Primitive Skills Training

[kman]

Last week I went up to Maine and did the Moose River canoe trip. I ran into a bunch of people from a primitive skills school out of Augusta Maine and I looked them up when I got home. It actually sounds pretty interesting to do. Has anyone taken any classes like this before? I guess there is a difference between a "survivalist" and a "prepper".

 

[MisterHappy]

Never heard of them, but that's cool.

As for primitive skills, when I teach Hunter Ed, we go over what to have in your survival kit. I tell the class that the last time I went out, my kit was a partial bottle of Poland Springs, and a cell phone, as I was 20 yards off my Club's Skeet field.

The serious part was to tell them to make up the kit, based on the class info, and where they'll be, and then practice with that. To hell with "friction fire," if you have a lighter....but try and get a fire going, in your back yard, with only the at-hand materials, when it's raining: you don't NEED to light a fire on a nice, warm day. The number of light bulbs that go on when I say that, is huge.

We also tell them not to trust the iphone compass app, but to get a real compass (or, better, two) as batteries die....

 

[Coyote33]

I had to look up "primitive skills" classes. Here.

EXTREME LIVING: Turning Caveman in America

Primitive skills - So Easy a Caveman Can Do It

Doug Hill Is Defending the (Modern) Caveman With Primitive Skills Classes

 

[HorizontalHunter]

IIRC there are a couple of members that do wild edible walks. MouseGunGuy recently had a edible plant walk in East Longmeadow which I would liked to have attended. I hope that he has another one in the near future.


Bob

 

[stixnstones]

I have heard of them but haven't attended their classes. They have a good reputation.

I've done primitive fire, flint knapping, some shelter building, cordage making, learned some primitive trapping methods and harvested and eaten some edible plants.

Ditto on @mousegunguy's plant walks. I never seem to have the day free.

 

[Arto]

try the Hunter Ed Map & Compass course: Hunter Education course descriptions
also the BSA Wilderness Survival Merit Badge booklet

 

[kman]

I have heard of them but haven't attended their classes. They have a good reputation.

I've done primitive fire, flint knapping, some shelter building, cordage making, learned some primitive trapping methods and harvested and eaten some edible plants.

Ditto on @mousegunguy's plant walks. I never seem to have the day free.

So while we were looking for firewood, my friends said he found some flint. One of primitive skills guys was saying Mt Kineo there on Moosehead Lake used to be a volcano and when it exploded, it deposited flint all over the southern shore. Really interesting stuff! Check out the section about history and rhyolite
Mount Kineo - Wikipedia

 

[stixnstones]

So while we were looking for firewood, my friends said he found some flint. One of primitive skills guys was saying Mt Kineo there on Moosehead Lake used to be a volcano and when it exploded, it deposited flint all over the southern shore. Really interesting stuff! Check out the section about history and rhyolite
Mount Kineo - Wikipedia

Pretty cool. I sourced my "flint" from NY state. It's actually chert but it works.

Another plug for the MA state Map & Compass course. When I took it there was a survival component. Well worth the time and free to boot.

 

[VTHunter]

There is a similar operation in VT. Although I wanted to, I never took one of their sessions due to time constraints.
ROOTS School

 

[mousegunguy]

Ditto on @mousegunguy's plant walks. I never seem to have the day free.[/QUOTE]

My next public edible plant walk is scheduled for August 19th in brookfield but I’m always happy to run a private or group class if there’s interest.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

Another plug for the MA state Map & Compass course. When I took it there was a survival component. Well worth the time and free to boot.

Absolutely. Jam packed with useful info when I took it years ago.

Bob