Mors Kochanski

Mors Kochanski
"The more you know, the less you carry"
Born	(1940-11-10) 10 November 1940 (age 76) Saskatchewan, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Survival and wilderness skills instructor and author
Known for	Bushcraft and survival techniques
Website	MorsKochanski.com

Mors Kochanski is a Canadian bushcraft and wilderness survival instructor, naturalist and author. He has acquired an international following and has instructed for both military and civilians in Canada, the US, the UK and Sweden. He is well known for saying "The more you know, the less you carry"

The Kochanski family immigrated to Canada from Poland in 1938 and Mors was born two years later (1940), the fifth of six children. His mother named him "Morris" but, because of a misunderstanding due to her Polish accent, the midwife wrote 'Mors' on the birth certificate. His father fought for the Polish Army, during the First World War. That experience left him with a strong desire to see his children educated, so that they might benefit from serving as officers. Mors' father felt that his children would inevitably be conscripted for military service, during a war in their lifetime.

Mors was brought up on a relatively isolated farm in Saskatchewan. He spent most of his time working the farm and assisting his father, who had been a windmill carpenter in Poland. In his early school years, he walked or rode 7 miles to and from school on a bush road. This daily journey was a significant part of his education and the foundation for a lifetime of interest in nature.

In 1954 his parents moved to Prince Albert and, freed from his farm chores, he made the public library his second home. Mors took particular interest in two books:

•An old Boy Scout manual - Mors 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.

•The Ashley Book of Knots - Mors enlisted the help of the head Librarian, to order his own copy. At around $15 in 1952, it took him a long time to save enough money for purchase. So began a lifetime of collecting books on natural history, camping and survival skills, resulting in a personal library of thousands of titles.

Mors 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, predominantly due to a case of the mumps. This contributed to an honourable discharge in his second year, after failing too many subjects on the way to his Chemical Engineering degree.