Wild Deer Adult Wilderness Skills Program

Weekend 1 (Feb): Wonders of Winter: Wildlife tracking and winter survival skills

Location: A cozy lodge on a private lake near Baysville, ON (1.75 hours from Toronto)

For our first weekend, we’ll have the chance to embrace the magic of winter in the pristine Muskoka wilderness. This weekend is dedicated to understanding wildlife and mastering essential winter survival skills.

Activities include:

• Wildlife tracking (moose, wolves, marten, deer, and more)
• Fire-making with friction techniques
• Shelter building, including snow shelters and snow science

Weekend 2 (March): Handcrafting, Trees and Mammals 

Location: Toronto’s urban ravines

Toronto’s ravines will provide the perfect setting to explore the “wilds” in our urban parks. Building on our tracking skills from the previous weekend, we’ll see how the longer days and warmer temperatures impact both the plants and animals in the park. 

Activities include: 

• Wood crafting: spoon-making and wooden pegs
• Tree ID and practical uses
• Mapping and exploring urban ecologies

Weekend 3 (April): Spring Plants 

Location: GTA and Port Hope

Splitting our time between land near Port Hope and the GTA, we’ll take a deep dive into everything plants – who is hazardous, who provides food, medicinal or practical benefits, and what are the best ways to identify them and stay safe. We will also explore the basics of rope skills, building shelters and setting up a wilderness camp. 

Activities include: 

• Native plant ID basics and botany 
• Medicine making (salves)
• Rope techniques and lashing tripods

Weekend 4 (May): Spring in Full Bloom 

Location: GTA

Back in the GTA, we spend this weekend as keen observers. By listening to the “wild conversations” of the birds all around us, we create sound maps to better understand who is around and what they are communicating. Taking inspiration from bird’s nests we will use natural fibers to create cordage and simple crafts.

Activities include: 

• Plants 2.0
• Birds and migration
• Bird language (birding by ear, and what info bird calls can tell you)
• Plant fibers and natural container crafting

Weekend 5 (June): Challenges, Celebrations and Reflections 

Location: Private wilderness near Bancroft

Our final weekend will be a camping excursion outside of the city at a beautiful, wild location with a private lake for swimming (near Bancroft, ON). We will continue our learning, and culminate our experiences with an overnight experience on Saturday night. Sunday we will share stories and celebrations around a fire and feast on tasty treats, including some we have foraged for ourselves! 

Activities include:

• Overnight challenge
• Identifying and preparing wild foraged foods
• Coal burning  projects, including crafting bowls

Meet your Lead Instructor, Lee!  

Lee Earl is an avid naturalist and lover of the wild places. Lee is a certified level III Track and Sign tracker and Co-founder of the Wild Foragers Society. Some of her favorite activities include birding, tracking mink and deer (even in the city!) and poking through her field guides. When she’s not hanging out in the ravines running programs with kids, she can be found foraging, preserving, fermenting and making all manner of goods from plants. Growing up in the Taylor Creek watershed, she is grateful to have opportunities to share her enthusiasm and passion about the beautiful planet we inhabit. 

Lee will be joined by a variety of guest mentors throughout the year! We’ll share more about them in advance of the weekends they’re attending

Have any additional questions or concerns? We love talking about Wild Deer! Email or call us any time.