Fieldcraft TRACKER SCHOOL

Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

The following is from this source: http://www.trackertrail.com/tombrown/controversies/fraud.html

I'm not trying to start any fires, but there is quite a bit of controversy about him, and his school. Whatever though, if his teaching works, by all means go for it.

I'm also awaiting a run down of this school.

Sourced material follows:


Tom Brown's Tracking School (NOT!)

Lyn Dearborn ([email protected])
Wed, 8 Feb 1995 17:34:04 GMT

>Does anyone know about the Tom Brown School of Tracking, and would they
>give me some information/opinions about it? It may just be this
>particular instructor, or it may be an attitude picked up from his training

TOM BROWN JR. IS A FRAUD; some of his tracking instructors are pretty good. I have this info on him from the highest possible source (except "God", who will "get him" in the long run). Last night I spoke with a friend who is a Park Ranger & has just returned from a week-long Rendezvous in Arizona with the folks from the Society of Primitive Technology -- the group I recommended as a way of checking out this turkey.

You were right in your gut feelings that he is should be boycotted. He may have learned things since he initial training from First Nations peoples, for which he will pay dearly in the future.

No, he was NOT raised by or with the Apaches; Stalking Wolf, who supposedly trained him, doesn't exist. Tom Brown is from New Jersey and "bought" what knowledge he has from the workshops given through the Society of Primitive Technology. He actually learned quite a lot ... but it was from the teachers there, not First Nation's people that he got his knowledge. You were right in your gut feelings that he should be boycotted. He may have learned things since his initial training from First Nations peoples, for which he will pay dearly in the future.

There were quite a few of his "ex-teachers" at the Winter Count Rendezvous last week in Phoenix ... and they always get a kick out of it when some naive person who has come from one of Brown's workshops asks questions about him.

HOWEVER, THE BOOKS PUT OUT ***IN HIS NAME*** are quite good. The ghost writer Tom Brown hired to write them is quite knowledgeable and well respected FOR HIS KNOWLEDGE ... not his ethics for doing the job, but "we all gotta eat" as the saying goes.

My friend says "Tom Brown is a guru; a Cultive personality; the ultimate Con man, & if anyone has any ideas on how to stop his "school" ... go for it!

If any of you would like HONEST "Old Ways" training, contact the Society of Primitive Technology

SORRY I WASN'T ABLE TO GET "Official Word" sooner ... but I DID say I would keep checking ... ought to have a motto like the RCMP: "we always get our Man"!

Any of the people who work for/thru the Primitive Technology organization can verify what was reported to me.

Mii sago minick!

Lyn

... and please remember: when you think you "smell a rat", you probably do; we need to pay attention to those messages from "our higher self"; got with the gut feeling, and "just say no!". Namaste.
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

Well I made it back from Toms school,I took his standard class. I gotta say if you want to learn how to really track something this is the school to attend. However there were alot of hippies there, if you dont mind being around them, then give the class a shot. Some of the classes bored the shit out of me, but for the most part it was very informative.
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

why would you take the class harold, werent you born knowing all that kinda stuff?
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Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

The hippies were there for the whole mother nature down with society thing, class was from sun-sat , and yes Tom was there and does alot of lectures along with his arrogant son T3. Cost of the class was 900.00. I hope to attend some of their scout classes in the future. The class was well worth the money.
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

$900?!! jesus, forget that...used to be around 500 or so. I always thought they had a policy of trying to keep cost down in the spirit of diseminating the teachings but seems if its gone up that much there might be a bit of gouging goin on. I think you pretty mich get the bi picture just from reading the sieries of books, the hard part, that most don't do, is the practise. I think the big thing is having the patience to study the tracks, wait in the woods observing, and taking the time to pay the dues so to speak. Theres nothing majical or voodoo about what he teaches. If anyone spent as much time in the woods just trying to observe and learn, your bound to pick up a lot of what might seem mystical to most.
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

There is a lot of free information on tracking at this website including some of Tom Brown's stuff.

I was fortunate enough to do a short tracking course with the famed Ab Taylor many years ago and have great respect for those that are good at it. Like many things, the training is just a learner's permit and lots of practice is required to excel in tracking.
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

Aw,thats like saying all native Americans know how to track,hunt and use a bow and arrow,which I don't. I'm always interested in any little anglers,or something new and differ,everybody that does tracking has got some little way thats differ from yours to help better your tracking skills. I sure tracking in the wooded forsets is differ from tracking in the desert the way I know it. Last winter I was on a track freshly made,then it started to snow,slightly ever covering the fresh cow elk trackd. Makeing them to appear two days old,finally got snowed out on that one. It sparks an interest in me,tracking.....
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

If I go back to any of the advanced classes it will be a while , so that I can practice alot on my tracking skills. Most of the class was boring as hell, most of it I already knew about.It surprised me that the part of NJ we were in was alot like south GA.
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

Well ,I can say this,You've got some under the belt training. Give you a feel when you come from and need to go. To put tracking in a nutshell,I think ones got to pick up bits and piceces here and there. By doing that it makes for a well round lesson. Here in the canyon lands we have a lot of blowing sand and wind,tracking can get differcult tracking on bare rocks and gravel bars.If I lose the tracks ,I make a mark on the last track,look backwards at the tracks,try to firquire out the aniamals instincts would be or why he would go a particular direction. Track forward a hundred yards,if no tracks mark,make a 360 circle,then back to the marker,then another hundred yards,kepting the eyeballs rolling,sometimes maybe a mile of this is required. Shelter,food,and sex is what the prey seeks,kept in mind. Not to worry too,many a time I've been skunked too. Did Tom talk of spirit beings or relgion?
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

Religion was kept out for the most part, but he insisted on giving thanks to mother earth before we practiced any of our skills. The backtracking was also covered along with using a tracking stick to mark the track pattern. Compression tracks were the main subject of what we learned in this class.
 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

If you are a person that is really interested in Man Tracking, this is a man who has tracked thousands of people and can prove it. He has provided court evidence which have lead to murder convictions. Has trained military units and alike. He is a profesional no BS, smoke mirrors or false claims. No tracking mice (some may get that joke) just men.


www.jhardin-inc.com/profiles.htm


Joel Hardin
Sign Cutter, Chief Instructor, Program Administrator

Joel completed 25 years with the U.S. Border Patrol in September of 1990 and resigned to enable full-time devotion to tracking training and consultation. His tracking mentor was and is master tracker Albert “Ab” Taylor, to whom he credits the inspiration of thirty years progressive training program development and success. He is fortunate to have participated in numerous significant criminal investigations and missing person searches that attracted wide media attention. He has produced primary evidence in such investigations as the “Green River Serial Murders,” fleeing fugitive and escapee incidents, and international missing person searches in Mexico, Australia, Peru, Canada, Alaska, and many other western states of the United States. He has testified on numerous occasions in criminal court proceedings and has been recognized as a tracking expert by federal and state court systems. He assisted the National Search and Rescue Association (NASAR) and other institutions in development of tracking standards and certifications. This Tracking Services program today is the evolution of Joel’s thirty-five years of tracking training experience with search and rescue, law enforcement, industrial security, and the military.

 
Re: TRACKER SCHOOL

That's different. That's the Army's Combat Tracking Course, run by a former member of the Rhodesian SAS, David Scott Donelan. I've heard it's a great course to go to.