Wilderness Survival
The 2 Day Basic Wilderness Survival Course is our most popular course.  We teach you the 7 Essential Survival Skills you'll need to survive any situation including, but not limited to:

• Survival psychology and the 'Will to Live'
• Shelter building / site location and selection - those that desire to do so can spend the night in the shelter they build.
• Fire starting - 3 methods - we'll cook our  meals around the fires you build.
  
• Water - finding and purification
• Food - plants, animals etc. ( we don't eat bugs) Includes a  nature walk to find and identify edible and useful plants.
  
• Signaling - approved and recognized methods
  
• Navigation and map reading - we use these skills on some local trails

In addition we'll show you how to build your own custom Personal Emergency Survival Kit using the same tools and items used to teach the course. We don't do any long, tiresome backpacking or hiking. This course is designed for all age groups.

Each student may also get a chance to build a fire using the Bow Drill plus we'll teach you how to make cordage from natural materials.

The Two Day  Wilderness Survival Course cost is $125.00 per person. Group and family rates are available. Workshop size is limited to 12 people. Items you'll need to bring are listed on the "Course Dates" page

Skills taught during  Two Day Courses, include but are not limited to:

Shelter: How to quickly build light weight shelters that can be set up in minutes. How to stay dry and warm when caught out in the woods.

Fire.  You'll learn you how to build small  fires for cooking and warmth,  cooking fires that use small amounts of firewood and how to maintain a fire through the night. We'll demonstrate fire starting with different ignition sources such as fire steels, water proof matches etc. and the Bow Drill.

Water  Purification You'll learn simple methods to purify water including boiling, chemical treatment, filters, UV and  distilling methods.

Lost Proofing;  Learn how not to get lost. We'll discuss the common mistakes made that result in people becoming lost and what steps to take to ensure that neither you or your loved ones become victims.

Signaling-  Quick and effective methods to become found and rescued. Special techniques taught for young kids.

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Tracking 101

 

Learn the basics of tracking, including track identification, understanding of gait patterns, the importance of track drawing/ journaling, scat identification, sign awareness, tracking in different substrates, pressure releases, track measurements and the relationship between awareness and tracking itself. We'll make casts of different tracks that you can use for later reference and study.

 

This class is designed for beginners but will also benefit students that may already have limited experience in tracking and want to further their knowledge and skills. You can expect lots of down in the dirt, hands-on time studying tracks and sign.

Tracking classes are kept small, 6-8 students, to ensure all students receive our instructors full attention and participation. This is a two day, weekend course. Cost is $150.00 per student.

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Survival Tracking and Trapping

Day one of this two day course will take you through basic animal tracking, track identification, sign awareness and how to spot animal trails and movement patterns that would help in setting traps and snares. On day two we'll cover basic trapping techniques using both modern ( steel snares and leg hold) and primitive traps and snares( dead falls, cordage) This is a hands-on intensive class so be prepared for lots of dirt time. Cost for this class is $150.00.

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Primitive Course                                                                                                             

Our ancestors used what we now consider primitive skills on a daily basis in order to survive and as matter of routine everyday life. For thousands of years these skills remained basically the same and were passed on to generation after generation. The foundation skills, i.e., the skills most experts consider the core and truly “primitive skills are the ability to make fire, twist fiber and to shape flint and stone. Once these core skills are mastered they can be combined to produce all others. For instance: without the ability to make a suitable cord ( string) it would be impossible to make a bow drill. Without the ability and knowledge to find or shape stone it would be very difficult to prepare food, cut wood for tools, shape tools or to make fire. Without the ability to make fire – well basically, life would be tough. Quite obviously, mastering each of these three basic core skills is considered a necessity for primitive survival.

Our Primitive Skills Course is designed to provide each student with the training to master each of these core skills. We’ll start by learning the fundamentals of shaping flint, (flintknapping) to make our basic cutting tools. Using our newly made stone tools we’ll collect natural plant material and then learn how to process and prepare the material to make cordage that we can use for our bow drill, hunting bows, shelters, containers etc. Finally using a combination of the tools and materials we have made we’ll learn how to build fires using truly primitive methods and materials. Once we have a fire we'll try our hand at cooking a meal with materials we collect from the wild. The student that masters these skills can truly call themselves a survivalist.

The cost for this course is $125.00 per person. Group rates available This is a 1 day class and the class size is limited to 12 students.

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Hunter Gatherer

What’s a Hunter-Gatherer?  A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild, foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the domestication of either. Or so Wikipedia says.

We’ll make us some simple stone tools, cordage, build fires using only friction or flint & steel, make ancient weapons, make and use natural glues, baskets, fishing nets, shelters and whatever else time and materials will allow. We’ll do some foraging for edible plants, berries, maybe catch some fish, frogs, snakes etc. and whip up a tasty (??)  meal.

This is a Two Day course. We'll camp overnight in tents or shelters of your choice.

Cost is $125.00 per person and the class is limited to 12 students.

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For more details or information please contact us at:

Email:  hankfannin@comcast.net

Telephone 772-530-5823