ABOUT

FOUNDER OF ANCESTRAL HUNTING SCHOOL

Ken is a lifetime adventurer and an avid outdoorsman. For much of his adult life he mostly ate fish and vegetables and started hunting later in life. Bowhunting in the Rocky Mountains quickly became an obsession, logging weeks at a time solo hunting with only his intuition and limited experience as guiding forces. The experiences he has deep in the wilderness afforded him a deeper understanding of nature and his connection to it.

His first big game kill was surreal, a 100 yard shot from standing on a white tail deer. The combination of reverence, pride and primal connection he felt to his food was complex. At that moment something transformed in him, he became a part of nature and wanted to use as much of the animal as possible. A lifelong learner he explored different ways of preparing game, tanning hides and utilizing organ meat.

Ken has had the privilege to learn and hunt in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming and continues to learn from the land every year.

DIRECTOR OF CURRICULUM | HUNTING COACH

Mark has over 40 years of hunting and fishing experience in diverse locations around the world. He has been hunting small and large game for over 22 years. As a kid Mark always wanted to hunt, but nobody in his family or friend groups had the experience or the skills to teach him. Fishing was easier to gain access to than hunting but the yearning to hunt never faded. Fortunately for Mark, in 2000 he met an archery hunter in northern Wisconsin who was willing to tutor him in the art and skill of archery, whitetail deer hunting, scouting, blood trailing and butchering.

Harvesting his first deer was a pivotal moment in Mark’s life. Not sure if he would take the shot, Mark did, and it transformed him. The experience was an emotional one, and the gratitude for finding this missing connection to the land and food continues for Mark to this day.

Mark has hunted and fished his way around the world to places including The Solomon Islands, Mauritius, Alaska, British Columbia, The Yukon Territory, Canada, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Wisconsin, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming.

Mark has since taught several new hunters how to shoot, scout, execute merciful shots with multiple types of arms, gut, skin, and process animals. As a nationally recognized teacher of excellence, Mark finds joy in combining his skills of instruction with his love of the hunt and finds extreme importance in helping people access the same connection that he once found in northern Wisconsin.

WILDERNESS HUNTING COACH

Mike has enjoyed hunting and being an outdoorsman for the majority of his life. Starting at the young age of 8 he learned the ropes with his accomplished and highly skilled father George. The two spent many hours in the backcountry hunting, fishing, camping and enjoying camaraderie. Mike was always encouraged to pursue his skills with boy scouts and outdoor trips.

Mike has spent more than 11 years serving with Search and Rescue, contributing to many successful missions. He is an accomplished instructor for SAR and a respected mission coordinator.

He spends a significant amount of time mapping his home county to create up to date data for the response teams. His navigation skills are an asset to the response teams. Mike has maintained his wilderness first responder certification for over 10 years and often puts it to use in the field. He is known to be a calm and collected leader.

Mike has enjoyed the freedom of the outdoors and appreciates all the mentors and coaches in his life that helped him achieve the joy of being in the wilderness. He enjoys passing on the knowledge and being a coach to others.

Mike has found the benefit of being taught how to exist with nature and seek the freedom of the outdoors and enjoys passing on the knowledge.

OWNER OF THAYER RANCH

The Thayer Ranch is run by John and Annie Thayer along with their two children Mel, Andie, and Jack. This ranch has been in John’s family for over five generations. The very resourceful land offers hunting, fishing, and camping like none other in the area. John grew up helping his father manage a grass fed angus herd of cattle and with many other jobs on the ranch such as fixing fences, irrigating hay meadows, tending to livestock, and putting up hay.

Over the years, John has witnessed the patterns of the wildlife found on the ranch. There are over 10 miles of creek bottom ground and just over four thousand acres of natural beauty. You may get the opportunity to see the eagles return to nest in a special tree, geese landing on the bass pond for a rest as they travel South for the winter, and of course the deer that come to seek shelter or raise their little ones in the Spring.

The Thayer family spends a lot of time and focus on the management of the ranch. The all natural cattle are part of a rotational grazing program used to improve soil health and natural plant growth. The fence lines are built to protect the wildlife as they roam the pastures.

Our family would like to welcome you to our place and we hope you enjoy your adventure. Thank you and God Bless!

WILDERNESS FORAGING COACH

Mandy has a deep relationship with and life-long apprenticeship to the plants and the wisdom of the land. For the past 20 years, Mandy has been intimately involved with the green ones in many forms, including foraging wild foods and wildcrafting medicines in the front range of Colorado. She’s a native plant master, an organic farmer and a folk herbalist having learned most of what she knows from elders, wisdom keepers and her own ancestors.

Mandy is the founder of Old Ways Wisdom, an organization dedicated to bridging the gap of disconnection by bringing us back into relationship with ourselves, the land and the old ways of our ancestors. As a nature-based coach, mentor and guide, Mandy weaves together ancestral arts and skills with science-based therapeutic training to work with the traumas we carry in our bodies. The heart of her work is to revive the wild and indigenous soul in each one of us by re-establishing the relationship we have with the land and our own bodies, and healing what holds us back and separate so that we can bring our true gifts—our unique medicine—to the planet.

When not tending the farm where she lives or busy in her work with Old Ways Wisdom, you’ll find Mandy in the hills hunting for medicines to make into teas, salves, tinctures and other wild foods. One of Mandy’s joys is sharing the info that’s been passed along to her with others who would like to learn, so you’ll find her guiding plants walks and teaching ancestral skills workshops throughout the year.

Mandy is in service to the remembrance of our wild selves; to a partnership between nature, creativity and soul; and to the wisdom carried in our bones waking us up to what is most important in our lives. She believes that the way forward is intimately connected to the ways of our ancestors and our relationship with the land, and she is thrilled to share some of this wisdom with you.

CERTIFIED PERSONAL CHEF

Bri has had a life-long passion for food, beginning her culinary career at 11 years old, every Saturday morning at a family-friend's bakery. Growing up on an island in the Pacific Northwest, her relationship to the land and sea was easily ingrained through access to an extensive growing season, dense forests of wild plants and fungi, and an abundance of ocean delights. Paired with an intricate network of small farms, a robust local food movement, and a large family of foodies, chefs, and fishermen, the merging of everyday life and career felt biologically ingrained.

After moving to Colorado, and many early mornings a pastry chef, Bri set her sights on a path of self-employment, with a vision more aligned with her values – providing customized service as a personal chef and caterer, integrating a holistic and intentional approach to food, nutrition, and sustainability. She currently still works with her first client of 15 years - an “assignment” that has become akin to extended family - managing the ins and outs of all things food-related on their farm, and a dream job of connecting to the Earth and the body, through agriculture, animal husbandry, and community.

BUTCHERING INSTRUCTOR

Jason grew up in the small town of Woodland Park located west of Colorado Springs. He’s been a avid outdoorsman his whole life. He’s always had a fascination with butchering and cooking. After years working in Construction and then in Law Enforcement he came home from working in Kosovo and took a job in the Landscape industry for 10 years. Closing in on his tenth year he realized his body would hold up and he pursued his passion for food. He was particularly interested in Butchering and followed that dream.

Fast forward to his tenth year as a landscaper and he took on Butchery full time after completing the Rocky Mountain Institute of Meats professional butchering program. After a year of working in the industry and gaining recognition from the restaurant industry Jason was sought out by 10th Special Forces Group in 2014. His course was designed after learning about the Issues Special Forces faced during deployments and during war time conflicts. Issues varied from eating unsafe meats to animals getting poisoned prior to American soldiers consuming meats harvested by the indigenous population. They work in extreme climates cold and hot, in access denied areas of operations (deep behind enemy lines).

He’s set himself up as the only butcher in the world that teaches military entities anywhere in the world!!