Finding the best bushcraft books suitable for your needs isnt easy. With hundreds of choices can distract you. Knowing whats bad and whats good can be something of a minefield. In this article, weve done the hard work for you.
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1. Do It Yourself Bushcraft: A Book of the Big Outdoors
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Boy Scouts co-founder and avid outdoorsman "Uncle Dan" Beard provides a clear, enthusiastic introduction to the joys of camping, trapping, and outdoor survival. Originally published nearly a century ago, this engagingly written and charmingly illustrated guideprovides an atmospheric reminder of a simpler time. Filled with timeless wisdom on conversing with nature, the book also constitutes a source of practical tips, offering advice on fishing,canoeing, and other aspects of outdoor life.Fishing-related instruction includes information on how to catch minnows, how to make a dip net, fly fishing, bait casting, and much more. Readers can learn how to stalk, to photograph, and even to capture wild animals with their bare hands. They'll also discover how to build a canvas canoe and a dugout canoe, how to make a portage, how to handle a canoe, how to row a boat, and the names of all the parts of boats. This ageless volume will prove a helpful companion to hunters, fishermen, campers, backpackers, Scouts, and anyone who enjoys outdoor recreation and the thrill of bushcraft.
2. Bushcraft First Aid: A Field Guide to Wilderness Emergency Care
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Bushcraft First Aid A Field Guide to Wilderness Emergency CareDescription
From wilderness expert Dave Canterbury and outdoor survival instructor Jason Hunt comes the next installment in the New York Times bestselling Bushcraft seriesa go-to first aid resource for anyone headed into the woods.Out in the woods or on top of a mountain, theres no calling 9-1-1. Bushcraft First Aid teaches you how to be your own first responder. The authors years of experience and training will help hikers and backpackers deal with a variety of emergency situations, from cuts and burns to broken bones and head injuries. Youll also learn what to pack and how to make bandages, dressings, and slings at a moments notice. As bushcraft experts, Canterbury and Hunt explain how to use plants as medicine to treat various conditions. Bushcraft First Aid provides the lifesaving information you need to keep yourself and your fellow hikers safe on the trail.
3. Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods
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Edible Wild Plants A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural FoodsDescription
9781402767159 Features: -Title: Edible Wild Plants. -Sub title: A North American Field Guide to over 200 Natural Foods. -ISBN: 1402767153. -ISBN 13: 9781402767159. -General subject: Gardening. -Subject: Gardening / general. Subject: -Gardening. Country of Manufacture: -United States. Age Group: -Adults. Dimensions: Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -0.75". Overall Width - Side to Side: -8.5". Overall Depth - Front to Back: -5.5". Overall Product Weight: -1.1 lbs.4. Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival
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Bushcraft 101 A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness SurvivalDescription
A New York Times Bestseller in Sports and Travel!The ultimate resource for experiencing the backcountry!
Written by survivalist expert Dave Canterbury, Bushcraft 101 gets you ready for your next backcountry trip with advice on making the most of your time outdoors. Based on the 5Cs of Survivability--cutting tools, covering, combustion devices, containers, and cordages--this valuable guide offers only the most important survival skills to help you craft resources from your surroundings and truly experience the beauty and thrill of the wilderness. Inside, you'll also discover detailed information on:
- Choosing the right items for your kit.
- Manufacturing needed tools and supplies.
- Collecting and cooking food.
- Protecting yourself from the elements.
5. Advanced Bushcraft: An Expert Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival
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Advanced Bushcraft An Expert Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness SurvivalDescription
Trek deeper into the wilderness with New York Times bestselling author Dave Canterbury!In this valuable guide, survivalist Dave Canterbury goes beyond bushcraft basics to teach you how to survive in the backcountry with little or no equipment. Using the foundation you learned in Bushcraft 101, Canterbury shows you how to completely immerse yourself in the wilderness with advanced bushcraft and woodcraft techniques. He covers crucial survival skills like tracking to help you get even closer to wildlife, crafting medicines from plants, and navigating without the use of a map or compass. He also offers ways to improvise and save money on bushcraft essentials like fire-starting tools and packs. With Canterbury's expert advice and guidance, you will learn how to forgo your equipment, make use of your surroundings, and truly enjoy the wilderness.
Whether you're eager to learn more after your first real outdoor adventure or have been exploring the backcountry for years, Advanced Bushcraft will help you take your self-reliance and wilderness experience to the next level.
6. The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, and Cooking in the Wild
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The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping Gathering and Cooking in the WildDescription
What to eat, where to find it, and how to cook it!Renowned outdoors expert and New York Times bestselling author Dave Canterbury provides you with all you need to know about packing, trapping, and preparing food for your treks and wilderness travels. Whether you're headed out for a day hike or a weeklong expedition, you'll find everything you need to survive--and eat well--out in the wild.
Canterbury makes certain you're set by not only teaching you how to hunt and gather, but also giving you recipes to make while on the trail. Complete with illustrations to accompany his instructions and a full-color photo guide of plants to forage and those to avoid, this is the go-to reference to keep in your pack.
The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, and Cooking in the Wild helps you achieve the full outdoor experience. With it, you'll be prepared to set off on your trip and enjoy living off the land.
7. The Ultimate Bushcraft Survival Manual
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The Ultimate Bushcraft Survival ManualDescription
What if you were dropped in the woods with little more than a knife, your wits, and the (hopefully warm) shirt on your back? Could you survive? If youd read this book, the answer is yes!Survival! Its one of our most primal fears, most basic needs. What do you do when everything is stripped away except your will to prevail? In this book, survival expert Tim MacWelch examines how native peoples around the world and throughout history have made their own shelter, weapons, tools, and more, and well as clever MacGuyver-esque ideas for using anything you might find in your pockets or pack. Whether your goal is to test yourself against nature, be prepared for any catastrophe, or learn more about traditional ways of survival, this is the one book you need.
CHAPTER ONE: Bare Necessities - The stuff you need to survive short term wilderness emergencies (72 hours to one week)
The Survival Priorities (& why you need them) Shelter, water, fire, food, first aid and signaling distress
Tools of the Minimalist Knife, Axe and Saw - use and care; Clothing selection
Shelters Pick a safe shelter location; How to build Leaf huts, lean-tos, jungle platforms, thatched roof, log huts, wicki-ups, pit houses, and more (different homes for varied climates)
Water Gathering and Disinfection Finding springs, boiling w/ hot rocks, rain and precipitation collection, water storage, primitive filters, water from plants
Fire Tinder, Kindling, Fire Lays, Flint & Steel, Bow Drill, Hand Drill, Bamboo Fire Saw, Fire Plow, Pump Drill, and other friction methods
Signaling for Help and Self-Rescue How to signal and communicate w/ old school techniques; How and when to fight your way out
CHAPTER TWO: Finer Things - Skills and techniques to collect food, and live more comfortably in the wild (weeks to months)
Foraging for Wild Edible Plants How to identify and use wild plant foods; Recipes like our ancestors would have eaten
Trapping Ways to catch game with new and old school,low-tech traps
Primitive Fishing How to catch fish with thorns and other improvised tackle
Ancient Weapons Bow and arrow, spear, Spear thrower, Bola and sling, primitive forging of metal
Hunting Skills and game processing; 10 things to never do on a hunt
Primitive Tools How to make stone blades, knives, axes, stone drill bits, mallets and wedges for wood splitting, digging sticks
Hygiene Keeping clean; Natural toilet paper; Soap from plants; DIY latrine
CHAPTER THREE: Long Term Living - The skills of our ancestors and the things you'd need for long term primitive living (years)
Food Storage Drying, smoking, Food Caches, Freezing
Containers How to make several different basket styles; Bark containers; Wooden bowls; Soapstone bowls and pots; Primitive ceramics
Hides and Furs DIY buckskin, fur, rawhide and leather; Making clothes and outerwear (moccasins, mittens, hats, etc.)
Primitive Cooking Cook in the coals; Spits and skewers; Green stick grill; Rock for frying pan; Stone Ovens, Steam pit, Earth over (in-ground hearth system)
Tracking Man tracking and animal tracking
Natural Navigation How to find your way by using the stars, the landscape, the weather and many other methods
Wild Medicine Teas, compresses and poultices to help you heal
8. Bushcraft: Outdoor Skills and Wilderness Survival
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Bushcraft Outdoor Skills and Wilderness SurvivalDescription
Clear instructions, extensive use of diagrams, and a full color photo supplement detail all the practical skills and knowledge essential for surviving and enjoying the wilderness. Includes basic instructions for lighting and maintaining a fire, chopping wood and felling trees, creating a warm shelter, using knives and axes safely, finding plants and animals important for survival, cooking in the outdoors, and making tools, ropes, baskets, and more from plant materials. This title now has the ISBN 9781772130072, replacing the ISBN 9781551051222.9. Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties: The Classic Guide to Building Wilderness Shelters (Dover Books on Architecture)
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This excellent hands-on guide by one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America contains a wealth of practical instruction and advice on how to build everything from a bark teepee and a tree-top house to a log cabin and a sod house. No professional architects are needed here; and knowing how to use an axe is more important than possessing carpentry skills.
More than 300 of the author's own illustrations and a clear, easy-to-follow text enable campers to create such lodgings as half-cave shelters, beaver mat huts, birch bark shacks, over-water camps, a Navajo hogan, and a pole house. Additional chapters provide information on how to use an axe, split and notch logs, make a fireplace, and even build appropriate gateways to log houses, game preserves, ranches, and other open areas.
An invaluable book for scouts, campers, hikers, and hunters of all ages, this guide and its fascinating collection of outdoor lore "still has intrinsic value," said Whole Earth Magazine, and will be of keen interest to any modern homesteader.
More than 300 of the author's own illustrations and a clear, easy-to-follow text enable campers to create such lodgings as half-cave shelters, beaver mat huts, birch bark shacks, over-water camps, a Navajo hogan, and a pole house. Additional chapters provide information on how to use an axe, split and notch logs, make a fireplace, and even build appropriate gateways to log houses, game preserves, ranches, and other open areas.
An invaluable book for scouts, campers, hikers, and hunters of all ages, this guide and its fascinating collection of outdoor lore "still has intrinsic value," said Whole Earth Magazine, and will be of keen interest to any modern homesteader.
10. The 10 Bushcraft Books
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The 10 Bushcraft BooksDescription
NOT abridged! This is the complete book. The original and the Best!"The 10 Bushcraft Books" is, as the title suggests, literally all ten of Richard Graves' "Bushcraft Handbooks" bound together as a convenient single volume, perfect for slipping into your rucksack.
A true classic of the genre and out of print for more than forty years, "The 10 Bushcraft Books" is back!
This edition is a perfect replica of the First Edition, with the same size, formatting, layout, page count and illustrations, but in a softcover format.
Unlike the poorly-OCR'd, abridged, censored and dumbed down modern US market reprint edition titled "Bushcraft : The Ultimate Guide to Survival in the Wilderness", this edition of Graves' "The 10 Bushcraft Books" is the REAL DEAL, presented exactly as the author intended, with no deletions or omissions. It is the ONLY COMPLETE volume of Richard Graves' work available today. Remember: If it doesn't have the orange and black cover, it's incomplete and dumbed down. Don't waste your money buying anything else.
The term "Bushcraft" describes the activity of how to make use of natural materials found locally in any area. It includes many primitive skills, and to these are added modern skills necessary for survival such as time and direction and the provision of more modern camp comforts and equipment. The practice of bushcraft develops in an individual a remarkable ability to adapt quickly to a changing environment. Because this is so, the activity is a valuable counter to today's specialisation, and it is particularly significant in youth training work.
The author of "The 10 Bushcraft Books", Richard Graves, is a member of the Irish literary family of that name. He is also the author of:
- "Bushcraft: How to live in Jungle and Bush"
- "Survival Hints", a pamphlet which was included in all Allied jungle survival kits in the Pacific during WWII
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Ropes and Cords"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Huts and Thatching"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Bush Campcraft"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Food and Water"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Fire Making"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Knots and Lashings"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Traps and Tracking"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Snares and Traps"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Travel and Gear"
- The Bushcraft Handbook "Time and Direction"
An enthusiastic bushwalker, skier and pioneer of white-water canoeing, Richard Graves foresaw how a knowledge of bushcraft could save lives in the Second World War. To achieve this end, he initiated and led the Australian Jungle Rescue Detachment, assigned to the American Far East Air Force. This detachment of 60 specially selected A.I.F. soldiers successfully effected more than 300 rescue missions, most of which were in enemy-held territory, without failure of a mission or loss of a man.
An essential preliminary for rescue is survival, and it was for this purpose that the notes for these books were written. These notes were later revised and prepared for a School in Bushcraft which was conducted for nearly 20 years.
As far as is known, "The 10 Bushcraft Books" are unique. There is nothing quite like them, nor is any collection of bushcraft knowledge under one cover as comprehensive.
11. The Bushcraft Boxed Set: Bushcraft 101; Advanced Bushcraft; The Bushcraft Field Guide to Trapping, Gathering, & Cooking in the Wild; Bushcraft First Aid
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The Bushcraft Boxed Set brings together four titles from wilderness expert and New York Times bestselling author Dave Canterbury.The collection includes:
Bushcraft 101: The primer to wilderness survival based on the authors 5Cs of Survivability (cutting tools, covering, combustion devices, containers, and cordages)
Advanced Bushcraft: Takes it to the next level with self-reliance skills that teach you how to survive with little to no equipment
The Bushcraft Guide to Trapping, Gathering, and Cooking in the Wild: Provides everything you need to know about packing, finding, and preparing food while trekking
Bushcraft First Aid: Written with Jason A. Hunt, PhD, its the go-to first aid resource for anyone headed into the woods
With this boxed set, youll be prepped and ready for your next outdoor adventurewherever it takes you!
12. The Book of Camping & Woodcraft: A Guidebook For Those Who Travel In The Wilderness
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The Book of Camping Woodcraft A Guidebook For Those Who Travel In The WildernessDescription
Your thoroughbred camper likes not the attentions of a landlord nor will he suffer himself to be rooted to the soil by cares of ownership or lease It is not possession of the land but of the landscape that enjoys and as for that all the wild parts of the earth are his by a title that carries with it no obligation but that he shall not desecrate nor lay them waste H KephartIntended as the definitive pocket field guide for the turn of the 20th Century woodsman and camper the The Book of Camping Woodcraft was originally published in 1906 This particular Heritage Edition appears as it was on the second reprinting in 1910 In 1916 Kephart dramatically expanded the book into two volumes to include wagon camping and semi permanent base camp construction These are the equivalent of modern car camping just a couple of notches down from a motel stay The 1910 edition is the purest of all the editions of The Book of Camping and Woodcraft Fully illustrated with photographs and diagrams and packed with woodcraft lore this book is a must have for any rugged outdoorsman or bushcraft enthusiast NOTE This description is for the 2011 reprint with the green and black cover NOT the 2012 reprint with the brown cover published by RareBooksClub com This 2011 edition is an EXACT reprint of the 1910 edition and reproduces the original layout and illustrations perfectly There IS NO gibberish or poorly OCR d text in the one with the green and black cover Your thoroughbred camper likes not the attentions of a landlord nor will he suffer himself to be rooted to the soil by cares of ownership or lease It is not possession of the land but of the landscape that enjoys and as for that all the wild parts of the earth are his by a title that carries with it no obligation but that he shall not desecrate nor lay them waste H Kephart Intended as the definitive pocket field guide for the turn of the 20th Century woodsman and camper the The Book of Camping13. The Bushcraft Handbooks - Knots & Lashings