If you ask the average American rifle shooter if the world needs another hot new hunting cartridge, it’d be tough to find many to agree right off the bat. But if you laid these specs in front of that same average shooter, they might change their tune: a long, heavy-for-the-caliber bullet with a high ballistic coefficient that produces less felt recoil than a 7mm Rem Mag that can be run in a light, short-action rifle action. Yeah, that’s definitely attractive — and that’s the new 6.8 Western cartridge.

It was engineered as a collaboration between Browning and Winchester, and released to the public in 2021 with hunters as the target demographic.

“The 6.8 Western is the cartridge we turn to for accuracy testing,” said Browning’s director of marketing and communications, Rafe Nielsen, on the Backcountry Hunting Podcast.

Many shooters may ask why two powerhouse companies would introduce a new cartridge in an already saturated market. Do the engineers at Winchester and Browning know something we don’t?

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Going From Good to Great

The cartridge’s designers lowered the shoulder of the .270 WSM, removing roughly 10% of the case’s powder capacity. Lowering the shoulder allowed long, higher ballistic coefficient bullets to seat in the case without encroaching into the powder space.

Fast-twist barrels of 1:7.5” and 1:8” help stabilize the long, heavy .277-caliber projectiles weighing from 162 to 175 grains.

The heaviest bullet you can expect to find in a .270 WSM is 150 grains. With heavier bullets and a higher BC, the 6.8 Western can simply reach out farther with greater accuracy.

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6.8 Western vs. 7mm Rem Mag

According to the BH Podcast, the 6.8 Western, for the most part, nips on the heels of the 7mm Remington Magnum in several categories — again, with a lighter kick.

When both cartridges shoot the same 165-grain bullet weights, the velocity for the 6.8 Western is roughly 2,900 fps, and the 7mm Rem Mag moves at about 3,000 fps. The BC of those bullets is more than 0.600 on the G1 scale, which translates into a projectile that can buck the wind and retain energy at long ranges.

However, the 6.8 Western produces about 15% less felt recoil than a 7mm Remington Magnum. It offers a cartridge capable of taking all of North America’s big-game species — minus the really big bears — in a short-action platform with manageable recoil.

With those features, the 6.8 Western is predictably an excellent deer hunting cartridge that’s capable of making long shots across bean fields on whitetails or steep canyon shots on mountain muleys. It’s especially well-suited for hunting the Great Plains, where shots are routinely at around the 400-yard mark.

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6.8 Western vs. .270 Winchester

The 6.8 Western and a .270 Winchester fire the same-diameter bullet, but their parent cases differ quite a bit. The .270 Winchester was born from necking down the .30-06 Springfield case to hold a .277-inch projectile.

The 6.8 Western was created from the .270 Winchester Short Magnum case by lowering the shoulder and reducing the case’s powder capacity, which allows a longer, heavier, high BC bullet more room to fit into the case.

A 140-grain bullet fired from a .270 produces 1,401 foot pounds of energy at 500 yards, while the 6.8 Western’s 170-grain bullet hits with 1,736 foot pounds The cartridges also have almost identical trajectories, but the 6.8 lands with a larger wallop.

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How It Stacks Up Against the 6.5 PRC

Should you get a 6.8 Western if you have a 6.5 PRC? That largely depends on whether you are a target shooter or a big-game hunter.

The 6.5 PRC allows shooters to hit vital-size targets on large bovines out to 800 yards. However, the 6.5 PRC’s 140- to 153-grain bullets do not carry the same downrange penetration capabilities and energy transfer as the heavy-for-caliber 163-, 165-, 170-, or 175-grain projectiles from the 6.8 Western.

If hitting steel at extended distances or shooting whitetails and pronghorn in open country is what you are asking the 6.5 PRC to do, then sticking with that cartridge is fine. However, if you’re after larger game, like elk, large black bears, or moose, the 6.8 Western will drive heavier bullets at difficult angles deep into the vitals.

Those heavier bullets will retain more energy at longer ranges. Pair that extra power with the larger frontal diameter of the 6.8 PRC, and the cartridge delivers far more thump on target.

Both cartridges also have the charge sitting close to the primer, which allows for efficient ignition within the case, consistent pressures within the chamber, and velocities that stay the same from shot to shot.

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6.8 Western Rifles

There are currently 23 rifle offerings from Winchester chambered for the 6.8 Western. Nine are in the “rifleman’s rifle,” the controlled-feed Model 70. There are also 14 options in Winchester’s budget-friendly XPR line.

Browning’s 6.8 Western lineup includes 18 X-Bolt rifles, including the Western Hunter LR. There are 13 X-Bolt models in 6.8 featuring Browning’s own Hawg Muzzle Brake, advertised to reduce felt recoil by up to 76%, depending on caliber. Not only is this easier on your shoulder, but it also reduces muzzle rise, so a shooter can easily spot hits or get back on target for follow-up shots on game.

For models that don’t wear a brake, recoil sits between the levels of a .270 Winchester and a 7mm Remington Magnum. It is pretty comparable to a .30-06 firing a 180-grain bullet, which comes out to about 20 foot pounds of felt energy in an 8-pound rifle.

Some smaller gun shops, such as the Texas company Hill Country Rifl, have decided not to build guns for the new caliber because some ammunition doesn’t seem to shoot well out of their rifles.

“The Browning ammunition made our accuracy standards of a three-shot half-inch group at 100 yards,” Matt Bettersworth of Hill Country Rifles told Free Range American, “but the Winchester ammunition did not meet our standards. And this was from the same gun.”

Winchester Model 70 Extreme HunterPrice: $1,869.99

Often dubbed “The Rifleman’s Rifle,” Winchester’s Model 70 bolt-action is incredibly accurate for a factory-fresh rifle. This version is built for dead-on accuracy in the roughest hunting environments on Earth.

It features a tough Bell and Carlson synthetic stock that resists moisture like there’s no tomorrow and a free-floating sporter-weight barrel with a tungsten Cerakote finish.

Winchester XPRPrice: $609.99

The Winchester XPR is proof that you don’t have to dump a wad of cash to get a great rifle chambered in 6.8 Western. The company took the proven concepts of the Model 70 and combined them with super-efficient manufacturing processes to come up with a reliable and affordable option for the everyday hunter.

Featuring an advanced polymer stock with a matte black finish, a nickel teflon-coated bolt body, and a rugged Perma-Cote finish on the barrel and receiver, this rifle is made to stand up to harsh conditions and rough environments.

The Future of the 6.8 Western

Predicting the fate of a cartridge is hard. Like the .30-06 Springfield, some survive because of the confidence of troops carrying them in battle and later into the deer woods. Sometimes the cartridge is paired with a rifle platform that flat-out works, such as the 7mm Rem Mag and the Remington Model 700. Some cartridges never make it far beyond the basements they were born in.

If hunters and shooters take notice of the 6.8 Western’s ability to shoot high BC bullets capable of ringing long-range steel or taking game up to the size of a moose, then it should stick around. An inherently accurate cartridge that recoils less than a 7mm Remington Magnum chambered in compact, lightweight, proven rifle platforms should find a place in any rifleman’s arsenal.

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There is a universal question among turkey hunters, usually asked in the predawn while the coffee is being made. What will this weather do to the turkeys? We’ve always been told and assumed that birds gobble best when it’s clear, calm, and warm. Nice days and dogwoods, after all, are part of the allure of spring hunting.

But hunting seasons are short and spring is turbulent, and so if you wait for the perfect weather to go hunting, you might not get to go at all. For turkey hunters, one saving grace is that the birds are diurnal — daytime critters — and so almost regardless of what the weather is doing, they are on the ground, somewhere, and can be hunted. One time a buddy and I ditch-slipped a Nebraska longbeard during a tornado warning. Smart? Not at all. But possible.

Turkeys have another saving grace, too. They have waited all year to breed, and a little bad weather doesn’t change their intentions. In fact, I’ve learned, a crummy forecast usually bothers me more than it does the birds.

Just last week in Texas, one of our hunting days was forecast to be 94 degrees (it actually reached 96) with a sustained 30-mph wind. A wildfire had ravaged the ranch we were hunting only a few weeks earlier, and so the dry air was laced with black soot. But before those Winds of Hell began to blow, the morning broke in a fog so thick it seemed I could’ve cut a slice of it from the sky and set it in my truck for later.

Will they even gobble in the fog like this? my buddy Miles wondered aloud.

Not much, and it seems like the fog keeps them in the tree forever, I said, matter-of-factly. Fifteen minutes later, a pair of vocal longbeards strutted right through the soup to our gun barrels. Miles killed one and I missed the other.

(Don’t Miss: 10 Reasons Why You Suck at Calling Turkeys)

A few hours later, the forecast was living up to the hype. Maybe I’ve seen it hit 90 degrees a time or two during the late season in Tennessee, but I wouldn’t swear to it. The Texas wind and heat felt like the rush of opening a broiling oven after something greasy has oozed onto the elements. Turkeys won’t do anything in this, I said, again matter-of-factly, as we cruised ranch roads and glassed under shade trees.

Then we topped a hill where two Rio Grande gobblers were strutting in the blazing sun. One of them gobbled at the truck. We cruised a half mile past them, made a wide loop to set up, and called them right in. Michelle, my wife, killed one at 12:04 p.m. At that point, having been 100% wrong on all of the day’s turkey behavior predictions, I made the safe bet that everyone else was probably at least as hungry as me. Let’s go get some barbecue and try again this afternoon, I suggested.

Listen to the Realtree Outpost Podcast from this hunt:

When in Doubt, Go Hunt

The other day, before Texas, a buddy of mine from Alabama called and said, I slept in this morning because it was cloudy and raining. I think I messed up, because it’s pretty outside now. He’d been having a good spring to that point, with several close calls but no trigger pulled. Since my season at home wasn’t open yet, I was living vicariously through him, and I also felt compelled to suggest what the turkeys would be doing at that very moment in another state, on a property I’d never seen. Channeling Dr. Phil, I told my buddy that many times in the past, I’ve forced myself to get up and go hunt and I’ve never regretted it, even when I didn’t get a bird. When I have slept in, though, I’ve almost universally woken up feeling sorry for myself.

Point being, go hunting and see what happens, I said.

The next morning, my buddy waited out a predawn deluge, and then he heard a turkey gobble at the departing thunder as he was gathering his gear. He sent me pictures of that bird later in the day, lying dead on his tailgate, with the words, How ’bout that, Ol’ Son?

Not that it offered much hope back in Texas. The winds were still raging as I watched the sun fade behind the live oaks that evening, but it seemed as though at least one of my predictions would hold true: Turkeys wouldn’t do squat that evening, hot as it was. Miles was tagging along with me — the first time he’d ever been unarmed in Texas, he said — and we decided to sit within earshot of a creek bottom, where turkeys often roost. With less than an hour of shooting light remaining, I hit my box call, thinking maybe I’d get a bird to shock gobble before fly-up. The answering gobble was so faint I thought I might’ve imagined it, but Miles heard it too.

No way we’re killing that bird, I whispered. He’s a mile away, and they’ll be flying up any minute. Shoot, he’s probably up in a tree right now, gobbling from the limb.

But when he gobbled again a few minutes later, I realized he’d cut half the distance. I popped in a mouth call and yelped, and he roared back from the dark timber, so close I could feel the rattle in his throat. Then I saw him, strutting across the pasture toward me, a mere silhouette in the fading light. But when he got to 25 yards, I could see his white head pretty good.

(Don’t Miss. Seriously. Never Miss a Gobbler Again)

In 28 seasons of hunting, I’ve never killed a gobbling turkey any later in the day than that one. Never worked one at high noon when it was 94 degrees, either. Nor have I ever seen a turkey pitch into a blinding fog and tear right through it, drumming and gobbling so furiously I never lost track of him, before ultimately revealing himself within gun range.

That day, I saw all the above, and in every instance predicted that the turkey would do the exact opposite of what he actually did.

Sometimes, it’s best to just shut your mouth and go hunting.

Magnet fishing in California is a bit of a grey area. There is no specific law against it, but there are laws against trespassing and littering that could be applied. So technically, magnet fishing is illegal in California if you’re doing it on private property or leaving behind trash. But if you’re careful and respectful, you can magnet fish legally across the state.

Magnet fishing enthusiasts are all over California, including in San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles. Here are some of the main rules to follow on magnet fishing in California:

Is magnet fishing legal in California?

Affecting ecosystems:

Make sure you are always picking up your trash and any found debris from magnet fishing. Leaving behind trash or debris is littering and illegal in California. You could face serious fines for leaving trash in public areas if caught.

Also, be mindful of the ecosystem you’re in. If you’re fishing in a river or lake, you could disturb the natural habitat and harm the wildlife. Check local regulations before magnet fishing in any body of water.

Trespassing:

You can only magnet fish on the property you have permission to be on. This means no trespassing onto private property or closed-off areas. You could be fined or arrested for trespassing if you don’t have permission. Violating California law for trespassing can often carry fines of $400 or more, which is not worth the risk.

Metal detector use:

In certain areas, such as San Francisco bay, it is illegal to use a metal detector or magnet fishing equipment. This is because of the sensitive ecosystem and the potential to disturb cultural resources that are located underwater. This is a clearly posted area, and if you see signs that prohibit fishing or the use of metal detectors, it is likely an area that prohibits magnet fishing as well.

The best spots to legally magnet fish in California:

There are many spots in California that are perfect for magnet fishing, as long as you follow the rules. Here are some areas that people are flocking to for magnet fishing:

The LA river:

The LA river has many spots with bridge access and waterways that pass under highways, making it perfect for magnet fishing. However, check for signs prohibiting magnet fishing or trespassing before you start, as there are sections of the LA river that are not accessible to the public.

Legg Lake:

Legg lake is a great place to find old coins, as it is a very popular spot for fishing. This lake is located in South El Monte, CA, and is open to the public for magnet fishing.

Berkeley Marina:

Although it is part of the San Francisco bay area, the Berkeley Marina is a great spot for magnet fishing. There is public access to the water and plenty of areas to fish from the pier. This is an area that does not prohibit magnet fishing as long as you follow the rules.

Marina Del Rey:

One of the largest man made marinas in the United States. There is public access to the water and lots of parks along the channel/waterways This is also an area that does not prohibit magnet fishing as long as you follow the rules.

Common items found in Magnet fishing throughout California:

Magnet fishing in California can be a lot of fun, especially in areas that are commonly used by tourists and locals. Some of the most common items found when magnet fishing in California are:

• Old coins
• Buckets
• Tools
• Knives
• Wedding rings

Rings are common in swimming and fishing areas, and you can often take them to the police to be returned to their owners.

If you find any cultural artifacts, such as old coins or tools, it is best to leave them in place and notify the authorities. These items could be part of California’s history and should be preserved. You should also contact authorities should you find any firearms or other weapons, as these could be dangerous.

Overall, magnet fishing is a great way to spend some time outdoors, and you can even find some valuable items. Just make sure to follow the rules and regulations in place to avoid getting fined or arrested. With a little research, you can find the perfect spot for magnet fishing in California.

RECREATIONAL CRABBING RULES

All information provided below is summarized from the Code of Virginia and VMRC Regulations. Please refer to the Code sections and Regulations cited for legal documentation. All regulations are subject to change.

Licensing Information

The following activities do not require a license in Virginia [ Code 28.2-226 ]:

The use of the following gears require a license for “recreational use of commercial gear”. Each of these licenses shall be issued to an individual for their exclusive use [ Code 28.2-226.2 , 4VAC20-670-20 ]:

Buying a License

To use a rod-and-reel requires a Saltwater Recreational Fishing License, unless exempted. Saltwater Recreational Fishing Licenses may only be purchased from DWR. (Purchase license HERE or see more license info HERE)

Seasons

It is unlawful for any person to place, set, or fish or knowingly leave any hard crab pot or peeler pot in any Virginia tidal waters from December 1 through March 16.

Possession Limits

All recreational crabbing is limited to 1 bushel of hard crabs and 2 dozen peeler crabs per person per day. [ Code 28.2-226, 4VAC20-670-25 ]

The “bushel” is a volumetric measurement, roughly equal to 40 pounds.

Size Limits

&nbsp&nbsp (As measured from tip-to-tip of the longest spikes)

Hard Crabs

Male

5 inches

Code 28.2-708

Immature female

5 inches

Mature female

No size limit

Peeler Crabs

March 17-July 15

3.25 inches

4VAC20-270-55

July 16-November 30

3.5 inches

Seaside Eastern Shore

3.25 inches

Softshell Crabs

3.5 inches

Male “Jimmy”: Washington MonumentFemale “Sook”: US Capitol

Sponge Crabs

From March 17 through June 15, you can only keep bright orange sponge crabs (1-5 above). All brown to black sponge crabs must be returned to the water (6-15 above).

From June 16 through March 16, you can keep any sponge crabs [ 4VAC20-370-20 ].

Why? Bright orange crabs are less likely to survive if thrown back. The darker crabs will release their eggs sooner than the lighter crabs (the color darkens as the eggs develop), so they’re hardier. Many people choose to return all sponge crabs to the water as a conservation measure.

Gear Marking

Buoys of any crab pot or crab trotline, and an offshore stake of any crab pound/trap, used for recreational purposes, shall be marked legibly with the last 4 numbers of the licensee’s social security number or driver’s license number, preceded with the letter “R”; these figures must be at least 1 inch in height. [ 4VAC20-670-40 ].

Other Crabbing and Crab Gear Regulations

It is illegal to:

• &nbsp Use more than 5 crab pots per licensee recreationally [ 4VAC20-670-30 ]. • &nbsp Fish 3-5 pots with the 5 pot license on Sundays [ 4VAC20-670-30 ] • &nbsp Crab recreationally within Virginia Blue Crab Sanctuary Area 1A from June 1 through September 15, in Sanctuary Area 1B from May 16 through September 15, and in Sanctuary Area 3 from May 9 through September 15. For GPS coordinates of the sanctuaries, see 4VAC20-752 {MAP}.

A recreational crab pot must have at least two unobstructed cull rings at least 2 3/8 inches inside diameter cull rings located one each in opposite exterior side panels of the upper chamber of the pot [ 4VAC20-700-20 ].

On the seaside of Accomack & Northampton Counties, each pot must have two cull rings: one cull ring at least 2 5/16 inches inside diameter and another at least 2 3/16 inches inside diameter located one each in opposite exterior side panels of the upper chamber of the pot [ 4VAC20-700-20 ].

Each crab pound/trap must have at least four unobstructed cull rings of at least 1 1/2 inch inside diameter, located two each under water in the lower portion of two opposite side panels (perpendicular to the shoreline) of the retention box [ 4VAC20-460-50 ].

Any law or regulation applying to the setting or fishing of crab pound/traps or crab trot lines shall also apply when those gears are set or fished for recreational purposes [ 4VAC20-670-30 ].

For more information on Recreational Use of Commercial Gear, see 4VAC20-670-10.

For more information on crab traps and pounds, see 4VAC20-460-10.

For more information on the blue crab fishery, see 4VAC20-270-55.

Recreational Reporting

Any person catching finfish or shellfish using a licensed recreational gillnet, cast net, dip net, 5 crab pots, crab trap, crab trotline, or eel pot must report harvest annually to the Commission [ 4VAC20-670-10 ]. You can report online through the Virginia Saltwater Journal or by mailing in paper forms found here.

Crabbing in Maryland and the Potomac River

Maryland recreational regulations.

Potomac River recreational regulations (includes map of jurisdictions on and around the Potomac River):

Definitions

Jimmy: A male hard crab with a narrow apron on the abdomen.

Sook: A mature female hard crab with a semicircular apron.

Sponge crab: An adult female hard crab which has extruded her eggs on the abdomen or abdominal flap. The egg mass or “Sponge” may contain about 2 million eggs.

Peeler crab: Any crab with a soft shell fully developed under the hard shell. A white, pink, or red line on the outer section of the “backfin” is an indicator.

Softshell crab: A crab which has recently emerged from its old shell. The new shell is soft and tender.

Page updated: 02:04 PM Wednesday, May 24, 2024

Whitetail deer might seem like quiet creatures, but in fact they communicate vocally quite a bit. However, different deer noises may all sound the same or very similar to the untrained ear. The truth is, deer’s different vocalizations have lots of different meanings—all of which you need to learn in order to become a better hunter. Here’s what you need to know.

How Learning Deer Sounds Helps Your Hunt

Understanding the behavioral intricacies of whitetail deer is no easy feat. These language complexities make hunting deer both fun and challenging. Fortunately, humans have been studying all of these vocalizations for years for both hunting and conservation purposes, which has led to a better understanding of what each noise means. We now can now decipher micro variations in dialect, giving us a deeper sense of what deer are trying to say.

Without question, learning these different vocalizations and what they mean will make you a better hunter. Learning the sounds deer make can make you that much better at deer calling. But it also helps you to understand why deer act the way they do in certain situations. Knowing how to identify the four common sounds deer make, what each deer sound means, and what prompted the deer to make it, will help make you a better hunter in the long run.

Deer Sound #1: Grunts and Growls

A grunting sound is easily the most common vocalization hunters will hear in the deer woods. The grunt is a standard form of communication, but there are a few different variations of grunts that all have slightly different sounds.

If you spend enough time in a blind or a stand watching adult deer and hear these grunts and observe the behavior that follows, eventually you start to make sense of the context of the situation, and you start to understand the nuances between common sounds and the different sounds that deer make—and begin to emulate them. You can emulate all of these sounds with a grunt call, which is particularly effective when a buck is riled up. Effective calling and timing of those sounds will bring a buck right to you.

The most common deer grunt is a low and quick “urp” sound, which is what’s called a contact grunt or social grunt. Both male deer and female deer use these grunts to announce their presence in an area and identify themselves to other deer, almost like saying, “Hello, I’m here.” They sound a little different between the sexes, but both serve as a way of establishing a social hierarchy.

The Doe Grunt

A doe grunt is one of the common sounds deer make. A doe grunt is much higher sound than that of a buck. Female deer have smaller bodies, and just like in humans, this results in a shorter airway. Does use grunts in a slightly different way than bucks do. Does don’t really grunt to show dominance, but more so to communicate with one another. Deer are highly social, and they try to gather together when they can, so a grunt is the deer’s way of telling others it’s around and ready to mingle, so to speak. The mothers also grunt to call the fawns if it’s feeding time or if they’re moving to a new location, almost like a mother raising her voice to her children.

I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve watched does feeding right out in front of me, only to start sparring with the younger deer and chasing them off. The whole time, the more mature doe was making this grunt noise, which became deeper, raspier, and more aggressive as she asserted more dominance.

The Buck Grunt

A buck grunt is a different sound that is a little deeper and guttural than that of a doe, which produce more of a higher, nasally sound. Bucks make a loud grunting sound to show their dominance. While all deer make soft, long grunts to call to one another, the deep, short grunt of the buck is the male claiming does and territory.

When most of us think of buck sounds, our mind gravitates to buck grunts. We think of that echoing, saliva-inducing sound that only comes from a buck during the rut. However, there’s again a wide range of variations, but all of them are unique to the peak of hunting season.

While bucks will use short grunts to stake out their territory and intimidate rivals, they sometimes use the same sound to establish dominance when chasing does, which many often call “trailing grunts.” The sound is virtually unmistakable and enough to get any hunter’s blood pumping, as it means only one thing: a buck is coming in hot on a doe’s trail, so get ready for action. The sound itself is somewhat of an excited “urp-urp-urp-rup” along with the ruckus of crunching leaves and cracking branches.

The Tending Grunt

Another type of deer grunt is a tending grunt. A tending grunt is a deer call made by bucks when they are following a doe during rut and want to mate. The tending grunt is a deep guttural call made of long, drawn-out notes, softly, without aggression or loudness—a guttural “urrrrrrrrrp” sound, which often includes a mix of short grunt sounds, too, all of which signify ownership to a doe, as well as other interested bucks. Big bucks use this grunt to assert their dominance, frustration, and let everyone in the area know what they are after. They also use it to ask the doe to stop so they can breed.

The Buck Growl

Slightly less common is the “buck bawl,” “growl,” “rage grunt,” “breeding bellow,” or “buck roar,” all of which are different names for the sound big bucks make when an estrous doe is near. Noticeably lower and a tad eerie, this guttural vocalization doesn’t even sound like it’s coming from a deer. The video above is a perfect example of just that. Rutting bucks make this sound when they’re frustrated—which is exactly what it sounds like—because they’re lonely or a doe hasn’t allowed them to breed yet.

A number of grunt calls have hit the market in recent years to create a version of this sound, but it’s a difficult one to pull off, and thus should be reserved for experienced callers. Without the perfect pitch and cadence, you’ll run the risk of scaring away bucks instead of attracting them. However, if you’re looking for a new challenge, or if you feel like you’re grasping for a new approach after failing with some of your default calls, it’s worth a try.

Deer Sound #2: Bleats

Doe bleats, much like grunts, have numerous variations, all dependent on a given situation. Like deer grunts, bleats happen in a variety of situations and each different sound has its own meaning.

A common doe bleat happens in social situations. The bleat is a higher-pitched vibrating sound, similar to that of a goat. They mostly do it when they are gathered together or with their fawns, and it signals contentment.

Bleat calls are interesting. Much like grunts, it seems bleats have many different meanings depending on the situation. First there are estrus doe bleats, which they make when they’re in heat but there aren’t any bucks around. The intensity of this sound comes down to how long the doe has gone without a suitor. Most of the can-style calls you can buy on the market are designed to resemble a more desperate mating call but does use bleats all year long for various purposes, one of which is to communicate with their fawns.

Additionally, fawn bleating can be a distress call. It’s this reason we hear this sound used for coyote hunting, as the agonizing sound triggers nearby predators who might be looking for an easy meal.

Deer Sound #3: Snort-Wheeze

A common sound deer make is the deer snort, or snort wheeze. The snort-wheeze is an intimidation call and one that’s just not a sound or deer call one hears very often. This one has a sound like the deer is trying to clear some stuffed-up sinuses. This is the call mature bucks like to use in the pre-rut and rut when they want to intimidate a rival away from their does. Hunters could potentially hear this one when there are two bucks in the same area during that prime time.

This deer snort call sounds exactly like it is described. It’s a short, loud sniff or snorting sound followed by a long wheeze. It’s a different sound than the common deer grunts and bleats hunters usually hear in the woods.

It’s also worth noting that bucks sometimes use the two parts of the snort wheeze on their own. For a large, dominant buck, they might only need to give a single snort to send a younger rival packing. Whatever sound they use, if you see and hear a buck making these sounds, do a scan of your surroundings. It is likely there is another buck in the area that you haven’t

Deer Sound #3: Blowing

One common sound that deer make, especially does, is blowing. Blowing is an alarm sound often accompanied by stomping. If you’re new to hunting, this is the most likely deer vocalization you will hear first. Veteran hunters know what I’m talking about. There are several stages to a doe sensing danger, and the annoying thing is, every one of them escalates as they warn other deer in the area that something just isn’t right.

Big, mature does especially are the ones you’ll hear blowing the most. These does are the wise old matriarchs of their group, and they’re always on the lookout for danger. Their instinct is to protect the baby deer in the group. Usually, if a doe spots you, it’ll start out with a stare-down, then the doe will start stomping her feet.

The foot stomping says to other deer, “Hey, something isn’t right here, be on alert!” Once the doe is certain there’s danger, she’ll loudly start blowing. It’s a very shrill sound, almost like a whistle. If it makes you jump when you hear it, that’s what the doe intended.

Once a doe starts making this sound, it’s gameover for your hunt. Does who have been spooked will often run off while continuing to make the sound as they vanish out of sight. This is the one call you don’t want to hear or emulate!

Deer Sound #4: Sniffs

Whitetail deer have an amazing sense of smell. If a deer begins to sense something is off, they may start sniffing the air, sometimes quite aggressively. Not only are they trying to get a better smell, but they’re also alerting the rest of the herd. The sniff doesn’t sound much different than a human sniff, only stronger and deeper. Imagine air being sucked in through a deer’s large nose.

READ MORE: Do Deer Eat Meat? Examining This Strange Phenomenon

The current handheld weapon selection is not only lacking in variety, but has only the wrong kind of variety for this game. The upgrades to the Automatic Rifle are basic stat changes that barely add anything to the feel of progression in survival. Worse, the Elite AR is, almost without exception, the most effective handheld weapon in any scenario, removing any kind of interesting decision in the late game. Because of this, I’m suggesting these changes:

General changes:

• Scrap the weapon upgrade system. If we want to have future weapons, they would likely need to conform to the framework of two beneficial sidegrades and one elite weapon. This becomes difficult to use properly as soon as weapons that aren’t normal guns come into play, and SE would benefit much more from the aforementioned weapons than it would from several variants of normal guns. Progression can easily come from other sources, and handheld weapons are at best an engineer’s last resort.
• Add reloading. Seriously, the R key is unbound by default IIRC and we already have bottles with a fill value. It can’t be too hard to repurpose that code to deal with firing and reloading. Even though the hotbar creates some awkward management, it shouldn’t be difficult to simply pick the first inventory slot with a gun.

New Weapon: Mag-pistol

The basic weapon. It’s cheap, with low range, damage, capacity, and rate of fire, and uses power as well as ammo to fire. Both the gun and ammo would be made in a Survival Kit with only Iron and Nickel, and it would replace the Automatic Rifle (and ammo) that come in the drop pod. The only reason to use it is that it’s better than going hand-to-hand with a Sabiroid.

New Weapon: Rocket Launcher

This should be the go-to weapon if you need to deal damage to a large grid and don’t have a ship. It would be slow-firing, with an ammo capacity of one, large, and inaccurate, but it can do the job. If you can carry enough ammo around to actually score a hit. Of course, it uses standard rockets for ammo and the rockets deal normal rocket damage.

I’d have it take Cobalt to make, so that new players don’t immediately go for it as a weapon and to set up a neat bit of proper progression if Keen ever takes the Uranium and Platinum out of rockets to make them viable.

Weapon Rebalance: Automatic Rifle

The default AR isn’t bad. I’d decrease range and accuracy a little though, as it seems strange that you can deal effective damage at the same range as a Gatling Turret on a ship. Also, so that the Rocket Launcher has a more strongly defined role as an offensive weapon against large grids vs. the AR’s more defensive role that’s actually useful against small ships.

I’ve tried to go for minimalism in this, because of SE’s focus on ship building instead of suit-based PvP and limited dev time. The Mag-pistol is necessary to survive a planet with hostiles turned on unless you find Magnesium immediately. The AR is necessary to deal effective damage at a distance. The Rocket Launcher is necessary to damage buildings or structures without a ship. All three of them use already-existing mechanics, so they shouldn’t be difficult to implement, and they additionally create a rough sort of progression without having one optimal solution to suit combat at the top.

This is my first real suggestion, so I’d definitely like feedback. I can’t notice all the issues, and I’m always trying to improve my ideas.

Native Region and Habitat Growing Needs for Sycamores

The American Sycamore is prevalent throughout the United States and is native in 32 states. The tree can grow in many kinds of soil but is best grown in rich, moist, and well-drained soil. They’re best planted in spring or fall. Sycamore tree maintenance is relatively easy.

Sycamore trees are highly susceptible to drought and are prone to insect and pest infestation when not watered regularly.

How To Identify a Sycamore Tree

Most sycamore trees are easy to identify, regardless of the season, if you know where to look.

Sycamore Tree Leaf Identification

Sycamore leaves are sometimes similar to those of some maple trees but have more shallow lobes and are arranged alternately. They’re sharply toothed and mostly kidney-shaped in outline.

They vary from 5 to 8 inches in size. They emerge from the bud plicate and are pale green.

When mature, they’re bright yellow-green above and paler on the bottom. Like other deciduous trees, come fall, they turn brown and wither before falling off the tree.

Sycamore Tree Bark

An American sycamore tree is easily identifiable by its mottled bark that flakes off in large portions and leaves the tree surface greenish-white and brown. The bark of all tree varieties gives way to the expanding trunk by splitting, but the sycamore exhibits the change more visually than most other trees.

The reason is because of the bark’s rigidness which isn’t as elastic as the bark of other tree varieties. It can’t stretch to accommodate the growth of the trunk it covers and thus peels off in uneven slabs.

Sycamore Tree Flowers

The sycamore tree flowers are small and exist in densely round clusters that grow from stalks that grow with the leaves in April and May. The flowers are monoecious (both male and female)and, because of their small size, can pollinate with the wind. The male flowers are red. They wither and fall off the tree after the pollen is dispersed.

Related Reading: Willow Tree Guide, Oak Tree Guide, Dogwood Tree Guide, and Cherry Blossom Tree Growing Tips

The female flowers are yellow and morph into fuzzy fruits.

Sycamore Tree Fruit (Sycamore Tree Seeds/Sycamore Tree Balls)

The sycamore tree fruit matures in small, brown balls that dangle from the branch. The ball, which isn’t a single fruit, is instead a collection of many tiny seed-like fruits called achenes, which have dense hair-like structures attached. The balls are light as a feather and can float on water, which is useful in dispersal. Their lightness also lets them ride the wind.

Birds and mammals can sometimes also help in the scattering of seeds when they eat and transport the fruit.1

How to Grow Sycamore Tree: Care Tips

Western Sycamores are a resilient bunch and quite easy to grow, except they need tons of water. They should be planted by a stream or pond, for if not, they will need lots of supplementary water about once a week.

The roots will grow downwards in search of groundwater near patios or urban environments. They tolerate a wide variety of soils and grow best in full sun. They’ll quickly grow to 30 feet in five years provided they’re watered plenty.

Planting

Dig a hole twice the size of the root ball. Place the sapling in the middle of the hole. Make sure the top of the root ball is a bit higher than the soil line. Fill the hole with water before placing the soil around the root ball.

Related Reading: How to care for Magnolia Tree types

Allow the water to soak in, then add the soil and water extensively. Place three inches of mulch around the sapling. That will reduce the tree’s water needs. Ensure the soil is moist with regular watering for the first three months.

This will make sure the roots are solid and grow deeply.

Care

The sycamore is very adaptable and grows best in full sun. Feed this tree with a slow-release fertilizer5 in early spring. If it needs pruning, do so when it’s dormant in winter or early spring. This hardy tree adapts to pollution, and drought, and is salt tolerant.

Sycamore Tree Pests And Diseases

Although the tree is very hardy, there are some pests and diseases to be aware of.

Sycamore Lace Bug

The sycamore lace bug is named for the pattern seen on the adult bug’s wings and head. The bug is only an eighth of an inch long and white with brown spots.

Adult bugs last through the winter beneath the peeling bark of the sycamore tree. They get busy in the spring when the leaves start to grow. The female lays her eggs on the leaf undersurface. The eggs attach to the leaves with brown sticky sap. The nymphs hatch a few days later.

They are wingless, darker than adult bugs, and covered with spines. Both adults and nymphs nourish on the leaves. Their piercing/sucking mouthparts are used to remove sap from the leaves.

The leaf turns yellow around the feeding areas. By late summer, the surface of the leaf is covered with dark spots of waste material and the shed skins of lace bugs. The trees aren’t seriously damaged but growth can be reduced under heavy infestations.

Plane Anthracnose Disease

The American sycamore is prone to plane anthracnose6 disease, a fungus found naturally on the Oriental plane,7 and which has developed resistance to the disease. Although rarely killed or seriously harmed, the sycamore is partially defoliated8 by the disease and dethroned of the natural good looks specimen it is.

At times confused with frost damage, the disease attacks in early spring. The new leaves wilt while the older ones turn brown at their base. Infected leaves shrivel and fall, and come summer, the tree regrows its foliage.

Cankers develop on the twigs and branches near the sick leaves and spread the disease by producing spores that weaken the tree. The cankers restrict the flow of nutrients causing the afflicted twigs and branches to expire.2

Folklore, Significance, And Medicinal Qualities of Sycamore Tree

Sycamore trees have an illustrious history in folklore that goes back to ancient Egyptian when the Holy Sycamore was said to be a conduit connecting and bridging the abyss that separates the dead and the living.

This massive tree looms over the eastern gate of heaven and from where the sun emerges to rise each new morning.

Perhaps it’s their bizarre-colored trunks that are mottled with stark patches of white and gray when the bark peels off that give them the mysterious allure.

Ancient Greeks and Persians considered the sycamores as the most handsome trees and planted them everywhere. In Sparta, the sycamore was attributed to the goddess Helen and was decorated with lotus flowers. It’s also dedicated to extra-handsome men like Apollo, Dionysus, and Hercules, who all sat beneath the canopy of the ancient sycamore while the Greek philosopher Socrates expounded philosophically with his disciples.

In the Seventeenth century, Georgian Tsar Irakli II, sat under the sycamore when he made the fateful decision to plead with the Russian Empire for protection and patronage.

One Bible prophet, Amos, was a farmer who cared for sycamore trees before delivering messages to the northern kingdom.3 In the Book of Luke, Jesus was recorded going to the home of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, who climbed into the sycamore fig tree so he could watch as Jesus passed by his house. When Jesus saw him, he called out and ended up eating with him under the sycamore tree.

Medicinal Qualities

Sycamore trees have long been used for homeopathic remedies, especially the inner bark, which acts as a disinfectant.

It has been used for everything from coughs to rashes and arthritis pain.4

History and Use of Sycamore Tree Wood

The wood from the Sycamore tree is good for many applications. Its many purposes include barber poles, wine barrels, butcher blocks, cabinets, shelves, cartwheels, flooring, a variety of furniture, interior paneling and trim, and violin backs.

Native Americans and French traders constructed canoes from sycamore lumber. Most dugouts were about 30 feet long but some were longer than 60 feet.

Because sycamore wood rots quickly when in contact with the ground, it wasn’t used for fence posts or railroad ties. The European settlers used hollowed trunks to shelter from rain or snow. Some early European settlers even acquired them as shelters until their log cabins were constructed.

They then converted the hollowed trunks into barns, silos, and stables. Smaller hollowed trunks were cut and used as troughs and tubs. Even the sycamore fruit had its use. After the ball harboring the fruit had split apart and the nutlets floated off, the core of the fruit ball, as well as the stalk and a twig, were constructed into buttons.

The button makers needed to make sure the tufted hairs of the nutlets had all dispersed because they would irritate the skin and respiratory tracts of potential clients.5

The sycamore is as sturdy and resilient as they come. It grows in cold climates, relishes the snow, loves the sun, and needs little to survive for centuries, making it excellent carbon offset trees when planted in it’s native habitat and protected by carbon offset companies working to eliminate carbon footprint from emissions. It flourishes in its native habitats and has served society in gracious and numerous ways.

So, the good news is that the Sycamore tree isn’t going anywhere in the foreseeable future and isn’t on any endangered lists.

If you don’t have your head buried in the sand, you understand why the new Hornady 7mm PRC cartridge has created such a stir. You also understand that it could be months before rifles chambered in 7mm PRC are readily available on dealer’s shelves.

It’s debatable whether a new cartridge has ever before driven as much internet buzz as the 7mm PRC. That’s in large part due to the inherent coolness of the cartridge, but it is also thanks to the fact that few shooters want to wait to own one. “How to build a 7mm PRC” is a popular search. The easiest and most practical way, of course, is to convert a rifle already in your gun safe. Thankfully, the process isn’t particularly hard.

Step 1: Find An Appropriate Bolt-Action

First, your action must be compatible with the 7mm PRC. That means your donor rifle must have a magnum-diameter bolt face compatible with the cartridge’s 0.532-inch case head. It also must have feed rails and a magazine box compatible with the PRC cartridge.

Thankfully, just about every magnum action for popular rounds such as the 7mm Rem Mag and .300 Win. Mag. are ideal. Unlike the longer .300 PRC, which demands a true long magnum action that will house 3.700-inch-long cartridges, the 7mm version fits in standard-length actions that house 3.400-inch cartridges. This opens a plethora of great options for conversion.

Without debate, the most sensible action for conversion to 7mm PRC is a Remington 700 or 700 clone. This isn’t because of inherent superiority; it’s simply because there are more aftermarket parts for the 700 than for any other. This includes stocks, triggers, magazines, bottom metal and so forth. Plus, the M700 is naturally easy to make accurate, which makes it and the 7mm PRC a match made in heaven. However, any good magnum action will do just fine. As you’ll see, I didn’t use an M700 action, for reasons I’ll discuss later.

Step 2: Get A Premium Barrel

Unfortunately, you can’t just ream out a 7mm Rem Mag chamber to make it a 7mm PRC. Whatever cartridge your donor rifle is chambered for, you’ll need a new barrel. You can opt for an entry-level replacement barrel, which will cost you around $200. Don’t do it. Spend the dollars for a premium, match-grade barrel. The 7mm PRC cartridge deserves it, and in the long run, you’ll never regret the extra money.

You can get a good all-steel Shaw Barrels, Bartlein, Proof Research or Krieger barrel for less than $400. If you want the ultimate hunting-rifle barrel and can stretch the wallet, splurge for a fine carbon-fiber-wrapped barrel. The extra diameter adds accuracy-enhancing stiffness without weight, and the vibration-dampening effect of the carbon fiber makes such barrels particularly forgiving and accurate.

Step 3: The Right Stock

Without a stock that’s rigid and ergonomic, your rifle won’t shoot consistently, and you the shooter won’t be able to get the best accuracy your rifle possesses. If your donor rifle doesn’t have a good stock, buy an aftermarket one.

Best of the lot are the carbon-fiber and carbon-fiber blend stocks that are hand laid, not injection molded. They’re expensive, but worth every penny. Also good are laminated wood stocks. They’re rigid and impervious to heat and moisture extremes like carbon fiber. However, they’re quite heavy. On the plus side, they’re also quite affordable. If you use a natural wooden stock—like the walnut I used on the rifle built for this article project—use a good dense stick of walnut. Avoid birch or beech or other cheap woods. Be sure your gunsmith glass beds it fully and seals the barrel channel and magazine mortice against moisture so the stock will remain stable in various climates.

For the most part, avoid injection-molded plastic stocks. They’re impervious to moisture, yes, but they’re also flimsy and flexible and susceptible to extremes in heat and cold. I’ve seen injection-molded stocks become nearly malleable in 100+ temps and brittle enough to shatter in sub-zero temps.

Step 4: Hire a proper gunsmith

I can’t stress how important this is. No matter how premium the quality if your parts is, the craftsmanship of your chosen gunsmith will make or break your project. Don’t get a hobby ’smith who works out of his garage to do your work.

My Personal 7mm PRC Build

Like Col. Townsend Whelen, who famously said, “Only accurate rifles are interesting,” I’m a fan of tack-drivers. I’m also a fan of extreme ballistic performance, which the 7mm PRC embodies. When assigned this article project, part of the protocol was to keep it simple and use whatever approach was most practical, just as most shooters interested in a similar project would. If I’d had a magnum Remington Model 700 action on hand that I wasn’t using, I’d have picked it. But I didn’t, and I was glad I didn’t.

What I did have was a stainless Winchester Model 70 action, with a poor-shooting .338 Win Mag barrel. Now, I’m a big fan of Mauser-based controlled-feed actions, and I gleefully dug up the dusty barreled action for my project. Few 7mm PRC rifles being built have controlled-feed actions. I’d be using mine in elk and bear country, and I figured it would not only be unique, it would be just right. I also had a nice walnut stock I’d taken off of a different M70 I had customized and re-stocked. Ideally, I’ll someday have a nice carbon fiber stock fit to the customized rifle, but for the time being time was short and the Walnut stock would serve beautifully—and again, be distinctive.

Because I’m a sucker for premium accuracy and forgiving consistency, I ordered a carbon-fiber-wrapped 22-inch Proof Research barrel with a 1:8 twist, so it will handle any and all high-BC long-range bullets. It’s the Sendero profile, so it’s as rigid as they come and will comfortably carry my titanium Banish 30 suppressor by Silencer Central. Plus, I was guessing the distinctive carbon fiber pattern in the Proof barrel would look smashing with the rich French Red finish on my walnut stock.

Hill Country Rifles in Texas consented to expedite the build to help me make my deadline. HCR has a team of excellent gunsmiths, and does superlative work. Off went all my parts to Matt Bettersworth, my friend at HCR. Aside from an invisible issue with the M70s cocking piece, which HCR fixed, the rifle came together beautifully. I received an email from Matt stating, “…looks pretty darn good. Factory ELD-X shot right at ½ inch.”

As you can see from the photographs, Matt was right. The rifle looks great. It’s distinctive, classy, capable, and it shoots as well as it looks. I accuracy-tested two of Hornady’s 7mm PRC factory loads through it, firing three consecutive three-shot groups at 100 yards and was impressed. Factory-loaded 175-grain ELD-X bullets averaged .56-inch groups—in a blowing snowstorm. Muzzle velocity in the 22-inch barrel was 2,926 fps with a standard deviation of 14 fps.

Hornady’s 180-grain ELD Match load is usually a tad more accurate, but in this rifle, it averaged 0.84-inch groups. Still good, but my rifle shoots the 175-grain ELD-X hunting load better. I’m glad, because this is a hunting rifle. It’s worth noting that the match ammo did turn in super good consistency, averaging 2,914 fps with just 9 fps of standard deviation. Factory ammo that scores in the single digits is impressive.

All you need to get your own custom 7mm PRC rifle built is a donor rifle with an appropriate action, match-grade 7mm barrel with 1:8-inch rifling twist, quality, stable stock and a trustworthy gunsmith with a 7mm PRC reamer. New factory-production rifles are sure to start trickling into the market place throughout 2024. However, it could be a long time before you find one that’s exactly what you want. Why wait? Build one.

Bushcraft skills are essential for survival, especially if you plan on bugging out to a remote location.

The ability to use resources from the environment can save your behind when SHTF—and even help you thrive after—so it’s important to take the time to learn them.

In this article, we discuss bushcraft 101, from basic bushcraft tools to vital skills like foraging, building shelters, making fires, acquiring food, and more. You’ll also find useful tutorials throughout the article, so if you think you need to sharpen those bushcraft skills, read on:

Bushcraft 101: What Is Bushcraft and How Will It Help You Survive TEOTWAWKI?

Here’s the simple truth: Mother Nature provides all of your needs. All you have to do is figure out where to find these resources and know how to use them.

Bushcraft, used interchangeably with “wilderness skills,” focuses on using resources available in the natural environment for survival. This skill set includes fire making, foraging food, tracking, trapping, hunting game, and shelter-building using basic bushcraft gear.

Learning and mastering bushcraft skills will inevitably help you when SHTF.

Remember, in a large-scale disaster, most modern conveniences will go to the dogs. Without the grid, food supply, clean water, functional sewage, and the internet, society as we know it will plunge into chaos.

People will have no choice but to learn the old ways or perish. As a prepper, you’ll have to learn how to make fire, forage for food, purify water, build a shelter, and make tools with what little you can find.

By arming yourself with a sharp set of bushcraft skills, you’ll learn how to survive in a short-term emergency and even be self-sufficient in long-term scenarios. Once you’ve mastered these skills, you can go on to teach others.

Essential Bushcraft Tools

To do bushcraft, you must have the right bushcraft tools. Here are some of the basics to have in your arsenal:

Knife

A sharp and sturdy knife is indispensable in bushcraft. Without it, you’ll be unable to make fire, set up your shelter, hunt and prepare your food, carve other tools—plus a slew of other small tasks.

A durable full-tang knife with a fixed blade is often used for bushcraft. Full tang means the knife’s steel extends all the way through the handle, making it less prone to breakage and damage.

While folding knives are portable and great for EDC, they’re not exactly the safest or most reliable for tasks like woodworking, so stick with a fixed-blade knife instead. A knife with a drop point and a flat or Scandi grind is great for most bushcraft tasks, too.

How long should bushcraft knives be?

Bushcraft knives are usually around 3 and a half to 6 inches long. This length allows them to do both small, detailed tasks and heavy-duty work. Anything smaller will be hard to handle; anything bigger, on the other hand, will be a machete.

Should you go for a high carbon steel or stainless steel bushcraft knife?

As far as material goes, it’s a contest between high carbon and stainless steel. Your choice of steel will depend on your needs.

Carbon steel blades are durable, easier to sharpen, and tend to throw better sparks when used with a ferro rod. They’re more prone to rust and oxidation, however, so they need higher maintenance compared to their stainless steel cousins.

Stainless steel blades, on the other hand, take longer to sharpen, but they keep their edge longer. They require little maintenance and are virtually rust-proof, making them great for humid environments.

Don’t forget about the knife handle

The knife handle should feel good in your hand, too. Bushcraft knife handles are usually made from hardwood, but this absorbs moisture over time, so you can go for synthetic materials like Micarta or G10 fiberglass.

Knife Sharpener

Since you’re using a knife, it only makes sense to include a sharpening stone among your bushcraft tools. There are many knife sharpeners out there—the most common of which include Japanese water stones, whetstones, or oil stones.

Most sharpening stones have two sides: a coarse side for the initial sharpening and shaping, and a finer surface for the finishing touches. Leather belts also make for good stropping materials to keep your knives sharp even when on the field.

Check out the video above if you need pro tips on how to sharpen your knife while on the field or in your bushcraft camp.

Bushcraft Axe

Next up on our list of must-have bushcraft tools is an axe.

This bad boy is capable of doing tasks your knife can’t or shouldn’t do, like felling and limbing trees, cutting and splitting large pieces of firewood, and building permanent shelter.

Like your knife, axe blades can be made from high carbon steel or stainless steel. A bushcraft axe doesn’t have to be the biggest or longest, either.

Large axes with heavy bits may penetrate wood better, but they also require more energy for you to swing. That’s why most bushcrafters prefer using smaller, lighter axes they can conveniently stow away in a backpack. These are easier to carry around and can be used with only one hand.

Another important factor to consider when choosing this bushcraft gear is sharpness. An ideal axe should be able to keep its edge well even after use and abuse.

Lastly, an ergonomic hardwood handle is key for a good grip and chopping power.

Bushcraft Saw

Not all bushcrafters carry axes. Some enthusiasts prefer using a folding saw for woodworking since it’s significantly lighter and easier to carry around. It also makes for straighter cuts in the wood, which is great for building shelter, especially if you want a sturdy one to outlast the elements.

Saws are also more efficient since these bushcraft tools take less energy to cut through wood and produce more output in the same amount of time. Less effort means you have more time and energy left to do other tasks necessary for survival.

Compass

A compass is a pretty straightforward device. You don’t need a lot of bells and whistles in a compass; you just need to have a reliable one that orients accurately. Moreover, you have to know how to use one to find your way in the wilderness.

Firestriker

The last thing on our list of essential bushcraft tools is a firestriker.

Firestrikers or ferro rods are capable of creating fire through friction. Unlike lighters or matches, fire strikers work even when wet, are effective at any elevation, and don’t need fuel. They’re also easier to use compared to their flint-and-steel counterparts.

To know more about ferro rod fire starters, check out this comprehensive review.

Bushcraft Skills You Need to Learn

Now that you know the basic bushcraft tools, it’s time to dive into the skills you need to possess. Remember, it doesn’t matter if you have the sharpest knife or the most accurate compass out there if you don’t have any idea how to use them properly.

Below you’ll find an extensive checklist of all the bushcraft skills to have under your belt:

Foraging for Food and Medicine

Foraging, by definition, is the act of finding and gathering flora and fauna mainly for food. However, you can also use your foraging skills to find medicinal plants and herbs, natural cordage, firestarters, or materials for shelter.

Foraging for Food

Humans started out as hunter-gatherers. Before the dawn of agriculture and industrialization, the forests were our ancestors’ grocery stores.

Some examples of food you can forage in the wild include:

• Fruits
• Berries
• Nuts
• Mushrooms
• Tubers
• Shoots

Flowers, seeds, and weeds like dandelions and nettles are less obvious choices, but you can also forage and eat them when the going gets tough.

Know Your Local Geography

To be a good forager, you first have to know the lay of the land. What types of plants, fruit-bearing trees, and vegetation grow in your area? Where can you find them?

Take cattails, for example. This wild edible is common in most parts of North America and can be found near ponds and marshes. Cacti, on the other hand, are common in the West and Southwest regions of the States and can be found in dry, arid areas like deserts.

Plant Identification

Plant identification is crucial in foraging. Make a mistake, and you’ll end up with a bad allergy, a busted stomach…or you might not live to tell the tale at all.

Remember, Mother Nature may provide for all your needs, but she also has a lot of plants that can kill you on the spot, too, so it’s important to know how to distinguish friend from foe.

Ask yourself:

What do these edible plants look like? What are their distinct qualities, and how can you tell them apart from dangerous ones?

Some wild edibles, like root crops and bulbs, grow underground, so you also have to know how their leaves and shoots look above the surface.

If you’re a complete beginner, keeping a pocket guide with colored illustrations can help a lot. Make sure this pocket guide covers the area or climate that you’re in and carry it with you when out camping or backpacking. Try to identify the plants you can find along the way and take down notes with your personal observations.

You can also take classes with a forager to help you learn faster. These experts have years of insight and may have tips and learnings from their experiences that you can’t find in guidebooks about bushcraft skills.

Growing Seasons for Foraging

Aside from knowing the plants’ geographic location and appearance, you also have to be familiar with their growing seasons. When do these wild edibles grow most abundantly? Are they available only in certain seasons, or can you find them all year round?

Many edible mushroom species, for example, grow abundantly during the hot and humid summers. They grow at the edge of forests at the start of the season, especially after a nice, warm rain shower. By July to August, you can find tons of mushrooms in oak and beech groves or in areas where evergreen trees grow. They can also be abundant in south-facing hill slopes since these areas receive more warmth.

Foraging for Medicine

Plants aren’t only good for food. Many of them also have medicinal properties. To take advantage of these, you must know which parts of the plant to use and how to use them.

Here are some examples of common medicinal plants and what they can help with:

• You can steep willow bark into a tea and use it to treat aches, pains, fever, and swelling.
• Fennel tea also helps soothe an upset stomach and fight bloating and nausea.
• Yarrow leaves and flowers can be used to aid in blood clotting to slow down bleeding. You can also use it to treat fevers and coughs.
• Dandelions, usually passed off as weeds, can be turned into a salve for muscle aches and joint pain.
• Plantains have excellent anti-inflammatory properties and make good poultices.
• Comfrey poultices or compresses are great for fixing wounds and fractures.

Dos and Don’ts When Foraging

Building Bushcraft Shelters

Exposure to extremely harsh conditions can kill you in a matter of minutes, so knowing how to build temporary and long-term shelters is one of the most important bushcraft skills to know.

The good news? There are tons of ways to make bushcraft shelters from just about anything you can find in the environment.

Making cordage using natural materials

Cordage is one of the most vital components of bushcraft shelters. If you find yourself without rope or 550 paracord, you can use natural cordage to assemble frames or lash poles together for your shelter. You can also use cordage for other purposes, like climbing—and creating snares, traps, fishing lines, or bow drills for fire.

Cedar bark is one of the best sources of natural cordage. You can find these trees all over the country, especially if you’re in the Pacific Northwest region. To make cordage from cedar bark, you want to harvest the inner bark or bast of the tree. That’s the stringy, fibrous layer right under the protective outer bark.

As you can see in the video above, you’ll need to peel the outer bark off in one go and harvest the bast to create cordage from the fibers. You’ll want the bark to dry and age before turning it into ropes, though, since moist bark can shrink over time.

Plants like nettles also make for good cordage. Remove the leaves, flatten the stem, and carefully peel the nettle skin off. Once you’ve done that, twist the fibers until you form cordage. Unlike cedar bark, you don’t have to wait for the nettle stalks to dry out before you can use them. They’re also strong and capable of withstanding tension.

Just wear gloves when harvesting these plants—they’re not called stinging nettle for nothing.

Other natural materials you can use as cordage include some species of tall grass, willow saplings, roots, and jungle vines.

Tying Knots

Knot-tying is another one of the most basic but essential bushcraft skills to learn. If you don’t know how tie decent knots, cordage would be of little use.

There are various knots for different purposes. Here are some of our go-tos:

• Square knot – This is a multipurpose knot great for tying or connecting two lengths of rope.
• Figure eight – This knot retains the strength of the cordage well. It doesn’t unravel with pressure, so it’s good for climbing, creating footholds, or pulling someone to safety.
• Bowline knot – Also retains the strength of the rope or cordage. You can tie this with one hand, making it excellent for rescues or for tying down objects.
• Clove hitch – This is a quick-release knot for securing cordage to trees.
• Tautline hitch – It’s used to adjust the tension on tarp shelters.

For an in-depth look at more knots you can use for bushcraft and survival and how to tie them, check out this post.

Basic Types of Bushcraft Shelters

Bushcraft shelters come in all shapes and sizes. You can find shelter in nature, as in uninhabited caves, under rock overhangs, or near large fallen trees. You can also construct your own from tree limbs, branches, and foliage. Some types of bushcraft shelters you can make include:

• Lean-to shelter – a common free-standing shelter with three walls and an open side. This is one of the easiest bushcraft shelters you can construct.
• A-Frame shelter – has a triangular, A-shaped frame with a main ridgepole that runs along the top. Also known as the double lean-to shelter.
• Dug out shelter – a shelter made by digging a trench on the ground
• Fallen tree shelter – a shelter made from the flat base of a tree root

You can read more about how to build these bushcraft shelters and more in this article.

General Shelter Building Guidelines

Whatever type of shelter you’re looking for or are making, here are some things to consider:

• Pick a good location. Your shelter should be able to offer adequate protection from the environment and shield you from harsh rain and wind. It should also be located a safe distance away from your water source (about 200 meters).
• Choose a relatively flat location to avoid floods.
• Avoid setting up camp under large trees. While they offer shelter from rain, they also have thick branches that can fall on you. Plus, they’re prone to lightning strikes and their leaves will drip long after the rain has stopped—their cons outweigh the pros.
• Your shelter should be able to reflect and conserve heat. Stone faces or large boulders make for good heat reflectors. You can also construct a wall from medium-sized sticks and line it with foliage and moss, which are natural insulators.

We’ve previously talked about survival and bushcraft shelters at length in our other articles. Here’s a directory of useful info to help you out:

Waterproofing your shelter

Since your shelter is mostly made of wood, you’d want to take extra measures to make sure that it stays dry.

As we mentioned earlier, choosing the right place is essential in keeping dry. Pick a relatively flat and well-draining location, away from trees with a lot of leaves to prevent dripping. Stay away from ravines or canyons—they may be bone-dry now, but they’re notorious for flash-flooding after mild showers.

When building your shelter, don’t make it too big to conserve heat.

You also have to create roofs at an angle so that rainwater flows at the sides. Cover these steep, angled roof frames with broad leaves, starting from the lowest part and working your way towards the top. This way, your roof can work like shingles and shed rainwater without a hitch. Don’t forget to dig a rainwater runoff around your camp so you won’t wake up in a puddle.

Another way to waterproof your shelter is by simply bringing a tarp. Tarps are cheap, hard-wearing, and multifunctional. You can use different configurations to turn it into a shelter, use it as a ground sheet or to put on as an additional layer to your bushcraft shelter’s roof.

When using tarps to waterproof your shelter, make sure that it’s stretched out tautly and is securely pegged to the ground or to a tree so that it doesn’t collect rainwater. If you can’t afford a tarp, use a thick drop cloth or repurpose an old shower curtain.

Related: Waterproofing your survival gear and supplies

Making DIY cement from wood ash

Basic carpentry and woodworking are undoubtedly crucial bushcraft skills to know when making long-term shelters, but if you want to take it up a notch, you can create makeshift cement from wood ash.

As the name suggests, wood ash cement is made by burning biomass like dried bark and leaves. These materials are more common than the usual ingredients used to create makeshift cement like limestone or shells, but contain the same minerals like potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. When done properly, you can use wood ash cement as mortar to reinforce your shelter, or you can turn it into little blocks for various purposes.

The process is pretty labor-intensive and time-consuming, though, so it’s best to make this only if you’ve got the time and resources. As seen in the tutorial above, you’ll need a kiln or oven, a lot of ash from biomass (hardwood ash works best), and some clay or terracotta to use as aggregate.

Still, it’s a good-to-know skill that might come in handy when you’re building a semi-permanent bushcraft dwelling or bug-out camp.

Primitive Firemaking

Fire provides you with heat, light, and protection. This indispensable resource also allows you to cook food, purify water, and fend off predators. Needless to say, knowing how to make fire is one of the top bushcraft skills you should master.

You only need three ingredients to create fire: oxygen, heat, and fuel. These factors are collectively known as the combustion triangle. If one is missing, you can’t ignite a flame.

Oxygen, of course, comes from the air around us. You can best harness oxygen by allowing proper ventilation and by creating efficient firelays.

You can produce heat primarily through friction. Once you create a spark or an ember and it catches on to your fuel, chances are you’ll be able to create a fire.

Fuel comes in the form of combustible materials and is generally classified as tinder, kindling, and firewood.

Tinder is the smallest and finest of the bunch, usually made from thin wood shavings, feather sticks, and other fibrous materials. Its purpose is to catch sparks or embers to burn kindling like sticks and twigs. Once your tinder and kindling are burning, you can feed it larger chunks of fuelwood to keep it burning and to produce hot coals.

Natural Firestarters: Tinder, Kindling, and Firewood

Shavings or curls from fatwood or from resinous trees like cedar, birch, and pine make for excellent tinder, and you can find them almost anywhere in North America.

Tree bark also makes a great tinder and firestarter. Red cedar bark is especially fibrous and can be lit even when damp. You can fluff up red cedar bark to create a “bird’s nest” to catch sparks or live embers.

Birch bark is rich in resins which help them ignite faster. It’s also resistant to moisture and easy to gather. Simply skin dead fallen birch trees with a knife, and their barks will come off in sheets. You can tear birch bark into strips and bundle them up to start a fire.

Fatwood is another term for pine heartwood drenched in resin. Though not as common nor as easy to harvest as the other firestarters mentioned earlier, fatwood shavings light almost instantly, even in super damp conditions. You can also cut them up in chunks and use them as kindling or firewood.

Other natural fire starters include:

• Tinder fungus – This black and spongy species of mushroom is used to hold coals or reignite fires.
• Cattails – Dry and fluffy, cattails can be found near water or in marshlands. They don’t burn for very long, so they’re usually considered flash tinder.
• Pinecones – Like fatwood, pinecones are resinous and can be used as fuel.

Batoning and splitting firewood

Batoning firewood has been a very polarizing topic among preppers. Should you do it and risk ruining your knife? Or should you never do it at all?

Well, whether you’re in favor of it or not, you have to learn how to baton and split wood when you’re left with no other choice.

Batoning is the process of splitting wood with a knife and another blunt piece of wood called a baton. The idea is to lodge the knife onto a block of wood and strike it with the baton, thus splitting the wood into smaller chunks perfect for a campfire. Batoning can sometimes be easier than using an axe or saw, especially when you want to split small pieces of wood quickly.

The downside is that batoning needs a lot of practice, and it can damage your knife in the process. If you’re not careful, you might even end up hurting yourself.

The trick to successful batoning is to make sure that your knife is sharp and its edge is placed perfectly straight onto the block. Then, strike it with the baton nice and hard to split it right down the center.

Primitive Ways to Make Fire

Since primitive folks didn’t have matches or lighters, they primarily made fire through friction, and they produced friction through drills.

There are many types of drills out there, but they more or less have the same basic components: a spindle or a long stick that one uses to create friction and a fireboard, which is a flat piece of wood that collects the embers made by the spindle.

Here are some examples of primitive fire drills:

• Hand Drill – The hand drill can be operated by one person and is perhaps the most easily recognizable fire drills out there. The idea is pretty simple: you roll the spindle really fast between your palms, running your hands down its length very quickly until it produces embers. The embers are collected in a small nick or depression on the fireboard and are then transferred to a pile of tinder. Tinder ignites and boom, you have a fire.
• Bow Drill – The concept is pretty similar to a hand drill, but this time, you use a flexible stick and a piece of cordage to create a bow. The bow is used to turn the spindle and creates the friction for you.
• Two-Man Friction Drill – This one is essentially a bow drill but instead of going at it alone, one person holds the drill upright while the other operates the bow to create friction.
• Pump Fire Drill – This type of fire drill is a bit more complicated than the rest. The bow is powered by a manually operated pump mechanism that creates friction.

Aside from drills, another primitive way to create a friction fire is through a fire plough. Instead of using a spindle and a small depression on a fireboard, you make a groove along the length of the fireboard and slide another piece of wood along it, creating friction horizontally. The stick should be around an inch thick and made from softwood for best results.

You can also use flint and steel. This is how they used to kick it back in ye olde days. On one hand, you’ve got a striker made from carbon steel, and on the other, a hard stone made from flint or chert. Striking these materials against each other creates sparks, which catch on dry tinder.

You can perfect this method through practice, but a more convenient way to create fire through the same principle is by using ferrocerium rod fire starters instead.

Which Firelay Should You Use?

It’s not enough to light a fire—you should also be able to keep it going. An excellent firelay will help your fire stay lit throughout the night with little to no maintenance, so it’s important to pick the right one.

Here are some examples of firelays you can construct:

• Tipi firelay – As the name suggests, the tipi firelay sports a triangular shape like a tipi shelter and can be made from sticks and twigs. To build it, all you have to do is start from small kindling and work your way to the bigger ones, leaving an opening on the upwind side to ignite the tinder.
• Log cabin or upside down fire – This is a self-feeding firelay that burns from top to bottom. Up top, you have your tinder and kindling. The pieces of fuel get thicker as you go down the firelay, allowing the fire to produce a big, hot, and consistent flame with minimal tending.
• Star fire – This one is really simple. Start by building a small pile of tinder and kindling, and around it, place large pieces of firewood. The idea is to gradually push the larger pieces of fuel into the fire to keep it going.

Wanna know the nitty-gritty details of making these firelays? Check out these tutorials. If you want to learn more about firemaking in general, here’s the full roster of useful guides and resources:

Finding and Purifying Water in the Wild

Hydration is key for survival, so knowing how to find and purify water in the wild should be bushcraft 101.

Like the other bushcraft skills mentioned in this article, you can find many sources of water out there by first knowing the lay of the land, and by reading natural indications of water, like the following:

• Gurgling or rushing sounds – These indicate the presence of running water. Since water flows downward, you can most likely find it in low-lying areas, canyons, and valleys.
• Plants and vegetation – Certain plant species, like lilies and cattails only grow near water, so look out for these. Note the quality of the soil, too—muddy or marshy ones obviously indicate water. Large, thick vines and trees can also be sources of water themselves. Before you drink up, however, make sure that the plant is not poisonous and it doesn’t ooze bitter or cloudy sap.
• Presence of animals and insects – Grazing animals and herbivores are more likely to lead you to their watering holes. Watch out for birds, too. Birds will fly low and in a formation when in search of water, and will likely hop from tree to tree after having a drink.

When you can’t find a lake, river, or stream to get water from, you’ll have to get creative by collecting rainwater, creating a solar still, or looking for alternative sources of hydration. Here’s a guide on how to go about those methods.

Bushcraft Water Purification

A bandana or shemagh is excellent for taking out debris and dirt from your drinking water, but if you don’t have one on hand, you’ll have to make your own filter. The video above describes the process of how to make one with a bottle and some natural filters like rocks, leaves, and soil.

The idea is to stack the filters up in layers. The large and loose ones, like rocks and pebbles, go at the top to filter big pieces of debris. The filters gradually become finer to take out minute contaminants until you get clear water.

Once you’ve got a decent amount of water, purify it via boiling. Boiling kills microorganisms and viruses that might cause disease.

Related: Best Ultralight Backpacking Water Filters

Trapping and Hunting Game for Food

Berries, roots, and edible plants will keep you alive well enough, but if you want to fill your belly with something more substantial, you will have to learn how to track, trap, and hunt game for food.

Here’s what you need to know about these bushcraft skills:

Trapping

The biggest advantage of trapping is that it saves you time and energy. Unlike hunting, where you have to actively chase after a single quarry, trapping lets you catch a lot of prey without having to run after them.

You can set up traps in different places to increase your chances of catching a meal. This multitasking feat frees up a large chunk of your time, letting you do other stuff like building a campfire or reinforcing your shelter.

When setting up traps and snares, it’s important to develop a keen skill for tracking animals. Know what kind of animal you’re trapping by watching out for things like:

• Pawprints
• Fresh or worn tracks
• Droppings
• Disturbed vegetation
• The animal’s usual diet within the vicinity

Once you’ve determined your prey, it’s time to move. Here are tutorials that show how to create some of the most common traps out there:

Deadfall Trap

The deadfall trap is one of the earliest and most effective traps known to man. It’s used to catch small to medium-sized prey like rodents and squirrels.

Spring Snare Trap

Simple yet effective, the spring snare trap uses a length of wire or string to create a noose that tightens around the animal’s leg or neck.

Woven Fish Trap

This trap takes a long time and a lot of skill to make, but the payoff will be worth it. This trap lets you catch medium-sized fish and eels.

Prawn Trap

This is a smaller version of the fish trap for prawns and smaller species of fish.

Things to Remember When Making Traps

Traps take a lot of skill and practice. Here are some useful tips to remember when constructing traps and snares:

• Prepare the parts of your trap away from the area to avoid disturbing the vegetation and alerting the animals to your presence. All you have to do when you come to the site is to assemble it.
• Stay downwind.
• Always wear gloves when handling your traps. Animals have a keen sense of smell and can detect your scent. Rub plants, dirt, or the innards of your previous catch onto your trap to mask your own scent and confuse the animal.
• Blending in is key. Make sure that your trap blends well with the environment by camouflaging it with leaves, mud, and vegetation.
• Avoid using young twigs and cordage when making your traps. These release a scent that alerts animals of potential predators. If you can’t find old materials, age your trap by exposing it to the sun.
• Choose your bait wisely. Don’t use bait that the animal can just easily find elsewhere. Instead, use something that will potentially catch their attention.

For an in-depth look at other primitive ways to catch, cook, and eat food in the wild, check these out:

Other Bushcraft Skills You Have to Know

Shelter, fire, water, and food are the four foundations of outdoor survival. Once you develop your skills in these areas, you’ll be able to survive out in the wild without modern resources.

However, that doesn’t mean you have to stop there. These intermediate bushcraft skills will help you take your survival know-how to the next level:

Making Bushcraft Tools

What separates humans from other primates? Our ability to create and use tools to help make our lives easier. This video shows 7 useful primitive bushcraft tools and contraptions you can use in and around your camp.

Natural navigation

You need to know how to get your bearings when out in the woods. When you don’t have a compass and a map, natural navigation techniques will prevent you from getting lost in the wilderness.

Creating watercraft

At some point, you might have to leave your camp and venture out into bodies of water to get food or to explore. You can create a canoe from reeds, as shown in the video above, or construct a raft from driftwood.

Final Thoughts

You know what they say: the more you know, the less you need. Having a sharp set of bushcraft skills will not only help you survive in the wild; they will also help you live off the land and thrive without modern creature comforts long after SHTF.

How good are your bushcraft skills? Do you think you can survive an extreme bug out situation in the woods? Let us know in the comments!