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Tom Brown Jr. is an interesting character who sometimes made claims that people suspect were exaggerated. But he was undoubtedly one of the foremost contributors to animal tracking and nature connection in the United States.
He stated that he began to learn tracking and hunting at the age of eight, under the tutelage of an Apache elder called, Grandfather. As an adult, he founded the Tom Brown Jr. Tracker School in 1978.
Most of my tracking education comes from his former students who started their own schools. And the tracking club in my area was started more than twenty years ago by Jon Young, Tom’s first student. In my eyes, Tom’s importance, influence, and greatest accomplishment is how his students have shared his teachings with countless thousands of Americans looking to connect with nature.
Regardless of what you think of some of Tom’s claims, his books are informative and convey a lot of practical information. A book I enjoyed and recommend is Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking.
In the book, Tom describes its purpose. And I will leave you with his words, which I think define his legacy.
I hope this book helps you become more aware of nature and to feel more fully the joy of living. I hope it helps you to hear the voices modern man misses – not just the voices that speak to the five senses, but the universal voice that speaks to the heart.
– Tom Brown, Jr. (January 29, 1950 – August 16, 2024)
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I never met you but I heard a lot about you.
Read some books from you and was in awe of the Tracker.
Wished I could have met you because of what I heard and read you must have been a great guy.
Rest in peace Tom
Thank you for your thoughts, Jean.
I enrolled in a three day tracking school of Tom Brown. It was in 1979 or 1980, in Washington State. I had high hopes. But it was vastly disappointing. The organizers were unprepared to host the 20 plus people who attended and Tom was hardly accessible to any of us except a few high level organizers. .
It was very cold in the lodge, the only warm place was the kitchen with a wood stove and outside of a few hands on lessons of how to start a fire from cedar bark, he hung out mostly in the kitchen.
His stories seemed exaggerated and most could not be sourced.
The only thing he was tracking was the almighty dollar. Perhaps over time he improved his seminars.
Chris, thank you for sharing your thoughts. It is important that you mention this.
Over the years, I have spoken with several of Tom Brown’s students. More than one had concerns about Tom Brown and his tracking school. They mentioned two specific areas of concern. They felt that he exaggerated many of his claims about his abilities. They also believed that he was too profit-motivated. I did not press them to get into specifics.
I did not feel comfortable writing about these issues in the article because I had no first-hand experience. So I greatly appreciate you sharing your experience with us in the comments.