What happens in the Wildlife Tracking Intensive?
- Kyle Forest
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Sometimes I get asked, what do you do in the Tracking Intensive? And initially, I feel baffled--tracking of course!-- but my gut reaction is not right, not even close. That is just one part.
Lifestyle and Mindset
It would seem like the primary objective of the intensive is to learn what tracks look like-- like birders learn field marks and dendrologists learn leaf identification. As many birders have discovered in their journey, it is not the checklist of species, instead it is the drama that plays out that really draws you in. Watching a Sharp Shinned Hawk perched is beautiful and the average person will walk by without noticing. Watching that Sharpie dive after another bird and watching the predator chase and prey flee, dodge, veer, overcome and succumb is what really keeps us coming back-- meanwhile, the average person still doesn't even notice anything is happening-- all the while, us birders are on the edge of our seats wondering how the drama will resolve.
Who's dog got swept away during an accidental swim in the winter ocean? Only to get consumed and laid to rest on the beach? Did a Coyote feed near where the second dog skull and deer skull were found? Was the dog lost or injured or taken by a Coyote? With such old sign, I'll never know the full story. In the tracking series we move through the landscape and observe with intention. Luck favors the prepared mind, it also favors those the put the time into their practice and passion. The excitement of finding a skull, kill site, rare track, or anything beyond our normal lives will light up a day and send your mind speculating on the drama that occurred.
Sometimes the story is brought together in bits and pieces as you observe and connect. I saw a number of Barred Owls actively hunting during the day in early January. Perhaps it happens more often than I know of but the frequency that I saw this happen within a 2 weeks made for an interesting question, why are they hunting diurnally right now? At the January Tracking Intensive, I think I got my answer. The voles, who are usually in the subnivean zone under the snow, only had a layer of crust and then a small layer of snow on top during the beginning of January. I had not seen many vole trails in my life previous to this winter but I saw hundreds within this two week period in January because they had to travel on top of the crust and snow. And I believe this answered my question about why the owls were hunting diurnally? Perhaps because the hunting was too good not to hunt during this buffet.
A part of the drama is internal, exploring the mystery and seeing nature's magical beauty express itself, predicting a pattern you see in the distance and investigating what clues are available. During the December outing, we were on a frozen lake and spied a trail with the pattern left, left, right, right. We could also see that there was consistently one foot larger on each side. We could get a general sense of the size of the animal and the direction of travel but not much detail was given in the initial tracks. But we were able to make predictions based on the patterns we already saw: 1. Overstep walk 2. round tracks 3. larger front quarters 4. Comfortable in a walking gait. The curiosity pulled us into the trail and we confirmed the species with perfect bobcat tracks frozen into the lake.
A mystery does not need to be solved to spark joy. The mystery can be the joy. At the April intensive, a mixture of snow and rain was falling all day. I knew tracking would be limited because the weather would accelerate the aging process but you will never know what you are going to find until you get out and look. On a day that most people were stoking the fire, we found a significant otter latrine, dozens of deer trails, 4 freshly arrived American woodcock, either a moose or cow skeleton scattered about, mink tracks, beaver tracks, a great deer hunting funnel, practiced trailing each other through snow and leafy conditions, and followed this moose trail that was extremely fresh.
We cut (found) the moose trail on the road. We gave it some time to move away and ate lunch. Then we trailed the moose for an hour in and out of snow and pine thickets down into a wetland. We attempted follow it through the wetland and even circumnavigated it and we never found where the moose came out of the wetland. It seems like magic to have an animal that weighs 800 pounds creating a trail that is easy to follow, and then they seemingly dissolving into thin air and drifting away without any sign.
The work
In some ways, learning a new skill just sounds like a lot of work, like going to school. There is no escaping the work of learning a new skill but you can escape the drudgery of traditional learning models. We play games, we actively use our bodies, we gain perspective through drawing, we practice tracking and ecology in the field, and we use mindfulness techniques to help focus our minds and leave behind the anxieties of life.
The picture below is an example of one practice where you look at and memorize the idealized version of a track in the field guide and then put the book away and with 1 minute draw the track from memory, then, draw the track with the book open, then repeat this process again and identify and label important field marks of the tracks. It's not meant to be artwork, but rather, a way to assimilate the nuances of each species' track.
The skills
Mammal tracks are just one of many skills we focus on. We also talk about animal sign: scat, scrapes, rubs, digs, tunnels, feeding sign, beds, nests, dreys, lays, browse, flagging, kill site analysis, aging, and so much more! Reptiles, birds, invertebrates, and amphibians also leave unique track and sign to investigate and interpret. We learn to "trail" animals, which is following their tracks and associated sign with the intention of catching up to the animal. We practice mindfulness skills to help stay present, calm, intentional, energized, and aware. We learn to interpret animal and bird alarms so that we can enhance our awareness of predators and baseline through the language (body and vocalized) of the animals and birds. Finally, biology, ecology, and behavior all influence when and where tracks show up and are instrumental to understanding the animals we are interested in.
The outcome
I like to believe that by taking this series you are not just learning what a track looks like, but instead, opening yourself up to a whole new world, a new source of entertainment, a new set of relationships, a new unexplored landscape just off the trail, attaining a sense of joy for all days and all weather conditions that bring unexpected experiences that will create a new sense of connection to yourself and the world around you. In a sense, feel gratitude to be a part of this grand rhythm of life.
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