The following descriptions are offered as a guide to assist in planning your custom course options and for details on the content of our regularly scheduled courses.

The Ugly Bow.

  Learn to make a powerful bow, from natural material, in a fraction of the time it takes to make a traditional flat bow.  We will also make a reverse wrap string.  The combination makes an ugly bow that performs beautifully.

Survival Traps

  We will make several traditional dead fall trap triggers used to provide meat for the primitive diet. These range from the ultra-simple to complex.  We will discuss proper placement, de-scenting and bait.

Animal Tracking

  Learn how to find, follow and interpret the animal tracks you see when you are out in the desert. Discover how to determine who made the track and what it was doing at the time.

  We will also discover how to interpret the signs made by animals in areas where individual tracks can’t be found.

Search and Rescue Tracking

  This class covers the techniques required to find lost people in the outdoors. We will cover lost hiker psychology, track measuring, tracking team tactics and ethic, large area search, using maps with tracking techniques, proper interview techniques before the search and essential gear. We can also adapt this course to include searching for people evading your search.

Flintknapping

  Learn how the Old Ones turned stone into functional tools.  In this class we will make  arrowheads from obsidian flakes.  Discussion includes proper tools, techniques, safety and ethics.

Primitive Firemaking

  Learn how to make fire with friction using the bow-drill method.  You will learn how to make a fire set from native plants and then practice the techniques required to make fire from cold sticks. We will also demonstrate hand drill, fire saw and fire plow techniques.

Primitive Trapping and Hunting

  Learn how to provide meat in an emergency situation.  We will make an effective dead-fall trap trigger without modern tools.  We will also practice using a primitive “rabbit stick” for hunting that can be made from down and dead branches.

Shelter

  As a group we will construct a shelter to protect us from weather that can shorten or end our survival time in the wilderness.  We will also discuss portable survival shelters.

Slings and Stones

  Learn how to make and use a sling for hunting and for fun.  This is the weapon used by David, with the help of God, to defeat Goliath.  We will make ours from leather and practice on inanimate targets.  Philistines welcome.

Atlatl

  This is a tool that was used in this area to hunt mammoth and other large game.  The Atlatl adds to the effective range of a spear used for hunting.  We will make an Atlatl and a dart, then practice throwing techniques.

Survival with Nothing

  We start the day in the desert learning and practicing the skills necessary to make tools from stone, to provide food, to build a shelter and to make fire. We will conclude our day with “The Final Test” applying our combined knowledge to provide what we need to survive with no modern tools or gear.

Modern Survival Skills

  Learn what to carry in a compact kit to ensure your comfort and safety in the wilderness.  We will cover survival kits, loss-proofing, what to do to be found, attitude and awareness and how to put all the information you have stored in your head to survive well.