Wilderness Safety and Survival

 

FACT: It is more healthy and helpful to you to be outdoors more often. We will help you do so.

Problems arise when you go to the woods unprepared for the basics or you do not know how to handle yourself when trouble arises.

Our safety and survival classes prepare you for these situations. Most survival training is based around the premise that you get in trouble and therefore need to get out of it, this is a reactive way to handle such situations. Research easily proves this is not how it should be done.

A proactive methodology is the way to stay out of trouble in the first place.

In this series of classes we will first teach you ways to stay safe while you are outdoors. In this manner you can go out and casually enjoy yourself or maybe entertain the adrenaline junkie that hides within you. Our goal is to teach you the mindset, skills, tactics and gear that will help you do this. Our instructional methods are some of the best in the country simply because we have spent as much time learning HOW to teach people as we have on WHAT we teach people. To put it simply we all learn by watching people do things, listening to people talk about things, and doing things ourselves. Rather than hear lecture from our experts the entire time. You will see our instructors do things, listen to our instructors talk about things, and then YOU will do LOTS of things in class. In this manner you can be assured that when you leave you will have a usable skill set. The key is to continue practicing skills, therefore we also spend a fair amount of time working with our students on how how to continue their practice after they leave training. We have several classes available for survival on a range of topics. Following is a list of various survival related classes. You can check out our course calendar for what is currently available and more details on each particular class.

• Wilderness Safety and Survival, Level 1:
  This is the cornerstone class for those wanting to be more prepared to spend short or extended times in a wilderness setting. In this class we will cover all the basics of: wilderness first aid, land navigation, shelter building, fire building (lots of them), water purification, edible/medicinal plants, hunting/trapping. Yes, it is jam packed. The big question is what do I need to bring. That is a good question and we put together a blog piece just for that one question, you can find it at this link.
• Wilderness Safety and Survival, Level 2:
  This is where you put all the training from Level 1 into practice. The added catch is that you must do it with 25 pounds or less of gear. You can bring any gear you want to bring, but you must be able to exist for the scheduled time with nothing but what you bring in that pack. We also add in new instruction for each of the various sections of Level 1 (i.e. we do bow drill fire making in this class). We have another blog piece that describes the basics gear selection.
• Wilderness Safety and Survival, Level 3:
  Knife only class. This is the ultimate in self-reliance. Bring a knife and the clothes on your back. We will teach you how to live comfortablly under those conditions. We will teach you how to meet your needs and stay alive and most likely thrive within the confines of what we call the freedom of simplicity.

• Wilderness Safety and Survival, Level 4:

• Bushcrafting Basics:
  Bushcrafting has exploded in this country and for good reason. It is an excellent hobby to practice and simply prepares you even more spending extended trips into the wilderness. In this course we will work on campcraft, knifecraft, axecraft, firecraft adn much more. We will consider it from the perspective of utilizing modern tools (knife and axe) but still becoming more in tune with your environment. Topics covered in this class will be splitting woods, making tongs, levers, tables, understanding wood and how best to work with it, we will cook our meals over fires in the finest woods kitchens.

 

Tracking

 

Learn the science and skill of tracking. For hunting of man and beast.

Our instructional staff has spent the better part of their lives tracking through trial and error and training with some of the best instructors in the world. 

This class will train the participants of stealth and unseen movement through the wilderness. Highlights of this class will include study of camouflaging tactics and gear, we will include both natural and purchased camo gear. We will train you in the art of stalking both solo and in teams for both observation and reconnaissance.We will utilize teams to hunt and pursue one another in an attempt to be able to move from one area to another without being seen. Particular attention will be given to tracking and other spoor observation and understanding. This class is always challenging. It is a good way to be introduced these topics or to keep up on your skill set from previous training or experiences.

• Level 1:
  In this course we will build the base of understanding in observation and awareness skills. This will teach you how to scan an environment and gather information from it. This will include detailed exercises in camouflaging and tracking. We will show you what works and and does not work in practical exercises. This class will involve only a very small portion of "classroom" work. The rest is experiential learning in a rural, wooded environment. We will teach you how you eye works, how light and shadows effect your vision and how to use that knowledge to either see what what was previously hidden to you, or hide yourself when you do not want to be seen. This will also include the first steps into studying tracking. We will study why we see a track, and what information we can gather from it. Separating fact from fiction. We will also study the how to gather information from tracks, and other sign in a solo and group setting. This class will also include proper formations and hand signals to maintain noise and visual discipline on during a man-tracking event.
• Level 2:
  Level 2 will involve exercise planning and execution against other groups and teams. We will utilize skills learned in Level 1 class to assist the groups and teams to test one another's abilities in head on competition. These exercises will be setup to put into practical exercise, camouflaging, tracking, and operational tactics and techniques. Land navigation (map and compass) skills are not necessary, but will be an added aid to all training exercises.

 

Land Navigation

 

Learn how to use your compass and maps to navigate anywhere in the world. This course will increase your ability to safely navigate in , and out, of a wilderness.

This course will cover all of the fundamentals that one needs to safely and effectively navigate with a map and compass. We will start by considering maps and what information they can give us. We will then consider compasses and how to choose a good one for your particular use.

The best way to do survival, is not get lost in the first place. In this series of classes we want to insure that a compass is not just a piece of gear that you have. We want it to be an integral piece of kit that is as easy for you to use a zipper on your jacket. We have gone to great lengths to insure that this course is not so technical that you get lost, nor is it just a overview of the topic. At the end of even Level 1 training you will be using your compass in groups and solo to navigate safely.

• Level 1:
  This is the cornerstone class for those that want to be able to navigate with map and compass. We will take an incredibly in-depth look into map reading skills. This will include understand the various map options that are out there and which ones are useful, and which ones are not. We will look at the color schemes of various maps and how to read them. We will go over the use of the scale and how to use other items to transfer it to straight and curve line distances. We will also consider gridlines reference systems. Which ones are best for military/law-enforcement, SAR, and general public use. After that we will detail the various compass options that are available and which one is best for your use. We will teach you how to use the compass on the map in a classroom setting first. This will cover things such as determining angles, distances and more. This will definitely include a section on how to make understanding declination and the various "North" easy. Once you are sufficiently trained in the classroom setting, we will have field courses setup that increase in difficulty so that you can grow into them. This wil include the open field navigation with map and compass, forest and hill navigation and also night time navigation. During this course we will also help you to develop your pace count.
• Level 2:
  Level two is focused entirely on terrain association. This is essentially where you take your compass and use it only sparingly. We will travel a trail that has many topographic features for us to actually see how it is references on a map. We will also use your pace count extensively in this class. We will teach you how to implement land navigation into your group. Whether your group is your family, unit, or agency. We will also cover communicating coordinates and topography features to others in your party to SAR teams to help them find you.
• Level 3:
  Level 3 is what we affectionately call the "Lost Man Exercise". In this course we will take you "blindfolded" to various locations and walk you deep into a wilderness setting. We will then take you blindfold off and give you a map. It is then your responsibility to find your location on the map utilizing only map and compass, then navigate your way out. If that is a day, no problem. If we have to spend the night out with you, then we will be prepared for that as well.