Tracking in the Wisconsin Northwoods – Nov 2023
We will be following the elk and the deer again in the Northwoods as the land is on the cusp of turning from leaves to snow. You never know what you are going to get and it’s always a full-body, full-brain adventure with our kith and kin. Trailing is a love song to Tracking. […]
Introducing the first Hoedspruit Tracking Club!
All people come from cultures that tracked animals. In every family group and village across the world, it was important that men, women, and children were able to identify tracks. But they didn’t need to know every track. They focused on the ones that were important. It was important to be able to see the […]
Daily Routines in Tracking – The Importance of Repetition
I’m not trying to sell you our course, but to let you know that the processes we follow are really helpful (many of them, I’m revealing for free here in this Newsletter). That’s what we aim to be… helpful. We want more people to become trackers (and naturalists, guides, teachers, and scientists) because we believe […]
What is a Track Trap?
In an earlier newsletter, I wrote about The Secrets of Success” for Tracking – The Lost Trail Drill. Here’s The Lost Trail Drill again: The Lost Trail Drill Because everyone loses the trail… Always know where your last confirmed track is, and go directly back to it. Choose the most obvious route, first, then the […]
Way of the CyberTracker – on the WildFed Podcast with Daniel Vitalis
I was recently interviewed by Daniel Vitalis of the WildFed podcast. Daniel also hosts a tv show of the same name on the outdoor channel. Both the podcast and the tv show are about “reconnecting people to wildness through food.” Yes, that means gathering …and hunting. And guess who the first trackers were? You got […]
Stories from My Research in Africa
A tracker in South Africa told me: “(When growing up) about ellies I did hear that if, if you do find them, or they do find you out in the bush you’ll find that they are more aggressive, so they’ll start chasing you down. And once they find you, you know that they’ll come and […]
THE foundation of Tracking – Aging Tracks & Signs
When it comes to tracking, the most important thing to learn well, and the largest field to study (it’s endless, really) is track and sign aging. If you can tell that a trail is fresh, you’ll have more success following it and finding the animal. As a general rule, fresher tracks stand out more than […]
The “Secrets of Success” for Tracking – The Lost Trail Drill
When it comes to the trailing aspects of tracking, predominantly following and finding animals, even Master Trackers lose the trail. To me, that’s a refreshing idea. It makes me feel better about things when I lose the trail as a Senior Tracker, and it makes my students feel better when they hear this and when […]
What is Tracking?
If you are already a subscriber to the Original Wisdom mailing list you probably already understand the classic definition of tracking as being basically something about tracks, pugmarks, spoor, or footprints of animals or people. So, I’ll skip ahead for now and dive into a definition that’s more nuanced and accurate. I often see folks […]
Tracker Tuesdays #13, OriginalWisdom.com “News for Trackers”
October Answers to our #WeeklyTrackingChallenge Interested in online and correspondence tracking courses? Visit us at TrackerMentoring.com! Answer list: An African wildcat track from South Africa, Crested francolin feathers from South Africa, and Mud-dauber wasp sign collecting mud in Connecticut in the USA. (Sorry for the delay on these answers for October while I was defending […]
Tracker Tuesdays #12
September Answers to our Weekly Tracking Challenge Answer list: a female solifuge burrow in South Africa, Cape buffalo dung in South Africa, a fallen wren nest in Poland, and European badger tracks in England. The art and science of tracking develops creative and critical thinking skills, and curiosity and empathy, which also help us to […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Answers for June 2020
We’ve moved to a monthly newsletter format for #TrackerTuesdays, so a new question will be posed every Tuesday, and answers will be published on the first Tuesday of every month. Answer list: Spotted towhee from the Channel Islands in California; Namaqua rock mouse nest from the Republic of South Africa; zebra tracks from the Republic […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 9
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 9 Answers to our Daily Tracking Challenge This is a time to create and share content that engages, entertains, educates and inspires the world. HEADS UP, TRACKERS! Even though we aren’t out of the proverbial “woods” yet with this coronavirus pandemic, I need to start transitioning away from a #DAILYTRACKINGCHALLENGE. While […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 8!
Here’s a link to our newsletter at Original Wisdom, with detailed answers to our Daily Tracking Challenge. Answers for 20 – 25 May 2020 This is a time to create and share content that engages, entertains, educates and inspires the world. We post a question a day, except for Tuesdays because that’s Answer Day! Answer […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 7
Answers to our Daily Tracking Challenge This is a time to create and share content that engages, entertains, educates and inspires the world. We post a question a day, except for Tuesdays because that’s Answer Day! Answer list: Bennett’s wallaby tracks from Tasmania; grey squirrel tracks in snow from Connecticut in the USA; lilac-breasted roller […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 6
Answer Day for 13 – 18 May 2020 Answer list: puff adder (snake) trail from the Republic of South Africa; emerald-spotted wood dove tracks from the Republic of South Africa; pheasant cecal scat from southern England; mourning dove tracks from New England in the USA; white rhinoceros tracks from the Republic of South Africa; a Charops […]
Tracker Tuesdays – Week 5
Answer Day for 6 – 11 May 2020 Answer list: African tree squirrel tracks from the Republic of South Africa, two different sizes of caterpillar frass from the Republic of South Africa, European mole mounds from southern England, regurgitated pellets of an Abyssinian long-eared owl from Ethiopia, sapsucker feeding wells from New England in the […]
The beauty of trailing deer… and some observations on track ageing.
I was recently in New England on a brief stopover home to visit family, and had a singular opportunity to get into the woods on some deer trails with Nate Harvey, who is also a Senior Tracker and Evaluator for CyberTracker. Nate is one of my mentors, and runs a trailing school in southern Vermont, […]
Tracking with White Pine Programs
I was recently invited to spend another blissful weekend feeding my tracking addition with like-minded folks at White Pine Programs in southern Maine. As an alumnus of their first ever Tracking Apprenticeship in 2007-2008, and a former Teaching Assistant for the program, I’ve been invited back for a few years now to help teach the […]
Trailing, and an encounter with an elephant
Trailing, and an encounter with an elephant – UCONN Aug 2015 group We walked out of camp and into the South African sunrise. I stepped over the tracks of three big dugga boys (Cape buffalo bulls) who had recently headed in the direction that Lee had taken with the other students, and silently said a […]
A little art and science in Africa – tracking and research! Hopkinton/Bow Student Blog #5
A little art and science in Africa – tracking and research! Hopkinton/Bow Student Blog #5 The following blog post is created by a Hopkinton/Bow High School student from New Hampshire, who is on program with Original Wisdom, partnering with Nature Guide Training, on a 3-week South African Ecology & Culture program at Djuma Game reserve […]