Apr. 1, 2025 - Jun. 29, 2025
9:00 am - 11:59 pm
Randolph, KS
$2,895.00
Blackthorn-USA’s 90 Day Full Immersion Program is an epic outdoor adventure for adults wishing to pursue an advanced course of study in a wilderness environment. This full time program focuses on bushcraft, wilderness survival, primitive living skills, alternative construction methods and school operations. Tailored to meet the needs of professional guides and adventurers, bushcraft and survival instructors, camp staff and outdoor enthusiasts.
Do you feel the call of the wild and want to leave the technological rat race behind?
Have you been looking for something more informative than books and YouTube?
Are you ready to connect with nature in a meaningful and life changing manner?
Schedule:
This is an intensive, full time Immersion program. Most weeks you will have two days when you can leave the grounds to get supplies, run errands etc. Camping is allowed and encouraged. We do this full time. You train, work and play with us.
Amenities:
Off grid weather tight living quarters available
Shaded camp sites
Numerous fire rings
Quarter mile of river frontage provides excellent fishing
Charging station for electronics
Good cell reception for most carriers
General store two miles away
Porta johns
Our Location:
Blackthorn-USA owns and operates on 430 acres in the beautiful rolling Flint Hills of Kansas. Unlike the western side of the state, our area is heavily treed with many rivers, creeks and lakes. Blackthorn Base, your home during the Immersion Program, is bordered by 12,000 acres of Public Wildlife Area.
Our forests of cedar, oak, walnut, osage orange, cottonwood and more, along with our close proximity to water, provide excellent habitat for whitetail deer, raccoon, bobcat, fox, beaver, muskrat and many others. Many birds make their home here as well. It’s not uncommon to see turkey, hawks and eagles during the day or hear various owls at night.
The Flint Hills provides us with an abundance of flint and other unique rocks from glacial deposits. The diversity of plants, trees, wildlife and other natural resources make this an ideal place to learn and grow.
Tuition:
$2895
Tuition includes all instruction, materials and on-site lodging.
How our Immersion Program differs from other schools
We are full time for 90 days. Unlike those schools where you meet for 6 hours, three times a week over the course of many months, with Blackthorn-USA you get more training hours in less time. Running our training concurrently and allowing camping on site also saves you the expense and hassle of lodging arrangements for 6, 9, 12 months at a time.
We offer training on topics that other schools do not, such as alternative building methods and school operations. Useful training for anyone who wants to live remote in something more substantial than a tipi or someone realistically wanting to start their own school.
This is more than just our job. We live this way, we live here. We want to pass along the benefit of our successes, failures and experience to you so that you too can experience success in the field.
Program Overview
Primitive Living Skills
The beginning of your journey starts here. Learn to provide for your basic needs as primitive man did while developing lasting skills that have withstood the test of time. These skills are the basis for all other outdoor skills.
- Firecraft
- Cordage and Fiber Arts
- Pottery
- Snares and Traps
- Primitive Shelters
- Fire Hafting
- Stone and Bone Tools
- Primitive Weaponry
- Friction Fire
- Food and Food Preservation
- Hide Tanning
- and much, much more
Bushcraft
Covering the traditional outdoor living skills after the advent of steel tools.
- Flint and Steel
- Campfire Cooking
- Woodcraft
- Care and use of tools
- Tracking and Trapping
- And more
Wilderness Survival
This segment of the program builds upon the primitive skills you have learned and assumes you now have access to modern equipment. We focus on using common tools and equipment to provide for your needs until rescue can be effected.
- Wilderness Medical
- Water Collection and Treatment
- Shelter Construction
- Fire for Life
- Signaling and Communications
- and more
Alternative Construction
Who doesn’t want a warm, comfortable little cabin in the woods? Many people who have a love of the outdoors also dream of someday building their own personal get away in the woods. With this in mind we have incorporated this program segment allowing you to see examples of low cost, owner built alternative structures. You will also be able to participate in the construction of the various projects we are working on while you are here.
- Straw Bale
- Cob
- Cordwood
- Log
- Papercrete
- Thatching
School Operations
The shortest segment of our Immersion Program answers the question of “How do I start my own school?” Other schools will teach you some skills you can pass on to others, and that’s great, however none of them give you the business information you need to successfully run a school. Much consideration must be given to the operations side which is 70% of the time invested.
- Finding and buying property
- Site infrastructure
- Planning and zoning
- Insurance and regulations
- Permits and code compliance
- Dealing with local government
- Marketing, web and social media
Blackthorn-USA’s 90 Day Full Immersion Program covers a wide variety of skills which, once mastered, will enable you to thrive in virtually any environment on earth. The practical application and hands on training received here will expand your existing skill set and increase your confidence and self reliance.
Begin your journey to becoming a confident outdoor professional today!
Register Now $2895.00
For additional information please call
The fine print:
We are training you to succeed. Upon completion of this program you will be very well equip to start your own school. With this in mind, you will be required to sign a non-compete agreement stating that you will not start, or work for, another outdoor skills school in the state of Kansas to attend. Graduates of our immersion programs will be first in line for employment opportunities with Blackthorn-USA as they become available.