Become a Wildcard and Be Wilderness Ready
Wildcard Wilderness is a traveling survival school and gear shop founded by Jacks Genega.
Often in the Southeast and Mountain West regions of the United States, Wildcard Wilderness works closely with several cooperatives including Georgia Bushcraft, Primitive Wilderness Survival, and The Survival University.
Overcome Your Obstacles to Outlast Your Odds
Ever get dealt a bad hand?
Become a wildcard, someone who overcomes against all odds.
At Wildcard Wilderness, we teach women and families how to build real-world outdoor skills and inner resilience (and not through macho bootcamps or fluffy getaways) but through grounded, hands-on courses and retreats that transform fear into confidence and skills into self-healing.
When dealt a bad hand in life, we believe that healing begins in the wilderness. By overcoming your fears of the wild you can overcome your fears preventing you from having a joyous life. We curate trauma-informed spaces for women and families providing skills training that transforms and products designed to defend.
The wilderness isn’t just a place of challenge, it’s a mirror for courage. Wildcard Wilderness merges practical survival training with resilience coaching so participants not only learn how to thrive in nature but rediscover strength, belonging, and healing in themselves. It’s not about proving toughness or indulging in overly fluffy nature holidays; it’s about remembering your power and letting nature teach you who you really are.
Outdoor Skills and Products You Can Bet Your Life On
Wildcard Wilderness offers both survival classes and gear that prepare you to face the cards nature dealt.
Why Choose Us?
- Training That Transforms: From advanced life-saving knowledge to medicinal plant workshops, we build confidence in adventure readiness, wilderness living, emergency preparedness, and nature connection.
- Resilience Through Self-Reliance: Learning how to find water, build shelter, and navigate harsh environments can create a path towards empowerment and agency.
- Supportive Learning Environment: Our courses are all inclusive with female-led instruction, women only options, and expeditions that apply real world scenario training.
- Experienced Instructors: Jacks Genega is a seasoned adventurer with a formal education from numerous leading experts.
- Designs That Defend: We believe that gear should be multi-functional and should provide protection from precipitation to predators.
TRAINING THAT TRANSFORMS
Trending Courses and Expeditions
Wildcard Wilderness curates courses and expeditions globally with a heavy focus on wilderness survival classes and nature immersion programs.
Find a Course Location Near You
BUILD RESILIENCE THROUGH SELF-RELIANCE
Beat the Odds with Essential Wilderness Skills Training
Wildcard Wilderness offers multiple pathways to learning outdoor skills with Survival Leadership Training, Wilderness Lifestyle Courses, and Adventure Readiness Learning.
Where would you like to begin?
- Survival Leadership: Training focused on survival priorities such as fire starting, shelter building, water filtration, food procurement, self-aid and self-rescue.
- Wilderness Lifestyle: Courses in specific nature immersion topics such as medicinal plants and building a community bushcraft basecamp.
- Adventure Readiness: Learning survival preparedness techniques on a guided trek through the remote wilderness.
Choose a course from the following pathways:
SURVIVAL LEADERSHIP
(Available with Women Only Options)
BASECAMP BUSHCRAFT
ADVENTURE READINESS
Wild Food Procurement • COLORADO
$695.00
Unit price perWhen calories matter, protein becomes the difference between getting by and truly sustaining yourself in the wild. This immersive four day field course focuses on practical methods for harvesting food from the landscape using simple materials and traditional knowledge.
Participants will learn how to construct effective fish basket traps, crawdad traps, primitive fishing systems, and several styles of traps and snares designed for small game. Along the way, students will also explore the fundamentals of animal tracking and gain a brief introduction to identifying useful wild edible plants.
Instruction emphasizes hands on building, field testing, and understanding how these systems work within real environments. By the end of the course, students will leave with the skills and confidence to locate, harvest, and secure reliable sources of protein from the natural world.
SUPPORTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Win the Wilderness with Women's Survival Classes and Other Intensives
Wildcard Wilderness provides unique learning opportunities beyond other traditional methods of training.
What requirements do you need?
From customized courses for all skill levels and demograpics; students will have a transformative experience that builds resilience and a taste for adventure.
Join an expedition to gain real-world experience.
Discover courses for women led by women.
Gain practical skills from professional instructors.
EXPERIENCED INSTRUCTORS
Learn From Us and Don't Gamble Your Education
Jaclyn "Jacks" Genega, Founder and Lead Instructor, of Wildcard Wilderness has a vast experience in adventure and survival training having solo trekked part of the world’s most remote and rugged terrains.
Who would you trust to guide your skill development?
“Sometimes in nature, like in life, you get dealt a bad hand. But by learning critical survival skills and leaning into curiosities, one can become a wildcard and discover the unexpected within. The wilderness provides a sense of belonging and place unlike our constant struggle to conform to societal norms. My goal is to create a sense of resilience through self-reliance. Skills in fire, navigation, bushcraft, and plant medicine all have the power to change people's perceptions of what they are truly capable of and become the hero of their own journey."
- Jacks Genega
Founder and Lead Instructor of Wildcard Wilderness LLC



