It takes a certain toughness to survive in dangerous situations, which is why men made of jell-o never last long under the piercing stare of a hungry bear. Gaze boldly into nature’s starving face with today’s Groupon to Sierra School of Survival in Placerville. Choose from the following options:

<font size=4>•</font> For $45, you get one month of Junior Rangers classes (a $95 value).
<font size=4>•</font> For $95, you get a one-day wilderness-survival program (a $195 value).
<font size=4>•</font> For $189, you get a two-day weekend women’s backcountry-skills Camp (a $395 value).

The wilderness sages at Sierra School of Survival impart the life-protecting, nature-befriending skills necessary to withstand the threats of both rural and urban environments. Every Wednesday, Junior Rangers ages 9–18 acquire practical skills, such as constructing their own shelters, starting fires 20 different ways, performing first aid, escaping attackers, and working with a team of other miniature survival gurus or hopelessly lost sea cows. The troop also spends one Saturday or Sunday a month in the wilderness; parents who can keep pace are welcome to tag along. Sierra’s self-sufficiency instructors also bestow sustaining knowledge on one-day wilderness-survival students, teaching them to build both a shelter and the fire to burn it down, trap a hearty helping of woodland dinner, and reveal plants for what they really are—animals without hearts. Women venturing into the two-day women’s backcountry-skills course learn similar survival techniques, along with self-rescue methods and the sharp art of ax, hatchet, and knife use.

Sierra School owner and chief instructor Doug Huffman grew up in a hiking home, which inspired a lifelong love of journeying through deserts, Indian reservations, and gumdrop forests. Doug has shared his expertise widely, working with military and law-enforcement groups such as the Special Forces and Navy SEALs, as well as conducting REI survival seminars.