Apprenticeships in Bushcraft and Primitive Skills

Apprenticeship Program Outline
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During the Apprenticeship Program, students will have an opportunity to learn about the skills and ecology associated with desert, mountain, and canyon environments. Emphasizing a holistic approach to the outdoors, we divide our time between the following areas of study.

Bushcraft and Survival Skills
Primitive and modern firemaking, shelter construction, water location for arid regions, primitive cooking methods, basketry, bowmaking, flintknapping, mountain and cold-weather survival, specialized desert skills, trapping and food procurement, traditional fishing methods, braintanning buckskins, and ultralight travel methods.

Native American Studies and Southwest Archeology
Native cultures of Northern Arizona, fieldtrips to the Hopi Mesas and tribal lands, ethnobotany and traditional plant uses, fieldtrips to rock-art and prehistoric sites, making primitive pottery, weaving cordage and nets.

Outdoor Skills and Environmental Studies
Navigation with and without a compass, knots and ropecraft, use of the ax and saw, backcountry sanitation, geology, Southwest natural history and Grand Canyon studies, physiology of humans in the heat and cold, environmental ethics.

Mammal Tracking and Wildlife Studies
Fundamental mammal tracking skills, cougar tracks and signs, field measurements and data collection methods, gait interpretation and reading the stories in tracks, plaster casting, skull and scat analysis, stalking skills, mammals of the Southwest.

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