Survival Schools in Canada, Alphabetical List

I made this list for several reasons.

#1. To provide an useful resource for other people who are into survival training to use.
#2. To help me research the competition, as I am starting a "Winter Survival Training" program. So this list is for my research. Essentially I wanted to find out what other survival schools are teaching, how much they are charging for their programs, what they offer during their programs, and so forth.

Note - If anyone in Toronto wants to sign up to be guinea pigs (aka, my first students) just email me (projectgridless {atsymbol} gmail .com) and we can set up some one-on-one survival lessons. I have been teaching archery full time for 9 years so I do have lots of experience teaching, but this is really a shift of topic for me. Teaching archery lasts from March to November each year, so I have been wanting to find something I could do/teach during the winter to bring in extra income.

Lessons would be on weekends only, by appointment.

My Winter Survival Training would focus on the following survival skills:

• How to make cordage and knotmaking.
• How to build a fire with no tools. (Only the tools you can make yourself.)
• How to build a shelter with no tools.
• How to find/make clean water during the winter.
• How to forage for food in the winter / build hunting tools (survival bowmaking and arrow-making).

Each of the above skills is progressive. Meaning you have to complete the first to be able to effectively and easily do the next. It is possible for the individual to skip a step, but for example it is much easier to make a fire if you have cordage. Thus it makes sense to learn how to make cordage first, that way making a fire is so much easier and time effective. Likewise building a shelter is easier if you have cordage and know how to do knots, as is building effective hunting tools. Knotmaking is essential to many survival skills.

I am not sure how much I am going to charge yet for these lessons, but I will figure out a price later.

In the meantime I also planning to make a series of survival skills videos which will be available on youtube for free. You can subscribe by scrolling up and clicking the YouTube button at the top right of this page. (You will need to be logged in to YouTube for it work.)

Anyway, here is the list of Survival Schools in Canada. I have organized the list alphabetically so that there is no favourites. I cannot vouch for the quality of any of these schools, but they are most certainly more experienced at teaching said skills than I currently am.


Survival Schools in Canada, Alphabetical List

A to H

• Arctic Response [Whitehorse, Yukon & Yellowknife, Northwest Territories]
  
• Barefoot Bushcraft [Saint Anns, Ontario]
  
• Beyond the Fire School of Survival [Pembroke, Ontario]
  
• Boreal Wilderness Institute [Edmonton, Alberta]
  
• Bushcraft Yukon [Whitehorse, Yukon]
  
• BWI's Custom Northern Survival Training
  
• Canadian Bushcraft [Keene, Ontario]
  
• Canadian West Mountain School [North Vancouver, British Columbia]
  
• Canadian Wilderness School & Expeditions [Lac Des Arcs, Alberta]
  
• Earth Tracks [Durham (Grey County), Ontario]
  
  I to R
  
  
• International Canadian School of Survival [Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba]
  
• Karamat Wilderness Ways [Wildwood, Alberta]
  
• LRM Enterprises [Dawson Creek, British Columbia]
  
• Mammut Bushcraft & Wilderness Living [Lacombe, Alberta]
  
• Maple Leaf Survival [Winnipeg, Manitoba]
  
• Nature Alive [Barrhead, Alberta]
  
• Near North Wilderness Survival School [Barrie, Ontario]
  
• Northstar Bushcraft [Golden British, Columbia]
  
• Nunavik Arctic Survival Training Center [Puvirnituq, Nunavik]
  
• Redbeard Survival [Trois-Rivières, Quebec]
  
• RedHawk Survival Training Institute [Gander, Newfoundland & Labrador]
  
• Remote Areas Emergency Medicine & Survival [Calgary, Alberta]
  
  S to Z
  
  
• School in the Woods [Missisauga, Ontario]
  
• SOS Wilderness Survival [Bruno, Saskatchewan]
  
• Sticks & Stones Wilderness School [Muskoka, Ontario]
  
  Note - I have met several of the guys who work at Sticks and Stones Wilderness School, as they usually have a booth at the Toronto Sportsmen Show each year. Good place to learn flintknapping and traditional bowmaking if you are into learning those specific skills.
  
  
• Survival in Canada [Vancouver, British Columbia]
  
• Survival in the Bush [Wiarton, Ontario]
  
• Survival School Canada [Baddeck, Nova Scotia]
  
• Three Ravens Bushcraft [Gibbons, Alberta]
  
• UNIK Skills Training & Consulting [Halifax, Nova Scotia]
  
• University of Calgary Outdoor Center [Calgary, Alberta]
  
• WildEdge Wilderness Education [Powell River, British Columbia]
  
• WSC Survival School [Cloyne, Ontario]
  

Honourable Mention

Coalcracker Bushcraft is an American Survival School located in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. They are not Canadian, but I have decided to give them an honourable mention because they are certainly worth looking into if you are serious about learning wilderness survival skills and bushcraft, and you are willing to travel to learn such skills. So if you are willing to travel, you should at least consider this American school as an option. Plus Americans might also be reading this, so they should also have an option for where to go.

coalcrackerbushcraft.com

And since they didn't pay me to say them, I will make a point by not giving any link to them.(Everyone in Canada however gets free links.) I am just mentioning them because I happen to like them and I am also a subscriber to their youtube channel, which is definitely worth looking into as well.

12 Examples of Earthship Off Grid Architecture

Last month I did a post about 12 Examples of Off Grid Home Architecture, and at the time I was making that article I came across many examples of Earthship Homes. Thus this month I decided to do a similar post, but this time focusing solely on Earthship Architecture.

Here you go!

12 Examples of Earthship Off Grid Architecture

Snake in the Grass Archery Target, Snake Hunting

Some people like to hunt snakes.

Possibly because of pest control. Or possibly because some people also like to eat them. They really do taste like chicken.

Myself, I like to "practice hunting snakes" on fake rubber toy snakes, like the kind you can find at the dollar store.

Why?

Because it makes for very good archery practice and it is fun. The snake makes a very thin target, so to hit it you need a good deal of precision. Thus as an archery target, it is a hard one to hit.

For extra fun, tie a string or cord to the fake snake's head and ask a friend to drag it closer to you, thus you now have a moving target which is both skinny and a moving target.

Also if you can feel free to prank a few friends when you arrive to see if they jump at your fake snake. Always good for a laugh when someone jumps away when they think a snake is real.


Bowhunting for Snakes - the Real Ones

Now there are people out there who do hunt snakes - and eat them. And they use the snakeskin for a variety of leather products.



Tips for Bowhunting Snakes

#1. Make sure any venomous snake is dead before you interact with it. Sometimes snakes can play possum, so if in doubt chop its head off with a machete or an axe before picking it up.

#2. Wear gloves when interacting with any venomous snake's head. Even though it is dead, if you accidentally pricked yourself with the fangs you could still get poisoned. (Some people even collect and preserve the snake venom, which is useful for hunting bears, wolves and large predators. To do this you have to milk the venom glands, which can be done by massaging the glands manually while the snakes fangs are grasping a glass jar, or you can do the same thing using electricity instead of massaging the glands.)

Note - Milking a venomous snake is also a method for creating antivenom. Venom also often has multiple medicinal uses.

#3. Beware of other snakes in the vicinity. Where there is one snake, there is often many more of them - all gathered in one spot because of an ample food source, a great location for making dens, or because they are breeding.