm going
to go ahead and let you know
upfront that we're going to talk about a
bunch of different
topics and we're going to break
down everything.
Some of the things won't be in the book
that we're going to
talk about a lot of pretty
much the majority of everything that we
discuss on this
podcast are going to be covered in
this book.
Some days we might take a page
and break it down and go real deep in it.
Some days we might
just skip over a couple
of things, but
we're going to discuss what
primitive camping is and we're
going to go over essential gear and tools.
We're going to spend several
days on fire starting techniques.
We're also going to go over shelter
building and we're
going to do water purification,
outdoor cooking.
We're going to touch on
wilderness first aid and so much more.
In addition to
practical tips and step-by-step
instructions, I'll be
sharing personal anecdotes
and stories and trips and stuff that I've
taken in the
military, out in the military,
personal experiences that I've had in
the woods and the great outdoors and give you
the insights of all these years of my
exploring the great
outdoors and different camping
trips and stuff that I've been on.
Let's see here.
Now for a more
comprehensive understanding
about these
topics, you might want to check
into the actual book itself.
This video is
going to be the only one that
I'm really heavily
pushing the book out there
this podcast episode.
After this, it's just
going to be diving into the book.
If you got it, you follow along.
If you don't, you follow along.
They're about to release
an electronic copy of the book.
It's going to be
downloadable where you can
purchase the
electronic copy and save it to
your hard drive or
print it out or whatever.
All right.
Let's kick this thing off with
what an overview of primitive camping is.
Primitive camping is all about connecting
with nature and
living off the land and with
minimum modern conveniences.
What I like to do
is I do bring some modern
conveniences with me
whenever I go on my camping
trip.
I'm talking about flashlights
and a chair to sit in, stuff like that.
It makes you a
little bit more comfortable.
Another modern convenience would be an
inflatable mattress if
you sleep on the ground, which
I typically do not.
Now, I do
sometimes, not all the time, but
mainly with me, I
just like to be in a hammock.
The hammock is the most, especially in
South Mississippi,
where it's hot all the time.
Hammocks are amazing.
At nighttime, it cools down and
you stay cool and you have a place to sit.
Hammocks are amazing.
Pretty much, you can use a hammock
all year round down here in South Mississippi.
I realize in some places, not that you're
not allowed, but
the weather may hinder that
and you'll have to
get ... They have under
quilts and stuff
like that that you can use
to put around the hammock.
Basically, primitive camping is a
true test of self-reliance and resourcefulness.
It can be extremely rewarding.
Let me give you what I'm putting here,
what my definition of primitive camping is.
When it comes to
primitive camping, bushcraft
and survival, there
really is no wrong approach.
You're not going to be wrong.
There's no wrong way to do this stuff.
As long as you're
thinking outside the box,
you can find that
there are several ways to
accomplish a particular task.
You don't have to have the latest gear or
the most expensive
knife to have a great time.
The main goal of
primitive camping is to enjoy
the company of the
ones you were with or reconnect
with nature.
Clear your mind and have a lot of fun.
I absolutely love the fact that primitive
camping allows you
to just head out into the
woods and just reconnect with nature.
I keep saying reconnect.
A lot of us are
not even disconnected with
nature, but a lot
of individuals out there
may just be not connected with it at all.
They used to be when they
were kids and they no longer are.
Primitive camping is rooted in
our ancient history, believe it or not.
Men and women who inhabited our
planet before us lived off the grid.
Literally, they didn't have a grid.
By default, they thrived
using only what was available to them.
They worked hard for
their food and they did it
without modern day
conveniences like electricity
and running water or a
flushable toilet or central air and heat.
I know to a lot of the younger generation
this day and age
that they couldn't imagine
life without air conditioner.
When I was a kid, I went to school.
We didn't have air
conditioners in the school.
They just had a fan, now a ceiling fan.
That was it.
It was hot.
In South Mississippi, it gets 100 and
something degrees in
the middle of the summer.
No, I did not have summer school.
One of my favorite
experiences with primitive
camping was a trip
that I took in the interior
of Alaska.
This has been a long time ago, but this
really started my
love with the great outdoors.
I mean, I've been outdoors all my life.
I've loved camping, hunting, fishing, all
that good stuff
that gets you excited about
it.
One of my favorite
experiences was we loaded
up, we loaded what
we could fit in our back
of our truck.
We headed out into
the middle of nowhere in
Alaska, got as far
as we could go, and then
we backpacked into a camping spot.
I can remember
sitting by, there was mountains.
I forget the actual name of the
place, but there was mountains on both sides.
We were kind of in a valley
type deal and there was a glacier.
It was just so beautiful.
In the middle of the summertime in
Alaska, the only downfall is the mosquitoes.
They were big enough to carry you off.
It was crazy.
I can remember
starting fire with a ferro rod.
I can remember
eating dinner and setting up
our little tent
and hammock and everything.
It was just the most amazing time.
That's really what
kick-started my love with
survival,
bushcraft, and primitive camping,
especially the primitive camping aspect.
I moved on from there.
I started learning more and more.
I started reading more and more books.
I started putting
my own experiences blended
in with all these
primitive camping aspects
or survival and bushcraft.
The big thing, and
I'm going to explain this
in the next episode,
is the differences between
primitive camping.
We're going to spend
the whole episode talking
about primitive
camping, bushcraft, and survival.
I'll give you a little insight
to what we're going to be talking about.
The big thing is that a lot of
people are like, "Oh, it's survival."
When you hit out with a
backpack, you say, "No, that's not survival."
Survival is
typically a 72-hour period when
some kind of
natural disaster or some kind
of medical
emergency or some kind of weapon
of mass destruction
or stuff like that happens.
Some kind of
unnatural event or some weather
event, something
that causes you to have to
seek safety, have to find civilization.
You got lost in the woods.
You had an accident.
You rolled off the side.
You got injured, something like that,
rolled off the side of a hill or a mountain.
That is a survival situation where you
have to find your way back to civilization.
It could take you days to get back.
It could take you weeks to get back,
depending on your
location or your injuries or stuff
like that.
But in a 72-hour period, it is typically,
once you get out of
the danger of the situation,
then it turns into bushcraft.
You have to bushcraft your own utensils.
You have to bushcraft your food.
You have to find your own food.
In essence,
bushcraft and survival are more
hand in hand, but
once you get away from the
72-hour aspect of the situation, then it
tends to go away
from survival to bushcraft.
From bushcraft to
primitive camping, basically.
The difference is that survival is an
emergency, a 72-hour
emergency to where you're trying
to find your way back to
civilization or find your way back to help.
But bushcraft is essentially you left
civilization to find your way into the woods.
Same way with primitive camping.
Primitive camping and
bushcraft are extremely closely related.
The only difference
is you're going to bring
a few more
convenience items with you whenever
you go on a primitive camping trip.
And so that's the only difference.
But other than
that, they're closely related.
So we're going to spend the
whole episode next time talking about that.
And this one, I just wanted to give
you a little background about what we're going
to be talking about, a little background
about me, some of my
experiences, stuff like that.
And then just to
introduce what we're doing.
And once again, I'm going to reiterate it
one more time that
this podcast is going to
be extremely closely knit with the
Facebook group on
primitive camping and bushcraft.
Same name.
It's going to follow along in
the book Primitive Camping and Bushcraft.
And then at the same time, all the videos
are going to be
posted to my subscribers on
Facebook.
So if you subscribe to Facebook,
you can watch the videos of the podcast.
And so it's all
hand knit and everything's
going to be
interwoven together, all based
around the book, Primitive Camping and
Bushcraft, a step by step
guide to surviving and thriving
in the great outdoors.
So like I stated
in the next episode, we're
going to dive a
little bit deeper into the
concept of primitive camping.
We're going to explore the benefits and
challenges and how it
differs from survival of bushcraft.
We're also going
to discuss the mindset of
preparation and that
there needs to be a certain
mindset or
preparation needed to embark on
a successful
primitive camping trip because
you can get out
there and last a day or two
and then you're
going to realize, hey, this
is not for me.
I've been on camping trips before that I
knew I was out there
for seven or eight days and
I got to day two and it was
just like, I'm ready to go home.
But I kind of
stuck it out, stuck with it,
kept on going and made my way through it.
But before we wrap up, I want to
thank you for joining me on this adventure.
I want to thank
you for listening to me on
the podcast
platform that you're listening
and I want to thank all the
subscribers for watching this video.
If you're watching
this video and then all the
people in the
Primitive Camping and Bushcraft
group, thank you for being members there.
So if you enjoyed this episode, please
subscribe to the
Primitive Camping Bushcraft Podcast.
Have a review, let
me know what you think.
Let me know in the comment section of the
group what you
think and let me know in the
comment section with you subscribers.
So also you follow along
on all the social media platforms.
I should be throwing little nuggets out
there, promoting this
and sending it to the group,
the Facebook group.
And then we're going to be doing some
updates and some behind the scenes content.
And also don't forget there's going to be
an electronic copy
of the Primitive Camping
and Bushcraft book
coming out here shortly.
And so, hey, I appreciate you.
Thank you.
And we're going to wind
this one down and then we'll see you.
I haven't decided how often I'm going to
post, probably one
or two a week, if not more.
So I can't make it a daily thing
because I still got other videos and stuff.
I got a film for all the other
platforms, but we'll figure this out.
I'll do a poll on the group and find out
what everybody else
thinks and we'll evaluate it
from there.
So until next time, guys,
happy camping and God bless you.
And I'll see you in the
next video and the next podcast.