Hide + Scout
Skills Camp
Expand your skillset on and off the land.
April 3-6, 2026
WSANEC Peninsula, BC
This experience will stay with you.
Spend four days on rural farm and in the forest.
Embody the scout
- the global archetype of the capable denizen.
Someone who is at home in the woods equally as in the city.
Someone who applies skills from the land into your everyday life.
✓ We’re playing games
✓ We’re sneaking in the forest
✓ We’re learning archery
✓ And as always -
we’re tanning hides 🦌
What’s Included?
Scout Craft. Forest orientation + movement with games. Rely on your five senses and test your intuition. Get silly, while getting skilled. Walk away with practice routines to bring you home to yourself when you’re back in the city.
Hide Tanning. The original natural fibre + embodiment practice. Learn to tan a deerskin into soft cloth. Do each step of the process with your own hide, provided by us. Scrape, soften, smoke it - then it’s yours forever.
Archery Lesson. With old school yew longbows. If you’ve never shot a bow + arrow or if you love to do it regularly, we’ve got a target for you. Archery aligns body posture, hones in the mind-to-hand connection, and brings in a flow state. Plus it’s fun af.
Camping. Stay on the land during Hide + Scout. Camping is in a spacious meadow, with access to an indoor shower and washroom, and secure food storage. Camping is included Friday night to Monday afternoon.
Extra:
Dinners. Join the group for 3 homemade meals. Chef Mark is making his incredible farm dinners Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. We can accommodate gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian diets. Option to choose dinner add-on at check-out.
Morning drinks. We’ll make your coffee for you. This is automatically included if you opt in for dinners. Coffee, tea, and all the fixings.
Learn to tan a deer hide, ethically sourced from the waste of hunting season. You’ll make this natural fibre - a smoked plush cloth.
Our Scout Craft element takes the group to our local woods. This is where we learn to move through the natural world + play games.
Archery to immediately practice your new movement skills. We use longbows made from Vancouver Island yew trees. Learn the stance + flow of shooting a real bow and arrow.
FAQs
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We curate our experiences for adults.
People as young as 16-18 years old can still get a lot out of the content, based on their personal experience and skill level.
The strength and capacity needed for the content of Hide + Scout is above the level of children.
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No! This is a beginner-friendly experience.
We recommend that you already have a level of comfort and experience walking through the forest on trail. No off-trail experience is necessary.
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Our main programming is 10am to 4pm.
On at least one of the days, we host an optional night mission in the forest to practice heightening our senses in the dark.
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Bring clothes for all weather. This is the island (as our American friends say, the “pacific northwest” :) )
- prepare for cold nights, warm days, and rain.Be prepared to camp. Bring your tent, sleeping bag, and all the gear you need. Bring your own food for breakfast + lunch (you can opt in to dinners and morning beverages with us for $30/day).
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That’s (part of) the point. We can’t always do archery, play in the forest, or tan hides.
The movement practices and body postures you learn through these 3 skills will stay with you for life.
Every moment off-grid counts. This can be the spark of a new you with new hobbies - or it can be an incredible retreat for a weekend that refreshes you. Either way, what you learn will stick with you, your body will develop muscle memory, and you’ll be that much more capable in the natural world.
How to Join
Choose from:
(1) The baseline option: experience Hide + Scout plus camp on-site.
(2) Extra nourishment option: get served farm dinners, plus get coffee and tea in the mornings.
Hide + Scout Facilitators
Jeni Ronald. Jeni is a teacher of Wilderness Awareness School’s 9-month adult immersion program. She is coming up from WA to the island to zero in on her favourite wilderness skill: scout craft.
Ryan Gauthier. Ryan is a Vancouver Island bowyer and knapper. He has taught bowmaking as a guest instructor here at Fern + Roe and we wanted more of his skills as an archer and teacher. Find his bows at Stormcrow Archery.
Mara Cur. Mara is the founder of Fern + Roe Folk Tannery on Vancouver Island. She teaches hide tanning online in our seasonal program Hide Club and in-person at our farm on the WSANEC Peninsula.
Mark Santamaria. Mark tans the buckskins here at Fern + Roe. But for Hide + Scout, he is our chef! Mark trained at culinary school in 2015 and has been serving meals and face at F+R for the past three years.