I actually went to Tom's first class back in 86 at his farm in north jersey and visited his barrens camp with a friend of mine whose been to three of his classes on north branch of forked river.I worshipped the guy till I actually met him.Thats when I found out he is a chain smoker of marlboro cigarettes and dressed,talked and walked like evryone else.Shot my wild man of the woods image down real quick.I eventually came to believe he is 90% BS.He claims he never used trails but always cut across country but never wore shoes.The barrens would make hash out of his feet very quickly.I believe his philosophy of trying to become independant of anything that can't be made in the woods is a good one but he claims you can do this and live comfortably.I don't think anyone can do this and live comfortable without a small tribe to divvy up tasks among.There is just too much to do to establish anything more then a hand to mouth existence without help.I also never seen an Indian who wouldn't trade their bow for a gun and some ammo though it is wise to know how to make a bow when your ammo runs out.
Since then I have found several really good skills teachers who teach without the shamanistic hoodoo and have a much more realitic approach of just how easy it is.Tom had me banging my head with his method of making a bow drill.Rob Chatburn has a much better method and I got fire right away,with Tom's I never did.He says he teaches you the hard way so when you get it the easy way is so much easier.I think he just didn't know the better way.When someone croaks of hypothermia because all they knew was the hard way maybe the easy way will look better.Also isn't it coincidental that Stalking Wolf disappeared without a trace to die and never had a birth certificate and Rick moved to Europe (pretty inacessible for research to most of us) and then died in a horseback riding incident.Then there is the true story of a student who questioned Tom too closely about Rick's background and was immediately given his money back and ecorted from class.Why? Sounds like he don't like prying eyes.Read his book and learn what skills you can which are all in a few field guides,take the books like tracker,search,vision,grandfather,etc. as good reads sorta like Journey to the Center of the Earth is.
Al
