Bushcraft How to’s and survival skills articles
Obtaining Water from Snow and Ice
Water is essential to life, and the ability to transform water from its frozen state into its liquid state is a vital skill for those who intend to spend time above the snow line. In order to learn this skill it is important to first understand the unique properties of water.Read more...
Making a Sycamore Twig Whistle
These whistles don’t have to be made from Sycamore. Other woods such as Willow will work, but I prefer to use Sycamore whenever possible because it’s easy to remove the bark in one piece. The best and straightest twigs are found in areas of secondary growth, particularly in hedges or places where Sycamore trees have been cut back. This technique will only work during the spring and summer.Read more...
Cooking a Fish on a stick
What could be better on a warm spring day than to spend some quality time fishing for your dinner? The occasional flash of a passing Dragonfly, and the gentle sound of the breeze rustling through last seasons Cattails, all serve to remind us of the old saying that a bad days fishing is always better than a good days work.
The heart races as you feel that first pull on the hook, the adrenalin rises as the fish breaks the surface of the water, its scales shimmering in the sunlight.Read more...
Hunting with an Air Rifle
If there’s one subject that seems to divide opinion within the Bushcraft community more than any other, it’s the use of Firearms and Air rifles for hunting. Traditionalists may argue that these are modern inventions which have no place in the world of primitive living skills.
Some may feel that guns have been tarnished by connections with warfare and violence, and others may claim that hunting with a gun is too easy, and isn’t as “sporting” as hunting with a Bow and Arrow or other traditional method. Read more...
Kayak Fishing
Fishing from a Kayak has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Every summer my father would come home with as much Bass and Mackerel as we could eat, and the excitement of catching my first “real” Fish will stay with me forever.
I was seven or eight years old and sat in the back of my Dads ancient home built, canvas and wood PBK (Percy Blandford Kayak). The cold salty spray ran down my face as we paddled our fragile boat dangerously close to the jagged rocks of the South Gower Coast. Read more...
Paiute Trap
The skill of trapping is one of the most fascinating yet controversial aspects of Bushcraft. In an ideal world it wouldn’t be necessary for us to learn how to capture and kill our fellow creatures at all; we could simply forage for plants nuts and berries in order to meet our nutritional needs.
Unfortunately, in reality, if we were to adopt this strategy in the majority of wilderness situations, we would eventually starve. Read more...
The Catapult as a Hunting Tool
In the minds of many people a catapult is nothing more than a child’s toy, or one of the weapons used by the “Beano’s” Dennis the Menace to terrorise the softies (For those of us old enough to remember). Few people these days would ever consider using a catapult for hunting, but not too many years ago catapults were the tool of choice for poachers and anyone else who wanted to “discreetly” hunt small game animals and Birds for food. Read more...
Damascene Knife Making with Lars Enander
The effective and safe use of a knife is one of the most fundamental aspects of Bushcraft, and as anyone who reads Bushcraft and Survival skills Magazine will know, a sharp blade with the knowledge to use it, enables us to make everything we need to survive in the outdoors. It can help us to shape a Bow drill set for fire lighting, make traps, skin and prepare game, as well as a million other jobs. Read more...


