The Art of Tracking: Recent Episodes
weaselbear and Garth
We interview master trackers around the world and talk about Holistic tracking. We talk about The art and science of following tracks across the landscape, The ability to read those tracks and tell the story of the track maker, and methodology and insight.
3rd talk with Famous dog trainer Kevin Behan about animal behavior
Visit his website for more information at https://naturaldogtraining.com
join Willem Larsen & Garth for an exciting interview with Kevin Behan about animal behavior
Kevin Behans website https://naturaldogtraining.com
Kevin grew up training dogs alongside his father, John Behan , one of the Nation’s first professional, family dog trainers. Kevin developed the Natural Dog Training theory after noticing the similarities between how well behaved and orchestrated wolves hunt in a group and the cooperation required in high drive police dog work. Kevin has worked with thousands of dogs throughout his long career, operating his own boarding and training kennel in Connecticut as well as advanced training for security, protection training and police dog work for K9 units and hospital security.
Ty Cunningham, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal (Ret.) & Tactical Commander, Ty Cunningham is a social scientist and philosopher specializing in two tenets of human terrain: Human Combative Applications and Behavior (Hoplology) and the Science of a Footprint gleaning human behavior (Spoorology). He has a terminal Master of Military Art and Science (MMAS) degree from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; is a retired Supervisory Deputy in the U.S. Marshals Service, with near 30 years combined law enforcement and military experience. He is chief insturctor at http://www.alaskankempojujitsusystem.com/index.html
visit his website http://www.tycunningham.org
Josh Lane brings a passion for sharing wildlife tracking and bird language skills through mentoring. He has been a longtime lead mentor for Village Talk, a weekly conversation in nature connection mentoring best practices with community leaders from around the globe.
Josh is an accomplished naturalist and tracker, gifted storyteller and skilled mentor with ten years of experience as a professional mentor and product design specialist for OWLink Media. Josh is a co-author of the Backyard Bird Language and The 8 Gifts From Nature online courses, appears in the instructional DVD Bird Language with Jon Young, and contributed to developing the “How to Learn Bird Language” appendix in the book, What the Robin Knows.
8 Shields website http://8shields.com
Bird language http://www.yourbackyardbirds.com/sq/47616-discover-bird-language
join Willem Larsen & Garth for an exciting interview with Kevin Behan about animal behavior
Kevin Behans website https://naturaldogtraining.com
Kevin grew up training dogs alongside his father, John Behan , one of the Nation’s first professional, family dog trainers. Kevin developed the Natural Dog Training theory after noticing the similarities between how well behaved and orchestrated wolves hunt in a group and the cooperation required in high drive police dog work. Kevin has worked with thousands of dogs throughout his long career, operating his own boarding and training kennel in Connecticut as well as advanced training for security, protection training and police dog work for K9 units and hospital security.
Arthur Haines http://www.arthurhaines.com
Arthur Haines is a forager, ancestral skills mentor, author, public speaker, and botanical researcher. He grew up in the western mountains of Maine, a rural area that was home to swift streams known for their trout fishing. He spent most of his childhood in the Sandy River Valley hiking, tracking, and foraging. Arthur now runs the Delta Institute of Natural History in Canton, Maine, where he teaches human ecology, focusing on the values of foraging, wildcrafting medicine, and primitive living skills. He continues to spend a great deal of his free time practicing his skills as a modern hunter-gatherer. As a research botanist for the New England Wildflower Society, he recently completed a comprehensive flora of the New England region entitled “Flora Novae Angliae” and has authored over twenty publications in peer-reviewed journals and books, including naming species of plants new to science. His series of YouTube videos has inspired thousands of people interested in foraging wild edible and medicinal plants.
Jon Young http://jonyoung.org . To learn about Portland OR. workshops --> http://pdx 8 shields
We talk with master tracker Jon Young, a life long tracker and mentor to countless naturalists and trackers, about tracking from a holistic perspective.
Marcus Reynerson is the Lead Instructor with the Anake Program and the Wildlife Tracking Intensive at Wilderness Awareness School
http://www.wildernessawareness.org/
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/wildernessawareness/?fref=ts
Marcus also leads Naturalist and Cultural Immersion trips in Kenya with Way Leads to Way Expeditions
http://www.wayleadstoway.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/WayLeadsToWay/?fref=ts
He is also working on a project revolving around current conservation issues with Mountain Caribou in the Pacific Northwest and Interior British Columbia.
http://www.davidmoskowitz.net/mcp
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mountaincaribouproject/?ref=hl
and is a Track and Sign Specialist with CyberTracker Certification
Joe Lau –1985 February started training in Bujinkan Buyu Taijutsu with Jack Hoban, In August 5th First Standard Class at Tracker, Became Lifeguard. many miscellaneous jobs as I trained in Martial Arts and Wilderness Skills. 1993 – (25 y/o) – Started Wilderness Warriorship Workshops 1994 – (26 y/o) Hired as Tracker Instructor 1997 – (29 y/o) – Became Senior Instructor at Tracker, 5th Dan Belt in Bujinkan 2000 – (32 y/o) - March – Started Natural Duties, LLC, (Now, Human Nature Institute HNI), Oct. 28th – (33 y/o) - Now Tracker School Asst. Office Manager and Web Designer, 9/11, Clinton Rescue Squad EMT 2002 - August 5th, – (37 y/o) – Director of Tracker School International – Run a Standard Class in Japan and Germany in Native Languages with Native Teachers, Graduated Nursing School, HNI, Started 1st Job as ER RN, Tracker School let whole Office Staff go. 2006 – Became 14th Dan Belt in Bujinkan, 14th time to Japan 2010 – (42 y/o) - Started Phyre Dojo 2011 – (43 y/o) - Started jobs as IV Infusion RN and Home Healthcare RN 2014 – (46 y/o) - Princeton University Urgent Care RN and Home Healthcare RN
Preston Taylor is a senior tracker in CyberTracker http://trackercertification.com ,and works at
Marble Mountain Adventures http://www.marblemountainadventures.com .
Today we talk about bow hunting and tracking.
Tristan Gooley, author of "The Natural Explorer", "The Natural Navigator" and "The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs". Tristan has sailed and flown the Alantic solo, he has a school "The Natural Navigator"
Visit Tristan Gooley's website http://www.naturalnavigator.com/tristan-gooley
I explore navigating naturally with Tristan.
Casey McFarland co-author of "Bird Feathers" http://www.amazon.com/Bird-Feathers-Guide-American-Species/dp/0811736180 and Senior Tracker in CyberTracker http://www.cybertracker.org
We talk about getting through the times went tracking feels hard to get out.
Note: i had i little techincal difficutly with the microphone on my side of the call.
We Raffle of 3 Tracker coins as thank yous to guess and fans. If you are a tracker and would like to purchase a coin or buy one for a gift to give a tracker see the link http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/121834198647
Casey McFarland a senior tracker in http://www.cybertracker.org/tracking/evaluations and co-author of "Bird Feathers" http://www.amazon.com/Bird-Feathers-Guide-American-Species/dp/0811736180
We talk with Casey about what we can learn from a feather.
George Leoniak is a Senior tracker with CyberTracker http://www.cybertracker.org/ he owns a tracking business http://www.leoniaktracking.com/ and shares tracking on his blog http://trackingthoughts.com/author/george/
We explore what it means to be open with the art of tracking.
Short stories from trackers.
Thanks to Michael Douglas withhttp://www.primitiveskills.com/ and
Kim Cabrera with http://www.bear-tracker.com/ for sharing stories
Sam Gosling, Ph.D. Professor of psychology at University of Texas at Austin.
Author of "Snoop" What Your Stuff Says About You. http://snoopology.com/
He studies personality of humans and how that personality can seep into the environment, and how to read it.
We talk with Sam Gosling about his book "Snoop" to understand how to read behavioral footprints in peoples environments.
Casey McFarland is a senior tracker in CyberTracker process http://trackercertification.com/. He is also co-author of "Bird Feathers" A guide to North American species http://www.amazon.com/Bird-Feathers-Guide-American-Species/dp/0811736180
We talk with Casey about gaining fluency in tracking.
Trail Nuggets is a new series of short stories trackers tell about different topics. This episode revolves around scat. Listen in and enjoy.
Thanks to Terry Kem and Heather Stevens for adding stories and voice.
We talk to Nate about the art and science of trailing animals, how a trailing evaluation works, what to expect and most importantly how we can improve our trailing.
Nate is an evaluator and senior level tracker in http://www.cybertracker.org/ , a senior tracker has achieved specialist level on track & sign and trailing evaluation.
Visit Nate's websit http://www.trackerstrail.com/index.html
certified animal trackers http://trackercertification.com/
Willem Larsen long time tracker and founder of http://www.mythic-cartography.org/ talks about Tracking Lab
Answer one of three questions with an audio response (MP3) story.
start with "my name is____" or "anonymous"
Followed by the question you are answering (which are)
1-What does tracking mean to me?
2-When did tracking save you from danger?
3-When has tracking helped you in the city?
Then your spoken story. Keep answers to around 5 minutes and email the MP3 audio file to 4artoftracking@gmail.com before August 14
Remember this will be assembled into a public blogtalkradio show with your audio files.
If you would like to answer more than one question, record them separately and email them separately. If your story includes other peoples names, change there names or check with them before. Some easy ways to record your story GarageBand, or recording app's on smart phones.
Look foward to listening and sharing your stories with other trackers.
Thanks, The Art of Tracking
We talk with Filip about how we learn tracking, how our senses and mind can help us or hinder us in growing our naturalist, tracking and awareness skills.
*Filip started learning tracking early in life, a tracking teacher of 10 years, has authored a book on tracking "Tracks and Sign of Reptiles and Amphibians"(http://www.amazon.com/Tracks-Sign-Reptiles-Amphibians-American/dp/0811711862). He has achieved specialist status in the CyberTracker (http://www.cybertracker.org/) evaluation process.
We talk with Filip Tkaczyk about the soon to be released book specializing in the tracks and sign of reptiles and amphibians. Reptiles and amphibians are an important part of the environment, and learning to read there track and sign opens a larger window into our world. Here we explore some of the tracks, sign, and behaviors of reptiles and amphibians.
~ Filip started learning tracking in his teenage years and has travel and learned from world renowned trackers, and received a "Specialist" title in the CyberTracker evaluation process.
We talk with Adrian Bejan, Duke University's J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, author of several book's and hunders of per reviewed papers about his book "Design in Nature" about the discovery of the "Constructal Law" of physics.
The Constructal Law states "For a finite-size system to persist in time (to live), it must evolve in such a way that it provides easier access to the imposed currents that flow through it." We explore what this law can mean for a tracker.
Jim Lowery author of "Walk with the Animal" A tracking methodology, and "The Tracker's Field Guide". Has been teaching tracking through his school EarthSkills since 1987. He has trained field biologists, naturalists and rangers.
We talk with Jim about connecting to the animal, getting over walls in trailing, the mix of practical and intuitive methods to stay on track.
visit http://www.earthskills.com/index.html
We have been lucky to have spend some time with Fernando. He has been tracking humans for over 40 years and is bar none the best I've ever heard of..In this interview, Fernando gets down in the dirt as we talk about his time tested methods of tracking.
visit http://professionaltrackers.com/
Dr. Nicole Apelian is a researcher, expeditionary leader, safari guide, Southern Africa specialist, mother, scientist, and educator. Her doctorate is focused in Cultural Anthropology. Nicole's experience abroad, specifically her research and guiding, has been an intensive conversation with the land and the people she visits. Her research has focused on the ways Indigenous cultures identify themselves in the modern world and is currently studying and learning from the Naro Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. She also is one of the primary guides for her company Eco Tours International, and specializes in tracking and wildlife safaris in Southern Africa.
Her doctoral research involved indigenous-based tourism and its role in maintaining intergenerational knowledge in Bushmen communities. She is also working on an ethnobotanical study of Bushmen plant uses in the Kalahari Basin and teaches traditional skills.Dr. Nicole Apelian shares the story of how Kalahari tracking safaris started and the deeper means behind the work.
Website http://www.ecotoursinternational.com/
Tracking Safari http://ecotoursinternational.com/adventure-travel/southern-africa/tracking-in-the-kalahari-desert.php
11/1/14
Bill Leikam, aka The Fox Guy
Partner: The Urban Wildlife Research Project
Board Member: Guadalupe - Coyote Resource Conservation District
Director: Independent Urban Gray Fox Research Project
Volunteer: Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Public Lectures & Guided Tours http://www.uwrp.wordpress.com/documentary
Endangered Species Statement of March 14, 2013 by Bill Leikam.
Do we need to wait until an animal is on the threatened or on the endangered species list before we decide to take action to save the species? I don’t think so. I think we need to treat all wildlife as though it is threatened, as though it is headed for extinction, before their habitats are destroyed by our encroachment on their homes, before their corridors are cut to shreds by our so-called development, and before we have to sadly look back and ask, “Why didn’t we do something before all this happened?”
We cannot call ourselves civilized until we freely give all living things on planet Earth their rightful place beside us. March 2014, William C. Leikam
We talk to Bill about foxes and how to tell if they live in our areas.
Rory Young is the co-author of "A Field Manual for Anti Poaching Activities". He has also been published by Newsweek, Forbes, The Huffington Post, Slate and many others, and was awarded the title “Top Writer 2013” by the online knowledge market Quora for his writings on African wildlife and conservation. He has also been interviewed and quoted by Smithsonian Magazine, Huffington Post, Yahoo News and many other publications about the current poaching crisis and what needs to be done to reign it in.
He originally trained as a Professional Guide and Professional Hunter (via problem animal control in community wildlife areas in Zimbabwe and Zambia), in the early 90’s. This was achieved under the then rigorous licensing system of the Zimbabwean Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management. He has now spent 25 years working in the related fields of conservation, wildlife management, forestry and safaris. Multi-lingual, this has enabled him to cross the divide between Anglophone and Francophone countries, to gain a uniquely broad perspective of the continent and its conservation challenges and potential solutions.
An expert tracker, he has developed and researched the skills since childhood. He has successfully combined traditional tracking methods with modern forensics and military tactical tracking, to develop highly effective methods of locating poachers. He has been invited to advise and teach advanced tracking and other field skills to wildlife protection, law-enforcement and military special operations personnel in many African and Western countries.
Realizing wildlife protection needs to be tailor made, ha has worked in partnership and consulted with experts, gaining a wide base of knowledge and skills including investigations, surveillance and apprehension.
http://youngrory.wordpress.com/
John Huth author of the book "The Lost Art of Finding Our Way" describing techniques and cultures of navigation predating the invention of the nautical chronometer. He is a professor of experimental particle physics at Harvard University. Professor Huth is working on the decay of the Higgs into pairs of bottom quarks, and also on upgrades to the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer.
He also teaches a Primitive Navigation course and is a member of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study’s Venture Faculty Program. The goal of the Program is to foster multidisciplinary studies that cut across the boundaries of traditional academic fields.
We talk to John Huth about how we can learn to navigate without modern technologies.
We talk to Bradford and Hillary Keeney for their prespectives on tracking.
Bradford Keeney Ph.D., author of "The Bushman Way of Tracking God" and numerous other books, is an anthropologist of cultural healing traditions, traditional healer, therapist, shaman, improvisational performer, a world traveler and has lived with many indigenous peoples.
Hillary Keeney ,Ph.D. is a distinguished scholar, author, and practitioner of creative transformation and improvisational performance. Co-Founder and President of THE KEENEY INSTITUTE FOR HEALING
To learn more about their work, visit http://keeneyinstitute.org/
Another link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWEQOG-VUsI&list=TLQIU9lwd94S_T8OhFXFGSmy1fnLbw2Bvi
Ty Cunningham, U.S. Marshals retired and Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) in Bush Alaska, a 30 year professional man hunter and scout tracking™ legend; adopted and modified from the Alaska and Wyoming U.S. Marshals Scout Tracking™ Units (TTU & MTU) which he served as Commander.
Ty talks to The Art of Tracking about his thesis on forensic spoorology, how to read it, what it can tell us and the importance of spoor-chain signatures to the tracker.
Visit his website for information and his thesis, http://www.tycunningham.org
Linda Bittle has studied tracking with several well known trackers, and in 2008 she did an advanced tracking project for Wilderness Awareness School (http://wildernessawareness.org/), about domestic dog tracks. In this talk Linda shares her findings on how to make sense of the wide variety of domestic dog tracks.
Linda also volunteers helping with women and girls outdoor programs and teaching tracking.
Linda's domestic dog PowerPoint PDF (please credit Linda if using) https://www.facebook.com/groups/513542485458726/?notif_t=group_added_to_group
useful website about dogs
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/activities/dog-showing/breed-standards/about-breed-standards/
http://www.akc.org/breeds/index.cfm
Tamarack Song shares insights and stories from a life of living with nature and tracking animals.
visit his website http://tamaracksong.org/index.html
also http://www.teachingdrum.org/
Ricardo Sierra, founder of Hawk Circle Wilderness Education, former assistant instructor at Tom Brown's Tracking and Survival School, a member of the Tracking Projects Community Mentoring Program in New Mexico, Wolverine Way interviews and 7 day challenge.
Ricardo talks from his many years of experience teaching tracking to the next generation.
visit his website at http://www.hawkcircle.com/
Ricardo's work doing the Wolverine way http://thewolverineway.com/
Kim Cabrera creator of Beartracker's Animal tracks den website and life long tracker, takes us through the differences on telling cat family and dog family tracks and trails apart.
for detailed pictures to go with the talk visit
http://www.bear-tracker.com/caninevsfeline.html
The tracker radio program was established to preserve and pass on the art and science of tracking. We interview master trackers, and get their personal stories and insights. Recentle a good friend and tracker Lu Canas donated a serious amount to support this program.Lu started a group in Missouri called Red Road Survival.. There skills can be taught and shared free. Lu said 'everytime an episode starts to get good, its over'.. so we've upgraded the account and can now have 2 hour shows! Thanks Lu!!
We catch up with Tom again to talk about the deep subject of tracking. Tom has a lot going on, can't wait to catch up...
Jonah Evans, creator of itrack wildlife app, talks about CyberTracker certifications, the role tracking plays with conservation efforts and the job market for trackers.
iTrack Wildlife app-- is the most comprehensive digital field guide to animal tracks ever made and it's only for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Whether you're a naturalist, a hunter, a nature lover, an outdoor enthusiast, or a wildlife biologist, you will find iTrack Wildlife to be a terrific companion on your outdoor adventures. While the simple and intuitive design make this app accessible to the novice, the wealth of accurate information and powerful search tools will appeal to experts and wildlife professionals.
One aspect of tracking is about finding the relationships between animals and the environment and specific objects in the environment. Sherlock Holmes was a master of this with humans. Here we look at this aspect of tracking and follow Mr. Holmes as it applies to human environments.
Fernando Moreira a proffesional tracker explains how a tracker can benefit police and detectives at a crime scene and what it takes to become a crime scene tracker.
Mike Is a master tracker from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. He has a depth of knowledge in the art and science of tracking.
Tonight we are honored to have the distinguished Ty Cunningham on our radio show. Among many accomplishments Ty is a master tracker and joins us to share his wisdom.
Jeff discusses the unseen and eternal aspects of tracking. Caretaker mind, tracking with the whole body and ecological web/ butterfly effect.
People today see tracking as an almost magical, but dead art. In this episode, We study the trackers of the world to see their particular magic, mystic, methods, and mysteries.skills. San, Aboriginal, Rhodesian, Apache, TBJ.
Garth and Steve take a look at the movement of cycles and the signs they leave, how it can be used for nativagtion and, how they can be used as a measuring device for tracks and how they change animals behavior. The behavior shows up in the tracks and sign and then can be used to know when it was made and a deeper story of connection and oneness.
Tom Brown III, owner and operator of Primitive Arts Collective, joins us for a one on one conversation about tracking.
We talk to Steve Fortin founder of Wild Arkansas Primitive institute, and hear his tales of tracking.
Explore the world of tracking with Kim Cabrera, from Beartracker's Animal Tracks Den (www.bear-tracker.com) as she shares stories she has read in nature through tracks.
On this episode, Weaselbear and Garth Olson talk about what it takes to become a competent animal tracker. Here we use the term 'Holistic Tracker' coined by master tracker and naturalist Jon Young. A holistic tracker has an expanded awareness of nature and is an expert tracker. Jon goes on to explain that a holistic tracker must have a firm foundation as a naturalist as all indigenous peoples do. We will explain some good practices, exercises, some do's and dont's, and some great resources on tracking.
Well as any tracker can tell you, aging a track can be a tremendous undertaking.. There are a thousand variables and it takes years of serious study to get proficient at aging track and sign. Join Garth Olson and myself as we talk about the Art of Aging.
Fernando provides expert education in his classes. He has been in the business for 40 years, and has tried and true methods. join us and listen in while Fernando talks about tracking
Tonight we go on air with Master Tracker Fernando Moreira. Fernando has been all over the worlds saving lives and capturing futives. This Will be a two part series. In tonights radio talk, Fernando will explain his history, how he got into tracking, his school, and hopefully share a few stories.