Bushcraft - The Survival Tactics

When the term "bushcraft" was invented by Les Hiddins, he would have barely thought that it would become so popular everywhere, especially his own country, Australia. It didn't take much time for it to spread to other countries as well, especially South Africa and New Zealand. So let's come to the term itself. Bushcraft means the craft or skills to survive in a raw environment like a forest or desert where you would have only your perseverance and surviving capacity to help you. In other words, it's like going back in time to thousands of years back and living like our ancestors did making use of only the resources of the nature.

There are different factors that comprise bushcraft. Here are a few of them:

Learning the Environment

This involves the study of the behavior of wildlife. Living in the raw nature, as you would've guessed, is all about adapting to the surroundings. Understanding and predicting the actions and reactions of the animals in the bush where you are is very important. Similarly, being able to identify the plants and trees also help you survive. It tells you how these plants can be used for different situations as well as why some of them should be avoided.

Hunting

The main purpose of hunting is of course to find the food to survive in the bush. It involves fishing as well as tracking. Tracking lets you find and follow the foot tracks of the animals and finally get them for food. And if it is a ferocious animal, tracking also lets you escape from the animal.

Fire Craft

Fire serves many purposes in a forest. From providing you safety from animals at night to preparing food, it is the best gift nature has provided you. Besides the warmth and comfort that fire provides you, fire can cook food as well as preserve many items. It sterilizes wounds and also helps create smoke signals to get rescued.

Building

To erect a shelter in any environment is one of the most important aspects of bushcraft. It is highly important to know how to make a shelter, be it a tent or a caravan, to protect yourself from animals or other natural damages.

Rope Making

To know how to twine ropes together to make different items is also another important requisite while dealing with natural environments. Rope twine making has several mechanical uses like making pulleys, knots, etc.

Bushcraft involves many tools that can help you manage in the forest. Some of them are:

• Cutting tools (axes, knives)
• Cooking tools (bonfire pots)
• Bonfire tools
• Carving tools
• Bungee

The basic idea behind bushcraft is always to make use of the available resources. This requires some pre-knowledge that can let you take the maximum advantage of the items that you come across.

eCamo stock a range of items for all your Bushcraft [http://www.ecamo.co.uk/survival-camping-and-bushcraft-.html] outdoor and camping activities. Bushcraft and bush crafting skills such as making a campfire have become extremely popular with the help of bushcraft and survival television programs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Indu_Nair

How To Sharpen A Knife For Bushcraft

How to make your Knife as sharp as possible by using the Japanese Water Stone.

Trapping Animals for Survival

How to catch rabbits and other animals in a survival situation. No animals were harmed in the making of this instructional video.

How To Skin A Deer Using A Bowie Knife

For many hunters, the joy of bringing down a deer is only part of the thrill of hunting. The other part of the enjoyment comes from actually eating what you kill. However, before you can begin considering what you want to do with the venison, you will need to know how to skin a deer. For this task, it's best to have a good, sharp knife. You can use a skinning knife, certainly, but you can also use a multipurpose blade, such as a Bowie knife. How do you skin a deer? What is the right way to go about it?

First, you will need to hang the deer up; you can choose to hang it head up or down. Having a sharp Bowie knife here will help ensure that you do not make any wrong cuts when skinning the animal. Begin your cut just above the genital area, and move up toward the ribcage. You can cut through several of the ribs at this point if you choose, though it is not necessary. If you cut through the ribs, make sure you make your cuts to the side of the sternum. Do not cut too deeply during this step, or you will puncture organs or the animal's intestines.

The next step is to cut around the neck. You should connect this cut with the earlier incision made in the stomach of the deer. Once you have a good cut, begin pulling the hide away from the flesh underneath and work your way down the animal. You might find that you need to stop and use your Bowie knife to cut tough portions where the flesh is particularly well adhered to the hide as you work. Cut it away, rather than pulling it here, or you can cause problems.

Once you have worked your way down to the shoulders, use your Bowie knife to cut off the animal's legs just above the knee area. You can also use a hacksaw here (this is recommended). Bring your knife down on the inside of the deer's legs and connect the new cut with the central cut.

Continue working the hide down the animal and you will eventually come to the tail. You can simply cut this off with your Bowie knife. Keep working the hide down the animal until you reach the tarsal glands, where you will need to cut off the deer's back legs. You should now be able to work the hide free.

Sammy Sabot has expert knowledge of bowie knives, hunting knives and camping lighters.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sammy_Sabot

Surviving In The Wilderness - The 8 Essentials

The most important technique for surviving in the wilderness is the will to survive. You need the correct attitude or you will have a very tough time surviving.

A lot of your survival skills can be learned from being in the wilderness. From going to seminars, shows, to learning the skills passed down from your parents or grandparents. Here I will detail some of the bare essentials that are needed in a survival situation. Having a survival kit is a necessity, but the contents of that kit will depend on your situation.

1. Your first priority is shelter. In wet or changeable weather conditions most people cannot survive for more than a few hours. Your shelter must protect you from the elements and be comfortable enough for resting and sleeping.

2. Another skill to learn is how to make a fire. Practice this skill under different conditions: wet and dry. A fire will not only keep you dry but you can use it to cook food, purify water or even sterilize bandages.

3. Water is an essential. A human can last many weeks without food, but only a few days without water. Dehydration can occur if water is not found. Rest, keep cool, stay in the shade, seek shelter are some things we can do to prevent water loss. Keep water on hand, don't wait until you are out.Remember a lot of foods contain water.

4. Finding food in the wilderness is very important, but not an essential. We can live several weeks without it, but its important to keep up our energy and our mental and emotional state.

5. Signaling for help should be learned before you have to use it. If you don't have a two way radio, cell phone or a whistle, you will need to use visual signs. Depending on what you have for material, you can either use fire and smoke, a mirror, flares, flashlight or strobe light.

6. Finding your direction without a compass. Nature gives us different ways to determine what direction to go including the moon, sun, stars, wind, trees, and even plants. With your knowledge of the terrain and these methods you can get a true direction to travel in.

7. Wilderness first aid is one of the basic principles to learn. You need to know how to apply them even under a stressful situation. Although there are along of injuries I could list, learning the basic principles with help you apply them to almost any situation.

8. Basic knowledge of how to predict weather. This will help you to take appropriate action before the worst comes. This will also keep you out of trouble and your safety is at risk.

Your survival skills will help you survive in a disaster or wilderness survival situation. Many people don't have the skill or knowledge to survive in the wilderness. That's why many people will survive in groups, even if its a small group. My advice is to learn all the survival skills you can. Learn from people who have been there, or can tutor you.

Source: Tom is passionate about the outdoors and all it has to offer. If you want to know more about the type of Survival Knives out there, please visit: http://www.mysurvivalknife.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Meyer

Trust Your Instincts: The Art Of Bushcraft

A craft in the bushes, Bushcraft is all about the ability and the skills to thrive and survive in the raw environment. It necessitates the achievement of such capabilities and knowledge to manipulate resources manually. It is having the taste of how our ancestors lived some thousand of years ago.

Bushcraft as a term is widely known in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The term was introduced in Australia by Les Hiddins, also know as the "Bush Tucker Man," who also spread its popularity in the Southern Hemisphere.

Mors Kochanski made it known to the northern part of the world. Ray Mears, with this survival television shows popularized it in the United Kingdom.

Skills in Bushcraft include:

Environmental Education

It is the knowledge of wildlife behaviors, like for example foraging, a branch in science that actually studies the behavior of animals.

It can also be the knowledge on the identification of wild plants, how to use them, and ability to perceive weather conditions.

Tracking

Tracking in the wild denotes following animal's track with the actual marks to be able to get hold of them. The skill will allow you to get to them close enough to kill them for food.

Hunting

Bushcraft hunting denotes the pursuit of animals for food. Fishing also falls under this category. One must also know how to obtain and purify water that is safe enough to drink.

Fire Craft

The ability to start a fire is a life-saving skill. Fire serves a lot of purposes, most especially in the wild. It gives comfort and warmth. It is very important not only to be able to cook food, but also to be able to preserve things. It can be used to sterilize bandages, to boil water for purification, provides protection from wild animals, and for rescue signals.

Shelter Building

It is the ability to use all possible resources to create a shelter from environmental forces, animals, and any danger in the wild.

Use of Bushcraft tools such as:

• Cutting tools, knives and axes
• Carving tools
• Bonfire cooking pot
• Bonfire tripod
  
• Bungees
• Paracord spools, etc.

Rope Twine-Making It is the ability to twine ropes to be used as pulleys, to redirect pulling force to the opposite direction. It is also used as a means to have a mechanical advantage. Different kinds of knots are invented with different purposes, namely:

• Pulling
• Fastening
• Hunting
• Attaching
• Fastening
• Lifting
• Carrying, etc.

One must also know how to join sticks or poles by lashing. To be able to do all of these things one must know how to look for raw materials that can be used to make a rope. Materials for rope making can be found just about anywhere, from palms, grasses, vines, barks, and even animal hair. Any material can be used as long as it is fibrous; it has enough length and have moderate strength and flexible.

Bushcraft will enable you to find inner harmony with the environment. It is not only a skill essential for survival, but also has become a skill to support other recreational activities, such as wild-life watching, hunting, nature photography, and the like.

About the Author

SpringFields army surplus store can cater for all your bush craft and camping equipment needs