Our hunter gatherer ancestors in the British Isles consumed plenty of fish, taking advantage of streams, rivers, coastal areas and lakes.  In fact some studies have concluded that up to 60% of a hunter gatherer’s diet was made up of fish. So in this short video I show how to gut and fillet a trout. We teach how to prepare trout on our IOL Bushcraft Competency Diploma course. You can see photos form this course, as well as all of our others, on our Facebook page. The post How to prepare trout appeared first on Jack Raven Bushcraft ..read more

Fish made up a significant part of hunter gatherer diets in northern Europe, according to this study.  They might have caught those fish on a hook, similar to the ones we make on our Primitive Fishing Kits course, or with a net, a trap or a fishing spear. In this video I show you how to make a fishing spear, it’s straightforward and quick to do.  Remember that you can’t use these in fresh water in the UK. We teach how to make a fishing spear on our5 Day IOL Bushcraft Competency Diploma course. You can see loads of photos from that course, as well as all the rest of the fantastic cou ..read more

Snaring and the law varies depending on which country within the United Kingdom you’re in.  Below is what we understand to be the current situation. England Whilst the use of snares is covered by a voluntary Code of Practice, that code of practice is written for snaring foxes.  In a bushcraft context we’re concerned with food acquisition so it’s extremely unlikely that a fox would be the target species.  So whilst the Code of Practice is useful,  be sure to adhere to lawful restrictions under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This makes it an offence to set in position ..read more

This is a new one we’ve added to our foraging days, but it’s already one of my favourites! Ingredients 500g of new potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces 1 onion, finely diced 2 tbsp of tomato puree 1 tsp of cumin ½ tsp of chilli powder 1 tbsp of wild garlic paste 1 bunch of cow parsley or yarrow leaves, finely chopped 1 tbsp of nettle seeds 60 mls of olive oil How to make wild patatas bravas Fry the potatoes and set to one side Add some oil to a pan and fry the onions until softened Add the tomato puree, cumin, chilli powder and wild garlic and fry for a further 5 minutes Combine with the fr ..read more

In this video I take a look at skinning a rabbit.  Whilst I understand that the killing of wild animals is an emotive topic, I believe that it’s an important part of bushcraft. We teach skinning a rabbit, as well as pigeons and deer, on our Deer Preparation & Butchery course.  We also look at game preparation on our 5 Day IOL Bushcraft Competency Diploma course. You can see loads of photos from that courses, as well as all the rest of the fantastic courses that we run, on our Facebook page. The post Skinning a rabbit appeared first on Jack Raven Bushcraft ..read more

A couple of years ago I put together a video talking about the usefulness of bracken as a tinder in the winter. In this video I show you how to light a fire with a bracken tinder bundle, with a little help from a King Alfred’s Cake. Brackens behaves differently to hay in a tinder bundle in that it’s a little coarser and tends to need more breathing into, so whilst it’s a great material to use as a tinder bundle, it needs a little practice. We teach lighting a fire with a bracken tinder bundle on our 2 Day & 5 Day Bushcraft Courses, as well as on the IOL Bushcraft Competency Cour ..read more

Tracking isn’t just about finding the tracks that an animal leaves behind, it’s also about the other clues that they leave that can inform us of their presence.  These clues are often refereed to as ‘sign’.  Here I’ll briefly describe some of those different types of  animal sign. Scat Scat is the term used in tracking for faeces.  Recognising the scat of different animal species will tell you which species of animal are around.  You can sometimes tell what the animal has been eating by looking closely at the scat and you can also ‘age’ scat to understand how long it’s ..read more

I’ve previously made videos showing you how to tie an Evenk knot and a taut line hitch as well as the midshipman’s hitch.  This time it’s the timber hitch.  This is a really useful hitch, one that I use all the time.  It provides a fixed point for your cord and so is ideal for putting up a tarp or hammock. So watch this video to see how to tie a timber hitch. Learning how to tie a timber hitch to put up tarps and hammocks is something we do on both our 2 Day Bushcraft Course  and 5 Day Bushcraft Course.  We also practice them on our IOL Bushcraft Competency ..read more

I prefer sleeping under a tarp when I’m in the woods, so here I look at one popular option – a ‘lean to’ tarp set up.  I also explain why I’m not a big fan of it! A ‘Lean to’ tarp set up is one of a few different configurations we look at on our  on our 2 Day Bushcraft Course and 5 Day Bushcraft Course as well as on the IOL Bushcraft Competency Award and Diploma. You can see photos from those courses, as well as all of our other courses on our Facebook page. The post A ‘Lean to’ tarp set up appeared first on Jack Raven Bushcraft ..read more

A short video going over the main design principles for a lean to debris shelter. I’ve seen lots of photos and posts online where people tie the ridge pole to trees or even put the ridge pole on the wrong side of the trees, so I thought I’d do a brief video showing how I set up a lean to debris shelter. We spend time looking at the design principles for a lean to debris shelter on our 2 Day Bushcraft Course, 5 Day Bushcraft Course, as well as the IOL Bushcraft Competency Certificate course. You can see photos from all these, and all of our other courses, on our Facebook page. The po ..read more