WFA for Hunters & Anglers

Backcountry anglers and hunters thrive in putting miles between themselves and the trailhead.  We know that the further from other people we travel, the better our chances of success afield.  But the further we venture from the front country, the more reliant we are on ourselves to render care in an emergency situation.

The Wilderness First Aid for Hunters & Anglers (WFA-H&A) offers backcountry users what an urban first aid course fails to provide. The WFA is a great introduction to wilderness medicine and basic life support skills. This training focuses on prevention, assessment, and treatment of environmental illnesses common to backcountry travel, recognizing and stabilizing life threats caused by trauma, and calling for a rescue in the event of a wilderness emergency.

This course focuses on the injuries many people think of when hunting and fishing such as gunshot wounds and impaled hooks, as well as many less obvious injuries and illnesses that pose equal threat. We will discuss the potential consequences of unaddressed small issues cascading into much bigger problems like a blister in your hiking boot that if left untreated, could end your hunt. This training will teach you to recognize and treat your fishing partner’s changed disposition, perhaps signaling an unexpected cardiac or diabetic emergency.

We all recognize that dressing an elk after several miles (or days) of hiking is a physical endeavor.  Chances are you know someone who has seriously cut themselves in this state of fatigue. Are you ready to deal with this situation? What would you have done if that knife had slipped and cut an artery? Did you know that improper placement of a tourniquet could actually make the bleed worse? This WFA course will cover proven techniques for safely stopping life-threatening arterial bleeds.

Backcountry users strive to lighten their kit in many ways, and wilderness medicine training is one of the most useful and lightest pieces of gear you can bring into the field.

At Desert Mountain Medicine, your course instructors have a passion for upland hunting, large and small game hunting, and fishing. Decades of field experience combined with careers in outdoor education and wilderness medicine means that our staff bring relevant content and questions to the classroom.  We’ll encourage critical thinking about worst case scenarios to help you understand the importance of early interventions and thorough planning so that you can enjoy another day in the backcountry.