There were many knives used in the filming of the Hunted. The real Tracker knives used by Benicio Del Toro were hand-crafted by myself along with the companion knife which I called the "Kestrel".
These knives were not created for this film but have been available for many years.
Tom Brown had spent seven years coming up with the intial concept of this design in a crude form which he had made for him & was origionially called the "Medicine Blade" but was often referred to as the tracker knife because it was used at Tom Browns' tracker school.
I began developement of my own improved version in 1989 which soon became endorsed by Mr. Brown. I began offering the Tracker knife in 1991 at which time I acquired the "TRACKER" trademark & the "official" Tracker knife as we know it was born. With the reintroduction of the knife this year, I now have fourteen years in the design & developement of my pattern.
My Tracker was used in the filming of the Hunted because the TOPS version from my knowledge wasn't available at the time of the actual filming. The TOPS model is Tom Browns new commercially made version where as mine which I have reintroduced is the origional hand-crafted knife but because Tom Brown now owns the Tracker trademark, TOPS is using it on theirs & I have simply changed the name of mine.
TOPS/Tom Brown does have the trademark rights & in am sure the design rights of "their" version but not the origional Beck Tracker pattern so the custom knives used in the film are still available but now go by the name of W.S.K. or (the Beck Origional "Wilderness Survival Knife") rather than being stamped with TRACKER on them as you'll find on my pre-2000 models.
Tom wished to find a company who would produce his new version on a larger scale for greater profit & chose the TOPS company while I decided to go my own way & continue working on improving my hand-crafting ones to offer a higher grade knife for professionally-minded customers & collectors who desired the original time-proven pattern.
The promotion of the Tracker knife is misleading. TOPS/Tom Brown is promoting their version as the movie knife because they can now use the Tracker name on theirs as was on my origional version used in the filming, it is similar in appearance & is the version now endorsed by Tom but the knife used in the filming was made by me when I owned the Trademark. Of course you don't see any markings on the knives seen in the movie because I'm sure that they were either hidden from view or removed due to future marketing concerns.
I can tell you why proper credit hasn't been given & that's because I believe Mr. Brown doesn't want anyone to know more than he is legally bound to tell about who made the actual knives so that he can claim credit & strengthen his marketing campain on his new knife. There's alot of money to be made selling their knives if they can continue to interest the average consumer who doesn't know the knifes' history. If their knife was actually used in the film, you can bet there would have then been some credits listed.
This doesn't bother me much anymore as I know most folks can tell the difference between their copy & the real knives seen in the film. The quality of my knives also speak for themselves as can be seen by the many satisfied customers who have graciously posted their reviews & comparisons on this forum.
David R. Beck, Knifesmith
-- Killing people is BAD-- unless they're hurting Bambi -- helping animals is GOOD!!! 
