Leading Wilderness Survival Courses to Build Your Outdoor Confidence 

We all need a kick and surge of adrenaline rush to feel what life is all about. Sometimes, all one needs is to go on an adventure, disconnect from the digital and urban world and explore the wilderness nature offers. What are the factors that could enhance the experience and make the adventurous voyage more functional and easier? The primary answer to the question is survival skills. These skills are crucial for an adventure enthusiast who loves to explore exciting ventures.

These skills teach one to survive in the most challenging situations and environments, emergencies like calamities and disasters, adaptability, and necessary skills in dealing with the extremities of the wild. This blog will provide you with a list of leading wilderness survival classes to build your outdoor confidence so you can enjoy your wild adventure with all you might and know what you must do in various situations. But, firstly, let’s brush up on the essential terms and various other aspects of the courses. Understanding these terms and aspects will not only give you a better idea of what to expect from the classes but also help you make an informed decision about which class is best for you.

Bushcraft Courses and Wilderness Survival Courses

Bushcraft and wilderness survival courses are often used interchangeably, but these skill sets focus on different survival aspects. Let’s understand the meaning of these two courses in depth.

Bushcraft skills

Bushcraft skills are the basic skills required to survive in the wild. These include building shelter from scrap, creating fire, foraging food and water, hunting, crafting, etc. These skills are not just theoretical; they are practical and teach you to do many things, instilling a sense of preparedness and capability for surviving in the wilderness. The art of bush crafting is based on connecting with nature and building essentials from nature itself and minimal resources out of nature.

Building shelter and camp from wooden sticks, tarps, leaves or bushcraft tents; creating fire without matchsticks and lighters; collecting and purifying water; foraging for food; using weapons such as bow and arrow for hunting and protection; fishing, etc. all come under bushcraft skills. Hence, this skill set is specialized for beginners. Basically, it focuses on surviving in the wild sustainably.

Wilderness Survival Courses

Wilderness survival courses are skill sets that teach you how to deal with alarming situations and stay alive in extreme conditions. These include making fires without matches, making shelter, foraging for food and collecting water, and navigating and using first aid. While these include bushcraft skills, the primary focus of wilderness survival courses is teaching adventurers to stay alive in a crisis under the pressure of extreme conditions. It includes teaching them to deal with life-threatening situations. How to ensure safety at night, various first aid and life-saving techniques like CPR, and survival psychology are the main highlights of this course.

Now, let’s delve into the fascinating world of wilderness survival courses and explore the diverse skill sets they offer. Each skill is a piece of the puzzle, equipping you with the knowledge and confidence to handle the wild with ease.

Shelter building

Wilderness survival skills include shelter building. The course teaches you how to build a tent and shelter in the wild to live and stay safe. It focuses on factors like searching for a safe space where there are no dead trees that could fall, making shelter using tree branches, etc.

Creating fire without matchsticks or lighter

The course includes teaching one to create fire via friction. Rubbing sticks is one popular method. The fire can be used to keep you warm at night and in cold conditions, cook food, and boil water.

Navigation

Navigating with maps and compasses is taught in survival classes. When there are no technological devices to help you, finding routes and the right directions is very important.

Foraging food

Finding edible and safe food in the wild is a challenging task. You need to find and identify which food items are safe and non-poisonous. While many berries are eatable, many are poisonous too. Other food items in the wild that survive include plants like plantains, clovers, dandelions, fruits like grapes and strawberries, and nuts such as acorns and walnuts. But proper identification is a must. Hence, these courses also teach you to forage food items for survival in the wilderness.

Purifying water

Collecting water from a natural source and making it drinkable is necessary for survival. The course teaches you to collect and purify water by different methods, such as boiling and filtration.

Signalling

Going on an adventure means diving into the unknown. You might find yourself in a difficult situation, or in the case of any emergency, knowing how to signal for help is crucial. Survival courses teach you to signal, keeping important factors like visibility and availability of limited sources in mind.

Survival psychology

Surviving in the wild mainly depends on one’s attitude and mindset. If one has the right mindset and will to do so, one can overcome any challenge and emerge safely. Hence, this course teaches one to stay calm, positive, and resilient and builds one’s critical thinking and decision-making skills.

Tying knots

Knowing how to tie a knot is critical to the survival skill set. Since this application is used in shelter making, securing gears, fishing, etc.

Wildlife tracking and interpreting animal signs

Understanding animal signs is critical to staying safe and alert in the wild. This course teaches you to identify animal tracks, interpret animal behavior, trail an animal, learn about wildlife and various species, and more.

First aid

Surviving in the wild has a reasonable chance of getting injured in the harsh environment. Hence, the course teaches you to use first aid most effectively. It includes CPR, wound care, splinting, burn treatments, treatment for poisonous and allergic reactions as well as insect and animal bites, etc.

Best wilderness survival courses

We have curated a list of the best institutions and academies providing wilderness survival courses:

Jack Mountain Bushcraft School

Located in the town of Masardis, Maine, USA, Jack Mountain Bushcraft School provides a range of wilderness survival courses. This school provides many professional courses and instructor training programs. With professional teachers and experts, this Ivy League outdoor school is one of the best. The school promises to give you an authentic Northwood experience with no electricity other than on-site and hand-pump water for drinking. They comprises 83 acres of land in Masardis, Maine. The school is located on the banks of the Aroostook River. They also have a challenging winter program.

Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS)

Boulder Outdoor Survival School is located in Utah, USA. This school delivers exciting and immersive wilderness courses for people, preparing students for both mental and physical wilderness challenges. Their principle is “Know more, carry less” The school teaches students to survive in the most challenging conditions, even with minimal gear. BOSS provides basic and traditional living skills and believes in connecting to the roots of nature. They provide extensive training programs and courses and are strict and professional regarding rules and dedication. BOSS field courses are challenging and eye-opening, where you can immerse yourself in nature’s beauty and the wild’s challenges. However, with a positive attitude and good essential fitness, you can enroll in this school and experience the insightful on-field lessons in the course.

Bear Grylls Survival Academy

Bear Grylls Survival Academy operates in various locations worldwide, famously in the UK. They offer courses on various sites. This academy is owned by none other than the renowned British adventurer Bear Grylls himself. The survival courses include “Survive the Highlands Challenge” in Highlands, Scotland; this course will give on-field experience and teach survival skills used by Bear Grylls such as shelter building, foraging, fire lighting, self-rescue, etc.

After completing the training, the students will be dropped off from civilization with no instructor or professional. The final challenge includes surviving and testing the skills you learned without any help, all by yourself. The challenge aims to cross the mountain range, summit the highest mountain in Alladale, and return safely. While doing so, you must set up your survival camp, forage for food and water, cook, climb, swim, cross rivers, raft, zipline, and many other activities to complete the challenge. The academy offers many other exciting and insightful courses. Check the official site to learn about other courses.

Aboriginal Living Skills School

ALSS is nestled in Arizona, USA, and is run by Cody Lundin, an internationally recognized professional survival instructor. ALSS provides skill courses and adventure courses. While both courses provide hands-on experience, the skills course includes cross-country hikes to basic base camps and basic physical fitness, using essential modern and traditional gear, and overnight camping. Although the adventure course includes all those, it is much more challenging and requires more physical stamina. Adventure courses include long cross-country treks, limited use of modern gear and hunting for food. Arizona has beautiful and challenging landscapes and terrains, making it a perfect place to gain training. Cody Lundin himself teaches the courses; the team gives personal attention to every student.

Sigma 3 Survival School

Sigma 3 survival school is located in the heart of Ozark mountains, Missouri, USA. It operates in many locations in the USA, including California, Texas and Florida. This school is one of the best and provides immersive training programs and experiences that prepare one to thrive in the wild. This school promises to teach you skills that will help you survive anywhere in the world with minimal gear, giving you the confidence to survive outdoors. Sigma 3 survival school provides all types of survival, tactical and medical programs. This school is perfect for you if you aim to shift your lifestyle towards something more wilderness-based. They promise to teach you to survive and enjoy every challenge rather than asking for rescue when lost, making you independent and skilled enough to pass every hurdle. The school provides a range of courses.

Conclusion

Wilderness survival courses are the best courses that will teach you to thrive in the extremities of nature and the wild. Learning these courses will ensure that you survive even in the harshest conditions and become self-dependent and capable enough to survive even when you have minimal resources. So, what are you waiting for? Enroll in a wilderness survival course and immerse yourself in the adventures of the wild!