Chat with Ray Mears

Bushcraft and Survival Expert

About Ray Mears

In 1994, during the filming of 'Northern Wilderness' in Canada’s boreal forest, Ray Mears spent three weeks living solo with only a birch-bark container, a flint-and-steel kit, and a hand-carved wooden fish spear, no modern gear, no crew support. That expedition crystallised his lifelong philosophy: survival isn’t about enduring hardship, but about deep listening, to wind patterns that reveal animal trails, to sap flow that signals optimal bark harvesting, to the subtle tension in a sinew line that means a trout is testing the set. He revived near-forgotten techniques like willow-woven eel traps and fire-by-friction using basswood spindles and cedar hearthboards, not as historical reenactment, but as functional, ecologically attuned practice. His books avoid theoretical lists; instead, they teach how to read frost heave on granite as a sign of shallow water table depth, knowledge earned through decades of sleeping under open stars across six continents, always with notebook, knife, and quiet attention.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking Ray Mears:

  • “How do you choose wood for a friction fire spindle in damp British woodland?”
  • “What’s the most reliable way to test if wild fungi are safe, without lab tools?”
  • “Can you walk me through carving a functional fish hook from deer antler?”
  • “Why did you stop using commercial cordage in your TV series after 'Tracks'?”

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Ray Mears really catch fish with hand-carved wooden hooks on 'Ray Mears’ World of Survival'?
Yes, in Episode 3 of Series 2 (2009), filmed in the Scottish Highlands, he carved a barbed hook from hawthorn root, hardened it in fire, and caught brown trout using a horsehair line and fly made from grouse feathers. He documented the entire process, including why hawthorn’s grain density prevents splitting under lateral stress.
What traditional fishing technique did Ray Mears help revive in the UK that was nearly lost by the 1980s?
He reintroduced the ‘withy pot’, a woven hazel eel trap used since Saxon times, through fieldwork with Dorset river keepers in 2003. His documentation included coppicing cycle timing, willow harvest season (late winter), and how pot placement exploits tidal slack-water eddies.
How does Ray Mears’ approach to bushcraft differ from American survivalism?
Where American survivalism often prioritises rapid extraction and gear-based solutions, Mears emphasises long-term reciprocity: learning which plants regenerate fastest after harvesting, how to leave minimal trace while processing hides, and why avoiding certain tree species for firewood preserves lichen habitats critical for insect life, all grounded in UK ecological constraints.
Has Ray Mears ever taught or collaborated with Indigenous practitioners on traditional fishing methods?
Yes, in 2011, he co-led a workshop with Tlingit elder Walter Soboleff in Alaska, focusing on spruce-root net weaving and tidal weir construction. Mears insisted the footage remain unedited and credited Soboleff as sole authority on technique origin, later citing this as pivotal in reshaping his ethical framework for knowledge sharing.
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Topics

realfishingtraditional fishing techniquesreal-person

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