Fur

One of the things that I love about bushcraft is how it teaches me to challenge my perception on things. I see the world through different eyes… recognising resources everywhere and helping me to feel connected to my forebearers in a deeply meaningful way. As my knowledge base builds, I gain even greater understanding of the world around me and my perspective shifts… sometimes in drastic ways… I have come to realise how much of what we come to take as gospel via the number of times that we have been told it, isn’t true. I can remember, like many children, for example, being told that all red berries were poisonous which closed a door for me until much later in life when I was able to enjoy the delights of haw jelly and rowan berry vodka. For me the biggest shift in my mindset however has come in relation to the use of fur.

I have always been someone who has been a bit of a magpie when it comes to collecting natural ‘treasures’, returning from walks with pockets full of oak galls, feathers and interesting stones, or if I am especially lucky, maybe some bones or a tooth.

Against this backdrop however, since my earliest awareness I have always considered fur to be off limits.

I remember attending an exhibition about conservation and how in one of the final cabinets there was a collection of fur coats including a leopard, with a long explanation next to it about how the fur trade had decimated populations of certain animals.

This emotive display made a huge impression. And this wasn’t the only objections to fur that I witnessed. Prior to the banning of fur farms in the late nineties, anti fur propaganda was everywhere… From protests to adverts, it was big news… And the message was loud and clear. Fur was cruel and horrible… Those who wore it, morally reprehensible.

Of course it was not always so. Since time immemorial, humanity has made use of fur. It was both a byproduct of hunting and pursued for its own unique properties. Utilising furs has allowed us to populate and thrive in climates where we would never be able to withstand the elements otherwise. Additionally, it has been recognised as a symbol of status and wealth across many cultures and periods of history.

My questioning of attitudes to the use of fur has been a drawn out process.

In my late twenties I spent several years living off grid in France and Spain and here I was lucky enough to have my first delve into hide work, being gifted the hide of a lamb that I helped to slaughter… Noone around me had any clue how to tan it, and so I turned to YouTube and gave brain tanning a go… It ended up quite stiff, but I got there and this first hide often accompanies me into the forest as part of my sleeping set up.

Having dipped my toe in the water with hide work, I came across the Woodland Ways Fur on Hide Weekend, 18 months ago.

Taken aback to discover such a course existed in this country, but emboldened by the reputation of Woodland Ways I was immediately interested. Prior to booking on, I felt aware of the sensitivities around this discipline and conflicted about the origins of the animals.  I enquired into where they were sourced from and found that, much like the game that we have on our courses, they were a byproduct of pest control efforts, killed regardless of whether we were to use them or not. Feeling reassured, I went for it.

We were a small group for the course and so were able to skin our foxes before beginning to work with the hides and buried the carcasses respectfully.

My fox was a young vixen, I guessed to be no more than two summers old. She was beautiful and I was sad to think of her life ending so young. However, in engaging with this sadness, I also felt determined to do her justice.

When it came to processing her hide I made many mistakes and realised how much more delicate fox skin is than I had originally expected. During the tanning process, I made several holes which I later repaired as carefully as I could with fake sinew.

It is a lengthy process to turn a piece of skin into a dry, stable piece of material and requires a lot of effort and patience. During the hours that it takes, you inevitably gain an intimate understanding of the animal and respect for your end product.

With so many holes, the finished pelt wasn’t really much use for making anything out of. However, I keep it over the sofa in my living room and I remember the vixen that it came from every time I look at it.

Armed with the knowledge that I gained on that first weekend, I started looking at this resource in a completely different way. I began picking up roadkill, wanting to see how the different hides would perform. It has always made me sad to see animals lying in the gutter. It always seemed so undignified to leave them there, and now armed with my new knowledge, I had a reason to take them home.

In the recent months I have tanned badgers, hares, rabbits and mink and through the process of taking them from entire animal to useable resources I really get to know each one.

During the skinning and tanning process, I can see old injuries and skin conditions… I take a guess of their age from the teeth and take note of their sex. To me somehow that feels important and relevant. I can see their body condition, which in turn allows me to build a picture about the resources available to them during their lives. The mind wanders, and I build a picture of them as an individual.

I have also skinned many more foxes and each of them was very different from the next, the way that their skin performs and tans, equally unique. I have been part of other Woodland Ways courses dealing with fur and have been fascinated to observe other people’s journeys and relationships with their animals and hides as well.

I am also currently on the 18-month Primitive Skills course and one of our modules has been to repurpose vintage furs for use in cold weather and survival clothing. I was already aware of how furs were very much out of favour. Although they were a staple in women’s wardrobes in the mid-20th century, now they are very rarely seen. On the clothing module, I became aware of how many charity shops refused to sell vintage fur coats for ethical reasons with many being sold at auctions for extremely low prices or even thrown away.

Whatever your thoughts on the use of fur, to effectively let it all go to waste often in favour of vegan or plastic fake furs seems like a real travesty. I subsequently acquired some fur coats for a very low price from auction, with the intention of using them for my bushcraft projects. For those in poor condition it has been an easy thing to do to repurpose them into smaller pieces for winter clothing, for trimmings and the like, with me using the sleeves on an old mink coat for my winter moccasins. It feels very satisfying to see the fur back in use in this way.

In my mind, honouring life comes in engagement and remembering even when it is uncomfortable, even painful to do so. I feel that we owe it to the animals that die as a result of their conflict of interests with us, and to our own sense of honour to make the most of the resources that they leave behind. Though of course each of us retains the right to make our own choices around what we feel comfortable with, for me re-visiting and re-evaluating my position on the use of fur has served as an invaluable lesson for the future.