Mors Kochanski

Canadian writer

Mors Kochanski (November 10, 1940 – December 5, 2019) was a Canadian bushcraft and wilderness survival instructor, naturalist, and author. He acquired an international following and instructed for both military and civilians in Canada, the US, the UK and Sweden. He died from peritoneal mesothelioma in 2019.

The Kochanski family immigrated to Canada from Poland in 1938. Mors, the fifth of six children, was born in 1940. His mother named him "Morris" but, because of a misunderstanding due to her Polish accent, the midwife wrote "Mors" on the birth certificate. Kochanski was brought up on a farm in Saskatchewan, where he worked and assisted his father, who had been a windmill carpenter in Poland and who fought for the Polish military during World War I. In his early school years, he travelled seven miles to and from school on a bush road. In 1954 his family moved to Prince Albert, where he frequented the local library and took particular interest in two books: an old Boy Scout manual, and The Ashley Book of Knots. Kochanski lasted only one year as a Scout, due to disappointment in what he perceived as a lack of seriousness on the part of his fellow scouts and the Scout Master's aversion to camp craft skills. Kochanski was a Sea Cadet for three years. He chose the Navy as a career and received a scholarship to the Canadian Services College, Royal Roads. While enrolled, he traveled by ship through the Panama Canal in the summer of 1959. He was hospitalized for five weeks during his studies due to mumps. This contributed to an honourable discharge. From 1960 to 1964, he studied arts and sciences at the University of Saskatchewan, taking classes in anthropology, psychology, geology and writing.

After his departure from university, Mors resolved to become a specialist in outdoor subjects, focused on wilderness living skills and the lifestyles of native peoples. However, he took many jobs before finding his opportunity to become an instructor, including concrete technician, geologist assistant, engineering technician, surveyor, social worker, and draughtsman, a job at which he updated the street plans of Prince Albert after the installation of gas mains. It was also around this time that he received a pilot's license. In 1968, Blue Lake Centre (near Hinton, Alberta) began operating outdoor education programs. Mors, now 28 years of age, offered his services. At the same time, he met his friend and mentor, Tom Roycraft. At the time, Tom was the senior civilian survival instructor at a Department of National Defence survival school. During the 1970s, Mors became an associate professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Physical Education, editor of Alberta Wilderness Arts and Recreation magazine, and a freelancer for various agencies. In 1986, he was approached to write a book on survival and wilderness skills for the Canadian boreal forests which was originally titled Northern Bushcraft. The book became a Canadian bestseller. The original title 'Northern Bushcraft' was in reference to an earlier publication, "Bushcraft" by Richard Harry Graves, which covered survival and wilderness living skills in the Australian environment. Eventually, the publishers later shortened the title to Bushcraft.