Returning in 2023
This is a celebratory week spent making artistic and useful tools necessary for traditional living. Make obsidian flaked arrowheads by flintknapping, the world’s oldest exotic craft, and make a bow from all natural materials. It’s a real trick to get proficient at these two crafts, since tillering and knapping allow for no mistakes. Fortunately, you can try over and over. You will have the choice to harvest a small tree to make a fish spear, select shrubs to make an arrow, and/or gather feathers and fletch a dart for your at-latl – the world’s most widespread technological invention for efficient hunting which allowed humans to thrive over six continents. You will be able to test your skills at primitive fishing, including handfishing, basket weiring, or hook and line. Other choices for the week include making aerodynamic rabbit sticks and practicing accuracy in your throw; making a quiver for carrying tools; crafting parflech, turning raw hide into tanned leather; and making no-kill practice traps. Plus, we’ll practice the at-latl.
Traditional Technologies – Classical Crafts of the Ancient Artisan prepares participants for future hunting endeavors. We will focus on teaching participants to honor all life and utilize all parts of the body. We will spend time tanning animal hides for leather; making glue from hide scrapings; making awls from bones and antlers; and making jerky from meat. In recent years, this camp has grown to rival the most popular camps in our history due to the expertise of our instructors.
Availability:
Ages 18 and up may participate if accepted into our apprenticeship program.
Ages 9-17: Space is available with no prerequisite.
Ages 6-11 may participate in the day camps running simultaneously.
Course Goals & Skills Covered:
The goal of this session is to help you make the items you will need during a stone age living situation, and this course is a good way to see how to take it from the “emergency survival” level you can experience in the Wilderness Survival Training to the “traditional outdoor living” and eventual “stone age living” levels.
Skills covered during this camp session may include, depending on instructor preference and participant interest:
- Bows & Arrows
- Flintknapping Arrowheads
- Natural Knives & Adzes
- Live Traps & Fish Spears
- Rabbitsticks and At-Latls
- Parfletching & Tanning Hides
- Flute & Drum Making
- Soapstone & Wood Carving
- Rock Painting
- Cedar Cloth-Baskets-Boxes
- Birch Bark Basketry
- Building Willow Wig-Wams
- Thatching Grass Lodges
Course Itinerary:
Activities covered during this session include, but are not limited to the following list, and are somewhat dependent on weather, instructor discretion, participant interest, and serendipity:
SUNDAY: Elements of Creation and the Social Self
Story: Following Receding Glacier Rivers North & Needing Clothes, Mocs, Hunting, Gathering, Rocks
Air – Knotweed Straws & Flutes
Fire – Magnesium Fire Steel; Tinders Intro; Flint & Steel; Making Char Cloth
Water – Boiling Water in Metal Can; Burn Bowls
Rock – Make Slate Knife
Plants – Raffia & Cedar Rope
Animals – Make Leather Pouch; Buckskin & Fir Clothing Demo
MONDAY: Rock & Water (The Physical Realm)
Story: Climbing Rocky Mountain, Crossing Icy Glacier, Running Old Man River
Air – Rock Rabbitsticks, Bamboo Blowers, Himalaya Blackberry Blowguns
Fire – Banking Coals; Group Mortar; Flint & Steel
Water – Burn Bowls; Boil Water in Burn Bowl; Water Stalking; Primitive Baths;
Rock – Knife, Axe & Saw Safety; Hunting & Pecking Group Mortar & Pestle; Talcum Powder
Plants – Tree & Shrub ID: Gardening Yew & Vine Maple, Ocean Spray & Alder Spear Harvest;
Animals – Fish Species & Spears; Sinew & Gut Cordage Demo; Big Game Bow Making & Arrow Fletching;
TUESDAY: Plants and Emotions (Chemicals, Sensitivities, Feelings)
Story: Counsel of Friendly Forest, Grassy Prairie, Soggy Bog, Flora Meadow
Air – Traditional Archery – Hunting Style
Fire – Tinder & Pitch Sticks; Bow Drill Kits
Water – Swimming & Water Stalking; Fish Species & Catching Amphibians
Rock – Axe & Saw Safety; Award of Knife Belts; Pecking Group Mortar & Pestle; Hunting & Pecking Bow Drill Hand Holds; Making Group Hammer & Adz
Plants – Vine Maple Harvesting & Seasoning; Processing Yew, Harvesting Spruce Arrows & At-latl Materials
Animals – Survival Bow Making; Gut Cordage Making; Big Game Bow Making & Arrow Straightening
WEDNESDAY: Animals and Personality (Creativity, Dreaming, Patterns, Rote Thought, Common Sense)
Story: Lessons of Crafty Coyote, Repetative Raccoon, Naying Horse, Courageous Cougar, Medicine Bear, Wise Eagle
Air – Archery & Hunting Games
Fire – Bow Drill Kits; Arrow Straightening
Water – Fish Wiers, Swimming & Bullfrogging
Rock – Slate Spearheads; Flintknapping Glass Arrowheads; Finishing Group Hammer & Adz
Plants – Cedar Bark Quivers; Trap Making; At-latl Training
Animals – Parfleche & Fleshing Hides; Bone Tools Intro; Hide Cordage Making; Big Game Bows; Big Game Hide Tanning; Making Bone Tools; Making Hide Glue
THURSDAY: Fire and the Individual Mind (Will Power, Responsibility, Discipline, Scientific Learning)
Story: Individual Inventions Build Upon Each Other for Success, Art, Literature & Leisure
Air – Archery & Hunting Games
Fire – Fire Hardening Spears & Arrows
Water – Swimming & Bullfrogging; Fish & Frog ID & Trapping Test
Rock – Blacksmithing Intro; Flintknapping Obsidian Arrowheads
Plants – Finish Cedar Quivers; Finish Traps, Make At-latls
Animals – Big Game Bows; Big Game Hide Tanning; Making Bone Tools
FRIDAY: Air and the Spiritual Dimension (Prayer, Meditation, Synchronicity, Connection, Quantum Worlds)
Story: Travel through Black Holes to Stars, Planets, Moons and the Future
Air – Archery, Rabbitstick & At-latl Tournaments
Fire – Smoking Hides
Water – Camp Cleaning
Rock – Iron Blacksmithing; Finishing Arrowheads; Soapstone & Pipestone Carving & Gifting
Plants – Trees & Shrubs Review & Wood Experiments; Cedar Bark Clothing Demo; Wood Testing;
Animals – Finish Hides & Quivers
Course Instructors:
Kim & Chris Chisholm are on hand all week directing our professionally-trained instructors who make up our hallmark 6-1 average student-instructor ratio critical for high-level outdoor educational programs. Read our FAQ’s for more details and check out our testimonials and dating back to 1997!
Directions & Transportation:
Arrival & Departure Details are the same as for the youth Ancient Archers, Artists & Artisans camp running simultaneously.
Tuition:
Training Camps & Expeditions are $795. To reserve your spot, make a $200 deposit per camper/week and your balance will be due upon arrival. Cost includes everything from Sunday-Friday including survival knife, firesteel or field guide depending on topic. The only additional expenses you may incur for our courses are for travel and specific gear, although we have extras in case you can’t acquire something. You will also need to show you have health insurance, or check with us for recommendations on inexpensive temporary insurance if necessary.
Registration:
Credit/Debit Card Registration Option: Just call us at 425-248-0253 and we will take your registration securely over the phone.
Check/Mail/Email Registration Option: Print out and complete our Microsoft Word or PDF Registration Form for each participant and send with a check deposit payable to the Wolf College, 1026 14th St. SW, Puyallup WA 98371. You can also email us a completed registration form and pay using your preferred method.
Or Use PayPal to register online securely with a credit/debit card or via direct withdrawal from your bank account. Use the link below (might not be visible if you are using “reader view” on your phone or other device) or sign into paypal.com and “send money” to our email address: (we’ll get back to you with any additional information we may need)
Email us to be put on our our list for this program in the future. We always keep your information absolutely private, and will never share it.
Refund Policy: Payments ($100 for day programs, $200 for overnight programs) are not refundable unless we don’t accept your application. If you cancel in advance of the program start time for any reason, you may receive a full credit good through the following calendar year on appropriate and available programs listed on our schedule, although an additional deposit may be required to secure your spot in the future program. If a program you sign up for is canceled and not rescheduled at a time you can attend, you may receive a full refund except in case of natural (weather, geologic, etc) disasters, government shutdowns, conflicts or curfews, or other unforeseen emergencies making it impossible for staff and/or attendees to reach or use program locations, in which case all payments made will be held by us without expiration date for your future use in appropriate/available programs of your choice. No refund, nor credit, is given if a participant is asked to leave a program for inappropriateness as determined by our kids, youth and adult agreements for participation.
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Course Preparation: Agreements, Packing List and FAQ’s
Click here for our Expedition Agreements