Just what is bushcraft?

When getting into the survival space you will notice the word “bushcraft” pop up a lot.

And just like we once did, you’re probably thinking “just what does that even mean?”

To put it simply, it’s a very broad term used to describe the art of living outdoors. Becoming one with nature rather than just overcoming it.

Bushcraft may seem like a hobby to most but it contains many life saving techniques.

You could be stranded at a shoreline, run out of fuel on a highway, or lost while hiking. So we feel it’s important to have basic bushcraft knowledge.

This post will be aimed at any beginners that are interested in bushcraft and we will focus on the skills that ensure the following:

• You stay warm
• You have water
• You have shelter
• You have something to eat

Starting A Fire:

Bushcraft or not, learning how to start a controlled fire outdoors is really an essential skill for everyone.

Besides staying warm you could dry clothes, cook food and boil water.

Of course you could just bring a lighter and some rolled up toilet paper. We’ve also learned that balls of cotton covered in vaseline burn quickly and stay burning for a long time.

However, bushcraft is more about making do with nothing. You could look into techniques such as feather sticks.

This is a way of cutting smaller pieces firewood into flammable strips to help start the fire much more easily.

We would also recommend practicing this so that you are having to do it for the first time in a survival situation.

Use your back garden or go to a forest just for a few hours just to test a fire technique.

Water Purification:

Having access to clean drinkable water is really a matter of life or death. We can only live about 3 days without it but 21 days without food.

Usually survival experts and preppers would carry a water purifying gadget that would do the work for them.

This is why it is important to also be aware of what you can do if you are left without any of this equipment.

Firstly you should know what contaminants can be found in the water you find outdoors.

These include:

• Turbidity
• Parasites
• Bacteria
• Viruses
• Chemical pollutants

This may not be easy to spot so staying away from oily, dirty, and stagnant water would be for the best.

Take a look into bushcraft filtration techniques or methods for boiling water.

These could be such skills as rock-boiling or creating a tree bark container.

Shelter Building

If your goal is to be comfortable in the woods and become one with nature, then you better have somewhere nice to stay.

Shelter building is a really huge subject within the already massive umbrella that is bushcraft and could be seen as daunting for many.

We would suggest focusing on the basics first and gradually trying out different techniques. Always consider the surrounding wildlife and how you plan to deal with hygiene.

Sure you might have found a lovely opening in the woods but are you now too far away from firewood? Or Do you have to pass bear caves to reach the lake?

Our tips would be to start with an easy to build shelter that doesn’t take much time or effort so that you have something up fast. You will want to conserve energy for gathering other materials such as water and food.

Then later you can reinforce your shelter by making it more durable or larger.

Have a daily washing routine and consider burning toilet paper or if you are not there for long then taking it away with you to dispose of correctly.

Gathering Food

So now you have a comfortable place to sleep, water to drink and your own central heating (firewood).

What are you going to eat?

Bushcraft again has countless methods, strategies and techniques on this subject which we will try to cover on this blog in due time but again we can still point you in the right direction.

As a beginner, focus on food that cannot run away from you. You can easily live of fruits, berries, nuts, roots and veggies. You don’t want to be stressing over trying to hunt a deer when you are surrounded by plants you can eat.

Once you brush up on knowledge of the local wildlife then you should focus on the animals.

You will look into methods for catching them obviously but don’t forget how you plan to turn them into food too. Look into different traps and snares. If you are by a lake or the sea, bushcraft also encompasses many methods for fishing.

This won’t be easy but even the best hunters or fisherman would have had to put in many years of practice so don’t beat yourself up if you are not a pro from day one because gaining experience is the most important thing.

Conclusion

This about covers the bushcraft beginner goals we wanted to share with you.

Remember this is a very broad term and it’s likely that you have already been practicing it without even realising.

I hope these points have given you an idea of where in this ocean called bushcraft you might want to get started..

As we mentioned we will provide as much knowledge on all the different techniques in the near future so please subscribe to make sure you don’t miss it.

Anything you want to add? Please let us know in the comments below.

Until next time survivors!