COURSE DESCRIPTION
Long term sustainable wilderness living requires a multifaceted knowledge base. The Bushman Course uses a culmination of skill sets from survival and bushcraft to create permanency in a wilderness environment. Going beyond the short and extended living periods, the Bushman Course explores true wilderness long term sustainability - achieved through securing food from the land, wilderness construction of tools and furniture, and understanding how to troubleshoot forthcoming issues. Following the traditions of the long hunters and pioneers of the past, the Bushman Course will develop the skills needed to live a self-sustaining lifestyle.
FIELD AND CLASSWORK
- Modern Trapping Techniques and Tactics
- Fur Handling
- Hunting Techniques
- Large Timber Work
- Woodland Furniture Building
- Managing Large Camps
- Basic Blacksmithing
- Camp Cooking
- Large Game Processing
REQUIRED KIT
- Fixed Blade Knife
- Forest Axe
- 24” Bow Saw
- Queen Size Wool Blanket or Sleeping Bag
- Oilcloth or Silnylon Tarp
- 100’ Paracord
- 1lb Roll of #36 Bankline
- Scotch Eye Auger Bit
- Flint and Steel Firestarting Kit
- 2 - #11 Double Long Spring Traps
- 2 - Pennsylvania Legal Cable Restraints
- 3 in 1 Trapping Tool
- Dirt Shifter
- Trapping Pan Covers
- 4 - Metal Trap Stakes
- Pennsylvania Furtaker License
- Notepad and Pencil/Pen
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- LEVEL OF PHYSICALITY: 7 out of 10
Students will walk approximately 1 mile each morning and will do physical work throughout the day. Splitting wood, hammering, chopping with an axe.
- Students will be required to obtain a Pennsylvania Fur Takers License for the course.
- Class Location: Ringtown, Pennsylvania
- Class Start Time: 9:00 am
- Students will stay on school grounds during the course and sleep in tarp shelters.
- Students are welcome to bring traditional tents such as wall tents, hot tents, tipis for this course.
- PortaJohn Bathrooms are available on-site
- Students will have access to their vehicles during class.
- Students will make group meals each evening of the course. All other meals are the responsibility of the student.
- To truly get the most out of this experience we advise you pack all of your gear into camp on Day 1 and live as if you were on the frontier.
Age Requirements
Minimum age of 18. No exceptions.
PREREQUISITES
Bushman Class
5 Days / 4 Nights