Speaking of fire...Native Americans use to say that "White men build a big fire, stand far away and burn lots of wood. Indians build a small fire, stand close and burn much less wood. " Lots of wood equals lots of work and vice versa. Makes sense to me. Smaller fire can be nearer the shelter making it easier to tend in the night even though it may be an extra time or two. Enjoy the videos. Thanks for sharing.

I’m a Michigan cold weather steelhead fisherman. I can tell you that drying your feet and changing your socks is a massive game changer. I few years back, I slept in my hammock in the mid teens. I changed my socks after drying my feet at bed time and I was plenty warm. Moisture equals cold. Stay dry, stay warm.

Dude, I freaking love this guy. He's not constantly trying to beat you over the head with how cool and tough and hard-core he is. Instead, he's competent and practical, while never losing sight of the fact this is all supposed to be mostly something we do for fun adventures.

Your comment on “ we’re bushcrafters, we walk a couple hundred yards and set up camp” was awesome. Same with your woods equals home comfort

Let's see, you say location, we lay on snow and ice above the Arctic Circle. No forest around us. In permafrost region. Yes, only a small reflective Tarp. Yes, I use a wool blanket. I carry a 5" air mat. Of course we are usually hunting caribou. Because of this, I have 6 malimutes. These dogs love to sleep around me. Being surrounded by 6 extra large dogs. You'll stay very warm. Also, you made a comment about skills. I'll say this, many of you need to know how to build a simple all night fire.

Thanks to my years in the Army, camping as a civilian is heaven. So many options, it's amazing. A watch cap and woobie (poncho liner) were common in the Army, a GP Medium tent was luxury. Getting off the ground is probably the biggest thing I've learned over the years, the thickest blanket doesn't mean much if all your body heat gets drained by the cold ground.

Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, it was common knowledge in my community to sleep with loose wool socks and a winter cap on cold winter nights. For me, it is a no brainer to apply this to when I actually sleep outside on cooler nights.

Wearing a warm hat while sleeping during a cold night

An old man i met who sold everything to travel america in a wagon pulled by a mule , he was also on the johnny carson show about his life style , told me how you stay warm is to dig out a bed shape in the dirt and line it with coals and stones from your fire cover it back with dirt and make your bed on top and it will keep you warm all night .

Great video which realistically addresses what is probably the number one camping issue. The debris bedding is certainly a key to warm sleeping but I worry about ticks and spiders crawling onto me out of the debris. The answer to this is to bring a couple of the super-large, heavy-duty garbage bags and stuff the debris into them, then sleep on top of these "mattresses". Or you can bring a large sheet of plastic and throw it over the debris pile.

Wool blanket is great in the warm weather in the UK. Say May up to early November... Then it's airmat and sleeping bag, cause I'm a baby. 😂

Great tips Dan! It's hard to convince beginning campers how important clean, dry socks are for a good night's sleep. Those socks you've been slogging around in all day are mildly damp due to perspiration and on cool to cold evenings they will leave your feet frozen if you sleep in them. You can turn them inside out and keep them under the blanket with you during the night to help draw off that moisture - just don't wear them. The same is true for t-shirts and underwear, if you sleep in those.

Love it 😍 thank you... Camping I used to take my three little dogs along...one kept my knees warm under the covers, the other slept in my arms like a baby and the third one always laid above my head...having three little Portable heaters is always good to have, plus they are real fur...and real fur is always warmer then anything man-made... (of course you got to feed that fur)!🤣😂🤣

Good tips- He is 110% correct when mentioning the more insulation between you and the ground, the better. Ive camped out in sub-zero weather using the old school OD green army "mummy" bag with a wool blanket inside the bag and have always been fine. Usually just used a sleeping mat on top of the snow, but with more time, you would want some sort of insulation on the ground- i.e... pine boughs, leaves, ect... Cool vids- keep up the good work-

Camping with my Boy Scout troop in February in the 1980’s. We cowboy camped in the Chicago area , outside with a layer of hay. It was actually warmer than sleeping in a tent in the spring. The only problem was my boots frozen because I didn’t put them under my sleeping bag at night.

I have a dedicated pair of thick wool socks that I use solely for sleeping in. A buff and a beanie also help. When the weather is super-cold, I’ve got down booties and a down balaclava that make my 27 degree sleeping back keep me adequately warm down to about 10 degrees. Good points all around!

A hat, loose mittens, and fresh socks along with a simple tarp bivi including a wool blanket and inflatable sleep pad set up under the low branches of a cedar tree allowed me to sleep without a fire for several nights on an alpine predator hunt down to single digit temps. Great advice across in this video. I would add; don't be afraid to sleep in those cloths, wool base layers are like adding more wool blankets when you sleep so you can do yourself a lot of favors by dressing right too. I took off my outer layers of coveralls and used them as further insulation from the ground. It also helps keep your inner layers breathing, fresh, and the outer layers have some warmth for when you redress in the morning.

Good afternoon from Syracuse NY USA brother and everyone else

In Norway we always wear wool outside. Wool under, wool over, wool socks and thin wool gloves, wool balaclava… makes a world of difference

I’ve been sleeping with a beanie on in the winter for years since I was a kid camping as well as in the house at night when the thermostat is lowered. It definitely makes a difference with the amount of body heat you lose from your head.

Fresh grass and branches have a lot of moisture, they are not good choice for making bed, as they will drain heat. The better choice: dry grass, plants, leaves. The best one: to make simple bed from dead wood and raise it above the ground. Dry wood isolates you from cold ground and prevents heat drain. With fire and heat reflector it’s a great combo to stay warm

Medical problems put me and my wife on the streets for some time and I promise what you said is true about the ground sucking your body heat out . We figured out quick you best have a good thick bed to lay on .

I’ve experimented with sewing a wool blanket into a piece of Tyvek. I stayed warm down to the mid 30’s with lightweight thermals. It’s cheap, light and helps keep blanket clean.

amazing how most bushcraft tips bring out a reaction like "Yeah, I knew that", because most of it is simple common sense and basic problem solving. The problem with that is that a lot of people think that watching a lot of these videos is a substitute for actual practice. There is a reason that all bushcraft channels keep telling us to go out in the woods and practice. So I really appreciate you for making that call to practice with the gear we have and get used to different situations. Great video. Your channel is one of the few I where I have clicked on the bell.

Love the tip of sewing two twin blankets together. I use two blankets and pin them with exta extra large "safety" pins.

I'm typing this while I'm watching... I was camping a couple of weeks ago (in February, southern Ontario). I have a tent and wood stove and a climate appropriate sleep system. The first night was not great, feeding the stove every hour and half and trying to manage my comfort between +15C and -5C. The second night my plan was to get a good layer of embers, and then put on a large compressed sawdust log in the stove. They normally burn for 5+ hours when the stove is choked up. This time the compressed log expanded when it lit, and pushed the baffle up to block off the chimney. The tent filled with smoke and I couldn't remove the stove from the tent. I dragged my sleep system out and slept outside. I slept better than I have in a long time. I'm now reconsidering my entire winter sleep setup.

The best time to go camping is when the temperature is mild. The people that want to go camping in bad weather/seriously cold weather. That's another game best left to those who have some experience, are fit, and maybe a couple of zippo hand warmers. I seem to recall they can run for about 8 hrs. or more. I bought two pair of ultra thick wool socks. These are very warm. You can dry a pair and wear a pair. If you squeeze the water out of soaked wool socks they can still do a decent job of keeping you warm. A dab of lanoline worked into them will help them repeal water and is good for your skin. It works for sheep it will work for you. Wool mittens work well too.

Good stuff, right on brother! This old greybeard has tarp and blanket camped since I was a kid. Groundcover is key, as is setting the tarp to block the wind. It sure doesn’t help if your tarp is catching the cool night breeze. I like a nice bough or debris pile then a USGI shelter half tarp under me. One of the best night sleeps ever was in the rain, under a tarp on a bed of jackrabbit droppings mixed with leaves and duff. Was soft and warm. Another one was middle of Montana winter: well below zero and snowed a couple feet on us. In my bedroll and tarp under the fresh powder snow, I was comfortable warm!! The adventurous spirit is definitely imperative!! Without that: camping is a motel and roughing it is a Motel 6 lol. I refuse to use a tent because I want to be outside, not in a nylon hotel room.

"At the end of the day, bushcraft is just a bunch of little problems we have to solve, in order to make life better" I'll tattoo this on my arm

Yo, sick knuck tatz Dan 🤘

Doin winter in a 12x14 wall tent in North panhandle Idaho again. Love my wool blankets.

I started, and continue watching, your material because of how you present the information. I wish we had someone like you to teach in the Mojave Desert.

I know the vid has to be brief and you've covered it before. But, shelter factors like prevailing wind, size and configuration of shelter, and opening seem to matter a lot as well. Keep up the wonderful content Dan.

As a youth on the homestead, we slept in a Woods brand arctic two-star goose down bag we were nude with a Hudson's Bay wool blanket next to our skin, 🤠 (Wow, it itches something awful.) We were in a not heated caboose the dog would wriggle in; go to the foot of the bag & stick its nose out between the snaps. I was cold as hell there. YES GET A WOOL BLANKET

I used to love this kind of stuff and cowboy camped for many decades. Then I became aware of Lyme disease and it totally changed my thinking on it.

Great video dude! I know it's a year old but it just came up on my feed (probobly because I've been looking st surplus blankets). I love the attitude "It's supposed to be an adventure, stop whining and do it better". At least that was what I got out of it. I'm a big guy (6'4") and I'm absolutely going to sew two blankets together as you suggested. I bought 6 old Swiss Army blankets years ago, real cheap, and two sewn together should do the trick.

GREAT REALISM and PRACTICAL advice here! For several years, I have used a 'Ninja Suit' of 2-piece knit wool and a Balaclava type of hood to supplement my sleeping bag in Fall and early Spring weather. My preferred wool blanket is a queen-sized waffle weave item that traps a lot of warm air. Generations of Classic Woodcraft 'Outers' have discovered that a looser weave works better as an insulator than thick, densely woven wool blankets.

I implement most of these tips “indoors” November through March-April. Granted I’m boondocking in an RV in Canada and routinely wake up in sub-freezing temperatures. Yes, good socks are going to set you back $30+, but so worth it.

Your Bushcraft channel is the best of the best that I have seen. I learn so much from watching your videos and practice when I can. My grandson is really got an interest in bushcrafting and I have put him on to your channel so that he can really learn something that is very useful. That means camping as well as survival. Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge with us it's very much appreciated!

I like your channel, it is my favorite as far as bush craft is concerned. As I watch videos on KZfaq, I think there is way too much focus on something to keep you warm through the night. In the case of car camping, it is diesel heaters. In the case of more primitive camping, it is fire. Why not just take a good sleeping system with you. It is not any harder than carrying a tarp and wool blanket. It is called sleeping pad and sleeping bag. You stay warm all night without having to get up, except to pee. I have camped in the mountains of northern New Mexico at over 11,000 ft in the dead of winter without the need to keep a fire going. The temperatures can get so low that digital thermometers can stop working. I like the ambiance of fire, I get it. But in a time of so much wild fire danger out west, It is bad form to be using camp fire in the first place.

I like the hat, wool socks, and gloves

I live in a small RV with no electric or running water; in an area with sub zero Winter temps. Often it gets well below freezing inside the RV. Here's a few more tips: 1) Layers ~ try clothing combinations you find comfortable even when layered. I have two soft hoodie shirts I alternate and sleep in & wear long underwear. I also wear a soft neck gator and knit beanie underneath the hoodie. If my winter socks aren't clean, I layer socks. I might even double up on winter socks. 2) Heat batteries ~ while your fire is going, set a few 1lb (+/-) rocks near enough to the fire that they get thoroughly warm (avoid extreme hot); when ready for bed, wrap rocks inside a hand towel and place inside the wool blanket you sleep in. You can also do this with certain metal water bottles, but beware that lid gaskets may not survive excess heat exposure. I have two suitable water bottles and slip each one inside a spare sock. Often these bottles are still warm by morning. 3) Mylar survival sheets ~ BUT learn how to use them. Do NOT place them in close layers to your body as they trap body moisture and can literally result in wetness which can accelerate hypothermia. With a little duct tape you can secure them on the inside of the tarp in a way to reflect ambient heat back towards you. 4) location location location ~ select a spot to bed down with maximum sun exposure; that day heat is stored in the earth material and lessens the cold draw from your body; when the sun rises you will gain warmth faster. Rig your tarp so you can lift open the sunny side and allow daylight to heat up the interior. It can give you an extra hour of peaceful sleep. Every degree you can save and gain adds up!

I’ve been tarp and wool camping about a year. Was glad to have a woobie when we had second winter here in late June (Northcentral PA)

To help stay warm at night remember what coalcracker just said but one important thing you must remember, remove the clothes you had on during the day. Those clothes have absorbed the moisture, sweat, you produce all day and those materials with your body moisture will keep you cold.

Use the woolblankets for the wall tents, cabins, home bedspread, or wrapping up when around the fire or in balmy warm nights. If your in the mountains or cold and remote areas and you can't afford to fiddle around then get a proper modern quilt or sleeping bag and ground pad setup. The extra wool socks will come in handy to keep your hot water bottle insulated and safely next to you and insulated booties are the bomb. With an proper sleeping system you can go without cutting mountains of firewood and focus on other objectives. In more remote and primitive locations the modern sleeping system can also save your bacon where an old wool blanket might help you end up like old Hatchet Jack.

😂❤fun video with your singing and great stuff, thanks.

Awesome Dan!! Great info, love your teaching style and to-the-point videos.

Great tips as always…it’s the little things and attention to detail that make ALL the difference in a little bit of comfort…goes a LONG WAY!

Many thanks Dan, for sharing your wisdom with us. As always, a very useful video, particularly the reminder that sleeping on the trail will, in no way, ever, compare with the comforts of sleeping at home .. Cheers.

Good tips. Feed the Furnace to stay warm. EAT meat before you bed down. Raise your body temperature by doing 15 minutes of exercise Jumping jacks, chopping wood etc. and Now you have two sources of heat to trap under your blanket. Wrap up in the blanket to prevent the heat from escaping. The French Fur traders would wrap their 6" wide wool sash six feet long around their waist to keep the kidneys warm, On a real cold night two guys would double layer their blankets and sleep together. On a minus 20 or 30 night four guys would share the warmth of four blankets. Wool Mittens are warmer than gloves. Nothing better than a warm tuque and dry socks. and wool top and bottom under layer. If there is snow on the ground scrap down to dirt.

Good and sound tips all the way in this video! I do a bit of camping in Norway and here it often gets quite cold. wearing clean socks, gloves, scarf and a beanie is the way to go! In addition I can highly recommend heating water on the fire and pouring it on a bottle you bring with you under the blanket or in the sleeping bag. it will really help you staying warm! (as long as you make sure the lid is firmly on. If you make your bedding wet you will have a very uncomfortable night. )

Another thing us old school mountain men do is dig a hole the length of your body and start your fire in there. When you’re ready for bed and you have a lot of hot coals, move you’re fire into the pit, cover the coals in the hole with at least 6 inches of dirt, throw some foliage on top and it’ll keep you warm all night. I actually learned that from Jeremiah Johnson. Also warming up rocks around the fire and putting them around areas of your body that have main arteries; It helps warm up your blood.

Down booties are a game changer when out in colder temps. Everyone gets cold feet first and I just keep my booties in the bedroll

Excellent video Dan. Very good advice. These are the things that must be done and or considered for this type of camping. Thanks for the video and for sharing your thoughts, ideas and experience with us.

I love being in the woods more than I enjoy being home

Great stuff as usual Dan, looking forward to this time a year to get into the woods, also want to say that I love my t6zero shelter... Excellent purchase!

Great tips for some, and reminders for others. I appreciate what you present and that you do so in a fun way

Awesome tips on how to make it comfortable. Thanks for the tools for the toolbox Dan!! Take care and stay safe my friend!!

I graduated in 1971 and started backpacking when man first walked on the moon when I was 16.

Most of my camping is now done in a hunting cabin. It has 4 plywood bunk beds and a wood stove, which still has to be fed wood during the night. My tip for not allowing this to interrupt my sleep is get there first and claim a top bunk. Have a better sleeping bag than the other people in your party and you will be able to outlast them when the fire burns down. They'll get cold long before you do. 🔥

Great video, perfect timing. I'm going camping in a couple of weeks. Haven't cold camped in ages, so 5 good ideas for me to think about now, rather than later. Thanks!

I like that , "well your not at home"...you gotta be smarter than the outdoors.

All great tips Dan. The coldest I’ve hit so far, outside, was 19 the first night, 17 the second night. The first was worse than the second in spite of the 2 degree difference. The difference was, my bedding. Oh, two points, I prefer the trapper/mountain man sleep caps in wool. But that’s a personal choice. Second, gloves okay but, mittens are preferred. Most important is as you noted…attitude. You will NEVER, have that pillow top mattress with the down comforter feel. NEVER! Don’t expect it and don’t think you can create it…it’s ground sleeping. Expect THAT. I’ve long been the two lower cost blankets sewn together guy. I don’t double them though. I go about half side by side. This gives you the thicker concentration underneath and pulling the two sides over you, creates the double top layer without sacrificing size…in fact, you gain size but, not weight. Outstanding content. Dress right, sleep tight. 👊🏻 Oh…have no idea what that song was…I was graduated in 1978 and Uncle Sam taught me practically zero about sleeping warm and comfortable on the ground with minimal weight. I learned more from the pioneers and mountain men.

Heading out this week up in the Delaware State Forrest! Weather is getting perfect! I’m stoked to be using your wool blanket! Thanks for the tips/reminders!

I'm so glad you said that the first night outside after leaving your previous sleeping arrangement will be restless. It's true for most campers as well.

I did an experiment at home. I have a taken to wearing thin summer weight ankle length socks in bed this winter here in the UK and I deliberately turned down my heating to stay around 10 degrees centigrade at night. Not freezing cold but cold enough. I can sleep easily and comfortably under a 9 tog quilt all night with thin socks and wake up really cold without. Just a pair of thin socks makes that much difference. Incidentally, in summer if you are struggling to sleep on a hot night. Soak a pair of sport socks in water and squeeze out a bit then put them on and pull up over the ankles. Guarantee you will feel cold after an hour. Dry socks versus wet socks perfect comfort over a 10 - 30 degree centigrade range.

Went last weekend down by Spuce knob lake in WV got down to 42 was awesome was comfy and loved the sound of the water fall and nature around me

Yes, this video pumps me up Let’s GO! Can’t wait to take a class 👍

THIS was very informative, and necessary - thanks so much, Dan! 😃 👍

Excellent tips . Just had a tarp and wool blanket camp . 2 blankets for me . Nice one r👍🏕

Helpful direction, as always/much thanks!

I remember talking to a couple reenactors in the winter time asked how cold did it get. The one guy said it was a 9 blanket night the other guy said thought you only had 7 blankets. He said I do only have 7 blankets that's why it was a 9 blanket night.

Great advice Dan. keep warm, stay dry and live.

The best thing for sleeping with a wool blanket is to not use just a wool blanket, take a Sea to Summit Thermolite sleeping bag inner, a Thermarest X-Therm and a Thermarest collapsible pillow. The extra weight is virtually nothing, you will feel like you’re sleeping at home and you can go down into some serious temps even under just a tarp. A nice warm hat helps too, no need for a fire all night either.

What an amazing day in the woods ❤

Great tips and advice, as always!!!

Great throw back Dan. Thx

The thrill that winter is coming is worth all the money :) There's nothing like the smell of winter, eh?

Awesome video Dan!!! Some very solid tips that most of us look over.

I recently started assembling what I need for a wool blanket and canvas tarp bed roll. These tips will come in handy. Thanks.

That was awesome, thanks! I really am going to get the socks gloves and beanie for this season! I was reminded of the importance of prepping additional wood for the fire ar night. All your points are really helpful. Cheers

Yep I have all these kinds of techniques to stay warm in north of Minnesota especially during Hunting season! Keep all ideas coming for educate others who used these ideas. Carry on!

So much amazing information packed into 15 minutes. Thank you!

Casual tent camper here, a few things I've learned that helped me be reasonably comfortable line up with what you're saying. -Even a cheap yoga mat as a sleeping pad makes a HUGE difference. Even Just to stop the pokey bits, it helps alot. -Military surplus beanies are perfect, they don't take up much space and cost like $5. -Have a separate pair of socks for sleeping. Decent thick boot socks are again around $5. This way you have dry socks to sleep in and can dry your day socks overnight -learn one of the self-feeding fire methods. Even if it only doubles the times between refueling the fire, three hours of rest at a time beats 1.5 hours. -dont cheap out on your sleep system. Whether you're using a wool blanket or a sleeping bag, read the reviews and talk to people who are familiar with the products. Cheap ones tend to crush and trap sweat, ruining their comfort value - pajamas. You again want something dry and with no pokey bits like buttons and zippers to change into. Decent thermal pants/shirts aren't very expensive and take up little pack space. Even your favorite old sweatpants and a pullover will work, if space isn't a concern. Just having a distinct separate set of sleep clothes makes it easier to sleep, maybe from the comfort and dryness but probably also from the psychological "these are pajamas" aspect. I'm no expert, but these have helped me. Packing in a few extra pounds of stuff helps get much better sleep and is totally worth it if you're not doing long hikes to get to your site.

“Leave grape feeding lady at home to experience nature” got it 👍🏻

seriously Dan - no hype or BS, just a straight-up compliment to a KZfaqr who deserves it... this video, and almost all of the ones I have seen from you are WHY you are definitely in my top 3 subscriptions. The pragmatic wisdom you teach with just the right amount of humour and respect makes learning from you very pleasant. About two years ago I decided that I wanted to get into bushcrafting, which led my wife and I to start hiking. Since I am off work for four months a year (I drive dump truck and get the winter off) and I love to study (thank God for things like the internet and KZfaq) and I have 24 hours a day to do what I want to do, I spend hours every day and night just watching these types of videos. You are one of my most favourite to watch. Thanks, and please keep up the good work :-)

Did Dan just say that it’s “Nippily” outside? Hilarious!! 🤣

Hey there Dan, I’m headed out into the backwoods around me here in the mountains of SE Oklahoma this week for a Thanksgiving bushcrafting week long trip with friends and family. We are doing Boilo for thanksgiving again this year. We done it last year for the neighbors and everyone loved it. I’m sure we will have a ton of people show up for Boilo again this year! Love your channel bro. Thanks!🏴‍☠️

Thanks Dan, I will be out in my hammock tomorrow night. Love good wool socks. Take care.

“It’s a three dog night”. Aussie advice for sleeping in your ‘swag’.

As always, very motivating vid. Thanks brother, may you stay in the woods as long as you want!!!

I was crossing the Pyrenees in winter ,a couple of years back.being in Europe ,no fires allowed!!! I had a good mat,a Carinthia defence 4 slepping bag,thermal base layer,wool socks,balaclava and a wool berret!! Was only cold one night(location was not great),i put on my jacket and went back to sleep.stay dry,eat well,piss bottle at the ready.the only thing i ll had next time is a wool blanket,as the bag was at its temp limit.

I always enjoy your videos because of the well-presented information and your engaging style, a perfect balance between serious and not-so-serious. Thank you, Dan.

Really appreciate your info and the fun way you presented it!! Thank You!!

Always loved your videos, Dan. And as always this one does not dissapoint.

Your awesome Dan. Thanks so much.

2000 for me too 1981 baby. Miss the 80s and 90s.

I did an overnight trip with only a wool blanket in a hammock...my first and last hammock use. I ended up sleeping on the ground with a small pad and was warm enough for most of the night. I woke up cold, put on more clothes and did fine after that. I personally like a better sleep system, but know that in a pinch my dad's old army blanket will do just fine.

Thank you for all your tips 👍

Great advice! Thank you!👍