Helping to preserve the Vision
Bow drill Technique and form Illustration.
Announcing the New "Field Guide Illustration" Auction System, and a schedule update!
Good news, Tracker family! I am in the process of rolling out a brand-new auction system for "Field Guide Illustrations"—an easier way to access, bid on, and own one-of-a-kind original field guide drawings. My sister Kelly created the artwork, with my father’s note on the reverse side.
The funds generated will benefit the Tracker School, Trackolytes/T3Online, and the Pine Barrens Primitive Camp preservation efforts.
2024 has been a challenging year for everyone in the Tracker family, myself included. Beyond the global hardship, my siblings and I faced the profound loss of our father. My stepmother, Celeste, lost her husband, and personally, I lost my greatest teacher. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend watching the video linked in my previous post on my YouTube channel. It was born out of a period when I spent the holidays alone, cataloging treasures of family and Tracker history. It was in that quiet reflection that I began to understand why my father made some of the choices he did—pieces of a puzzle that illuminated so much.
I now truly grasp the magnitude of the Vision he held, and in doing so, I gained a lifetime of clarity. The answers I’ve long sought are finally coming into focus, allowing me to rise higher. As children, one of our jobs is to take the good from our parents, identify and cleanse the bad. By doing so, we honor our lineage.
My dad.
My father was a simple man with a unique set of skills—skills that have directly or indirectly influenced millions. What a burden that must have been. Compounded by the media and publishers who turned him into a mythical figure, he was placed so high on a pedestal.
He never wanted to be seen as a guru or idol, but that was forced upon him. Publishers re-wrote his words, and the need to live up to those expectations trapped him in the role of “The Tracker”—an infallible, superhuman figure. But he was simply a man who dedicated his life to showing others how to find their own sense of place, peace, love, joy, and purpose. He truly believed he had to sacrifice his chance at a happy, healthy life, filled with friends, because deep down, he feared being seen as human—fallible, capable of making mistakes. As I mention in the video, he was afraid to walk in the woods with anyone, fearing that stepping on a stick would shatter the image of perfection that others had created for him.
In the mid-2000s, when I became the director and head instructor at Tracker, I only felt a fraction of what he experienced. I can only imagine the weight of carrying that burden all those years.
I left Tracker in the fall of 2009, a place that was meant to pass to me, because I did not want to fall into the same trap. What followed was 16 years of personal growth that led to the man writing these words now. I found a way to seek balance, to truly be there for my students and take immense joy in our shared interactions. I approach every class as if I've never ran it before, whether it’s making a bowdrill fire or embracing any other of the many skills I teach. One of my many aims is to shatter the mist truth that making mistakes is a bad thing, our society teaches us to fear mistakes. I revel in them as they are my greatest teachers.
What many educators won’t tell you is that the true beauty of teaching is that, by guiding students to reach heights they never thought possible, we learn just as much from them as they do from us. Making mistakes and learning from them is essential to personal growth, and I embrace my mistakes as part of the process.
What hurts more than losing my father and mother is realizing that, had he possessed the right “tools,” he could have flipped the negatives into positives. Life doesn’t always work that way, but I can promise you this: I’ve learned how to walk that razor’s edge, and in these uncertain times, I’m being called back East to meet my Fisherman. If you’re unfamiliar with the reference, I highly recommend reading or listening to the chapter titled "Grandfather and the Fisherman."
For years, I’ve felt the call to return East, but fear, anxiety, and uncertainty held me back. One thing has become abundantly clear: It’s time.
I have a unique perspective on the Tracker School. I grew up there, left for a while, then returned for nearly ten years. In those years, I learned invaluable lessons that led me on a journey through New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Virginia, and finally, Oregon, where I’ve lived since Valentine’s Day, 2017. Along the way, I taught classes in over half the states in our country, and in a myriad of locations, from a postage-stamp-sized backyard in Brooklyn, NYC, to vast lands that would take months to explore. I’ve taught on the remote tundra of Alaska and now, I’m adapting to this new age of online learning.
For the past four years, I’ve done it all alone— I may be gifted on the “production” side, yet floundering like a fish out of water on the “business” side. I’ve read countless books on the subject, and this is why successful businesses often have both a visionary and someone equally skilled in the ways of business.
I never expected to not have to do things I’m not good at. I’m always ready and willing to learn more, but as I lost my life savings early on, I’ve been in a constant battle against the clock to make a living.
I’m a simple human—one who doesn’t require much. As long as I can cover my basic bills and have a steak every so often, I’m good. I’ve always tried to be helpful and generous, but some people have taken advantage of that, knocking me down every time. If that weren’t enough, I’ve discovered that people are not only spreading false rumors about me but also actively trying to prevent others from seeing my work, out of fear of how it may affect their businesses. I have never sought to take anyone’s students or business. In fact, I want to unite those of us who do this work because we genuinely want to see a better world. A world where future generations have access to wild places and the desire to explore them. Instead, people are force-fed poorly produced television shows that perpetuate the myth that humans and nature are adversaries, something to dominate or conquer, or worse, fear. Which has spawned hundreds of schools teaching that same ethos around humans and their place in the natural world. One of the many battles I fight daily as an educator.
Alaska at its finest!
The concept of fearing nature is so foreign to me that I simply cannot understand it. I fight to dispel these myths about our relationship with the natural world. This past year, I was blessed to visit Alaska for the fifth time in six years, photographing grizzly bears, moose, and some of the most glorious landscape photos of my life.
At the end of the trip, I seriously considered asking my friends to leave me in the wilderness, telling people I’d vanished. The thought of being alone in the Alaskan wilderness, 50 miles from the nearest town, felt less terrifying than returning home to spreadsheets and emails—things I don’t understand. The only place I truly feel safe is in nature. No matter where I am—in the tundra or the Oregon rainforest—when I step into the cathedrals of creation, I am home.
In the last four years, I’ve lost nearly everything precious to me, and for the first time in my life, I find myself in a position where there seems to be no clear path out. Yet, one of my mantras remains: "There are no problems, only solutions." I try to live in the moment and remain in an open state of Thanksgiving.
As of now, I’m being called back East to help my family. I’ll return with no expectations, just to volunteer and offer my expertise to the place that made me who I am. It’s ironic that, despite struggling to run my own business, I feel like I could walk into the Tracker primitive camp and it seem like never have left.
I’ve always tried to live without regrets, but one will always remain: Not being there sooner for my father as he took his final walk. He forgave me for that, but I feel I let down my stepmother, Celeste, who cared for my father deeply and changed his life for the better for many years. I made her a promise years ago that I would always ensure she remained an integral part of this vision, and I am proud of my brother River for picking up that torch. I look forward to helping them in any way I can.
To those of you who knew me when I left Tracker, I am a completely different person today. When I left, I was driven by ego, a man-boy who only knew how to express two emotions and didn’t care much about anything else. I put that version of myself to bed long ago, thanks to the help of one of the most important people to pass through my life.
Now, my goal is clear: I’m making a documentary about my father. It won’t feature much footage of him, but instead, it will collect interviews from those who took classes with him, learned from his vision and have gone on to teach others. I’ll also interview everyday people whose lives were radically transformed by his books and teachings. Originally, I had hoped to complete this documentary for my father’s 75th birthday, but due to unforeseen delays, things are taking a bit longer. My plan is to arrive in the Pine Barrens a month before the celebration of my father's life at the Boy Scout camp, volunteering and helping my family in any way I can. Other than sending half the proceeds from the field guide drawing back home.
To conclude, here’s a metaphor: Over the last 15 years, I’ve grown into a tree—my limbs reaching high and wide, seeking the sun, but always grounded by the roots that anchor me to the Earth. My roots are the Tracker School, and they always will be. My father’s vision is bigger than any of us.
In the next few days, I will also be releasing a video addendum to this post that goes a little bit more in depth. Before talking about the new auction system, I wanted to discuss my 2025 schedule.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I have become separated from the majority of my teaching gear and personal items, and I am unable to retrieve them at the moment due to financial issues. Keeping that in mind and making a promise to you all long ago to only run a class when I can guarantee the 100% T3 experience, because anything less would be unacceptable to me as you are choosing to spend your hard earned money to learn all of this stuff rattling around in my noggin. Between that and wanting to gather a few more students, I've decided to push some of the dates back to the classes that we're supposed to start in the coming weeks. The only thing I can promise you is that the weight will be worth it as I adapt to yet another drastic life change instead of letting it get me down. I use it to grow stronger and wiser.
Lastly, to my current students who have registered for upcoming classes or are waiting to finish out the ones that got interrupted with my move and the passing of my father. When I first released my schedule, I was offering a 40% off early bird special sale now that we're nearing the start dates. I want to offer another sale of sorts, will call this one “the buy one get one.” If you choose to sign up for a six part online program, you get to choose a second program as a bonus. You can either choose a different six part class, or choose to do a few two part classes.
I am also offering discounts for people who want to sign up for more than two classes as well as I try and gather resources and plan my trip back east. If this sounds of interest to you, please contact me directly.
Now onto the new auction system!
Being that square space doesn't have very many templates for auction style sales. I'm forced to work around the system a bit. the “own a piece of Tracker school history” page is now much easier to understand and more user-friendly.
Depending on the drawing each one will have an opening bid. There will be a button that says “bid on this drawing.” that will open an email to me where you all say what drawing you would like to bid on and how much. Once I receive that, I will go to the page and adjust the price accordingly.
In order to simplify things auctions will begin on Monday mornings at 11 AM Pacific and end 11 AM Pacific the on Fridays at 11 AM. This week will be slightly different as the auction technically didn't begin till this morning and will run until Saturday at 11 AM Pacific. Whoever has the highest bid when the auction closes will receive an email from me telling you that you've won and providing you with a payment option. Since these drawings are precious in their own right, they will also include instructions on how to properly frame them so that they are not affected by UV light and are well protected. I would much rather see these illustrations up on somebody's wall who will really appreciate them as opposed to the boxes they've been sitting in for the last 20 years as I've carried them over 11 different moves.
As I mentioned 50% will fund my efforts on the documentary project and biography. I'm working on about my father as well as give me the space to start building a massive digital archive of the thousands of thousands of photos and slides I have that start in late 1977 and go into the mid 90s. You'll be able to click on a specific year and see all manner of things from photos to Old School tracker memorabilia and even some unpublished writings of my father's. It will be interactive and I will make it available to anyone on my website for free as well as The Tracker schools. Hopefully this new system simplifies things as I am not the most computer savvy person on the planet, and I'm trying to make it as easy as possible if for some reason a particular drawing does not sell one week I will retire it for a little while and then put it back up at a later date. I plan on running auctions from now well into the future as I continually catalog and document what I have.. and I have a lot! I'm also accepting offers for specific drawings that you may have seen in a field guide that spoke to you. If this sounds like you contact me and I will locate the drawing and we will work it out
My Family, and the Pine Barrens, Thank You for Your Support!
Your enthusiasm for our work fuels my passion for combining art and nature education. im thrilled to share this updated system with you and can’t wait to see which pieces resonate most with you.
If you have any questions or need assistance? Feel free to reach out to us via email or social media. Don’t forget to follow us me on Instagram (@tom_brown3) and subscribe to our YouTube channel (@FutureNature) for updates and sneak peeks at upcoming illustrations. You can also reach my through Facebook by clicking the icon.
Even though I feel you around me regularly, I miss you so much dad. Thank you for putting on a path to help guide our fellow humans back to the temples of Creation.
Throughout this whole process, I will be continually doing free live streams as I prepare for my trip east and keep you filled in on what's happening in my world. As my connection to my community and my students is Paramont. If you have any feedback on the auction system or any part of my website please feel free to reach out. I'm always looking for ways to improve and make the process of using and navigating my website to provide a simple, user friendly experience. This will be crucial as I have a pretty large expansion to my website rapidly approaching with the addition of the digital photo timeline as well as the ability to purchase pre-recorded classes so you can watch each episode at your leisure either way you will get a recording of each sessionthat is yours to download in view as your time permits. Thank you all again for being the best chosen family ever! This past week I have received some emails that have turned me around so that my face is in the sun being warmed, and most importantly your words have proven to me that I am indeed on the right path finally.
Peace, love, joy, and purpose to you all!
— T3,
