There are those among us who were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where we were exposed to camping and the outdoors from an early age, and have had people to guide us, and in some cases drag us along on all of those camping and fishing trips.I fully understand however, that not everyone has had such early exposure to the outdoors.
First off i want to add that this is a very basic into to bushcraft and self reliance .There are many people who develop an interest in these activities, but have never been in the woods, and have no sources of information other than what they can find online. I remember finding myself in a somewhat similar situation about 4 years ago. While it was not my first time in the woods, I had no bush skills whatsoever or nobody who could tell me how things are done. so I had to figure out a lot of it on my own. Keep in mind that whether I intend it or not, this will more or less be a guide to how I do things and my style of camping and bushcraft. It is certainly not the way for everyone, but if my way works with you, this may be of some use.
To start things off lets talk about gear. One of the most important thing's in my eyes that you need to have is a basic cutting tool, knives with a full tang are going to be your best bet, you don't wanna be in the woods and break your knife and be left with nothing. You can do anything from splitting wood to shaving if you have a nice blade. I prefer a full tang knife with a scandi grind this grind will suit you best for bushcrafting tasks but this is only my opinion remember that everybody is going to feel more or less comfy with the knife they prefer same with the grind. moving on to the next item, it's a good idea to carry a flint and steel or ferro rod to make fire with as you may not have the skills or luck to make one without one tho it is possible with the knowledge to do so.
also paricord is your best friend in the woods it has more purposes then one could count. Having something to boil water in is also a good idea, and can double as a pan to cook. With these 4 items one could thrive in the woods with the right skill set. Now that we got some basic gear to bring along let"s talk about some skills. like they say, the more skills you have the less gear you need!
- Food Foraging.
- Trapping and Hunting Game.
- Water Gathering and Purification.
- Shelter Building.
- Fire Building.
These 4 skill sets are the basics to bushcrafting. remember, bushcraft teaches you how to do all these things with just a basic tool and the knowledge in your head. Each of these bushcraft skills have many smaller subsets of tasks and abilities that make them up. Let’s take a look at what you need to learn to become proficient at these bushcraft skills.
Food Foraging
- Knowledge of local plants
- Camp cooking
- Avoidance of toxic plants
- How to efficiently harvest
Trapping and Hunting
- Tracking and stalking game
- Reading animal signs
- Building snares
- Using lures
- Hiding human scent
- Tying knots
- Making cordage
- Cleaning and cooking game
Water Gathering and Purification
- Foraging for water
- Making a water filter
- Purifying water
- Fire building (for boiling)
- Container making (for carrying water)
Shelter Building
- Felling trees
- Batoning branches
- Harvesting other materials
- Thatching or weaving grass or bark
- Knot tying
- Making cordage
- Natural insulation and waterproofing
As you can see there is a lot to learn! While becoming a bushcraft master can take several years or longer the good news in that there are many small skills that can be quickly learned to get you started. Additionally, some of the more basic skills like making cordage and batoning have many uses and can be applied to more than one discipline. I have been learning these skills for 4 years and i know very little compared to some. Just stick with it. If you are starting with no base of bushcraft knowledge it is best to begin with one of the easier skills to learn. Many of these can be learned in a matter of hours and be further developed whenever you have the time to practice. Some basic bushcraft skills to start out with are: Batoning wood,Carving simple tools,Lashing basic camp structures such as a tripod,Knot tying,Basic fire starting, with these skills you are ready to hit the woods!!!!! i hope that this post will be helpful to anyone just starting out!!!! thanks for reading.