JOSH HAMLIN

Primitive Skills Instructor

Primitive Skills Expert / Plant Specialist / Flint Knapping

2 YEARS LIVING IN THE WILD
Alone in the Wilderness

OBJECTIVE

Seasoned professional, with a wide range of knowledge and personal experience in many different wilderness scenarios
Can quickly and accurately determine the best course of action in any emergency situation.
Has many years of plant identification and wilderness medicine training.
An expert in the field of food procurement and trapping.
Trained in self defense and the martial arts
Native American who was trained by the elders in the ways of ceremony and medicine

I began training in edible and medicinal plants as a child as soon I was able to read. My Cherokee mother encouraged my training and by the time I was a teen I knew most
of the local plants and there uses. I furthered my training as a young adult by working as a landscaper while I paid my way through college, majoring in the field of botany.
I worked for several years at a plant nursery, in the plant hospital, caring for and nurturing sick plants back to health
spent many years studying and mastering many different styles of martial art which gave me the confidence to immerse myself completely into the wilderness to complete my shamanic and wilderness survival training

In 2001, I walked off into the Oklahoma wilderness with only the clothing on my back to live for one year, in the way of my ancestors. I ended up staying out there for two years, learning to master myself and many of the skills required to live comfortably in a primitive situation. I spent my days studying the tracks and habits of the many various animals I encountered. Six months into my stay, I met a hiker who was a member of the Native American Church. He started bringing friends and church members out to visit me on weekends to take classes from me, and thus, my teaching career began.
In 2003, I returned to society and was offered a position teaching at the Bois D’Arc Primitive Skills Gathering. I have been teaching there with some of the best teachers in the world ever since.
Also in 2003 I put an ad in the local paper and started teaching wilderness skills and basket making to home school groups.

In 2004, I began teaching at Primitive Skills Day at the Springfield Nature Center in Springfield, MO and still teach there the first weekend of October every year.
In 2006, I was offered a teaching position at First Earth Wilderness School, with Bo Brown.
In 2009, I taught a primitive crossbows class at Dave Canterberry’s Pathfinder Gathering.
In 2010, I began teaching with esteemed elder Cecil Hamilton at his yearly gathering, Primitive Skills Camp, and I am very honored to be able to continue teaching with him for many years to come.
I have worked many festivals demonstrating fire starting, basket making, and many other primitive skills. Festivals include Ecofest, Heritage days, Greenfest, and many many more.