Bushcraft Skills Link Dump
Some old and newer posts dealing with this survival adjacent hobby I wrote
I was going through some old blogs I had and found some posts that might be useful in the scarcity environment we’re entering. Some are dated being from a decade ago. Warning - some of these posts have videos dealing with processing roadkill, small game etc. I’m including them because I believe food will be expensive and scarce in the coming months.
DIY Pocket Water Filter
Bushcraft is a global pursuit and some of the best bushcrafter videos on the web come from countries Americans tend to think of as simply giant urban centers. Here Austrian bushcrafter Lily, aka AloneWolverine1984 on YouTube, demonstrates a quick, cheap way to make a water filter without shelling out your hard earned cash for the ever popular “survival straw” we’re all told we need to carry or we’ll die of thirst in some wild series of mishaps.
American woodsloafers will appreciate the simplicity of her design. Moss, Charcoal and pine pitch are things you’ll have access to in almost every environment except deserts so why drop almost a c-note on a Katadyn?
Be sure to drop by her channel and support her efforts.
How to Use a Fire Steel
A lot of people buy firesteels of different types for their “bug-out” bags and don’t put much thought into learning the techniques to use them. I myself order a few about a year ago but never unpacked them – I’m a lighter and matches kind of guy. The devices are simple to use if you know how to use them and practice with them. This quick video from Ashley from Natural Bushcraft is a good introduction to firesteel use that I watched before unpacking my steels and I’m running through the house throwing sparks on anything that will light.
My wife isn’t happy.
Harvesting Road Killed Deer
Dual Survival alum Dave Canterbury has been working hard on the Pathfinder School YouTube channel sharing some valuable skills for the 21st Century Longhunter as he terms it. One skill we all should be learning is taking advantage of every opportunity to attain resources for you and your family. I suspect we will all be putting that sort of skill to the test in the next few years.
For me what’s most interesting in this presentation is not the processing of the deer but the discussion of how he gets these carcasses. Canterbury works out a deal with local authorities to remove road kill deer which saves him money and puts meat in his freezer. You can probably work out a similar deal.
Field Dressing a Porcupine?
This video which is put out by the New England based Maine Primitive Skills School is about field dressing small game – but they’re using a pretty big porcupine. Call me a greenhorn but when someone says small game to me I think squirrel and rabbit. An interesting video though and extremely well presented:
Part I:
Part II:
Part III:
Trapper Jack Processing a Copperhead
YouTube legend Trapper Jack is a true neo-primitive hunter gather. Here his camp – which is dangerously close to a railroad – is invades by a copperhead who clearly didn’t know who he was dealing with. The snake is killed, skinned and prepared for dinner. Jack also shows a very simple way to process the skin. He takes you through the whole process so all you snake killers out there who want a low-tech way to preserve those skins check it out:
If you’ve ever skinned out a copperhead and cooked up a roadkill deer tell me about it on my Instagram: