I dug out my old notes from Tom Brown’s Advanced Tracking class. Either I took really good notes, or I copied them over right after I got home. I took Advanced Tracking in 1991. How time flies.
Virtually everyone I respect in the world of wilderness survival has taken classes from Tom Brown. He’s a charismatic speaker and an enigmatic personality. I struggled through those classes, but despite my fears and my inadequacies, I learned something.
As I think about how creatures move and how the shift in weight is recorded in the movement of each foot, (that’s a very simplistic explanation of pressure releases), I rediscover Tom Brown’s coffee cup tracking technique. (more…)
I can’t claim credit for this poem; I heard it from an entertaining nature educator - an “edutainer.” It’s an effective tool for engaging school-age children in studying tracks.
It begins with an “s” and it ends with a “t”.
It comes out of you and it comes out of me.
I know what you’re thinking. You could call it that.
But, let’s be scientific and call it “scat.”
Thanks, Carl.
Now, what can you tell about the coyote scat and the deer track from the above photo?
The lunar eclipse was beautiful. It was too cold to watch while holding a camera. The first red-winged blackbird is back, but I was not fast enough with my camera.
This is what the sky looks like when flurries, warm sunlight and rain-sicles (my new word for freezing rain) alternate every 15 minutes. (more…)
My snowshoes are still untested. They’ll have to wait for the next snowstorm.
Perfect cross country ski days come along once every few years where I live.
Saturday, I got out early enough to be the first person to ski the trail. Except for coyote and fox tracks, the pristine white trail stretched out ahead of me like fresh linen. (more…)
I got up at first light and hit the trail before sun-up.I’d hoped to capture a glimpse of wildlife. But I’m just as happy to have photos of tracks in a dusting of snow. By the time I finished my hike, many of the tracks were gone.
This photo captures the track pattern of a fox running, the pattern of a squirrel bounding, and if you look carefully along the left, you can see the tracks of a tiny rodent - maybe a shrew or a vole. (more…)
Most of the snow went south of my area, but there was enough to reveal tracks. I’ve always wanted to take a class with Paul Rezendes. His book is my Bible. His photographs are excellent and his tracking skill is the definition of mastery.
This dog family member walked through snow-covered, muddy leaf litter. Coyote tracks are oval, fox tracks are rounder, but trail conditions can create all kinds of distortions. (more…)
A moving black form in the woods caught my eye. It took me a moment to realize that it was a wing. Wild Turkeys engage in cooperative courtship to attract mates in spring. But the weather on the east coast has been downright balmy for weeks. Even the plants are budding.
