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This Is How Learning Bushcraft Can Help You in an Emergency


Whether you’re an avid outdoorsman, or you just recently discovered wilderness survival, you should know that the items and the knowledge you can learn will be of huge help in survival situations. In this article we’re going to go through some of these items, and the actual ways they can assist you.

#1. Learning to Use Knifes

Who doesn’t love their Bushcraft knife? I bet you proudly wear it every time you go out into the wild, but have you ever considered the many ways it can help you survive? A knife can do so much more than split wood or cut meat. I suggest you keep your knife close by even when you’re not getting ready for a hike, because it might help you:

  • fend off an attacker should one get into your home
  • cut a t-shirt to help you stop bleeding in an emergency
  • to help make shelter (hopefully you won’t have to spend the night outside but still)
  • hunting
  • for first aid purposes, though I highly recommend you take first aid lessons first
  • …and it will be a good companion if you have to evacuate your home (who knows where you’ll end up)

#2. Setting up a Tent

I truly hope you never get to sleep in your tent because you won’t have a roof over your head. But what if a tornado sweeps away your house’s roof? I’m not saying that it will, but it can happen, but in this case, you will need a roof over your head without leaving all your belongings there up for grabs.

If you have to bug out, whether to a friend’s house or to a bug out location, what if those locations will be unavailable?

Sure, your car is a good place to sleep in an emergency, but a tent will be much more comfortable and can be set up in many more places, particularly those that are more stealth.

Learning where and how to set up a tent is a valuable skill not just for wilderness survival and prepping, but also for camping – something your kinds can learn from a young age.

#3. Learning to Start a Fire

One of the most important skills in wilderness survival is knowing how to start a fire, particularly in wet conditions. Even though the bow drill method is hard to put into practice, your fire-starting skills will still be useful in off grid situations where you’ll need to do some outdoor cooking.

Knowing which tinder, kindling and wood to use and how and where to set up camp fire are all essential.

#4. Dealing with Insects

You cannot step into the wild without knowing or learning ways to deal with mosquitoes, ticks and other insects. This knowledge will not only prove useful in a survival situation but also in a bug in situation, when insects could pose problems.

#5. Filtering Water

Few realize that water could easily get contaminated even if the disaster isn’t that big. A nearby flood, for instance, could result in dirty tap water. Knowing how to filter and then purify water could save you and your family a lot of headaches, or other things such as diarrhea or worse.

Maybe you’ve never filtered water before in the wild because you were afraid to, but keep in mind you might not have a choice. I suggest you thoroughly research water filters before buying one, as most personal of them (such as the LifeStraw and the Sawyer Mini) do not remove things like heavy metals. They do work well in removing living microorganisms, though. It all depends on which variant you get.

#6. Knowledge

Not all of the things you’ll learn about buschraft are going to be useful in bug in and bug out scenarios (unless you’ll end up bugging out to the woods, which I think is an overrated scenario). Still, there’re plenty of other things that could come in handy, such as:

  • first aid knowledge
  • situational awareness
  • finding your way back if you get lost in the woods
  • starting a fire using other things than matches and lighters
  • signaling
  • staying hidden / camouflage
  • outdoor cooking
  • and improvising and surviving with a limited set of items

Final Word

As you can see, your Bushcraft equipment isn’t just something you use on your hikes. It can literally make the difference between life and death, but there’s a catch: you have to know how to use it.


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