What's the class about?

In any kind of wilderness survival situation your first step should be to prioritize your needs. We'll cover four of the top priorities you will need in most survival scenarios.

This class is two days and will be very hands-on. Students will make multiple fires during the FireBug portion of class using a wide variety of natural and man-made items. For the HunterGather section we'll be doing a lot of knife work while we carve primitive traps and hunting implements. The OutdoorArchitect segment will teach some basic fundamentals of shelter making along with giving you plenty of experience building a multitude of outdoor living options.

We're now including our Navigator class as part of the CoreFour! You'll learn some basic navigation skills in the Navigator portion.

Everything you need for the class will be provided (except meals & camping gear). In fact, you will even be taking a few things home with you! If you have a fixed blade knife you would like to use during class, feel free to bring it. We will be using the knife for a lot of tasks throughout the day. If your knife is not a decent quality, there is a chance it won't make it through the class. If you have any questions about bringing your knife to class, email us.

Class Details

The fire part of the CoreFour class is FireBug. In it we'll focus on the principles of fire- what it needs to get started and what it needs to keep going. We'll discuss the triangle of fire and different stages of the fire, from ember to inferno.

From there, we'll jump into natural materials and fire lays. Students will have the opportunity to build numerous fires using a variety of natural materials and utilizing the various firelays.

After we see what nature provides us, we'll move on to see what inventions for fire starting necessity has bred from mankind. We'll talk about and use man-made fire starters and ignition devices. We'll also discuss what's worth carrying, and what you should leave on the store shelf.

The food and water portion of the CoreFour class is HunterGather. The bulk of this section will consist of learning about and making primitive traps and hunting tools. Depending on the time of year, we will also cover some local wild edibles and give you an opportunity to try some of nature's bounty. You'll also work on some primitive hunting implements that are yours to take home after class!

Being able to obtain water in a survival or even any outdoor situation is vital to your survival. We'll discuss some ways to collect water and then how to make sure it is safe to drink.

OutdoorArchitect is the shelter portion of CoreFour. We'll start off talking about some of the basics for sleeping outdoors, no matter type of shelter you're using. After that we'll get into tarp shelters and how to effectively use them instead of a tent. Before we get started building our own shelters, we'll learn a few knots that will come in handy. We'll talk about a few tarp shelter configurations and how to get a complete shelter from just a tarp and some cordage. What happens if you don't have any cordage with you? Never fear, we'll also be covering how to make cordage! Next comes the heart of the shelter module, natural shelter building. We'll break into groups and your group will get the opportunity to build your own shelter from things found in the woods.

The Navigator part of class covers basic navigation. In this part of the class we'll go over the parts of your compass, basic map reading, finding your way using a compass and some helpful tips and tricks for finding your way out of the woods. This is NOT an in-depth navigation course. This is only a beginner level class, that will hopefully help you find your way back if lost in the woods.

Take a minute to look over our liability waiver. You will need to sign one to attend any trainings or events.

To find out when we are offering the class, check out the schedule page.

If you're ready to sign up for a class, visit our online store to register.