It took me a long time to get round to writing this review, but now that I’m booked on for another course with Frontier Bushcraft (Expedition Canoeing Skills) , I feel that this is somewhat overdue...
The Forest Hunter Course with Frontier Bushcraft was a fantastic experience and something I had been considering for some time, but finally managed to take the plunge and sign up for.
This course is run by Paul Kirtley (Frontier Bushcraft) and Andy Chadderton (Moray Outfitters) from an expedition style camp in a large forest near Dallas, Inverness.
The look of the Forest as well as the complete silence at all times of day meant that you really could have been somewhere in the wilds of Canada or in the Boreal Forest, which really added to the overall fun of it all.
The Forest Hunter Course is designed to provide a well rounded introduction to the stalking and hunting of deer as well as the related fields of species identification, conservation, and the safe and hygienic handling of meats intended for human consumption.
It was described by Andy Chadderton as a syllabus built around the Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1 qualification (DSC1), an assessment (rather than course) which is required for those who wish to take part in culls/hunts and wish to sell meat into the food-chain (this certificate is also an add-on at the end of the Forest Hunter Course).
The syllabus was very broad and I wonder even now how soo much information was covered and in such depth. Subjects included: selecting and using binoculars (more complex than you think), tracking, stalking, firearm safety, Marksmanship training as well as skinning and butchery skills, however these are really only a few of the areas covered.
Following each theoretical and practical session, we were given multiple opportunities to put our new skills into practice, whether as stand alone excercises (tracking Paul Kirtley through the bush) or as part of large scale simulated stalks where all of the skills must be put into use.
While I was reasonably skeptical re. being able to track after only a few days training, Paul arranged a few exercises that not only showed that it could be done, but that we had each developed the skills to do so to one degree or another. Some days into the course, a small group of students were sent off into the woods with an instructor (essentially to run off and hide) then it was left to the other students (one being the hunt master, the others spotters, flankers etc.) to track and find them. amazingly (to me at least) this absolutely worked, with each of knowing what to look for and being able to contribute to the overall stalk.
The course was reasonably intense in terms of the amount of knowledge and experience on offer but at the same time was run at a pretty easy going pace with ample time for the instructors to provide related and ancillary knowledge and respond to student questions, especially while sitting around the fire of an evening.
The course was fully catered, with three meals a day provided by Paul Kirtley and the rest of his team. These meals lived up to the stories I have heard, and I don’t think anyone risked going hungry at any point during the course.
The Forest Hunter Course with Frontier Bushcraft was a fantastic experience and something I had been considering for some time, but finally managed to take the plunge and sign up for.
This course is run by Paul Kirtley (Frontier Bushcraft) and Andy Chadderton (Moray Outfitters) from an expedition style camp in a large forest near Dallas, Inverness.
The look of the Forest as well as the complete silence at all times of day meant that you really could have been somewhere in the wilds of Canada or in the Boreal Forest, which really added to the overall fun of it all.
The Forest Hunter Course is designed to provide a well rounded introduction to the stalking and hunting of deer as well as the related fields of species identification, conservation, and the safe and hygienic handling of meats intended for human consumption.
It was described by Andy Chadderton as a syllabus built around the Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1 qualification (DSC1), an assessment (rather than course) which is required for those who wish to take part in culls/hunts and wish to sell meat into the food-chain (this certificate is also an add-on at the end of the Forest Hunter Course).
The syllabus was very broad and I wonder even now how soo much information was covered and in such depth. Subjects included: selecting and using binoculars (more complex than you think), tracking, stalking, firearm safety, Marksmanship training as well as skinning and butchery skills, however these are really only a few of the areas covered.
Following each theoretical and practical session, we were given multiple opportunities to put our new skills into practice, whether as stand alone excercises (tracking Paul Kirtley through the bush) or as part of large scale simulated stalks where all of the skills must be put into use.
While I was reasonably skeptical re. being able to track after only a few days training, Paul arranged a few exercises that not only showed that it could be done, but that we had each developed the skills to do so to one degree or another. Some days into the course, a small group of students were sent off into the woods with an instructor (essentially to run off and hide) then it was left to the other students (one being the hunt master, the others spotters, flankers etc.) to track and find them. amazingly (to me at least) this absolutely worked, with each of knowing what to look for and being able to contribute to the overall stalk.
The course was reasonably intense in terms of the amount of knowledge and experience on offer but at the same time was run at a pretty easy going pace with ample time for the instructors to provide related and ancillary knowledge and respond to student questions, especially while sitting around the fire of an evening.
The course was fully catered, with three meals a day provided by Paul Kirtley and the rest of his team. These meals lived up to the stories I have heard, and I don’t think anyone risked going hungry at any point during the course.
