Shadowhawk Portugal course

[Axeman]

Hello, I've been checking here for a while, but this is my first post. I've done a little tracking at home before but would like to go on a formal course. I wondered if anyone was going on either of the Shadowhawk courses in Portugal?
I've searched the forum and seen they come recommended, I'm quite inexperienced, and wondered if anyone in the same boat was going?

 

[Wolfie]

I'm not going on the Portugal trip (would love to but funds are short t the moment) but I can certainly reccommend Shadowhawks courses. I recently attended their back to back Basic and Intermediate tracking courses and had a great time. Max is a good laugh and a good teacher and I certainly learnt a lot over the 5 days.

If you do go on the trip have a good time and watch out for those clothes pegs! (Past Shadowhawk students will know what I mean )

 

[Buckshot]

Firstly welcome Axeman, nice to have you aboard.

Max and Rhoda are very good trackers, I'm sure you'll have a great time and learn loads.
I'm only a little jealous !!!

Cheers

Mark

 

[Rod]

Hi Axeman & Welcome,

I've done both beginner & intermediate courses with Max. He's a great teacher - he will work you hard though!! His courses generally rely on you having good basic bushcraft skills. Drop him a line and have a chat with him if you are unsure.

regards

 

[nipper]

Morning all

I was just browsing through the Shadowhawk courses on the web and noticed that Max has a course in Portugal starting on the 1st August.

I am as jealous as hell!

Work and finances prevent me from going but I hope all who are going have a great time. Max and his team are great teachers an a lot of fun to be around. Whether you are an experienced tracker or a novice, you can't fail to learn from them.

I know you will all have a great time I just wish I was there. I hope somebody going on the course will give us a write up on there experience when they get back.

All the best
Nick

 

[Wayne]

Im not able to go this year. no cash.

however i would love to do the advanced course. there was some talk about doing a course in Kenya. that would be great.

 

[leon-1]

Yep I remember chatting with Johnny about it and he definitely mentioned Kenya, it would be nice.

If I am still unemployed and can get the money together I may well try to get out to Portugal.

 

[Hawkeye The Noo]

I was in Portugal on the Shadowhawk course. Well on the Adventure tracking week and the scout tracking week back to back. It was fantastic but a lot of hard work. Max gets you to put in a lot of hours in dirt time in these courses. There were not many people on the courses but this was helpfull as there was a lot of time for one on one with Max. i put in over 100 hours of dirt time over the two weeks and reached a level of skill in tracking that i never expected to achieve. some of the tracks that we saw were: Wild Boar, Genet, African goat, emu, greater blue heron, partridge, otter, fox and a few i have probably forgotten. I saw three wild boars , scorpions and funnel web spiders.

It was a huge financial sacrifice for me to go on the course as at the moment I no longer have a car and have to cycle or walk to work. But if you want something enough you will find a way to achieve it. The sacrifice was worth it. I would love to go to kenya but can not get the time off work. So to those of you out there who are thinking of Kenya, pull out all the stops to make it happen because it is worth it.

catch you later.

Hawkeye The Noo

 

[Wayne]

I was in Portugal on the Shadowhawk course. Well on the Adventure tracking week and the scout tracking week back to back. It was fantastic but a lot of hard work. Max gets you to put in a lot of hours in dirt time in these courses. There were not many people on the courses but this was helpfull as there was a lot of time for one on one with Max. i put in over 100 hours of dirt time over the two weeks and reached a level of skill in tracking that i never expected to achieve. some of the tracks that we saw were: Wild Boar, Genet, African goat, emu, greater blue heron, partridge, otter, fox and a few i have probably forgotten. I saw three wild boars , scorpions and funnel web spiders.

It was a huge financial sacrifice for me to go on the course as at the moment I no longer have a car and have to cycle or walk to work. But if you want something enough you will find a way to achieve it. The sacrifice was worth it. I would love to go to kenya but can not get the time off work. So to those of you out there who are thinking of Kenya, pull out all the stops to make it happen because it is worth it.

catch you later.

Hawkeye The Noo

Oh you lucky lucky b******d.

Lets have a more detailed review. i would have loved to have been there.

i'm sure it was worth every penny. I really need some cash for Kenya.

Whats the going rate for a kidney these days?

 

[nipper]

Morning Hawkeye

Thanks for the taster Jamie but you can do better than that!

When we were in Devon you promised me a proper review of Portugal because I couldn't make it myself . So go on, make me jealous, what did you do for two weeks?

Cheers
Nick

 

[Wolfie]

Morning Hawkeye

Thanks for the taster Jamie but you can do better than that!

When we were in Devon you promised me a proper review of Portugal because I couldn't make it myself . So go on, make me jealous, what did you do for two weeks?

Cheers
Nick

Hope he didn't get caught in the woods with his pants down like he did in Devon . (Best not to ask if you weren't there )

 

[nipper]

Now that was scary!

 

[Hawkeye The Noo]

As requested, here is a more detailed review. The two weeks were two different courses. The first week was animal tracking. If you have been on the foundation and intermediate tracking, you take the skills you learned there in theory and get hour after hour of supervised practice. Initially it is about segmenting the area to be covered into bite size chunks and day by day systematically covering every inch of those areas. (It is good to log the areas and times.) After a few days you have covered the whole patrol area. The purpose of that is that from then on in nothing moves within the area without you knowing about it. Also the last time you were there time stamps every new spoor. After a week at this I started to get the hang of aging spoor in this environment and substrate. As far as dirt time hours go; the back to back course is 5 accredited hours for the foundation and 10 accredited hours for the intermediate. Both weeks in Portugal were 50 accredited hours each. This gives you an indication of the dirt time that you get and you can project your skill level jumping accordingly. On the last post I listed the animals tracked. The highlight of animal tracking was when I stalked close enough to a wild boar sow and piglet to get photos, ( non digital sorry) this was almost a brown pants moment as it eye balled me. Did I mention Iberian Lynx tracks were seen? Another thrill.

The second course was the tactical course level 1. This floated my boat the most as I get better results tracking man than animal spoor, it also got my adrenalin going. You learn to track in tactical formations in silence using hand signals and you get plenty of practice on lost spoor procedure. Max set up a lot of scenarios to build on any areas of weakness that we showed. After each scenario Max would tell us what we did well on. Then he would show (not just tell) us what could be improved and set up another scenario to practice it. By the end of the week our drills were getting so sharp, we followed a spoor for several Kilometres. All of this was done armed using airsoft but with proper training in safety drills and safety equipment. All involved had a safe and great time. This added to the realness of the training.

The tactical course was level 1. Hopefully Max will put on another Tac1 next year. Those who complete it can repeat it but do the theory for level 2. That is great as it will let me be on the same course as the level 1 many of whom I consider friends in the small UK tracking fraternity. This could be great for summer 2006, plenty of time to save up the pennies and bribe the wife.

I hope this was a long enough review.

The two highlights for me were, stalking up on the wild boar and the armed stand off with Max. ( I lost, but still had an immense time)

I hope this has whetted your appetites and hope to see old friends and meet others , next year.

Hawkeye The Noo.

 

[william#]

hey chaps
was at the bushcraft festival - did not come accross shadow hawk till the end and just briefly but im pretty hooked with the idea of it all ive checked the site and there does not seem to be any courses this year - is any one planning a meet before winter hits us here in the uk ?

 

[Hawkeye The Noo]

There is likely to be a course in October sometime, keep checking the Shadowhawk site for updates.

Hawkeye The Noo

 

[Hawkeye The Noo]

Just booked my flights for Portugal, I enjoyed it so much last year that i am doing it again this year, wish I could go on the Canadian one but can only get time off in July-August. Anybody else going?

Jamie