How should you supervise a child using a bushcraft knife? Should they even have one at all? Bushcraft knives and children do mix but it is a relationship that must be managed… Emma Hampton covers kid-specific safety tips that will enable you to guide your child as a novice knife user. She also answers some frequently asked questions regarding children and knife usage.
Late winter and early spring is a lean time. As soon as shoots start to appear, however, there are some tender, young spring greens to gather. They grow quickly too – the early spring plants race to grow before the trees produce leaves and cut out much of the light to the forest floor. You must be careful though – early spring plants often have defence mechanisms by way of toxins…
Nobody heads out into the wilds expecting to be the recipient of a search and rescue operation. Most people don’t think it will ever happen to them. But you only need to Google ‘lost hiker’ or ‘missing hiker’ to get a sense of how many people for whom it becomes a reality. A famous case, recently popularised further by the film 127 Hours, is that of Aron Ralston who became trapped by his arm…
Without leaves to refer to, people often find it hard to identify deciduous trees in the winter. For those of us who have an interest in bushcraft or survival skills, we need to be able to identify resources all year round. Bark is an obvious feature to look at but in most cases, bark shows more variety and is harder to differentiate than the leaves of different species. Buds are often associated with spring, whereas they lie dormant all winter, waiting for…
Tracking is a passion of mine. One of the things I love doing, even when I’m out for a leisurely walk in the woods, is looking for tracks and sign left by animals. Even if you don’t see the animal, looking at the sign they have left behind can provide a fascinating insight…
Thermal Layers and Shell Clothing Clothing for winter in the northern wilderness must cope with a wide range of temperatures, from around freezing to -50oC (-58oF) or lower. Your clothing may also have to fend off serious wind-chill, when travelling by snow machine or skiing across barren terrain such as the Hardanger Vidda in Norway….