Description

Bushcraft Skills Course

Bushcraft Skills is designed to build upon skills learned in the Wilderness Skills Course and shifts focus from learning the basics to learning how to replace some of your gear with skills and resources that can be sourced from nature. After all, knowledge weighs nothing. This is a 4-day/3-night course with a heavy focus on identifying and using natural materials from the landscape to provide for your needs in the wild. These skills are not limited to any specific environment; they can be adapted as needed to a number of locations worldwide.

The best way to learn these bushcraft skills is from a qualified instructor in a controlled setting to ensure student safety while learning and developing these bushcraft skills. Upon completion, students will have a newfound confidence that they will be able to handle themselves and continue to hone these skills on their own.

Many take to the wilds of their choice for a number of different outdoor recreation activities. Regardless of what took you into the wilderness, your needs while in the wilderness remain the same: Maintaining your body Core Temperature with proper clothing choices, fire, and shelter; Hydration, Calorie Consumption, Rest, First Aid, Navigation, Signal, and the safe and efficient use of tools to facilitate it all. Take your training to the next level by learning how to provide for more of these needs using natural materials and more comprehensive mapping and navigation techniques.

Students will learn:

• Traditional Percussion Fire Techniques (Flint & Steel)
• Identification and Use of various Tinder Fungi
• Primitive Friction Fire Techniques (Bow Drill)
• Making Natural Cordage
• Additional Knots and Lashings
• Constructing Bushcraft Shelters
• Processing, Cooking, and Preserving Game
• Additional Useful, Edible, and Medical Plants
• Making Useful Camp Implements and Tools
• Modifications and Improvements to Basic Traps
• Navigation and Self-Mapping
• Additional Tools for the Woodsman

Please see the Required Equipment List HERE

Students enrolling in this Bushcraft Skills course must have completed the foundational Wilderness Skills Course prior to enrolling in this course. Due to time constraints, cadre will not have time to bring students up to speed for this course if they do not arrive with the foundational skills taught in Wilderness Skills.

The Bushcraft Skills course uses a “crawl, walk, run” method of instruction. Students will first be taught by cadre, followed by the student being required to demonstrate proficiency on their own. This culminates in being able to then perform these skills under various stressors to ensure proficiency.

Food will not be provided for this Bushcraft Skills course:

You will need to bring enough food and snacks for the duration. Meals should be quick to prepare and snacks should be on-the-go. Due to time limitations, we will not stop for lunch. Please arrive at the start of training having had breakfast as it will be a long day training before being given time to prepare dinner.

This Bushcraft Skills course is a “field course”. Bushcraft Skills students should expect to be immersed in a wilderness setting for the duration of the course. Restrooms are primitive (portable toilets) and on-site. There is no electricity or running water. Vehicles will be parked in a student parking lot and are not accessible while taking the course. Students will sleep in shelters that they themselves construct and cannot leave the premises to stay at a hotel, sleep in their vehicle, or go to town for food.

Students should expect the potential for cold, wet weather, and primitive field conditions. Cadre and staff will ensure safety at all times during the course. You should arrive in reasonable physical shape with the required equipment list. Expect to walk several kilometers per day (usually no more than 3-5km) carrying your equipment in addition to natural resources that you collect (usually no more than 15-35lbs) that are needed for individual classes. If you have sustained a prior hot- or cold-weather injury (heat exhaustion, heat stroke, hypothermia, frosting, frostbite, etc.), please let us know as you are more susceptible to a repeat injury. If you have a previous injury or medical condition that may negatively effect your ability to keep up with the group or walk the required distances carrying your gear, please let us know so that we can discuss whether or not it is appropriate for you to attend this particular course.

For safety reasons, Bushcraft Skills students must continue to train and apply themselves to remain in the course. If you do not quit on yourself, we will not quit on you. However, if a student chooses not to continue training, or doesn’t participate in any part of the training, the student will be escorted back to their vehicles immediately and must depart the training venue. There can be no refund or credit given to take the course at a later date. Students may not depart the training area and return at a later time.

This course will be held in Embden, Maine.

Please see our course cancellation policy HERE