The overall objective of this Program is to provide participants with a solid base of combined working knowledge and practical skills to be a wilderness guide in the guide outfitting industry and adventure tourism. This builds confidence and character, and enables satisfactory production and performance as entry level guides within the industry. Our one and two week programs are intense and designed for individuals intent on learning and developing the basic skills, knowledge and attitudes that are required by a professional guide. It is designed for those seriously interested in a career within guiding, and is applicable for individuals with specific goals (i.e. lead guide, managing or owning your own Guide Outfitter or adventure tourism business).
Those that benefit from our Training Programs include:
- Our ranch operation: We require professional and highly trained guides to lead Level 2 and 3 pack / hiking trips and ultimately, Grizzly Viewing and Research trips. The nature of the work requires a certain character and a wide diversity of skills and knowledge.
- Adventure Tourism in general: Tourists are seeking the wilderness experience of advanced level trips. Whether guests wish to ride horses, or hike, the focus of these trips will include wildlife viewing, nature interpretation and education.
- Graduates and their communities: The economic impacts of tourism are significant and communities are developing the expertise that is necessary for participation in this growing industry. Those that choose guiding as a career, bring this expertise and experience back to their communities.
The Program combines theoretical and practical training. Each training objective is achieved under guided supervision and time is allocated for individual practice and study. The first half of the Program is based out of the Ranch, where theoretical and practical training is provided in a controlled environment. The last half is spent in base camps where the students have first hand experience by applying their newly learned skills to the "real thing".
This program is registered with the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of British Columbia. We train qualified staff to help meet the growing demand for walking, hiking, angling and horse riding adventures throughout Canada. The program teaches those interested in a guiding career how to become professional stewards of the environmental and cultural resources with which they work; it also trains them to become competent in looking after guests taking part in holiday experiences staged in the South Chilcotin Mountains. Those who go through the program leave with skills they can apply in wilderness jurisdictions anywhere.
The program fosters beneficial practices in wilderness tourism best illustrated by the formal protocol agreement that was established between the Government of British Columbia and a number of wilderness tourism operations in the province. Concretely this means we help regulatory agencies carry out their responsibilities more efficiently by teaching our guide trainees how to fill out the wildlife sighting forms that were development jointly by us, with scientists and government representatives. As a result, we are able to share with them 16 years of collected data containing sighting locations, sex and age ratios, all of which are important when making wildlife management decisions.
It stems from this that we have become involved in local land use planning decisions on these public lands, because we know what is happening in the back country. After all these years of recording wildlife sightings, a substantial body of intelligence has already been gathered to feed the decision-making process, so that the long-term stability of natural populations is ensured. By requiring that all our adventures be guided, we are aware of the impact our guests have on population movements. Our guide training programs emphasize this, and we commit to a very low level of use over a large area. When you have horse riders moving slowly through a valley, you are not displacing the wildlife the way motorized transportation would. The guides learn this; they also learn bear avoidance; and, we always pack out everything we take in. Our overall footprint is minimal. The written procedures we adopt are our commitment to regulatory agencies in terms of maintaining the lowest level of human habituation possible when it comes to wild animals.
Similarly with angling activities and the angling guide training program, we submit creel reports (fish catches) as part of our angling guide management plan. The creel report says how much we take and where we take it from. Guides learn about the particulars of different lakes, streams, ponds and rivers; how they vary seasonally; how they vary in terms of technical skills needed by the guests who are going to fish them; and, where the most appropriate place to fish is. As a result of our training, guides become able to start training their guests from the ground up if they are novice fishermen; or if you they are avid fishermen, they are able to provide them the best high-end challenge.
In the mountain meadows, our wilderness guides learn to identify when a range mix is ready for horse grazing and what the carrying capacity of that range will be. Horses are not staked consecutive nights in the same area. Guides learn how to avoid putting salt blocks by a creek or a source of water. These are all details that are important for the health of the range. Those are all fundamental aspects of our guide training program.
Both the one week and the two week training cover basically the same skills and knowledge. There is more time spent on each topic in the two week programs. At the completion of the Program, a certificate confirms successful completion. Graduates are not guaranteed employment but may be hired by us and licensed as an Assistant Guide, or referred by us to other guide outfitters, guest ranches and fishing lodges.
Training Objective 1: The business of licensed guide outfitting and adventure tourism:
- Background of the ranch, guide outfitting, and adventure tourism in BC, introduction and background of participants
- Listing of all guide outfitters, guest ranches, fishing lodges, stables, employment opportunities and the ranch's referral program, Guides Log Book with descriptions on levels of guiding.
Training Objective 2: Use and care of horses in the back country:
- Wrangling:
* Catching and releasing - condition catching, halter use
* Tie up for different situations, height, knots.
- Saddling:
* Matching clients with horses and equipment
* Saddle, rocker, stirrup adjustments
* Bridle, types and uses, fit and adjustment.
- Riding:
* Horsemanship and horse sense with specifics on riding safely with guests in the mountains
* Balance and control.
- Packing:
* Equipment, horses, knots and hitches for packing supplies into the back country
* Balancing loads, duration, cinch tie down, saddle fit
* 3/4 diamond, single diamond, double diamond
* Assessing strings and pecking orders, leading pack horses and tail tying.
- Shoeing - Trimming and Shoeing your own horse:
* Farrier tools
* Techniques to ensure safety
* Shoe removal
* Rules of thumb (cleaning depth, angle)
* Trimming, rasping, fitting, shoe and nail sizes
* Shoe position, nail depth, precautions
* Difficult horses
* Corrective shoeing - angle, flare, toe in/toe out, splits.
- Staking, Hobbling and Belling:
* Location of release - natural barriers, feed, water
* Choice between stake, hobble, bell, dangers
* Regulations and range management.
- Basic Horse Training:
* Training and life cycles - early pasture, pack, guide horse, advanced riders, any rider, children, rotation
* Use of packing and war bridles (rope halters), tarps and harness work.
- Back Country Vet:
* Basic health - shoes, feeding, use, worming, watering, graining
* Prevention saddle and blanket sores, teeth floating
* First aid - cures, burns, cuts, shock.
- Harness work and Basic Horse Logging:
* Equipment harness (parts and how to put on), single tree, double tree
* Commands, safety issues and accident prevention
* Horse requirements and practice in harness on our 600 ha Woodlot.
- Transporting Horses:
* Use of truck vs. trailer
* Loading, unloading, safety.
Training Objective 3: Back country safety and survival:
- Wilderness skills:
* Fire starting - structure, purposes
* Water and food source - practical, prevention
* Shelter -location and types.
- Map Use:
* Use of topographic maps, scales, boundaries of guide area
* Orientation with landmarks, compasses, identifying boundaries in the wilderness.
- Bear and Cougar Safety:
* Avoidance, prevention, camp sanitation, food storage
* Types of encounters, behaviors and bear defense strategies.
Training Objective 4: Back country living:
- Grocery and Equipment Inventories:
* Multiple camps and organization
* Camp inventories - check sheets and supply lists.
- Meal Planning and Cooking:
* Standardized menus, quantities, sanitation, food storage and stocking
* Fire control and restrictions base camps, spike camps and lunch stops.
- Camp Layouts:
* Main camp layout: location water, horse feed and summer range, game migration route, view, set up, take down, natural barriers and shelter from wind. Layout - tent cabins, main fire, out house, cook tent or cabin, horse corrals and tie up
* Spike camp layout: overnight vs. extended stays and permanent vs. non permanent.
- Trail blazing:
* Purpose
* Location - slopes, game trails, blazing marks, cutting, disguising.
Training Objective 5: Communication within the industry:
- Rules and regulations:
* Wildlife Act - agency responsible, enforcement, licensing, definitions
* Fishing Regulation Synopsis - recent act, application and enforcement
* Commercial Back Country Recreation Policy recent act, implications
* Forest Practices Code licenses, leases, tenures
* Park Act permits, standards.
- Leadership and Guest Relations:
* Leadership skills: judgment and attitude, decision making based on competence and confidence from doing and experience, setting and adhering to standards, dealing with extreme situations and unknown variables
* Guide and Guest relations: expectations - marketing, standards, exceeding expectations, deliver quality product, ensure client returns, responsibilities - towards guests and safety, assessment and judgment of guest abilities.
- Employee and Employer relations:
* Expectations - job description, skills, Policy and Operational Procedures, employee contracts, work schedules, responsibilities - two way street, open communication and active exchange
* Resumes, what employers are looking for.
Training Objective 6: Wildlife and angling:
- Species, location, seasonal patterns, habitat, daily habits
- Wildlife sighting forms, Creel reports.
One Week Wilderness Guide Training (Sunday to Saturday):
- June 28 - July 4
- July 19-25
- August 9-15
- September 13-19.
Two Week Wilderness Guide Training (Monday to Saturday):
- April 27 - May 9
- May 18-30
- June 8-20.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Prices:
One Week Wilderness Guide Training - 1956 CAD
Two Week Wilderness Guide Training - 3186 CAD.
Also see tour packages in:
Canada
British Columbia
Outdoor: Land Rambler
Horse Riding
Outdoor Skills School
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