Specialists in outdoor wilderness survival courses
A seven day culmination of your knowledge and skills, this is where all that training and practice are truly tested. The most important lessons in life are definitely learned the hard way and this course is designed to be tough. For starters, you must already be capable of providing all of your basic needs - shelter, fire, water and food with relative ease and virtually no equipment making maximum use of the natural resources surrounding you. A pretty tough challenge by itself however, far from just hunkering down in your woodland shelter until the end of the course, you will be expected to use what you have at your disposal (plenty of natural resources, accumulated knowledge and a big slice of initiative) to improve your situation and level of comfort once the basics have been taken care of. Thus providing the perfect opportunity to test theories, have questions answered and see what you are really capable of in a realistic 'living from the land' scenario.
Day one will serve as a 'warm up' for the week ahead. Briefings will be given, boundaries explained and local foraging opportunities explored. You will also have time allocated to make flint tools to assist you over the following days. From first light the next morning, your challenge will begin. Over the next six days you should expect to experience hunger, tiredness, thirst, excitement, cold, heightened awareness, total focus and concentration, increased adaptability and renewed self confidence in your abilities. Your progress will be monitored and observed throughout and although ultimately only you will truly be able to gauge your performance, feedback will be given where required. Whilst this course is designed as a test of your skills, instructors will always be on hand to offer support, suggest strategies and spring a few surprises...
For your seven day trip into the wilderness you will be given only...
You may also bring...
This course is the perfect excuse to trial homemade clothing and gear. These items will be welcome on the Hunter Gatherer as long as they do not provide an unfair advantage and have been manufactured using traditional techniques and methods. For example, a handmade buckskin tinder pouch sewn with sinew and a bone needle would be perfectly acceptable but a big shaggy sheepskin sleeping bag knocked up on an industrial sewing machine wouldn't. The suitability of all handmade kit used on the course will be at the course instructors discretion.
Pre-requisites: Can I attend the course?
There's no disguising the fact that the Hunter Gatherer course will provide an extreme challenge as well as a valuable and unforgettable experience suitable for only the most committed bushcraft and wilderness living enthusiast. A high level of competence, knowledge, experience and equal measures of grit and determination are required to take part. Wilderness Awakening courses part 1 and part 2 (Advanced Crafts) provide all the necessary basic training needed however practice makes perfect and previous course attendees should endeavour to undertake their own continuation training. We also realise that there are other bushcraft and survival training providers out there, as well as many self taught enthusiasts resulting in plenty of different ways of arriving at the same point. With so many variables and unknowns we feel that a basic standard must be set for this course (no Hunter Gatherer participant should be expected to have to 'carry passengers') therefore all candidates will be required to take part in a selection day to assess individual skill levels and competency prior to attending. This will be a pass or fail process with feedback given on the results so that individuals can work on any weak areas. The selection days will cost £35 per person - successful candidates will have this amount deducted from the cost of the Hunter Gatherer course upon booking.
Several selection days will be conducted throughout the year (please contact us for more information regarding dates).
You will be expected to..
If you like the sound of this exciting and unique course but are unsure about any part of the selection criteria or required level of previous experience please feel free to contact Joe for a chat at ku.oc.lavivrus-ssenredliw@eoj ">joe@wilderness-survival.co.uk or 0771 8078619
