The Colorado Outdoor Adventure
Guide School with Willie Webb, Jr.
The COAGS Experience
 Editor’s Note: The Colorado Outdoor Adventure Guide School (COAGS), of
Cripple Creek Colorado, is a unique learning environment which includes
indoor classroom instruction and outdoor, hands-on activities that provide
the students with the groundwork needed to attain success in the
outdoor-recreation industry. Although most of the students aspire to become
employed in the outdoors, COAGS welcomes any outdoors enthusiast who wants
to become more comfortable in the wilds to participate in any or all of the
courses.
Prospective COAGS students all seem to ask several common questions; what
type of accommodations do you have; what type of gear should I bring; what
do we do on the weekends and in our spare time; and, what type of schedule
do we follow?
Accommodations:
The Colorado Outdoor Adventure Guide School doesn’t have lavish
accommodations, but the mountain vistas are well worth the trip to Cow
Mountain. The main camp cabins are functional and rustic. The majority of
students are males, but a growing number of females attend each year. COAGS
does provide separate housing for male and female students, as well as
couples. Students stay in one of the six cabins  with usually three or four
assigned to a cabin. The cabins are designed with bunk beds and plenty of
storage areas. COAGS provides heat, pillows and a bottom sheet; students are
asked to bring their own sleeping bag. The shower house has two different
rooms extremely-hot water.
The lodge is the most-spacious building on the Gold Camp Ranch. It houses
the indoor classroom, dining area and kitchen. The classroom where all
power-point lectures and indoor lessons are held comfortably seats twenty.
Prior to breakfast and morning chores, staff and students can follow news
coverage on satellite television. The dining room is home to hot home-cooked
meals and the students’ telephone line. The kitchen is small, but very
efficient. It has a commercial oven where camp cooking begins and the
students prepare breakfast. COAGS provides students with all the tack they’
ll need. COAGS is especially proud of the tack room and the storage
facility, which is home to all riding and pack saddles, as well as any other
tack needed in caring for stock. Students are expected to keep the tack room
clean and put everything back in its designated place. During Pack Week,
students and staff have the opportunity to spend several nights in a tent
camp setting. Although everyone stays in 14X16-foot wall tents, the COAGS
tent camp is exceptionally nice by most standards. Each tent has a wood
burning stove, cots, table and chairs. Classes are held in camp, and
students perform all the duties needed to run a successful and enjoyable
tent camp, including cooking, gathering of firewood, packing and caring for
the stock.
What Type of Gear should I Bring?
Anyone enrolling in a COAGS class can print out the recommended packing
list, which is long. Students are asked to bring as much on the list as they
can but are encouraged not to go in debt to buy everything on the list. The
staff insists on students buying the best equipment they can afford. For all
the Colorado courses, even the whitetail classes, sleeping bags rated for
zero degrees, rain gear, good hiking and riding boots, a camera and a pair
of binoculars are essential. Compasses, a GPS, wilderness survival kit,
first-aid kit, sunscreen and sunglasses are also very important. COAGS
encourages students to bring their archery equipment, since some members of
t he staff are archery fanatics and shoot often after classes and on the
weekends. The whitetail classes in Texas have nicer accommodations with no
need for sleeping bags. Texas is snake country so snake-proof boots, gaiters
or chaps are recommended to also help protect against mesquite and prickly
pear cactus. Horsemanship is not taught in Texas, so riding boots aren’t
required. However, cowboy or large-brimmed hats that give protection from
the sun, a camera, a pair of binoculars, a GPS, sun screen and sun glasses
are also suggested.
What About Weekends?
In both Texas and Colorado, students have weekends free from instruction.
Colorado students have the opportunity to experience all the Rocky Mountains
have to offer. The mountain communities usually have some type of festival,
art show or other weekend attraction during the summer months. Fly fishing
and hiking are popular outings students enjoy in their free time. The Gold
Camp Ranch is only minutes away from Pikes National Forrest and Skagway
Reservoir. Some students venture down to the Arkansas River to fly fish
and/or white water raft. Also, Colorado Springs is only an hour from the
ranch, and Denver is a few hours away. The COAGS campuses in Texas are 2 1/2
hours from San Antonio less than an hour from Mexico. Some students will
venture across the border. A few hours drive from the beautiful Texas hill
country, students can fish and float some of Texas’s pristine rivers. COAGS
students also can contact the staff on possible hog hunts on different Texas
ranches.
What’s the Daily Schedule Like?
Each COAGS course has a slightly-different schedule. Orientation begins the
 first of every class. Students learn about the school and their instructors.
Orientation also gives the staff an opportunity to hear each student’s
unique story and reasons for coming to the Colorado Outdoor Adventure Guide
School. The staff assigns different groups to perform ranch duties
throughout the week. Depending on the number of students, generally one
group will have kitchen duty per day, and one group will have wrangler duty,
rotating responsibilities during the week. The kitchen group will begin
cooking breakfast and learning all the tasks performed by a camp cook. The
camp cook is considered the “lifeline” of a camp and is responsible for the
efficiency of the camp. Time only allows students to cook breakfast;
however, anyone wanting to cook other meals is encouraged, and arrangements
can be made for them to do so. Wrangler duties begin in the corrals with
putting out hay and grain for the stock. These students are in charge of the
tack room and the corral’s upkeep throughout the day. They also help
round-up the stock. After breakfast, all students meet at the corrals to
halter, feed, brush and pick the feet of all the stock. Students will then
either saddle their assigned animals or turn out the stock, depending on the
scheduled activities for that particular day. Lunch will usually be around
noon. Students have classes between lunch and supper. After supper, students
will have a reading assignment or watch a video. Daily subjects and outside
activities are subject to change because of weather. The whitetail classes
are different because the students don’t deal with the stock; however, the
students do have kitchen duty, reading assignments, and videos after supper.
Whitetail students tend to have more class room lectures, but the staff
tries to get outside as much as possible. The Texas campuses offer times to
observe whitetails in the field. Students can take cameras and video
equipment to the stands during their in-the-field observations, which allows
the staff and students to review the animals and practice aging and scoring
on the hoof.
For anyone wants more information or to ask questions, please go online to
www.guideschool.com or call 1-800-714-4864. Remember, a career in the
outdoors has a doorway at the Colorado Outdoor Adventure Guide School.
Tomorrow: What is COAGS?
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