Importance of a good knife

A VERY small selection of my bushcraft knives

The number one piece of equipment needed in bushcraft is a cutting edge, and in these modern times that is a good, reliable and razor sharp knife. When out in the woods you should always carry a a solid fixed blade knife that is razor sharp including the means to keep it so. I don't personally like to carry a folding knife as my main bushcraft knife as it has moving parts witch is just one more thing that could fail, leaving you without a knife when you really need it. But a folding knife is a real good item to keep on you as a spare knife and a knife that is always on you in case of an emergency.

There is a number of things you will need your bushcraft knife for. You will be using it to make different tools and utensils for your camp including feathersticks. It will be used for splitting wood that is wet on the outside so that you can get in to the dry combustible wood on the inside, to do this you will use a baton to hammer the knife throu the log. You will also be using it for food preparation, shelter building and a million other uses.

When choosing a knife for buscraft use you must put some thought into it and be careful not to step into the trap that is choosing a knife for its looks and name. You are looking for a knife that is sturdy that can be used for hard and though work for a long period of time. It will need to be able to keep a sharp edge for a long time and be easy to resharpen when necessary, carbon steel knives normally holds all these qualities and then some and should therefore be your natural choice of steel for your bushcraft and survival knife. Most people would say that this is a disadvantage because the knife will be able to rust compared to a stainless steel knife but as long as you take care of a carbon steel knife i will not rust, is much easier to sharpen and is able to create sparks when stricken against a sharp rock.

You will not have to buy an expensive knife that is hand made and so on. A simple Mora knife is easy to sharpen, cheap and razor sharp. All kinds of looks and colors are available in pretty much any outdoor equipment shop and webshops that sells such equipment.

So go out and get yourself a good knife that you will be enjoying for a long time. See you soon!

Animal watching

Most people are amazed when they see a wild animal out in its natural surroundings. Normally we see the animals as stressed and disturbed, mostly because they know we are there. On the other side there is nothing more exhilarating than calm and undisturbed animals out in the wild. To be able to experience this amazing thing, you will need some sets of skills and patience.

You must be able to sit perfectly still for several hours, masking your scent, knowing the art of camouflage and of course you must be able to know where to find the different species of animals.

The reasons for wanting to watch wild animals can be many. You may want to get a picture of what species of animals and the number of them recorded before a coming hunting season. Maybe you would like to get amazing photos of wildlife in their own undisturbed habitat. Or simply just wanting to get more great experiences under your belt.

A calm roe deer captured by my game camera

So lets go on to how this is done. First of all you need to do some preparation work. Animals are normally scared of the human scent which means that your scent needs to be masked. For thousands of years there have always been a lot of forest fires witch has put its scent on the terrain, this has made the animals accustomed to the scent of smoke and fire.  To imitate this, get into your warm, comfortable clothes that are earthly colored or camouflaged. Then you sit closely to the campfire until your clothes smells like smoke.

Then the final thing you need to do is to sit next to a game trail in a comfortable position (leaning towards a tree or a rock etc) and not move at all for several hours. The best time for this is very early morning like for example 4- 5 AM all until noon. Trails made by big game is also used by other small game so you can be prepared to see lots of different animals during the morning.

If you are in luck and your preparations are good enough you may be able to touch a deer or a fox so get out and keep trying!

Have fun and see you soon!

Bushcraft in Norwegian wilderness

Norway is the perfect country for wilderness and bushcraft activities, we have a long coast, deep fjords, barren mountains, huge national parks and pristine forests. Spending time out in the wilderness is part of our heritage as Norwegians, where we are taught about the nature and it's resources already in primary school.

This blog will after a while start to contain tips and tricks, equipment reviews, photos and articles about bushcraft, survival, gathering, fishing and hunting and so on. For this I will need suggestions from my readers what YOU want to read about! So feel free to leave comments!

I'll see you soon!