Wilderness Survival

[Guest guest]

Hi Wanita,

>>>>Was surprised a few years back to hear on some list that Tom is a total

fraud.

Never was a Stalking Wolf and his friend, grandson of Stalking Wolf was

still

alive and not dead as he'd written in his books. Mighty big claim but one I

paid little mind to knowing much of what Tom wrote could not have been made

up

or even read in books. There were too many pieces of my childhood that was

in

part Native American.

****I asked Dan about the fraud claims you mentioned. He told me he's

familiar with a number of such claims, many from competitors at wilderness

schools in the west it seems. Tom's school is the most well known, the

oldest, and is in NJ, as I imagine you already know. As you said, what Tom

Brown knows is not something one could learn from a book. He is a proven

masterful tracker. The FBI used to call on him for tracking missing people,

and local police use him often. Dan said Apache trackers can understand the

pressure release in tracks -this is what Tom was taught (among other

things). Tom can look at a track and tell if a person or animal swallowed

while making a particular track because the weight shifts during a swallow.

Dan's tracking skills are not that advanced, but he can see, for example, if

someone or some animal turned their head to the right while stepping in deep

sand. But it takes him a little while to study the track. Dan also said that

Tom may be the best tracker on the planet - his awareness and skill at

reading tracks is extraordinary. (Although I'd imagine there are some

excellent trackers in hunter/gatherer groups somewhere in the world and we

just don't know about them...) Dan's seen him spot about 20 fox tracks

within a few moments, but it took a group of students about an hour and a

half to find all 20 tracks.

Dan also told me that some of the western wilderness schools consider Tom's

spiritual approach " that spiritual nonsense " or something to that effect,

and that there's probably some jealousy at play due to his tremendous

success. I guess the bottom line is that he's proven that his skills and

approach work, not just in tracking, but in other wilderness and spiritual

matters. Another example, Tom taught Dan the pipe ceremony, which is a type

of healing ceremony, and Dan has conducted pipe ceremonies over the years,

refining it, and has had some amazing results with people who were ill,

including at least one person with cancer.

This is bringing back an interesting memory of the basic survival skills

class I took...heightened awareness is a major theme running through

everything Dan teaches. One lesson in awareness that I clearly remember from

the class I took is this: Dan had one of his apprentices " hide " himself in

some shallow grass next to Dan's driveway. The apprentice covered himself in

mud (just like the photo on tom's home page) and mentally made himself

" invisible. " I knew he was going to do this and I often looked around to

see if was hiding, but I saw no sign of him. Then at one point, we

were standing on the dirt driveway listening to Dan. We were standing there

for about 5 minutes, and suddenly popped up out of the grass about 2-3

feet away from me! We all jumped as none of us had seen him, although he

must've been fairly visible in the lowish grass and with much of his torso

NOT covered in mud. We made him get back in the same position, and when he

lay in the same place, we could all clearly see him. Of course, that's

because we KNEW he was there. There's no reason that we shouldn't have

noticed him before, except that we were exceptionally UNaware people.

You mentioned that too many pieces of your childhood was native american -

is part of your heritage native american? If so, what nation/tribe? Or did

you grow up under the tutelage of some native americans?

>>>>> What really blew me away was one day before I quit

working at a bank a man came in. I cashed his check, he asked why I didn't

ID

him, told him he was a schoolmates father and I knew him. He asked who I

was,

told him and he goes your Dad is quite a hunter. He then described to me

exactly Tom Brown's first deer hunt only it was how he knew my Dad had

hunted a deer as a much younger man.

***I don't understand what you're saying here...? Dan mentioned that tom's

first deer hunt was a poignant story in which he first became aware of the

lifeforce/spirit/ki of plants...is your story tied in to that?

>>>>I really am just suggesting that there may be more to the robust

>health of the groups he studied than just the physical components of their

>diets.

>>>Its a common mind and the common good.

***Yes, and perhaps not the just the common good of the *group* but of all

that sustains it, and to which it wil return...

Suze Fisher

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