How to Eat in the Woods: A Complete Guide to Foraging, Trapping, Fishing, and Finding Sustenance in the Wild

by Bradford Angier, Jon Young (Primary Contributor)

A comprehensive, practical, and reliable guide to finding food in the woods and living off the land, by respected wilderness survivalists.

With text by wilderness survivalists, the information in How to Eat in the Woods is tried, trusted, and true. One of the most complete books written on the subject, this portable guide includes essential information on how to track, trap, kill, and prepare various types of animals; select bait, land fish, and clean and cook the catch; recognize edible plants, fruits, berries, and nuts; locate bird eggs; catch edible insects; and find potable water. Also included is information on building a fire and preparing food without utensils.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Survival, Nature, How To, Outdoors, Reference

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2016

Reviews

[Cheryl Gatling]

First the good news. As the book says, “You can, with relatively few exceptions, eat anything that crawls, swims, walks, or flies.” You shouldn’t eat the livers of polar bears or bearded seals, because they may contain toxic levels of Vitamin A. And you shouldn’t eat toads, because some of them secrete poisons through their skins. And you shouldn’t eat box turtles because they eat poisonous mushrooms, and the toxins build up in their flesh. But other than that, you can eat all the birds and all the fish, and almost all the animals.

Here's the bad news. You have to catch them first. This book will teach you how to build traps and snares, and then how to skin the animals and prepare the meat. I thought it was highly unlikely that if I were stranded in the woods, I would actually remember how to tie the knots and whittle the toggles needed to make the snares. (It did say that porcupines can be kind of slow and kind of stupid. If you see one, you might be able to just walk up and whack it with a stick.)

Also, I would rather not rip open a squirrel with my bare hands. But I would rather do that than die. And that’s the point of the book. How to not die.

The plants are a bit trickier. There are many look-alike plants, where one kind is edible, but a very similar-looking cousin is poisonous. So you really have to know. And when it comes to mushrooms, just don’t. Even if you think you know. One interesting thing it says about poisonous mushrooms is that the poison may not kick in for hours or days. You may eat the mushrooms and feel fine, and then, the next day, it’s too late.

You can eat the inner bark of most trees, which was encouraging, and you can make tea out of pine needles for Vitamin C, so you won’t die of scurvy. The plant section has very detailed descriptions of the plant characteristics, and contains line drawings. For the plants I didn’t already know, I didn’t think the line drawings were clear enough for me to identify that plant in the wild.

There is an “edibility test” for plants. First, tie the plant against the tender skin of your inner wrist, and see if it causes irritation or burning. If it does, don’t eat it. Then hold the plant against your lips. Then hold a piece of the plant on your tongue but don’t swallow it. Then swallow a piece, and wait. It isn’t foolproof, but it’s better than swallowing plants willy-nilly.

I think that knowing what food sources are available in an emergency is good information to have, even if you never need to use it. And I plan to never need it. I do plan to continue learning what wild plants are edible. And, when I read the book, I kept thinking that when I do go in the woods, I ought to have at least a knife in my pocket. A basic Swiss army knife. So that is one way this book will have changed my life.

Oh, and the other bad news is that you might have to eat things you think are "yucky." So get over it.

[Chris Greenlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be just what I was seeking. I was skeptical how much I could learn by reading versus just going into the woods with more experienced friends. I was pleasantly surprised at how practical the knowledge in this book is and how easily it is communicated in written form. I finished the book today and am going to catch my first fish tomorrow. I probably know more about fishing (from reading this book) than most people that have never caught a fish. I learned quite a bit from this book about foraging, fishing, hunting, trapping, finding and filtering water, and building fires. I highly recommend this book.

[Rachael Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent primer on how to eat and camp in the woods during extended backpacking trips or survival situations! The middle two chapters are on animals, not for the faint of heart when it comes to animal stuff. The first chapter is on foraging plants and General tips on being backcountry and the last chapter is further information you need to know to survive in the wild, such as fire building etc. I thought it was a great read I will return to again and again, full of useful information even for a vegetarian like myself.

[Edward Petrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, old-school guide for anyone curious about sourcing food in the wild. Angier covers the essentials with his usual no-nonsense style: foraging, trapping, fishing, identifying edible plants, and avoiding the ones that will put you in hospital.

Some of the techniques feel a bit dated, but the core knowledge is timeless — and the book really shines in how simply the information is laid out. It’s not romanticised wilderness living; it’s practical survival, written by someone who’s clearly done it.

A great reference if you enjoy bushcraft, camping, or just like knowing how to fend for yourself when the supermarket isn’t an option.

[R]

More like: "A complete guide to realizing that if you were lost in the woods you would die VERY fast."

[Jaden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its a good book about ways to get food in the wild. It covers multiple topics mainly fishing, gathering, harvesting and trap hunting using makeshift methods. The information is very helpful when you go camping. Its more of a book that you read and memorize the information. I would recommend it to people who like to make projects and don't have a lot of money to spend because it uses natural resources.

[Caden · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reason why I chose this book is because I wanted to learn and understand more about plants and different ways you can eat certain foods. I wouldn't say this book is a complete guide like it states on the cover “A complete guide to foraging, trapping, fishing, and finding sustenance in the wild” although, there are good parts of the book, as well as some bad parts. The book is basically a book about how not to die in simple terms.
The plant section has very detailed descriptions of the plant characteristics, and contains line drawings. For the plants I didn’t already know, I didn’t think the line drawings were clear enough for me to identify that plant in the wild. I didn't feel confident after reading it to identify many plants that I'd previously not known but it did have a simple means of preventing self poisoning. The sections on capturing birds and fish were a bit more useful.The animal section went over certain tracks and what they are. The pages had drawings that showed what the tracks looked like and what you needed to look for. I really enjoyed the trapping section and I had lots of connections from other books that I have read about trapping. The small game section was useful but to sum most of that section up rabbits and small game are fast. I really enjoyed the fishing section and found it very interesting and useful. I recognized most of the fish such as minnows, types of salmon, bass, and catfish. The section tells you where to fish and when to fish and even gives a diagram of all the fish and what depth/temperature you can catch them at. Then the final section which is finding water and how to cook the wild food. I didn't really find this part as useful as the others mostly because it had more to do with where to find water such as lakes and streams which most people should know already and how to boil water.
Overall I think the book is a good book. It is good to know what food sources are available in an emergency and what aren't available just in case you ever need to use it.

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a hard one to rate.

The appearance is deceiving (don't judge a book by its cover! ha.). This book is a quirky size. And that, with the cover style and witty title, makes you think it is going to have a modern approach to "eating in the woods."

However, that is not the case. The way is is written is much more like it was transcribed from conversations with your woolly woodsman great-uncle. Which is good - since he knows so much. But also bad - because he is rambling and redundant, and doesn't always explain things in the best ways.

There is a lot of good info in this book, and the quality binding certainly makes it seem like it will last...it is just set up very poorly. Would have benefited SO MUCH from some instructional/information design. A book like this needs to be a reference as much as just a one-time read, and this book falls far short in that department. It needs categorizations, and quick-reference icons (like for edibility, or seasonality, or regions, and stuff like that), and an index. It is crying out for better and more graphics and diagrams, and for processes to be broken down into steps and stuff like that. And they might as well not even include meal suggestions when 90% of the time it is just: boil and butter it.(!)

[Peter Barr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly readable book that goes into basic survival in the woods with a focus on identifying, obtaining and cooking food. I didn't feel confident after reading it to identify many plants that I'd previously not known but it did have a simple means of preventing self poisoning. The sections on capturing birds and fish were a bit more useful. I had no intention of reading it but the book caught my eye at the library. I'm no hunter, camper or survivalist but I'm glad I took the time to read this just to expand my horizons.

[Gmc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information in this book, and easy to use.

This is a great book, so informative and interesting. The book covers so many things that you need to succeed in the wilderness. Things like shelters, water and food both catching, cleaning and cooking.

[Fred Baerkircher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know that it's a "complete" guide, but it is a fun read. I particularly enjoyed the section on traps and snares.

[Eric Gittins]

An American book with little relevance to Australian conditions and possibly dangerous as plants identified are unknown or different to ours.