Survival & Bushcraft Skills For The Northern Forest

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The Autumn Woodsman course is part of our Woodsman course series that focuses on the skills and resources appropriate to the late fall season in northern Maine, characterized by cool days and cold nights. It’s designed to teach you the most important and practical skills of bushcraft and survival in the northern forest specific to the season. While the flora and fauna covered are specific to these regions, the skills and techniques are transferable to other regions and habitats.

The information covered in the Woodsman course is important for anyone who hikes, camps, paddles, or spends any time in the backcountry of the northern hardwood or boreal forests. Topics covered include:

• Wilderness Survival 101
• Introduction To Bushcraft
• Hot Tenting 101: Introduction to living in canvas tents outfitted with wood stoves.
• Fire Making: The Five Stages With An Emphasis On 1-Match Fires
• Primitive Fire: Fire By Friction And Percussion
• Bushcraft Tools: Axe, Knife, Saw And How To Care For And Maintain Them
• Basic Axemanship: The 4 Major Processes (Felling, Limbing, Sectioning And Splitting)
• Safe Knife Use And Carving
• Sawing Technique And Building Bucksaws
• Shelter Theory, Design, And Construction
• Navigation With Map And Compass
• Open Fire Cooking: Hanging A Pot, Baking In A Reflector, Using A Dutch Oven
• Cordage, Rope Making And Essential Knots
• Group Sanitation And Composting Toilets
• Purifying Water
• Principles Of A Simple Solar Power System
• Introduction To Field Ecology: Edible And Medicinal Plants, Mammal Tracking, The Night Sky, Weather Forecasting, etc.
• Optional final exercise of spending the night in a shelter you construct.

As this is a hands-on course, there are various crafts that participants have the option of making. These are useful kit items such as a bucksaw, not arts and crafts items like a beaded necklace.

The course runs from Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning. Maximum group size is 10.

Course Prep Info     Register Now

Travel Information and Directions:   Travel information is located here. After you register you will receive local driving directions to our site.

Arrival and Departure:   Plan to arrive on sunday afternoon, between 4 and 6. We’ll have dinner, a group introduction and a tour of the grounds starting at 6. The course is over on Saturday at 8 AM.

Accommodations:   Bring a tent, tarp, or other shelter. It will be your home for the week. For summer programs please consider bringing a bug net if you don’t have noseeum netting on your tent. There are also cabins available through Blackwater Outfitters, located five minutes away. They can be reached at: 207-540-4101.

Meals:   For information on food and meals, visit our Food and meals page.

Cancellation and Refund Policies:   Please visit our School Policies page for information on all of our policies.

What is included with the tuition:   Included in the tuition are all camping fees, instruction and group gear.

What is not included with the tuition:   Not included with the tuition are personal gear, items from town and any foods other than those specified on the Food and meals page.

Course Insurance:   Adventure travel and wilderness education are not inexpensive, and anything can happen when we’re in the bush. We recommend that all participants have medical insurance. We also recommend you protect your investment with travel insurance for trips and tuition insurance for courses.

Tobacco:   Smoking is not permitted in or near any buildings. All cigarette butts are to be placed into the metal can provided.

Vehicles and Parking:  We’re located .6 miles down a gravel road. During the winter and spring the road can be impassable for 2-wheel drive vehicles, and sometimes for any vehicles other than snow machines.

Telephone: We don’t have a phone or electricity. If you need to be in constant phone contact please consider bringing a cell phone, and if you need to charge a phone (or other electronic device), please look into getting a charger or bringing extra batteries.

Other: Please don’t bring any pets, alcohol or illegal drugs.

Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

We reserve the right to include or omit any of the course topics listed due to class interest, availability of materials, inclement weather, or other factor that makes them impractical or unsafe.