Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival

by Dave Canterbury

“With advice on not just getting along, but truly reconnecting with the great outdoors, Dave Canterbury’s treasure trove of world-renowned wisdom and experience comes to life within these pages.” —Bustle 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 Choosing the right items for your kit. Manufacturing needed tools and supplies. Collecting and cooking food. Protecting yourself from the elements. With Canterbury's guidance, you'll not only prepare yourself for any climate and situation, you'll also learn how to use the art of bushcraft to reconnect with nature in ways you've never imagined.

Genres: Survival, Nonfiction, Outdoors, Reference, Nature, How To, Self Help

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 4, 2014

Reviews

[Carla]

I found this book to be very informative, however the other is very sexist in my opinion..... Sorry for the swearing but I don't think the author knows what a woman is... BUT he has great survival skills and great techniques that I have retained and will use in my future... I recommend this book to any man that thinks only they can survive the wild and that are also born in 1910... I would have given this 5 stars but I just can't get past the fact that the writer did not mention ONE woman! I am not a feminist but I also don't tolerate ignorance.

[Irene]

While useful, this book suffers because the author knows too much to effectively write a 101 guide. I have been learning about bushcraft for a few years but I have yet to make my own shelter, and I'm also not particularly interested in hunting or fishing, so it was a good book to solidify some of my knowledge, but I think Canterbury overestimated what someone just getting into bushcraft needs and wants from a 101 guide.

A castor mound set for trapping beaver is perhaps a bit outside of the scope of what this book needed to be. I probably don't need a recipe for muskrat soup. That's not a "first few adventures in the forest" type of situation, if you know what I mean. Unless you're planning to get very lost on purpose, I don't think most people picking up a 101 guide are in the headspace to go for raccoon stew. The edible plant section is, however, severely lacking. Yes, Dave, walnut and hickory trees are great if you can find them and the nuts are in season, and so are raspberry bushes, but they're not ubiquitous and the fruiting season for berries is very short. Cattails only grow near water. Parsnips can, as stated in the book, cause contact dermatitis and also you have to dig them up. That's not a 101 plant to forage. Dandelions grow on lawns but they're not that common on the forest floor. A little more effort could have gone into foraging for greens instead of building traps.

This may have been a liability issue more than anything, since identifying edible plants is hard and making mistakes can be fatal, but I don't know what to tell you, trapping a raccoon doesn't sound super safe either.

[Erin the Avid Reader ⚜BFF's with the Cheshire Cat⚜]

FINAL RATING: 3.5 STARS

REVIEW TO COME MOMENTARILY

[A]

Do not buy this book.

Lacking detail, instructions and diagrams

Of the 20 traps the author decribes, only 3 come with instructions on how to make and set them. It’s also annoying that 2 of those were heavy iron traps - and he says “carry 12”. I was expecting a lot more detail about bush craft.

Don’t buy or read this!

[Don Gubler]

More of a 'gentleman's' survival guide. If you want useful information the Boy Scout Fieldbook is much better. If you want real survival information turn to Tom Brown Jr.

[Little Timmy]

very well done book. great illustrations and instruction. Very recommended

[Kasey]

Fairly basic info. The biggest issue is that Dave is not the best at writing down instructions. This combined with a dearth of illustrations that would complement the instructions, this is not much of a guide or art. Maybe he wanted to keep the book smaller, who knows. Also, there is a world outside of the eastern woodlands of the United States. I know they say write what you know, but a more universal approach would make this more accessible to everyone.

There is good knowledge here though. I won't knock it for that. I will definitely be practicing what I am reading and adapt it to the world that I am.

[James]

This is a field guide not a story. I grew up camping & fishing, but then life happened.. 2021 is getting back to my roots and this book was a good refresher & earned a place in my pack for when shtf.
Canterbury is legit, that said this is not enough to survive if you got dropped in the middle of nowhere with nothing. I'll check out the follow-up to this one 'Advanced Bushcraft' next, and then on to situational & environment specific, S.E.R.E., etc

[Theo]

a manly man's guide to muskrat soup

[Tom Wile]

Clearly I’m worried about the state of the world. Global warming, far far right politics, etc. my wife would be the first one to tell you that I hate nature. It’s like sailing; it looks good from here… but I don’t like it when I try it.

What I do like is to be prepared, even for unlikely events. I told my wife that in the event of a meteor strike, nuclear war or American-style political divides arriving in Canada, we had be ready to bug out.

SO…one day of you call me and I don’t answer… I MAY have just gone to live in the woods from now on. I mean, I read a book about it so I should be good now, right?

[Mona]

Ich habe mir von dem Buch nicht sehr viel versprochen, gerade auch, weil es recht kurz ist und ein 101 sein möchte - also ein Grundlagenwerk. Das hat Dave Canterbury leider nicht immer geschafft.

Ich finde die Einteilung durchweg sinnvoll. Das Buch ist in zwei große Abschnitte eingeteilt: Einen Theorieteil und einen Praxisteil. Abschließend gibt es noch einen Anhang mit Kochrezepten usw. Ganz nett, allerdings werde ich nicht in der Wildnis dieses Buch aus der Tasche ziehen, um nachzugucken, wie ich aus einer Schnappschildkröte eine Mahlzeit zubereite. Aber dieses Buch ist schließlich für den amerikanischen Markt geschrieben, das muss man bedenken.

Im Großen und Ganzen ist der Inhalt nicht schlecht, ist für mich als langjährigen Pfadfinder sehr oberflächlich. Als Grundlagenbuch mag das aber taugen, wobei ich den Fokus manchmal anders gewählt hatte. Statt dem Leser zu erklären, wie man ein spezielles Feuer für "Grubenschmieden" baut, würde ich lieber mehr als einen Stichpunkt zum Thema sicherer und verantwortungsbewusster Umgang mit Feuer sehen.

Teilweise werden Grundlagen auch nicht erwähnt. Im Knoten-Kapitel wird dem Leser nie gesagt, was ein Überhandknoten ist. Ja, ein Überhandknoten ist einfach. Dennoch würde es in einem Grundlagenwerk nicht schaden, kurz mal zu erwähnen, was das überhaupt ist. Den Namen des Knotens kennen schließlich auch nicht alle. Eine Abbildung wäre da auch hilfreich.

Das bringt mich zum nächsten Punkt: Die Zeichnungen. Sie sind vorhanden, aber leider viel zu oft bei den falschen Dingen. Zum Umgang mit dem Messer gibt es eine tolle Zeichnung, wie man ein Messer in der Faust halten soll. Für die nachfolgend beschriebenen Schnitttechniken gibt es leider keine Zeichnungen, nur sehr umständliche Beschreibungen.

Etwas, was mir noch aufgefallen ist: Mehr als einmal liest sich das Buch, als würde Dave Canterbury Ausrüstung verkaufen wollen. Bei der Beschreibung von Ausrüstung gibt es sehr schöne Beschreibungen von unterschiedlichen Produktmarken und was auf dem Markt gut wäre. Das ist natürlich schön, dann muss ich im Internet nicht so viel suchen. Für mich geschah das in diesem Buch aber über Gebühr oft.

Die Jagd ist ein weiteres Thema, das der Autor sehr zu schätzen scheint. In einem großzügigen Kapitel wird das Jagen mit diversen Fallen und das Verarbeiten von erlegten Tieren beschrieben. Auch in anderen Kapiteln wird immer wieder auf das Jagen von Tieren verwiesen. Sicherlich eine nützliche Fertigkeit, sollte ich plötzlich in der Wildnis gestrandet sein. Ich habe dann aber sicherlich keine Tellerfalle aus Industriestahl dabei oder eine der anderen Gerätschaften, die beschrieben werden. Ein kleineres Kapitel über Jagd und ein größeres Kapitel über essbare Pflanzen wäre meiner Ansicht nach sinnvoll gewesen. Das ist aber tatsächlich mehr meine Ansicht und ich kann verstehen, wieso dieser Inhalt in diesem Buch ist.

Alles in allem ein Buch, das es gut meint und für Leute, die sich noch nie mit dem Thema beschäftigt haben, eine solide Quelle von Informationen. Aber es sollte nicht die einzige Quelle bleiben.

[Bookish]

I’ve been reading Dave Canterbury’s Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival. The book is research for a project I’m working on but it’s also a personal passion of mine to study survival techniques. As such, I’ve read other books on bushcraft and wilderness survival/tracking/living before. I’ve found this one particularly useful and user-friendly, with easy to follow instructions and helpful illustrations. My son was also taken with the book and we plan on making tools and recipes outlined within. —Myf (https://www.bookish.com/articles/curr...)

[Whitney Boecker]

Very informative, want to read again to attain more info. If you are wanting to start out learning basic bushcraft and wilderness survival skills you will get a good taste in this book. It's more modernized than other bushcraft books that were written decades ago so it lists actual brands one can buy from and also comparisons with current hiking and camping gear.

[Hugh Madsen]

Good intro into the subject. I like to highlight my how to/educational books and I went through a whole highlighter. From a survivalist stand point, it shows you what you need to think about in your area. Some sections are a bit monotonous but that's because they didn't apply to me personally. I don't plan to do trapping with commercial traps. Book is a great store of knowledge for beginners and should be reread until the information is internalized.

[Christian Pearson]

A fire hydrant of information. Written less as a 101 book as he often uses terms and lingo you won’t understand. There is a book also by him with illustrations that feels more accessible to beginners.

[Clayton]

I was hoping there would be more about trapping and foraging for edible foods. More like a survival book. For those who never did scouting, this may be very informative.

[Collin Lewis]

I pick at this every time I go camping. Pretty good and helpful but not completely exhaustive

[Barbara Giles]

Learned several useful skills and many that I’ll never use. For example, I will never have any type of metal trap with me when I’m backpacking in the wilderness. And I don’t think I need a recipe for Boiled Beaver. Perhaps I’ll starve.

[Emilee Burkett]

I’m now a bushcraft expert

[Jack Batts]

Pretty solid stuff. I need to actually use the info now

[mooseboy]

deze gek is niet goed
ga lekker je water koken en je kikker eten maar laat mij met rust
geen❌swag als ohio

[Grace Miller]

surely he could’ve included more pictures, rating this based solely on its helpfulness to me. mom made me read this idk what she thinks i’m doing in the woods but it’s not trapping animals and building shelters from scratch

[PD]

I’ve been watching Dave Canterbury’s YouTube channel for years. Always informative. This book is a good handbook on his approach to woodsman-ship.

[Piecin]

Me fastidia solo poder darle 4 estrellas ya que es un libro realmente completo a excepción de que si vives en Europa solo es aplicable como un 25% del libro siendo generoso. Una lectura recomendable si quieres conocer información sobre el bushcraft de cara a una aplicación en un entorno como los Bosques de Alaska. Si vives en España puedes hacer 0 cosas de las que propone el autor.

[Juan Castro]

Good info, but best if accompanied with YouTube channel

Dave Canterbury sums up the "what you need to know and carry" very well. But since I've been watching a lot of Dave's videos on his YouTube channel I've understood a lot better several concepts and how-to's explained in the book. I think that more illustrations in the trapping and dressing game would be appreciated to further understanding. Good read overall.

[TJ Wilson]

This is a very good introduction of what you should expect to learn and know if you choose to be out in the wild. Definitely going to check out his YouTube channel and see some things demonstrated.

I also got a good laugh concerning the wild varmint recipes in the back of the book, even though they are probably serious.

[Jaime T]

Trapping chapter either needed more pictures or better explanations. Hard to understand some of the trap setups. Rest of the book was good in explaining how to do things but a few more pictures would help.

[Ben Wasilewski]

Great introduction to surviving in the wild.

[Scipio Africanus]

Good overview for people completely new to the subject. Less so for those who already know a thing or two.

[Chris]

Crafty but could have been more detailed and descriptive. An adequate introduction to the topic.