Guide School & Packer Training - Hunting, Fishing & Camp Cook School

A Guide School Student's Journal

One of the horses turned up sick, and Cody had to take it out to a vet. The other instructors covered low-impact camping and horse use, which is increasingly important as more and more of the public make use of increasingly limited resources. Cody believes guides and outfitters must take the lead in minimizing our impacts. The rest of the morning was spent on lashing techniques and building debris huts for wilderness survival.

We had the afternoon free for fishing, bugling practice, and scouting an area for our test on bugling and set-ups. A couple of students rode out bareback and got into a spike bull elk. One spotted a young bull moose up by the lake, and the rest of us went out at dusk again and got into a cow moose and a herd of elk. One of the bulls was actually answering our bugling in June!

Had to hustle back and take my turn as camp cook tonight. Cody wants us to understand the importance of being able to prepare a meal, either in a spike camp or even in main camp if a regular camp cook isn't available. We're getting our experience by doing all the cooking during the pack trip. I'm not a gourmet chef, but I'm learning.