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

by Dave Canterbury

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 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, Self Help, How To

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 4, 2014

Reviews

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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⚜ · Rating 3 out of 5]

FINAL RATING: 3.5 STARS

REVIEW TO COME MOMENTARILY

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Kasey · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Tom Wile · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Clayton · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Barbara Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m now a bushcraft expert

[Jack Batts · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Grace Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Theo · Rating 2 out of 5]

a manly man's guide to muskrat soup

[Piecin · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to surviving in the wild.

[Scipio Africanus · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been meaning to review this book for several years. I wish I had this book 40 years ago when I was starting out:

Many books about survival and outdoor skills don't become bestsellers. Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival made it to the New York Times' 2014 Best Selling Sports & Travel Books list. Why? Because, in my opinion, it's a good, basic, bushcraft/wilderness survival book written by an author with the credentials, experience, knowledge, and the chops for relevant information and content.

The book's language is plain and concise. Yes, there are run-on sentences, but it's the points the author is making that's relevant to me, not his poetic prose and grammar. The author not only explains the hows of the skills, tools, materials, and methods he presents, but the whys as well. In this business, "I heard that..." can get someone killed.

The way I think this book differs from others is the author's focus on life skills essential to thrive in the wilderness in tune with nature; not just emergency survival skills and gadgets to get you out of a jam. Because of this, I think the book struck a chord with the reading public.

Horses or Zebras?
This isn't in the book, but here's a relevant analogy I hold:
Horses are the things which happen commonly in our specific and local regions such as: illness, accident, injury, temporary loss of power, and severe weather. Zebras are those things which aren't common such as famine, drought, disease, war, and breakdown of civil society/rule of law.

Bushcrafting is one of the cornerstones of preparedness and survivability that can be life-sustaining in both normal situations as a hobby or lifestyle, as well as for those emergency situations outside of our control. The better prepared we are for our Horses, the better prepared we can be for the Zebras. If or when that emergency or disaster comes, people like Dave Canterbury and the Amish will be people you'll want to get to know and learn from.

Much of Canterbury's book centers around his system mindset (e.g., 5 Tool Rule) that everything he carries not only performs one primary thing exceptionally well, but can perform other functions and tasks. With minimal tools, versatility is king.

The tools and gear Canterbury uses and recommends aren't cheap, but most of these tools only need to be purchased once in a lifetime. Choose your gear wisely that will meet your needs and objectives. Purchase, test, and familiarize yourself with the best equipment you can afford before venturing out into "The Sticks".

Canterbury's 5 C's of survivability are:
-1: Cutting tools
-2: Covering elements
-3: Combustion devices
-4: Containers
-5: Cordage

The book's sections are broken up into:
- Gearing up
- Your pack
- Tools
- Rope, cordage, webbings, and knots
- Containers and cooking tools
- Coverage
- Combustion
- In the bush
- Setting up camp
- Navigating terrain
- Trees: The 4 season resource
- Trapping & Processing game
- Appendices
- Utilizing and conserving resources
- Wild edibles and medicinal plants
-Bush recipes
- Glossary

Although 256 pages, the book isn't something one might take along in their pack. The author attempts to cast a wide net and cover many topics, but he primarily focuses on the roughly 15% - 20% of bushcraft information he felt held the most value for beginners.

The book is not all encompassing and wasn't written to be so. I did find areas in the book I felt needed more detailed explanation and some illustrations. That being said, this book is like a compressed zip file where each topic is expanded upon by the author's other specialized and advanced bushcraft books that go into further detail. This book's main premise is to provide the beginner with basic, essential, and introductory information and skills to take advantage of what nature makes available, using minimal gear, to survive and thrive in the natural world. As a camper, I especially liked the author's 4 w's of setting up camp: "Wood", "Water", "Wind", and "Widow-makers".

If anything, Bushcraft 101: A field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival is the foundation upon which a beginning bushcrafter can build the necessary skills and techniques to fulfill their individual purpose and objectives.

I'm no expert survivalist, nor am I a novice, but the author's observations, insights, and bushcrafting methods in this book have taught me a great deal about things I hadn't realized and thought of before. This book has improved and enhanced my knowledge, skills, and mindset. I highly recommend this book. I also recommend When Technology Fails by Matthew Stein and Tom Brown's Guide to Wilderness Survival by Tom Brown, Jr.

[Jeff Budds · Rating 1 out of 5]

I discovered Dave Canterbury’s Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival, while visiting the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Obviously, if the Marine Corps recommends this book, even tacitly recommends by virtue of selling it in a bookstore, then it has to be worthwhile. That assumption was an error on my part. Having purchased and read the book, I am completely amazed that the Marine Corps endorses it.

Bushcraft 101, offers an odd mix of introductory outdoor skills. Much of it is not really about camping and it’s certainly not wilderness survival, despite the misleading title. Rather, this book focuses on what Mr. Canterbury calls “tramping” or “smoothing it” – as opposed to roughing it. Almost everything he mentions and recommends seems to be a throwback to the early 20th Century. For example, his gear list includes two heavy wool blankets, a hunter’s axe, an 8’ x 8’ oilcloth tarp, wax candles and candle lanterns, a wooden cup and other implements that Baden Powell would have carried when he established the Scouting movement. I actually looked at the copyright date expecting to see an original printing of 1915 or thereabouts. Nope, this book was originally published in 2014 – fully 100 years after this quaint kit was widely available.

In fairness, Mr. Canterbury offers a good bit of advice in the later part of his book – once he gets past his gear list. He introduces fire building, knots, land navigation – all important topics in wilderness survival. But he neglects advance preparation, water purification, survival kits, wilderness first-aid, and basic skills necessary for survival in the cold or heat until you can be rescued.

Had he simply changed to title to reflect old-school camping rather than wilderness survival, then this book would be far more accurate and less confusing. Other wilderness survival books don’t provide instruction on trapping game or offer recommendations on how to waterproof your own canvas tarp. And these other books certainly don’t assume you have a wooden cup, a steel trap and a well-oiled piece of canvas in your daypack. Better survival books assume you are already outdoors – maybe hiking, maybe camping – when you find yourself in a bad situation where you actually need to survive.

Bottom line: there are so many excellent books available on wilderness survival. Research and buy one of those books. By all means, avoid this New York Times Bestseller.

[Conyr Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read was Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival written by Dave Canterbury. Dave Canterbury is a self-reliance expert and survivalist in the outdoors, Dave Canterbury is also the co-owner of one of the top 12 survival schools in the United States. This book comes from many other books written by Dave Canterbury about survival in the outdoors, this is probably the best one for beginners in bushcraft. This book is a great starting point for beginners in bushcraft like me because it goes over the basic knowledge you need to have for bushcraft.

Like I said earlier this book is mainly about the basic and most important information for bushcraft in the wilderness. This book goes over many useful and effective techniques for building shelters, starting fires, trapping game, processing game, and navigation in the wilderness. Not only does it go over techniques, but it also goes over the equipment you need for bushcraft and it even has some suggestions for equipment. This book also goes over how to use your surroundings to your advantage and basic knowledge of your surroundings like Types of trees and plants, species of animals, and types of terrains in the environment you're in.

In conclusion, I thought that this book was amazing and had a lot of information to offer. I think that people who are interested in hunting, fishing, and the basic outdoors would enjoy reading this book because it is basically what this book is about. Like I said earlier this book is a very good place for starters to learn about bushcraft and the valuable information that comes with it. Overall I enjoyed reading this book and I learned a ton of valuable information about bushcraft.