[at-l] Tom Brown's Tracker School

[mmmorganlady@xxxxxxxxx (Mary M. Morgan)]

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Howdy, All,

Just had to jump in on this discussion.  My son has taken 3 of the Tom Brow=
n courses in New Jersey.  He is the kind of kid who was skipped a grade, gr=
aduated high school at 16, dropped out of college and generally was wasting=
 his intelligence.  Then he discovered the Tom Brown Philosophy (or rather,=
 Grandfather's) by reading all 20 books.  I know, 'cause I bought them for =
him for Christmas.. He now has a path to follow and has decided to take all=
 of the Tom Brown courses and yes, be dropped into the woods naked.  I don'=
t know if he will have a knife or not.

He has shown me some of the survival skills, such as making a shelter from =
wood and leaves.  He made his own and slept in it during a week of rain in =
Oct, 2002.  He has also made rope from cedar tree bark and has attempted to=
 make a fire by using the bow method.  He hasn't accomplished that yet.  Th=
en, to acquire water.  When near a stream, dig a hole about 5 feet away, th=
en let the water become filtered naturally by the ground.  Still have to bo=
il the water, tho.  Tom Brown believes that All water in US is contaminated.

I think that the most intesting thing about the school is learning to track=
 animals.  Tom Brown (who is technical director for the new movie The Hunte=
d) claims that he can tell you from a man's footprints whether he sneezed, =
smoked or breathed...

In the 3 courses that my son has taken, they have eaten food that they gath=
ered, learned to skin animals and tan the hide, make shelter, fire, and fin=
d water.

Could you go lighter weight if you took this course?  not unless you want t=
o stay in the same place.  The Tom Brown Course is, as was said before, abo=
ut surviving, the way of the American Indians....  I don't think that there=
 is enough food along the trail to eat.  You would have to go deep into the=
 woods for that.  You couldn't possibly make one of the shelters every day-=
-you would have to stop 5 hrs before you were to stop for the nite.  Wouldn=
't get many miles in....

But, if you were on your thru hike and a world war broke out and you chose =
to stay in the wilderness, well, then this course would probably work....

www.trackerschool.com

:o) Mary