"I would like to take some time to discuss just how wildly different the experience at Jack Mountain is from a normal college semester. Every night, at home and on trips, the students sleep in shelters they have built with their own hands. Exams are not necessary because everything is practiced daily, at least to the point of competency and often beyond. Students study botany and zoology using the local flora and fauna as the object of their studies, and because of the daily contact with them the students are able to identify a specimen by its Latin name at a glance. Manual skills such as axe and knife-work are put to use just about every day of the course, even on the weekends. Traveling by canoe on a river the students are placed in a situation where they must choose either to learn the correct way to pole the canoe or to give up and sit down on the bank of the river. The "middle ground" of simply attending class and trying to absorb the information through osmosis is not an option at Jack Mountain, and this is what makes the school and its students stand out miles above a traditional college. Personally, I can say that I learned much more in ten weeks than I have in the past three years at college."  (read more)

- Russell Venditto, WBS Fall 2007

Fall Semester Overview

Unlike short courses run by other outfits, the WBS is not a show and tell type of program. Students receive intensive instruction, but then it's is used and lived until it becomes second nature.

To get a more detailed picture of the program and for a list of the many skills covered during the instructional time at the field school, you should check out the Jack Mountain Bushcraft Student Handbook.

Block 1: Weeks 1-5

During block 1, we introduce a variety of primitive and traditional wilderness living skills. Matches, nylon and other modern contrivances are used. Block 1 can be taken as an individual course.

Week 1 Breakdown
Monday-Thursday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Friday: Canoeing on the Lower Aroostook River.
Saturday: Individual Shelter #1.
Sunday: Off.

Specific Skills: Spoons, burned bowls, crooked knife, cordage, rope, friction and percussion firelighting

Week 1 Details. Week 1 begins with an immersion into bushcraft and wilderness living. As fire is at the top of the most important skills list, we start right away with it the first morning. Other skills covered the first week are shelter concepts and building shelter 1, making string and rope using both primitive methods and an antique ropemaker, pressing specimens of plants, introduction to traditional canoeing, knife safety and use, axe safety and use, making a bow drill set, carving pot hooks, assembling a pot suspension system, sauna safety, composting and humanure, reflector oven baking, sourdough cooking, and an introduction to our nature studies program titled "First Person Ecology", where you'll begin learning about wild plants (vascular plants including trees, shrubs, herbs, vines, ferns, etc.) and their uses as food, medicine, and crafts, mushrooms, the weather and how to predict it with no modern tools, mammals and their tracks, stars and the night sky, insects (with an emphasis on aquatic insects that can be imitated for fly fishing).

Week 2 Breakdown
Monday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Tuesday-Friday: Basecamp on a remote lake.
Saturday: Individual Shelter #2.
Sunday: Off.

Specific Skills: Saw frame, netting needle and net, fly casting, trip planning and outfitting, lake travel, remote camp setup

Week 2 Details. We start week 2 with an introduction to planning and packing for trips, preparing meals, and properly loading and securing gear. We'll work on on knots and ropework, as this is necessary to transport canoes. Tuesday morning we'll leave camp for four days base camping on a remote lake. We'll cover how to set up and maintain a clean and organized campsite, investigate the flora and fauna of the area by foot and paddle, and delve into the finer points of fishing. We'll cover how fish live, where they are in a lake and why, what the water can tell us about the fishing, how to weave a net, how to cast a fly and how to build a saw frame when you only carry the blade. We'll continue our studies of first person ecology, and by the end of the week many of the common plants will begin to look familiar.

Week 3 Breakdown
Monday-Wednesday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Thursday-Friday: Canoe poling trip on the upper Aroostook River.
Saturday: Individual Shelter #3.
Sunday: Off.

Specific Skills: Quickie bow, atlatl, map and compass navigation

Week 3 Details. During week 3 we start to bring together knowledge of tools and materials into more difficult crafts like quickie bows and atlatls. We continue our studies of the natural world, incorporating wild foods into our diet. For our weekly trip, we focus on poling canoes on the upper Aroostook River. At our remote camp we'll learn about navigating with a map and compass through the thick bush that is common in the north woods. Along the river we'll harvest clay for future pottery work. After floating back to the field school, we'll spend Saturday building individual shelter number 3, and spending Saturday night in it.

Week 4 Breakdown
Monday-Wednesday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Thursday-Saturday: Hiking in Baxter State Park
Sunday: Off

Specific Skills: Packframe, Begin Longbow

Week 4 Details. We'll spend the first three days of week 4 at the field school continuing our studies of bushcraft. From Thursday-Saturday, we'll explore the alpine country of Baxter State Park and Maine's highest peak, Mount Katahdin.

Week 5 Breakdown
Monday-Tuesday: Solo survival experience.
Wednesday-Sunday: Break, review

Week 5 Details. We begin week 5 with a 2-day, 2-night solo survival experience. For students who, for whatever reason, do not want to participate in this part of the course, they can opt-out and spend the time at the field school or take an extended break. Wednesday morning people return to the field school and break begins. During the break, students can visit friends or family, hike the northern AT, visit the coast, or stay around camp and practice the many skills they've learned during Block 1. There is no instruction during this time, as it is a much needed break for both students and instructors.

Block 2: Weeks 6-9

During block 2 we use no matches, lighters, nylon tents, propane stoves, or other modern gear. For four weeks we live using only traditional skills such as lighting fires by friction, cooking over an open fire and carrying our gear in packs we make ourselves. While it will be a challenge, there's no other way to gain the experience with, and mastery of traditional bushcraft skills that can compare with living it. Block 2 is not available as a standalone course.

Week 6 Breakdown
Monday-Tuesday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Wednesday: Poling trip on the Blackwater River and St. Croix Stream Thursday-Friday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Saturday: Individual Shelter #4.
Sunday: Off.

Specific Skills: Pack Basket, Moose Calling, Firearm Safety

Week 6 Details. Fishing season ends on Wednesday, and we'll spend the last day on the water coaxing late-season trout into taking our flies. We'll be poling up several small streams for the day, exploring and fishing.

Week 7 Breakdown
Monday-Wednesday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Thursday-Friday: Canoeing on the Lower Aroostook River.
Saturday: Group Shelter #1.
Sunday: Off.

Specific Skills: Braintanning Moose Hides

Week 7 Details. Week 7 is the week after moose hunting season. We'll be braintanning sections of moose hide and working with bones for use as tools. We'll build our first group shelter and outfit it with a wood stove, providing us a warm place to pull moose hides.

Week 8 Breakdown
Monday-Thursday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Friday: Canoeing on the Big Machias River.
Saturday: Group Shelter #2.
Sunday: Off.

Specific Skills: Longbow, arrows.

Week 8 Details. During week 8 we'll be finishing our longbows and making arrows to go with them. We'll be continuing with our intensive bushcraft studies, and taking a day trip to pole on the Big Machias River looking for arrow shaft material and searching for tracks.

Week 9 Breakdown
Monday-Friday: Bushcraft studies at the field school.
Saturday: Review.
Sunday: Off.

Specific Skills: Independant study, choice of projects.

Week 9 Details. During week 9 students choose a research topic of interest and run with it. Past topics have included making wild flours out of plants, improvised snowshoe design and construction, sewing snowshoe moccasins and mukluks, advanced carving projects, advanced navigation, and more.

Daily Schedule

Our days start early, with people getting up around dawn. In the morning there are sit spots to visit, breakfast to make, and camp chores to do. After these are completed, we gather as a group to discuss the day, then jump right into focused instruction. Lunch is in the middle of the day, and we wrap up with direct instruction by mid-afternoon. There is time in the afternoon for physical training, target practice, relaxation or further study. For an hour a day we immerse ourselves in the formal study of the natural world and maintaining logbooks. Food is a major area of interest during the course, and students learn and experiment with many primitive and traditional dishes and preparation methods. We have dinner early enough to get the dishes done before it gets dark, and the evening is left open to stargazing, reading, crafting around the fire or simply relaxing. It's a long day. It's a long course. It's a lot of experiential learning.

7 Elements Of Jack Mountain Bushcraft Programs

Skill - Journey - Craft - Nature - Culture - Sustainability - Self

Drawing on the philosophies of bushcraft we've developed over a decade of field courses, the traditions of Maine Guides that go back generations, the Cree concept of miyupimaatisiium (translated as "being alive well") and the Scandinavian idea of friluftsliv (translated as "open air life"), the following seven elements comprise the components of our semester and yearlong programs.

1. Skill - Learn by doing. Too much of modern education is theoretical, abstract and sedentary, where the head is engaged but the hands are not. We depart from that norm with a tangible, hands-on approach that emphasizes being an active participant in the natural world and in life. Our 21-point curriculum focuses on the skills you need for a life outdoors. Rounded out with electives such as hunting, fishing and trapping, it gives complete instruction for the professional outdoors person.

2. Journey - Travel through the north woods, experiencing directly what you're learning. Travel with, and learn alongside experienced professional guides. Other schools focus on wilderness skills. We live in the bush for extended lengths of time where the focus isn't just skills, but living the life. Become a professional outdoor leader while learning lessons that cannot be experienced anywhere except by traveling in the bush and living them.

3. Craft - Build useful items from materials gathered on the landscape. Man needs tools to live. Making these necessary items from materials gathered from the landscape bonds you to the land and makes you self-sufficient.

4. Nature - Immerse yourself in the natural rhythms and learn the language of the world around you. Study the weather, edible/medicinal plants, fungi, mammals and their tracks, birds, fish, mollusks, insects, amphibians, reptiles, rocks, minerals, soil, water, ice, celestial bodies and ecology.

5. Culture - Experience the culture of the north woods of Maine and the traditions and history of the people who live there. Bushcraft and wilderness skills do not exist independent of culture and they're not simply how-to. They're part of a culture that includes a strong sense of community and a connection to the land. Experience that culture by living it.

6. Sustainability - Organic farming, homesteading, composting, and wise use of materials. Learn the techniques of living a simple life with minimal inputs. Grow food, care for soil and the land, compost everything, and leave the landscape healthier for having been there for those who will come after. It moves us away from the selfish idea of the individual at the center of the universe and puts us into a community of earth, air, water, and life.

7. Self - You learn a lot about yourself when the distractions of the modern world are removed. One of the benefits of a life outdoors is that it is not a life in front of the television. You're actively doing things, not just watching others do them, and the result is that you become confident and capable, while at the same time getting to know yourself on a much deeper level.

The 21 Point Jack Mountain Curriculum

Our educational program has been developed over ten years and 14 semester courses. It's designed as a cumulative sequence of learning experiences where the resulting outcome is greater than the sum of the parts. This is a much different approach than assembling a collection of random skills and activities and calling it a course. Our goal isn't just that a student is able to "do" a skill. Instead it's to develop their knowledge, attitude and physical skills into a cohesive whole.

Our warm-weather curriculum includes:

1. Wilderness Survival - Basic, intermediate and advanced survival.
2. Fire - Fire making with and without modern tools.
3. Shelter Construction - Building for survival, short-term and long-term stays.
4. Water - Acquisition And Purification.
5. Navigation - Barehand (using no modern tools), map and compass.
6. Canoeing - Paddling, poling, lining, portaging, and using traditional gear such as tumplines and wannigans.
7. Ropework And Knots - Making cord and rope and tying useful knots.
8. Clothing Science - Choosing and maintaining your clothing for the bush.
9. Outdoor Cooking - Stone ovens, pot suspension systems, primitive grilling, sourdough baking, reflector ovens, dutch ovens, etc.
10. Provisioning And Meal Planning For Trips - Choosing appropriate foods, determining amounts, packing, etc.
11. Outdoor Leadership - Becoming a professional outdoor leader, managing groups in the woods and on the water.
12. The Knife - Selection, safety, powerful and efficient use.
13. The Axe - Selection, safety, powerful and efficient use.
14. The Saw - Selection, safety, powerful and efficient use.
15. Trip Equipment - Use and maintenance of nylon and canvas tents, stoves, lanterns, tarps, canoes, paddles, etc.
16. Group Encampment - Safety, cleanliness, organization.
17. Sustainability - Composting, waste management, sanitation.
18. First Aid - Dealing with common injuries. Note: This is not a first aid course.
19. Lost Person - Finding a lost person in the bush.
20. First-Person Ecology - Studies of the natural world including weather (observational forecasting), plants (edible, medicinal, utilitarian and magical uses), mammals and their tracks, birds, fish, fungi, insects (with an emphasis on aquatic insects) and stars and the night sky.
21. Crafts - Building useful pieces of gear including a bow drill, a saw frame, a netting needle and net, a canoe paddle, campfire cooking rigs, burned spoons and bowls, animal calls, sleeping mats, pack frames and baskets.

Electives - In addition to our general curriculum, there are other aspects of the bush life that participants can explore if they're interested. These include primitive living (going without modern gear), primitive fishing, fly casting and fishing, and firearm safety and marksmanship. There are open hunting and fishing seasons during the program. If you want to hunt or fish, you'll need to get a Maine hunting and/or fishing license. They can be ordered online at Maine Department Of Inland Fisheries And Wildlife. If you've never held a hunting or bowhunting license, you'll need to take a hunter's safety course in order to get one. This is best done before you arrive so check with your state or province to learn more. We're very particular about not breaking any fish and game laws on our courses, so you'll need a license even if you just want to put a hook in the water one time.

Sustainability - There are also daily lessons on living a simple, sustainable, rural life. Building and using outdoor showers, composting toilets, solar and fireless cookers, food preservation and storage, organic gardening, and much more.

For more detail on these topics, see the Jack Mountain Bushcraft Student Handbook.

Intended Learning Outcomes

        Upon successful completion of the WBS, students will:

1.  Demonstrate skill proficiency and extensive experience in a wide variety of bushcraft and primitive skills, including fire, shelter, outdoor cooking, tracking, observational weather forecasting, bowmaking and archery, carving, basketry, primitive pottery, cordage and natural bindings, navigation, and the use of the axe, saw, and knife.
2.  Demonstrate knowledge and skill in traditional canoe skills, including paddling, poling, safely running whitewater, portaging, and other related skills.
3.  Make a variety of pieces of traditional gear, including a long bow and pack basket.
4.  Have a working knowledge of basic, intermediate, and advanced wilderness survival.
5.  Assemble and maintain a tool kit with which they can make a variety of different crafts.
6.  Navigate by map and compass, and also by using barehand methods.
7.  Build a strong foundation of nature knowledge about the weather, birds, mammals and their tracks, fish, insects, the stars and constellations, and plants.
8.  Have a working knowledge of 100 edible, medicinal, and otherwise useful wild plants.
9.  Document daily progress with individual skills in their logbook.

Evaluation and Certification

There are no certifications in bushcraft, wilderness survival or primitive skills that are accepted universally. If any school offers a certification, it's likely a result of their marketing department and probably isn't transferable. None are recognized here. I've crossed paths with numerous people who were "certified" in one thing or another, but in the real world were incompetent, incapable of completing some of the most basic tasks. Thus certified doesn't necessarily mean qualified or competent. Neither does how many courses you've attended, regardless of the school or instructor. What you've accomplished and the experience you've accumulated does. We don't want to certify people. Instead, we seek provide training and field experience and let what they accomplish speak for itself. The way we do that is through our logbook and portfolio assessment system. It records what a student has accomplished instead of placing them in competition with their peers. Students keep a daily logbook during the program to record what they've done. These, along with crafts they've made, projects they've worked on, photographs they've taken, and everything else they've done during the program, are assembled into individual student portfolios.

The portfolio is a factual record what you've done. This way, if someone were to ask if you knew how to start a hand drill fire, instead of saying you took a course on how to do it you could volunteer your logbook and state that you've done it "X" number of times. In this era of people being over-certified and under-qualified, this type of assessment system offers a route back to reality.

For more details visit our Student Assessment page.

Our Educational Philosophy

Knowledge is power, but knowledge is constructed, not received. It is built incrementally, over time. If teaching were simply telling, then anyone who excelled in a field would be an effective teacher of it. But this transmission model of teaching isn't effective for most learners. Standing in front of someone and telling them what they need to know isn't facilitating learning. Especially when you consider the differences between visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles. We subscribe to the learning model of teaching, where the role of the teacher is to create situations where learning takes place. Students build upon their knowledge daily, and by the end of the experience they've accumulated a storehouse of information and experiences. But the instructor must also make it relevant. It's easy to scoff at friction fire since matches and lighters are so readily available. But remove them from the equation and it's instantly relevant, and the desire to learn the subtleties of the hand drill takes on renewed importance. Our students are actively learning, immersing themselves in the curriculum by necessity. An example of this is how we teach shelter building. You can learn something about a shelter by making one. You can learn more about it by sleeping in it. But to truly know that specific shelter, you need to spend four consecutive nights in it. In this way you're forced to deal with the consequences of shoddy construction or not paying attention to details. Maybe the first night is rough, but it teaches you what you need to do before the second night in order to shore it up and get some sleep. The second night is spent learning some of the subtleties that would make it more comfortable. The third night is fine-tuning it to your specifications, and the fourth night is enjoying the fruits of your labor. If you were to build the same shelter again, you could eliminate the learning curve because you'd know what to do from the outset. That's experiential education.

"Experiential education is the process of actively engaging students in an authentic experience that will have benefits and consequences. Students make discoveries and experiment with knowledge themselves instead of hearing or reading about the experiences of others. Students also reflect on their experiences, thus developing new skills, new attitudes, and new theories or ways of thinking."  (Kraft & Sakofs, 1988)

In addition to passing on traditional skills, we focus on using them to foster critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, curiosity, and a concern with ethical issues.

Summed up in a single word, our educational philosophy is this:  CAN.

Read more about our educational philosophy.

College Credit

College credit is available. For details visit the credit information page.

Hunting, Fishing And Trapping

While there opportunities for hunting and fishing during the fall term, there are no open trapping seasons. If there is sufficient class interest, we will spend some time focusing on modern trapping in the field. We have a regular unit on primitive traps and trapping, but we won't be catching any animals with them because it is illegal.

Fishing The open water fishing season ends on 9/30.

Hunting There are several open hunting seasons that take place during the fall term, including the open season for bowhunting and firearms seasons for bear, moose, grouse and hare.

Gear We have flyrods available for student use, but if you have one you should bring it. We don't lend bows or firearms except in completely controlled, target situations. What this means to you is that you can learn to shoot here, but you won't be hunting with our equipment.

Licenses No one will actively fish or hunt on our courses without the proper licenses and permits. Many opt to hunt with their cameras, for which no license is needed. For more information on hunting and fishing licenses, permits, seasons and laws, go to the Maine Department Of Inland Fisheries And Wildlife.

Housing, Meals, and Background Information

Information on housing and meals, as well as other background information, is located on the Field School Programs Background Information page.

Videos Of Past Semesters

Jack Mountain Bushcraft Journal episodes 8-16 were shot as a video diary of the fall, 2007 semester course. They can be viewed on our Youtube, Blip.tv and Facebook pages, as well as on our video page.

Photos, Logbooks And Final Papers

• Photo albums of past semesters
• Student testimonials
• Student papers, logbooks and field journals

Also don't hesitate to contact us anytime with questions. The fall semester is a component of our Yearlong Wilderness Bushcraft Immersion Program.

"The benefits of this new awareness are real - I felt them that morning to their fullest when I awoke warm and refreshed, happy as I could ever be."

                                                                - Peter Frost, ESSP Winter 2004. From his journal after spending a winter night without a sleeping bag in a shelter he built and telling time by the moon to gauge how much firewood to use.

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