Tom Hanratty
Tom has been tracking critters of one sort or another since he was 8. His expertise in the areas of tracking and wilderness skills have earned him positions as teacher-naturalist at nature centers in Wisconsin and as an instructor at the prestigious Tom Brown, Jr.’s Tracker School in New Jersey. Tom with his wife Ellen founded Medicine Hawk Wilderness Skills, Inc. in 1988.
In September of 1990 the new founders of Medicine Hawk moved to Nome, Alaska for a year so that Tom could study survival and tracking skills with the native peoples in that challenging environment.
Tom’s professional background includes 18 years as a Forensic Investigator for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, where he developed forensic tracking as a separate discipline from footwear impression evidence at crime scenes. He has taught Forensic Tracking in both local and national venues to agents of federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies, and is currently an instructor in the Police Science Department of the Milwaukee Area Technical College.
As an author Tom has written several articles on Forensic Tracking as well as The Art and Science of Tracking Man and Beast, a delightful little book that uses the ancient art of storytelling to impart all manner of tracking wisdom. He’s also a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast.
Ellen Hanratty
Ellen has studied with Tom Brown, Jr. in New Jersey and Ojibwa Elder, Keewaydinoquay, in northern Michigan. She has been an instructor since 1974 for the Creative Problem Solving Institute, SUNY, Buffalo, New York, and has taught awareness, group-building, and problem-solving at Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago). She is a co-founder of Medicine Hawk Wilderness Skills, Inc. and has taught classes in observation and perception techniques to law enforcement officers.
Ellen has a remarkable ability to ease students out of their “city” heads and into a more open, intuitive, sensory mindset, an important first step in a successful wilderness skills or tracking workshop. Her demeanor is always calm, and her awareness and intuition provide valuable insight to our instructors throughout the workshop. Ellen is also a published poet.
Cork Holmes
Cork began his encounters with the natural world as a Boy Scout and Scout Leader. Later as a platoon sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, Cork taught survival skills. He has also successfully completed Tom Brown, Jr.’s advanced tracking and multiple philosophy courses, and has often honed his outdoors skills on solo wilderness trips.
In order to improve his focus and concentration Cork began the study of martial arts and presently holds a fourth-degree black belt (4th Dan) in Tae Kwon Do. With that discipline and an extensive knowledge of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Native American philosophies, Cork possesses a real knack for helping students become conscious of the oneness of all things—a mindset critical to successful wilderness survival.
Tim Cronin
Tim was born and raised in Chicago but with a life-long appreciation of the natural world. In 1995 he took his first Medicine Hawk Wilderness Skills workshop, on what was the hottest, rainiest, most bug-infested weekend Medicine Hawk had ever experienced. He loved it! Tim began immediately to hone his skills, particularly fire-making and tracking, and has since taken and/or taught numerous classes and workshops on various primitive and nature-related skills.
Tim’s first “public” demonstration of the bow drill came at a Wheaton [Illinois] Park District workshop. Again the weather was lousy (the “Cronin Curse”)—moderate-to-heavy rain, damp, and muggy—terrible conditions for any fire-starting, much less an attempt with a primitive bow drill. Under the protection of a park pavilion (four poles with a roof dripping water from its perimeter) Tim cranked out a coal and blew his tinder bundle into flame to the awe and applause of the assembled students.
Ron Nosek
Ron has been intrigued since childhood with the ability of native peoples to live in harmony in the so-called “wild” places. In 1979 he read Tom Brown, Jr.’s “The Tracker”. For the next 13 years he studied and practiced as best he could the skills about which he had read. In 1992 Ron learned of Medicine Hawk Wilderness Skills in Milwaukee and began to take classes under the tutelage of Tom & Ellen Hanratty. He soon became an apprentice, then a full-time instructor.
Intrigued by animals and the signs that they leave upon the earth—from clear prints to scat to skulls—Ron has a penchant for teaching others about those critters.
Like Tim, Ron is a former attorney (retired after 29 years of criminal trial work). The two have been friends and professional associates for over 35 years, and they do two wilderness trips a year just to keep their heads in the right place.
Ron has recently recounted a number of his outdoor experiences in a collection of essays published as Natural Selections.
All of our instructors are firm believers in the ability of humans to reconnect with the natural world and all of its non-human inhabitants. We also believe that the skills you learn will facilitate that reconnection and also provide valuable skills and lessons for use in your everyday life.
