There is nothing like the taste of food that has been cooked over an open fire. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first hot dog you cooked at a backyard fire pit as a kid or the steak you grilled last night. Cooking over an open flame is special. I feel at times it’s a way to connect to our ancestors that didn’t have microwaves or even stoves. Just some meat, a fire, and a stick to cook the meat on. This is where I bring up the title of my…
Category: Bushcraft
Surviving in the Wilderness Using the Rule of Threes
Pop quiz! by Jarhead Survivor, contributing writer What’s the first thing you should do or look for when you’re lost in the woods and you realize you’re going to spend the night out there? If you said food you’re not alone. Unfortunately, you’re also wrong. For some reason, when people think about getting lost – especially if it’s going to be overnight – they want to go looking for food first. Read through the following scenario and then we’ll revisit it after looking at the Survival Rule of Threes. Hypothetical Wilderness…
10 Tips For When You Get Lost In the Woods
In July of 2013 Geraldine Largay was hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine by herself after her partner had to leave because of a family emergency. She was 66 years old and had a poor sense of direction and when she went off trail to use the bathroom she got lost and couldn’t find her way back. She tried to send a text using her cell phone, but there was no signal. Her remains were found two years later by a surveyor about two miles off the trail. Her journal…
How to Make Your Camp Fire Burn All Night
Have you ever wanted a fire to last all night long, but didn’t want to stay up feeding it hour after hour? Most nights you lay down and open your eyes again two hours later just in time to throw more tinder and wood on just before it goes out. Recently I was watching a video on Far Northern Bushcraft – a favorite Youtube channel of mine – about how to keep your fire going all night long. The short version is you take one log and lay it top of…
Two Things You Must Have To Survive In The Wilderness
How many blog posts have you read where the author talks about their bug-out bags and you think, “Holy cow, just the pack alone costs more than I make in a week!” I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to be rich in order to put together a good outdoor survival kit. Let me tell you the two most important things you’ll need in order to survive in the woods. Shhhh…. ready? Knowledge and experience. That’s all you need folks. Seriously. By Jarhead Survivor, a contributing author Does…
Making Fire With a Bow Drill
Imagine you’re hiking with some friends on a day hike on a trail you’ve never been on. The trail is well marked in places, not so much in others. At one point you stop to make a quick bathroom break and tell the others to keep going, you’ll catch up in a little while. After you’re done you amble up the trail happy to have a few minutes alone. Suddenly you realize you haven’t seen any trail markers recently and you realize you’ve wandered off the trail. You don’t panic,…
Tips for Self Rescue When You’re Lost in the Wilderness
I’ve written about this before, but since there’s a new hiking season coming on and people are still using GPS to figure out where they are I figured I’d do another piece on how to get yourself out of trouble in case you find yourself lost. “Hey Jarhead! That would never happen to me! I carry a GPS.” Well good for you! But that doesn’t give you permission to turn your brain off. Check out the stories here of people who turned their lives over to a GPS. In other…
