"I will build me a camp by a cool mountain spring, Where the trout play at eve and the wood thrushes sing; I will roof it with bark; and my snug sylvan house, Shall be sweet with the fragrance of evergreen boughs. When the shadows of night settle down on the marsh, And the cry of the bittern booms sullen and harsh, The glow of my hearth-fire shall glisten and shine; Where the beech and the hemlock their branches entwine." ~ G.W. Sears aka Nessmuk 1887 ......................RIP Mors Kochanski 10 November 1940 ~ 5 December 2019
Beautiful, reminded me of Whitman's poetry. Maybe 5 years ago, on a bleak winter day, beneath a bridge - I went to learn from Mors on youtube and instead learned of his passing. There is a lonely feeling that I will never forget - the death of the teacher that kept me alove.
My own experience have led me to the concept of S-kit in a pot. Then this guy showes down a JACKET in the pot. Mors is a true no bullshit instructor. Respect, man.
Anyone can you show a kit that is heavy, complicated and expensive. Then Mors comes along and makes it simpler, lighter and more affordable. As someone who has spent a long time in the outdoors, I can tell you the amount of thought, experience, and creativity to come to this cannot be over appreciated.
Mors is a sage! It's hard to overstate the value of a warming layer! Once I was forced to spend an unplanned night out in the mountains of Idaho in just jeans and a T-shirt. It had been 85F that day so I didn't have a jacket but by evening temps had dropped to 40F. I had a pretty large "survival kit" with all the stuff the gurus say you should have but no warm clothing. Suffice to say I'd have traded half my kit for a light jacket! Ultimately I was pretty comfortable under a tarp made with a space blanket with a fire out front, atop a bough bed to keep me off the ground. Yet if it had been raining or too wet to get a fire I might have been in trouble. Now I keep a Helikon-Tex Swagman Roll in my kit. Kind of had to learn the hard way that Mors was right!
We did a group meet last weekend in the uk in honour of this man and his skills, everyone that came are passionate about his teachings. This is going to be a yearly event for us. ❤️
Karamat Wilderness Ways ❤️ we asked people to put words of condolences on the video comments and we hoping to open it up to more people next year. We want people to come together and celebrate his teachings and remember the man for who e way and what he represented to us all. ❤️
as someone who's been watching a lot of bushcraft and survival videos as of late; ive noticed a lot of crafters product name drop, they list specific products that works for them. Then there is Mors Kochanski. What a difference; i love the simplicity of it.
I absolutely LOVE that he’s just naming these items by what they are instead on what brand they are from. I hate when people on here are always naming brands like there aren’t 1000 other brands that perform the same actions. Just my rant for the day. What a legend.
I get what your saying but nowadays there’s so many Chinese knockoffs that it’s important to name good brands so you know you’re getting something good
It's an honor to learn from you sir. Having recently come across your videos and such I have watched many things that are proven to be very useful! Thank you Mr. Kochansky your teaching and legacy are a gift to us all!
Great vid Mors! I like your use of the container to pack the rest of the kit. I totally agree with the content of the kit. It is about what I have with me in my work and courses. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Mors. I saw your presentation at the library in P.A in 2003 or 2004 I just forget. It was really interesting and informative and fun. I'am a grandson of Carl Mathew Swenson. Cheers and all the best from Prince Albert Saskatchewan.
Another great video I really enjoy watching Mors. I love the simplicity and versatility of the kit and afordability of the kit with the exception of the down jacket.
Zero fluff. Blount and to the point. Best 7 minutes I've spent on RU-vid. Anyone who wants to be on RU-vid needs to study his technique and demeanor. Classic survival video. Vast experience culminating into knowledge that was quickly shared. Stuff a jacket into a coffee pot! Amazing! The man is a magician. "You don't need a first aid kit, it's all around you in the natural woods". You just need to know how to use it. Again, Amazing.
Mors K was an absolute goldmine of useful information. I'm looking for a pot like the one he had in the video--bigger on the inside than on the outside--and I will fill it with the stuff of dreams.
Mule tape is made for pulling cables in underground conduit. It comes in different widths and strengths. The biggest problem is finding short lengths, since it usually comes on big spools. You can find it on eBay.
My survival kit has Dave's 10 C's, SAS kit items, Lundin's items and now I'm adding yours. Of course there are a lot of the same items so I pretty much just need to add the jacket and the saw blade w/belt but i do have a smaller saw already.
When it comes down to one thing that I always carry it is a couple of massive military surplus ponchos from the Czech Republic I found a few years ago in a Dirt Cheap store. It drops down to just above my shoes. I stretch it out and use it as a ground sheet. I can sleep in it and use it as an oversized night shirt / sleeping bag. I can spread it out and use it as a lean to. And I can also wear it and keep myself and my pack completely dry. I can use it for setting things down in the wet / a picnic lunch. So many uses for both survival skills and not. Isn’t that one of the key principles of survival? Items should have multiple purposes.
Here in Ecuador is imposible to find paracord. I had to get it from amazon to be shipped to the cargo company´s office in Miami, so they finally ship it to Quito Ecuador. I got it an almost twice the price, 15 days later. So I use it and take care of it like it´s gold.
I first say thank you for sharing 4o some years experience. Loved the idea that coat fit into the pot. I will def keep it in mind. I like wool a lot. Had you any experience with woolen clothing?
yup, would be nice, AND something like Mary Poppins bag to carry it in would be great, possibly turned into someghing looking like a "fjällräven Kånken"
12 Months of the year kit....I was still working on that Idea until today. Thanks Mors! : ) Do you know of any places I could find that style bush pot? Let me know. Thanks again.
I’ve crammed my fair share of gear into bags I never thought I’d be able to in my years in the infantry but cramming that jacket into that pot is just plain badass lol
hey mors, thanks for what you do sir, that make more sense then any miniature altos can kit that i have seen. and most bigger carry systems. ---------------------billy joe
If I might suggest :-), I would put the jaket first in the pot so that you could reach the knife and whatever other things you might need very fast without having to wrestle with the pot. That way the bear could feal less ignored ... (just a funny thought) Thanks for sharing, sir.
First, I understand this in an old comment and one in a light tone. Secondly, I do not know for sure if Mors did have a thought or not on the order he packed. That said, I was trained to put on extra clothing first thing when taking a longer outdoors break in severe winter conditions. Taking that break meant the engine in the body didn't produce heat as it did when working hard or just moving. Adjusting back and forth to keep an even body temperature as possible was very important. It was very important to not sweat when working hard or moving by muscle. When not working hard or moving by muscle use (skies, walking, crawling, worming whatever) and not in a shelter of sorts, it was important to compensate with enforced clothing you had in your bag. With the extra clothing on, you could continue with the light work and rest needed during the break. The exposure to severe cold will make you work less effective, thus making it a priority to guard against. For me, staying outdoors in the snow in anything below minus 35 C is extreme. We looked each other over each ten minutes or so to detect early frost bite in the face, take care with breathing, adjust the weapon fat used on your combat rifle (else it become inoperative in the cold), learned to put our feet in the arm pits of our buddy if need be etc. Even at minus 20-25 C or a wet windy condition, putting extra clothing on "first thing" at breaks feels important. As for the bear… Mors said elsewhere he was fine having a "bear bat". That bat and his behavior probably served way better than any knife when it comes to most bears in close quarters. In general, there may be few things inside your bag you need to reach "very fast". What you need to reach very fast you put on your person, on or in your clothes. If you are in your camp already and tend to use your knife often, well put it around your neck, at your belt or even in a pocket. If you find yourself in a survival situation without a belt knife or pocket knife, well, open up your survival kit, pick up the spare knife and put it on your person if possible. Same goes for the compass, something that you may need to work with often enough. As you may end up with a need to put on the extra clothes "first thing" on a regular basis when taking longer breaks without shelter, it make sense to have that clothing at the top of the bag. You put on the clothes, then you continue with whatever you need to do, reaching for other things in the bag. If the bulky clothing is at the bottom, you may need to remove a number of other things before reaching those clothes. Having a tight bag is an advantage when it comes to not loosing gear when on the move. That tightness matters less for your breaks. I got the habit of keeping a tight bag, whatever type of bag I am using. A tight lid on a pot is just fine. You do not want sound and you do not want to loose gear from within the bag or pot you have.
So true Mors. While most "outfitters" survival instructors are really selling classroom spaces or a myriad of non-essential outdoor products, Mors is showing you the true essentials. For my person comfort I'd add the following items: A backpack to carry my kit Keep the bush pot and add second metal container, so I can cook/make wilderness medicine which boiling water wit the other A plate compass with moving bezel ring, inclination adjustment and signal mirror, rather than a cheap ass button compass Substitute a more robust full-tang belt knife like the PLSK1 with a 5 inch+ blade for processing wood instead of that neck knife Quality multi-tool on my belt Fre kit in a metal tin with BIC lighter, ferro rod, various tinders such as char cloth, lamp wick, razor blade, 6X magnifying glass Two 3' by 3'cotton bandanas Two large size 3 mil polyethylene drum liners, aka garbage bags for emergency cover elements A vial of 2% tincture of iodine-to disinfect wounds or water Quality headlamp with flash mode and spare batteries A decent single shot 12 gauge or a take-down long bow or a spear point or Pathfinder sling shot and some ball bearing ammo A small rite-in-the-rain notebook and a couple of carpenter pencils And a roll of gorilla tape. Is it heavier. Yep, but not so much heavier that I can't carry it on my back.
I like a lot he doesn't think a large knife blade is interesting. There should always be a tool complementing a mid size knife. Something like a saw blade (which he has).
Look again please and listen to what he says. And WHY is it interesting to know exactly how the belts work and how you get the saw blade into the belt??! What a strange comment…! The idea is that you can put the saw around waist (as he said and showed!), if you like the idea, make an effort on the belt part yourself… Considering the clues given, it doesn't take so much an effort.
While I respect his basic skills training, and have learned from it, I part company with his cavalier attitude towards proper first aid and kit for same. Granted, nature can provide some of what's needed in that respect... IF you have the time to do it. If he only had TWO medical or first aid cases in his teaching career, he's been lucky. I'll not contest his Ten Cs of survival. But I'll keep my 2lb trauma kit - which I've been certified to use, and hopefully will never need to again.
Sound is coming only through the left speaker, and the audio cuts out at the end. Also why not use a hatchet instead of a saw? I find I use my hatchet the most.
+DrPastah Well, he is creating a survival kit with the minimum of bulk, so a hatchet does not really fit as well in the system. The saw can fit in the pot or in a belt, so no added bulk (or very little). In terms of cutting wood there are basically four sizes of axe: quarter-axe (commonly called hatchets, 3/4 to a pound), half-axe (large hatchets like the Gransfors small forest axe a pound to a pound and a half), three-quarter-axe (commonly referred to as a boy's axe or forest axe 1.75 to 2.75 pounds), and the full axe (felling axe of 3-5 pounds). Generally speaking, each axe size will approximately double work output, perhaps much more than this in the long-term. This means that of what you can do with a full-sized felling axe you can do 50% with a boy's axe, 25% with a large hatchet, and 12.5% with a hatchet. Kochanski is discussing large bow saws of 30-42" which will do the same amount of work as the felling axe, or perhaps more (especially in bucking). Winter survival in the boreal forest is the purpose here, and this means that fires may require hug-sized trees. This would be anywhere between 12-16" diameter. I don't know what your experience is felling trees, but even a 12" tree will take a good amount of effort to get down, whereas a felling axe/full-sized saw will bring it down in 1-10 minutes dependent on type, skill level of the user, and difficulties in clearing/assessing the tree). The hatchet will use more energy and take up to an hour. In many tasks where only small sticks are required, and perhaps some crafting, a hatchet may be a good choice. But for collecting wood it is very poor, and is also the most dangerous axe. None of this is to say you are wrong, nor that you should follow Kochanski's example. His kit is for demonstration purposes and relates to his needs in the boreal and his skill level, time/distance out in the bush etc.. It is more of a day kit, a minimal kit for what you would need to survive given high skill level and cold conditions. Where you live, what your skills are, what gear you have access to, how long and how far you are going should determine your kit.
Depends on where and when I guess. Making a practical container in the field may something you can't manage even if you got a knife. You also need suitable material to create the container. Without container, you will have a harder time doing a lot of things, like carrying water, boiling water etc. Also, the survival situation may have started off with some sort of illness or injury and you must be both skilled AND lucky to find or make proper medications while in the field. If you have an injury or illness to start with or your normal ability is decreased for other reasons, you will be hard pressed to use that knife, compass and flint for everything you may need. Cut yourself in your strong hand and you may find everything else a lot harder. Get an infection in that cut and then it goes worse.
