Shadowhawk Advanced Tracker

I'm going to change my name! If I heard, "Pablo do this - Pablo do that" once, I heard it a hundred times in the last four days. (Pablo, aren't those parachutes up yet?) Add a bit of sleep and food deprivation, a sprinkle of tracking assessments, a few survival-type tasks and a one hour written exam, and you'll get an idea why I'm a little tired.

While the Shadowhawk Foundation course was running (I took two sessions on the course) I was being put through my paces on the advanced tracker phase. The idea was to put me under pressure and test not only my tracking skills but my bushcraft and survival skills and my ability to track under pressure.

I'm not going to go into huge detail about the advanced phase, but I have to say it was one of the hardest things mentally and physically I've undertaken since I left the Army. It taught me a number of things. Firstly, that my bushcraft skills aren't too bad, but could be improved. Secondly, I still have the mental capacity to undertake hardships despite being fifty years old (and probably more used to the soft life) and thirdly, my tracking skills still need to be developed.

I'm glad I took some time to research for the exam. This also wasn't easy and it covered many tracking areas from geomorphology, snake movement, bird claw identification, to a host of other wildlife and man tracking principles and theories.

Bushcraft and survival tasks included shelter building and making a spoon. Easy enough you might say, but it had to be completed in the space of only a few hours which included carrying out a recce for a single roe buck track and cooking the only food provided in the last 24 hours. An egg. (Sorry, no cooking pots or pans around here!)

The previous night demanded that only a sleeping bag wrapped up in a plastic bag was taken plus one additional item. I chose my Leatherman. Luckily the rain held off. A poncho would have been the obvious choice had the weather been wet. As it was, a handy log stopped me from rolling down the steep slope (the location was not our choice and we were disoriented before being led to the area) and some fir boughs did the trick of keeping the wind at bay. The soft pine needles provided a nice soft mattress.

Part of this journey included a companion, Mike, who thought he had come to assist in running the Foundation course! I'd just like to say to Mike a huge thanks for helping me out and keeping my spirits up. Despite the conditions we had some great moments and a great laugh.

The night in the shelter was obviously going to be interrupted by a follow-up night track. Strange people you find in the area at that time of night!

There were a number of tracking assessments. The final tracking assessment was on the last morning. I had looked at small roe deer trail and there were a few prominent tracks which I marked off with lolly sticks ready to describe to Max Maxell.

I was a little unfortunate in that everywhere was so dry. As it turned out those weren't the tracks required. There was only the faintest of compression shapes on the sandy and gravel substrate and I couldn't see the tracks of the particular animal Max wanted me to follow. My mind went blank and all I saw was the dusty ground.

It looked like I was going to fail at the last hurdle. Slowly and one-by-one, the tracks revealed themselves, but it was hard work and not my finest hour. However, I stuttered my way up the trail and with a final, "It went that way," Max shook my hand for an emotional successful end result.

I'm now entitled to wear the small feather pendant. It represents many things but mainly it will remind me of what I have just achieved.