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#225361 - 06/06/11 11:09 PM Re: Indigenous people tracking manual [Re: dweste]
Teslinhiker Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 1419
Loc: Nothern Ontario
Nighthiker pretty well summed it up. A book or manual can only show and teach you so much. To learn more about tracking, you need to get first hand experience. A good time to do this is when you are hiking. Find one distinct set of human tracks on a trail and see if you can follow the tracks. This may be challenging when the trail has heavy use and it also depends on the trail itself, meaning is it composed of soil, sand, rock etc. You will also have to factor in the weather. Is it very dry which makes tracking more difficult or has it rained and the ground is softer which may show the tracks more easier.

(Slight hijack, but still relevant)

Just yesterday morning we came across a freshly overturned rock that showed ground disturbance where the rock originally was. I was able to determine that this rock was very recently overturned as the disturbed ground was still damp and did not have any dry edges or imprints. I also noted that the soil on the now exposed underside of the rock had not started to dry at all. Notice the pushed down vegetation? These are all important clues as the temperature at the time (10:30 am) was already in the mid 70's and the exposed rock with the soil on it was facing roughly south east. It should also be noted there were no other people in the area and we did not cause this disturbance as it was off to the side of the path.

Here is a link to the picture I took. Any guesses as to what was under the rock that may of interested some animal?

(end of hijack)
_________________________
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

John Lubbock

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#225372 - 06/07/11 01:11 AM Re: Indigenous people tracking manual [Re: dweste]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Insect protein? Worms, grubs, crickets ....

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#225374 - 06/07/11 01:44 AM Re: Indigenous people tracking manual [Re: Teslinhiker]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3238
Loc: Alberta, Canada
As a solo hiker, I am highly attuned to flipped rocks, ripped-up stumps, and curious indentations in muddy spots. Very instructive. There's nothing like a fresh griz track (that you know wasn't there a couple of hours ago) to gain your full and complete attention ... as you extrapolate from the size of the paw+claws to the size of the animal ...

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#225377 - 06/07/11 03:00 AM Re: Indigenous people tracking manual [Re: dweste]
Teslinhiker Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 1419
Loc: Nothern Ontario
Originally Posted By: dweste
Insect protein? Worms, grubs, crickets ....


Correct on the insects. There were thousands of ants under other rocks in the same immediate area. This overturned rock was the work of a bear as there were signs (tracks) of bear all over the place.

We did not spend much time to spend here to find out (and not that we wanted to go deliberately bear tracking!) as we were in the process of traveling home but we did see a nice wetland/marsh area to explore at a later visit.
_________________________
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

John Lubbock

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#225386 - 06/07/11 07:22 AM Re: Indigenous people tracking manual [Re: Teslinhiker]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
+1 on use of a trail to practice elementary tracking. I started paying attention when, descending from a climb, we noticed that our "up" trail was overlain by the prints of a very large kitty cat....
_________________________
Geezer in Chief

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#225387 - 06/07/11 10:04 AM Re: Indigenous people tracking manual [Re: hikermor]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Originally Posted By: hikermor
... we noticed that our "up" trail was overlain by the prints of a very large kitty cat....


You been stalked!

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#225395 - 06/07/11 01:12 PM Re: Indigenous people tracking manual [Re: dweste]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
Actually, we probably were not "stalked," in any ominous sense, anyway. Cougars are curious kitties, and he was evidently just checking us out. Hikers were rare on that trail at the time. Mountain lions are not.

To my disappointment, I have climbed that peak over seventy times over the years, including many overnight trips, and i have yet to see a cougar in the wild. But I have recognized their tracks many times.

Watching the various footprints along a trail can provide useful and interesting information. The rudimentary skill I developed came in handy on several SAR operations.
_________________________
Geezer in Chief

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