Do you love the idea of getting out into the wilderness and surviving off the land?
Are you addicted to survival TV shows and dream of trying it for yourself?
If so, bushcraft camping might be the perfect hobby for you.
Bushcraft camping is an adventurous hobby that requires minimal equipment to start. The benefits of learning bushcraft can literally save a life.
What is Bushcraft?
To understand what bushcraft camping is, you have to understand what bushcraft is in itself. So, what is bushcraft?
Bushcraft is a term used to describe various survival skills and methods used to survive and thrive in the wilderness with few modern tools or equipment.
Essentially, bushcrafters craft the things they need to survive out of what they find in the wilderness, or bush. This includes shelter, tools, it even applies to hunting and gathering food and water.
What Is Bushcraft Camping?
Bushcraft camping is like regular camping, only more rugged. Bushcraft camping is more of a survival situation type of camping where you bring little equipment with you, and is typically done in very remote locations.
Regular camping is a relaxed and leisurely activity, whereas bushcraft camping is serious and can be taxing on the mind and body.
Bushcraft camping isn’t done at developed campgrounds. Some bushcraft campers hike far into the wilderness for their camping trip. This isn’t to say that you should head out into the wilderness with no preparation for a bushcraft camping trip.
Bushcrafters are very skilled outdoors people and bring essential supplies with them to survive in the wilderness.
Skills Required for Bushcraft Camping
Bushcraft camping requires special skillsets and supplies that not everyone has right off the bat. Bushcraft is a set of skills that are learned over time. Learning bushcrafting can be a lifetime hobby!
Here are some skills required for bushcraft camping:
Fire Making
You can’t cook food, get warm, or purify water without a fire. Fire, water, shelter, and food are the 4 top things you need to secure in a survival situation.
Pro Tip: Here are a few different ways to build the perfect campfire.
Shelter Building
With bushcraft camping, you don’t carry a regular tent with you. Instead, you may be armed with only a tarp… or nothing! Bushcrafters craft shelter out of natural and found materials.
Water Finding and Purifying
The next survival skill you need to go bushcraft camping is the ability to find fresh water and be able to make it safe for drinking.
\You aren’t hauling in potable water with you when you go bushcraft camping, you’re truly living off the land.
Trapping, Hunting, and Foraging
Next is food. The only way to find food in the wilderness is to trap it, hunt it, or forage it. Trapping, hunting, and foraging skills are each in-depth skills. Learning what plants are safe to eat and what aren’t, how to skin an animal and safely store meat, and how to set effective traps are all part of securing food in the wilderness.
First Aid
Wilderness first aid skills are imperative for the bushcraft camper to learn. When you’re out in the wilderness with no means of transportation and communication, you have to be prepared for anything.
Navigation Skills
You need to know how to navigate in off-grid situations. Otherwise, you may become lost and find yourself in a real survival situation.
Where Can I Go To Practice Bushcraft?
You can truly start practicing bushcraft in your own backyard! You can also go bushcraft camping in many different places in the US, from public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or certain national forest lands.
Each public land area is managed by a different forest or BLM district, and each has their own restrictions of what you can and cannot do on the land.
Be sure that you research online and make yourself familiar with the rules and regulations of a particular area, whether it be about building fires, harvesting materials, overnight camping, or more.
An Exhilarating Hobby That Teaches Vital Skills
It’s not often that one finds themselves lost in the wilderness… but if you ever do, bushcraft skills will pay off massively! Bushcraft isn’t just a hobby, it’s a set of survival skills that can be used in any type of emergency situation.
If you love nature, the wilderness, and have an inclination towards survival skills, bushcraft is the perfect hobby for you.
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Technology i suppose i still have all these skills. But at 71 I sure don’t do this anymore. Back in 1967 in college we had the money for food or booze, but not both. So shot or caught our food and bought booze lol! No GPS then. You had to know how to use a compass and a topo map and sun location and the stars at night. Often you just used your own sense of direction that became second nature with a life outdoors.
But unless you are in places like Alaska or the Yukon building shelters like the one in the photo is frowned upon. Takes the cutting down of too many resources. Been banned in national parks for many decades. I remember when I was a ranger in Yosemite stopping a man who was cutting down a tree. He said “it’s only one tree!”. I told him we had 4 million visitors a year, so if each one cut down only one tree that would be 4 million trees. People just don’t think about the damage they do.