What is bushcraft? – Getting Started with Bushcraft

What is Bushcraft?

Bushcraft is the use and practice of skills, acquiring and developing knowledge and understanding, in order to survive and thrive in a natural environment. Bushcraft skills, therefore, provide for the basic physiological necessities for human life: food, water sourcing and purification, shelter-building, and fire-building.

What is the point of bushcraft?

Bushcraft not only teaches us how to survive and thrive in nature, but it can also lead to some unforgettable exciting adventures.

“ I remember back in the beginning, I remember sleeping in a mud puddle  – wet and miserable – because I didn’t know how to properly set up a shelter or pick a campsite. I remember cold mornings where I let my fire go out and couldn’t get it restarted fast enough. I remember being in Patagonia for 51 days, catching only 9 fish, and losing 54 pounds. I remember that feeling of failure. I remember… just not doing good. 

But I also remember the first time I rubbed two sticks together, got an ember, and blew it to flame. I remember the smell of the smoke and the excitement in overcoming a huge obstacle. I mean, I’d tried that hundreds of times without success. And then I got it. I figured it out. And over the years… through these experiences, I became pretty good out here. I learned what to do and not do in less-than-optimal situations.”  by Dan Wowak

What is bushcraft camping?

Bushcraft camping is essentially camping that uses wilderness survival skills. Whether you are staying in a tent with some creature comforts and going out and practicing survival skills or bringing the bare minimum gear into the woods with you for a full immersion experience, I think you are still bushcraft camping. Bushcraft trips are not only exciting but also provide you with the abilities and skills needed to survive and thrive in nature on your own.

How do I learn bushcraft?

You can learn bushcraft by acquiring and mastering certain skills which are needed to acquire the basic human necessities in a natural outdoor environment.

What are the basic bushcraft skills?

 The 10 most common bushcraft skills you may want to start with are:

1. Building shelters
2. Making different knots
3. Lashing together tripods
4. Sharpening knives
5. Carving feather sticks
6. Learning and exploring different tinder materials
7. Using Ferro Rods
8. Making fire with only 1 matchstick
9. Experimenting with hot rocks
10. Testing different campfire recipes

Who is Bushcraft for?

Bushcraft is for anyone and everyone! We feel that every human being should have the basic skills of bushcraft. You never know when you may need them. We’ve all considered it a time or two—just packing up and moving off into the mountains, or the desert, or somewhere away from people and setting up shop in a cabin out there, trying not to think about the inherent colonist issues with that sentiment.

If you are a frequent traveler and love to explore wildlife, you may want to take a step further to improve and practice your bushcraft skills in order to thrive and be prepared for the worst.

Where can you practice bushcraft skills

In general, the 10 best places to practice your bushcraft skills are:

1. Your Own Back Yard
2. Your Own Neighborhood
3. Your Local Park
4. Running Trails or Greenways
5. Train Stations or Malls
6. A Public Beach, Lake, or Pond
7. National Parks or Forests
8. Private Lands
9. BML Lands
10. Crown Lands

How long does it take to learn bushcraft?

While becoming a bushcraft master can take several years or longer, the good news is that there are many small skills that can be quickly learned to get you started.

If you are just starting out

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 skills to start out with are:

• Batoning wood
• Carving simple tools
• Lashing basic camp structures such as a tripod
• Knot tying
• Basic fire starting

If you have a basic knowledge already

With some basic knowledge under your belt, you can start to learn some of the more intermediate skills such as:

• Foraging for food
• Primitive fire building (no matches or lighter)
• Shelter building
• Basic snares and trapping
• Water purification

For the pros

If you have a working knowledge of survival or outdoor living you can start to take on some of the more advanced bushcraft projects and skills such as:

• Making rope and cordage
• Advanced structure building (camp oven, beds, thatching)
• Advanced foraging and trapping
• Land navigation
• Tracking