Our 3-Day Seminar will prepare anyone to start hunting on their own.

Hunting is a normal and important part of being a human. Historically, if you didn’t hunt; you didn’t eat. Today, with the advent of corporate agriculture, we no longer spend our days outdoors tracking down game, we simply take a trip to a grocery store. This shift away from outdoor hunting to couch-surfing has destroyed our physical and mental well-being. But we can get back to our roots by developing a lifelong passion of pursuing wild game and guiding others on the adventure. There are a few reasons why this makes sense:

  • First, wild game is one of the greatest sources of protein on this earth. You were born to eat it. Were you born to eat genetically engineered beef? A wild and free food source, away from industrial farming, is where it’s at!
  • Second, our sedentary lifestyles can make us lethargic and overweight. Hunting enhances your physical fitness and overall vitality.
  • Third, overcoming challenges in the wilderness builds confidence and problem-solving skills. These elements have positive spillover effects in our everyday lives.
  • Fourth, hunting satisfies a primal instinct. There is no replacement in life for pursuing, harvesting, and processing wild game.

The Seminar

Arrival Day – By 7:30PM:

Welcome Dinner

Day 1:

Group Hike – Topics: Physical Preparation and Tracking/Game Behavior

Lecture – The elements of planning a hunt

Hands On – Fire Building, Navigation, Wilderness Survival

Lecture and Hands On – Rifle Setup, Zeroing, and Basic Ballistics

Lecture – Regulations/Tags/Wildlife Management

Day 2 :

Group Hike – Topics: Hunting Strategy and Finding Game (Glassing)

Hands On – Tracking and Mock Stalks (Understanding the Wind)

Mock Hunt Planning Workshop

  • Student will work with an instructor to plan a Western big game hunt on public land, start-to-finish. Species and State focus will be based on student’s pre-course survey. Student will leave with an actual hunt plan that can be fully implemented.

Lecture – Meat Processing, Field Dressing, Taxidermy

Day 3 :

Group Hike – Topics: Backpacks/Gear

Hands on Game Processing, Packing, Fleshing, Caping

  • Each Student will have hands on exposure to every aspect of breaking down and processing an animal.
  • To comply with state and local regulations, we use domesticated animals for this workshop. Typically, organically-fed Boer goats are used as their anatomy is identical to most of our big game animals in North America and the meat can be utilized.

Departure after 8PM or Next Day before 10:30AM

Prerequisites

  • All participants must be capable of hiking 2-3 miles at elevation. We view hunting as an active activity and each day of the seminar will contain physical activity.
  • All participants are asked to read through the pre-course reading packet and watch the pre-course videos.
  • Students are encouraged to take a hunter’s safety course in their state of residence before attending. The majority of the course can usually be taken online through Hunter-ed.com. All state’s vary but most also require a “field course” that is 4-6 hours. Most states require a hunter’s education certification before you can purchase tags/licenses.
  • Firearm and archery marksmanship is only touched on in the course. To become proficient in these fields, we suggest self study/practice or contacting us about our dedicated marksmanship courses.

Location and Facility

We operate from our private ranch that borders the Flat Tops Wilderness Area outside of Vail, Colorado. The Flat Tops Wilderness Area is over 240,000 acres of road-less and forever wild land protected by the Wilderness Act. This seminar is taught primarily at the ranch. All guests are accommodated onsite.

Our facility is built to accommodate wilderness hunting trips and remote summer expeditions. We maintain a herd of 35+ mules and horses, a 3,000 sq. ft. pack station, bunkhouse and a 3,500 sq. ft. log lodge.

Head Instructor

Cliff is an avid backpacker, wildlife conservationist and big game hunter. He is a pilot and a certified wilderness first responder. Cliff is a licensed guide in British Columbia and a registered outfitter in the State of Colorado with commercial special use permits for hunting, fishing, and remote horse packing in the White River National Forest and Flat Tops Wilderness Area of the Rocky Mountains. He grew up on ranches in Northern California and Adam’s Rib Ranch in Eagle Colorado, where his family managed an outfitting and cattle business. Cliff has guided and outfitted hundreds of hunts across North America for bears, mountain goats, elk, deer and bighorn sheep.

He is the Founder of True Hunts and Flat Tops Wilderness Guides (FTGuides.com).

Cliff earned a BA from Stanford University in Economics and a MBA from University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Schedule, Pricing, and Booking

We are booking for our Summer 2020 Seminars: April 29th-May 3rd and June 3rd-7th

3-Day Seminar

$ 1,700

Per Guest
  • 4 Nights of Lodging
  • 3 Meals per Day
  • Pre-Course Reading Packet and Videos
  • 3 Days of On-Hands Experience, Classroom Lectures and In-The-Field Teaching
  • Each Student Has Their Own Animal for Day 3’s “Hands on Game Processing” Segment
  • Each Student will Leave with an Implementable Plan for a Western Big Game Hunt on Public Land
  • 5 Students Maximum

Book or Send Questions