Duration: Meets one weekend per month for 10 months.
Dates: Begins August 27-28, 2016. View current course dates (2015-2016) here
Cost: $2000 with a deposit of $250
Instructor: Jamie Weaver
The Hunter/Gatherer Immersion Course is a 9 month course that meets one weekend a month. This course focuses on learning how to subsist on a hunter-gatherer diet.
This includes learning how to harvest and process high calorie wild foods, use primitive trapping, fishing and hunting techniques, process wild game, and make it all taste good.
We will be loosely following the Traditional Seasonal Rounds of the Pacific Northwest; harvesting roots, seeds, berries, mushrooms, and fish in the fall, then focusing on hunting and trapping techniques through the winter, followed by shellfish and seaweeds in the spring as well as fresh shoots, greens and edible flowers.
A Final Trip will consist of living off of all wild food for 5 days. We will bring much of what we harvested and processed over the course of the year as well as continue to harvest, set traps and hunt throughout the week.
The Gathering portion of this course focuses on obtaining enough calories and nutrients from plant food for subsistence. There is a strong focus on starches, such as cattail, acorns, and burdock, as well as important nutrient-dense foods like nettle, dandelion, and amaranth.
Activities will include:
- · Identifying & harvesting wild edibles
- processing roots and nuts for flour
- · harvesting & winnowing wild grain
- · dehydrating fruit leather
- · tapping bigleaf maples for syrup
- · dehydrating sea salt
- · harvesting seaweed
The Hunting portion of this course is intended to help students get started in their journey of becoming a hunter, while learning the tools & techniques of a traditional hunter-gatherer culture. We will largely be focusing on making bows (from cutting down the tree all the way through the shaping and finishing process) and learning how to shoot them. Small game hunting will make up a small portion of this class, for that purpose students are required to complete their hunters safety course and get a small game license (details below).
Activities will include:
- · carving hunting bows
- · making primitive fishing gear
- · hunting small game
- · processing game
- · drying meat
- · rendering fat
- · setting traps and snares
- · harvesting clams
Required for Course: If you have any questions about these requirements, please contact us.
- WA Fish/Shellfish and Seaweed License - $54.25 Resident, $123.55 Non-Resident
- WA Small Game License* - $40.50 Resident, $183.50 Non-Resident
*A Hunters Safety Certification is Necessary to get your Small Game License. This process will be covered in class, however, it would be beneficial to get a head start.
- Involves an Online Course and Exam - $19.50 (takes a couple days to get through) http://www.hunter-ed.com/washington/
- And a Field Skills Evaluation - free (short half-day course, but the classes fill up fast, so sign up early)
WA will also accept Hunters Safety Certifications from any other state.