Many are faniliar with the basic Tom Brown, Jr., saga: at 7 Tom is introduced to his best griend Rick's grandfather: an 83 -year-old Lipan Apache Scout and shaman, named Stalking Wolf. Tom becomes a bridge to carry the Lipan Apache teachings to the modern world. Every outdoor skill, including tracking, is a part of those spiritual practices which allow Tom to know things seemingly beyond human understanding, such as knowing by touching a track if the track maker is dead. Mr. Brown writes that you cannot even write down some of what he can teach face-to-face because no words exist to describe them. It does not seem too far-fetched to describe this as “faith-based tracking.”

I recently re-read four Tom Brown, Jr. books published over the last 30-plus years: The Tracker [1978], Nature Observation and Tracking [1983], The Science and Art of Tracking [1999], and Case Files of The Tracker [2003]. I was suprised and troubled by discrepancies in and between the books, that for me suggest credibility problems.

I would have thought Mr. Brown's friends would have helped find and cure these discrepancies. Have Tom Brown, Jr.s friends let him down, or is there something else going on?