Nature contains all the
resources that we need in order to survive, but the trick is knowing what to do
with them. When hiking, camping, or “bugging out” to the wilderness, you need
to know what you’re doing.
These skills are often referred to as bushcraft.
Bushcraft is a group of
interrelated skills that can help you survive and thrive in the wild with
nothing more than a backpack and nature’s resources.
Bushcraft decreases your
dependence on store-bought supplies and, in theory, you could survive with
nothing but a knife. So even if they run out, there is no need to panic because
you are confident in your ability to use the natural resources at your
disposal.
Although bushcraft focuses
more on wilderness survival, it also teaches us to make the most with what we
have even in urban survival situations.
Here are the five most important
skills that you need to know and practice along with links to bush craft videos
showing just how to acquire that particular skillset.
- Fire – you need to know how to start and sustain a fire in any weather
conditions, what tinder works the best and what fire-starting tools you need to
have in your pack or preferably on your person.
- Knots – You need to know how make
the most of the cordage you have with you.
You can muddle through without knowing proper knots, maybe but you will run the risk of failure and use up more cordage than you would if you knew how to do it the right way.
- Cutting
tools – You need to know what knives, saws and axes or hatches hold up the best, how and when to use them and
how to maintain them.
- Purifying
water – water is necessary to
life, but it can also kill you if you drink contaminated water. How do you filter and then purify it so it is safe
to drink? What alternatives are their to
boiling water? What are the best containers
for boiling water?
Watch
the videos suggested (and take a look at other videos by these instructors) and
then go and practice those skills until you have perfected them and they have
become second nature. You can learn them individually or as a
family, but everyone in your group needs to know these basics.
