--- title: Bushcraft & Wilderness Survival description: Bushcraft is living comfortably in the wild with minimal gear. You will learn fire, shelter, water and navigation, knife and axe skills, foraging basics and wilderness first aid. category: trades-crafts subcategory: specialty-crafts difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/bushcraft-and-wilderness-survival --- # Bushcraft & Wilderness Survival Bushcraft is living comfortably in the wild with minimal gear. You will learn fire, shelter, water and navigation, knife and axe skills, foraging basics and wilderness first aid. ## Available Resources 6 Books • 2 Websites • 1 Papers ## Books ### 1. Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why **Author:** Laurence Gonzales Gonzales sets accident case studies against stress neurophysiology to explain why experienced people die and novices sometimes live: outdated mental maps, plan-continuation bias, and panic. Gives you a working model of your own decision-making under fear. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393353710?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** survival-psychology, decision-making-under-stress, accident-analysis, risk-perception, wilderness-survival ### 2. Bushcraft: Outdoor Skills and Wilderness Survival **Author:** Mors Kochanski Kochanski's field manual distilled from decades teaching in the boreal forest: firecraft, shelter, axe and knife technique, cordage, and cold-weather physiology. After it you can build and maintain a survival fire and camp in subzero conditions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1772130079?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** bushcraft, firecraft, shelter-building, axe-and-knife-skills, cold-weather-camping, boreal-forest ### 3. Be Expert with Map and Compass, 3rd Edition **Author:** Björn Kjellström, Carina Kjellström Elgin Orienteering handbook covering map symbols, contour interpretation, taking and following bearings, declination, pacing, terrain association and relocating when lost, with graded practice exercises and a section on GPS. Readers learn to navigate cross-country confidently with map and compass. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470407654?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** map-and-compass, land-navigation, orienteering, topographic-maps, declination ### 4. The Forager's Harvest **Author:** Samuel Thayer In-depth guide to thirty-two North American wild edible plants, covering identification features, dangerous look-alikes, habitat, harvest season and preparation. Opening chapters explain why edibility tests and shortcut rules fail, teaching readers how to make a confident positive identification before eating. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0976626608?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** foraging, wild-edible-plants, plant-identification, toxic-look-alikes, wild-food-preparation ### 5. Wilderness Navigation: Finding Your Way Using Map, Compass, Altimeter & GPS (4th Edition) **Author:** Bob Burns, Mike Burns Mountaineers Books textbook on backcountry navigation covering topographic map reading, compass bearings and declination, altimeters, GPS receivers and phone apps, and routefinding on trails, through forest, in alpine terrain, and on snow. Readers can plan routes and find their position without marked trails. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/168051721X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** wilderness-navigation, map-and-compass, declination, altimeter, gps-navigation, routefinding ### 6. NOLS Wilderness Medicine (7th Edition) **Author:** Tod Schimelpfenig The field text used in NOLS and Wilderness Medicine Institute courses, covering patient assessment, shock, soft-tissue and orthopaedic injury, and environmental emergencies. Teaches the judgement needed when evacuation is hours away, including when resuscitation is and is not indicated. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0811739961?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** wilderness-medicine, wilderness-first-aid, patient-assessment, environmental-emergencies, backcountry-injuries ## Websites ### 1. Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines The strongest free answer to the physiology-of-cold question in the topic note: the hypothermia, heat illness and water disinfection guidelines state the actual evidence for rewarming, rehydration and disinfection methods. The Wilderness Medical Society's peer-reviewed clinical practice guidelines, each graded by evidence quality: accidental hypothermia, heat illness, water disinfection, wound management, lightning injury, drowning and more. Shows what the evidence actually supports for cold, heat and backcountry water. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://wms.org/WMS/WMS/Research/WEM/CPG.aspx **Tags:** wilderness-medicine, hypothermia, heat-illness, water-disinfection, clinical-practice-guidelines ### 2. Paul Kirtley — Wilderness Bushcraft Articles and Podcast **Author:** Paul Kirtley Fifteen years of long-form articles, instructional videos and podcast interviews from a working instructor, covering fire, axe and knife work, tree and plant identification, wild food, water, canoe travel, winter camping and northern travel. The strongest free written source in the field: articles are single-topic, several thousand words, and reason about conditions and trade-offs rather than listing steps. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://paulkirtley.co.uk/ **Tags:** bushcraft, firecraft, tree-identification, wild-food, canoe-travel, winter-camping ## Papers ### 1. An Ax to Grind: A Practical Ax Manual **Author:** Bernie Weisgerber, Brian Vachowski USDA Forest Service technical manual on the axe: pattern and handle selection, hanging and wedging a head, filing and honing the bevel, safe stance, grip and swing, plus felling, limbing, bucking, splitting and hewing technique. The axe is the highest-consequence tool in bushcraft and this is the only widely available treatment written by an institution that must train people not to injure themselves with one. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://archive.org/details/an-ax-to-grind **Tags:** axe-skills, tool-sharpening, tree-felling, hand-tool-safety, bushcraft ## Youtubes ### 1. Karamat Wilderness Ways (Mors Kochanski video archive) **Author:** Mors Kochanski Over 400 free videos of Mors Kochanski and his instructors demonstrating boreal wilderness living: fire lighting and fire lays, axe and knife handling, shelter and tarp camps, cordage, cooking and gear, filmed as course instruction rather than entertainment. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MW2S7G0ay4TLcSfnKtNeA **Tags:** bushcraft, boreal-forest, fire-lighting, axe-and-knife-skills, wilderness-shelter, cordage --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/bushcraft-and-wilderness-survival