PRIOR MTN PROGRAM GRADUATES

MTN PRG 2023-2024

Background:

Before participating in the Mountain Program, I was a 39-year-old internal medicine physician, deeply committed to my career and my family. Married with two little girls who mean the world to me, I found joy in my role as a father and husband. Despite having hunted before, my experiences were limited to tree stands, and I had never ventured into camping. My fears of heights and failure were significant barriers in my life, and I often found myself frustrated by minor setbacks. My weight was a constant source of unhappiness, and my best friend's wife once jokingly referred to me as "a princess," highlighting my discomfort with challenging outdoor activities.

Testimonial :The Mountain Program was a transformative experience for me. I've learned to manage my emotions, especially when faced with unexpected challenges. This emotional growth, coupled with a 75-pound weight loss, has dramatically improved my self-image and overall happiness. The program instilled in me a newfound purpose for fitness: the ability to care for my family and thrive in the outdoors. I now find joy and comfort in camping, having spent many nights under the stars. My confidence in hunting has soared; I believe I can successfully hunt any animal in North America, particularly in mountain conditions. Through this journey, I've conquered my fears of heights and failure, discovering my true capabilities as a man. I now proudly identify as an Alpha King, fully aware of my strength and resilience.

PRECISION HUNTER 2020

Testimonial: I am not a great marksman when it comes to shooting. But I do know how to ask for help.

I had several international hunts planned and I was in desperate need of training and practice before I flew half-way across the world.  Mark took into consideration my skill set after talking to me and then planned a training schedule for my time at Branded Rick Canyon. I was to have 2 very different hunts involving two very different environmental conditions, Marco Polo in Tajikistan and Dwarf Buffalo in the Cameroon jungle. Having attended a group class a couple of year before, I had developed confidence but just not enough for what I was about to do.

Mark did not skip the basics; disassemble and clean the firearm, reassemble it, mount the scope,zero the scope, develop trajectory data from live firings, load data into the range finder and then work the gun out to ??? Range distances. This prepared me for the Tajikistan high altitude and what turned out to be a 1200 yd kill shot.

After working me thru the BRC long range course we returned to the shorter range to prepare for Cameroon which was going to require a fast reaction shooting. As we progressed down the range Mark called out targets to my left and right as I knelt, sat, and stood using Precision Equipment tri and bi-pods shooting the targets. As it turned out it was perfect conditioning for the jungle hunt.

Mark’s knowledge, experience, personality and instruction is bar none. He assessed my skills, set achievable goals and we practiced, practiced and practiced some more. His ability to prepare me for two very different hunting environments says everything about his skills as an instructor and mentor.

PRIVATE INSTRUCTION

Precision Shooting basics & Advanced

Survival basics & Fieldcraft

Background:Name: Brian Wallin

Age: 55

Hobbies:

Family, Shooting, Camping, Surfing, Snowboarding, Hunting and Mountain Biking

Profession:

·       4+ years working as a National Healthcare Recruiter for Federal Veterans Hospitals and IHS facilities.

·       33 years working as Owner and Production Manager for Wallin Surfboards producing over 50,000 surfboards worldwide during career.

Residing: Costa Mesa, CA

Experience Shooting/Survival:

Starting shooting in 2018 and became interested in mountain and survival experience in 2020.

Testimonial: 

After taking a couple high angle shooting classes in 2019 and 2020 I became really interested in shooting in the mountains. I saw that a shooter I had met through my first classes had gone and done some repelling into high angle shooting spots with Mark and knew I had to find out how to get into one of those classes.  I had done a lot of group classes and wanted to work with someone one on one so I contacted Mark in the hopes he would offer a class like that. He worked out a deal with me for a 4 day class to do some high angle shooting and learning more about reading wind. I had no idea that taking these classes would change the future of shooting for me to this day. Throughout the first class with Mark he taught me about shooter spotter dialect, wind calling at various angles, tripod manipulation and quick deployment, realistic equipment needs per shooing environment, natural point of aim and tons more. It was during that first class through talking with Mark that I learned about Marks love for mountain survival and bushcraft. For the last day of the class he talked me into dedicating the last part of instruction to learning some survival skills. To this day I’m grateful he pushed me to change that final day as it has truly changed my life. When I was 13 I got lost on a 50 mile hike that I was on and traumatized from that had pretty much written off backcountry anything ever since. I told Mark about what had happened and that I wanted to face that fear and get more comfortable in the mountains.

Mark designed another class known today as High Angle Woodsman Level II to elaborate on the shooting and survival techniques we touched on in my first class. This class could also be named “Beat the City out of City Folks Level I”. This class I got to take with another former Marine Scout Sniper and it was incredible experience.

In this class we covered topics like Kestrel and range finding integration, Locating and walking others onto targets, wind calls and truly understanding mirage vs. approximate wind speed, axe, knife and saw handling as well as shelter and hide building. We also went over water purification, land navigation, traps and snars, animal harvest, use of all parts of animal, quick camp breakdown considerations, bow drill construction and use. I knew after that course I really needed to get a handle on gear and its organization and weight based on what kind of trip I was going to be taking. Paid an embarrassing price for not better understanding that topic.

The 3rd class I took with Mark is where he started to see different parts of Marks instruction that have proven to be invaluable to me ever since I took his class. The 3rd class was High Angle Woodsman III. In this class Mark started to push me much harder and test my mental and physical strength. The goal of that class was to use all of the lessons learned in High Angle Woodsman I and II to prove competency in backcountry navigating and survival skills.  We did a lot of hiking, shooting, land navigation, stalking etc. I was responsible to plan out a full 3 day route using onX maps and correlate GPS coordinates to find targets that were pre set up out along that route. A lot of these topics were tested under sleep deprivation which added another level to his instruction. I learned some hard lessons that trip and am still using what I learned from those lessons to this day in and out of the mountains.