Sunday Tracking in Grey County
Tracking Apprenticeship Jan 21, 2018
There is so much to learn from our Tracking apprenticeship.
I am still discovering ways in which tracking is teaching me, not just about animals and nature, but about the basics of what is it to be a conscious human being in the world.
It has been years now I have been coming out on these trips, and yet there is always new experiences, and new depth to the experiences.
I do find it a real gift to awake on-site on these excursions, not only because I’m super grateful for not having to commute, but more so for enriching experiences, sharing food, good times and banter with the crew of trackers.
Before heading out for the day, we took some time to go over gaits and trail patterns. Alexis explained how to interpret various gaits and which animals we may see use them, while Evelyn helped us visualize the mechanics of motion via her awesome animal forms display.
We headed out for the day, and didn’t have to go far before we found a plethora of super-sweet trails just around the property.
A quick scan revealed more than half a dozen different kinds creatures passing through over night;
coyotes, cats, crows, and the chickens, squirrels, skunks, voles and more!
We were pretty stoked about the clear fresh skunk trails so we took elaborate notes and measurements of some trails, and spent time working on our Tracking Journals.
After lunch we head to a forest just down the road where we took a walk along the (thawing) icy edge of the creek.
We soon were in a jungle-gym of interwoven trails of so many creatures it made some of our heads hurt. Creatures like coyotes, shrew, mice, racoons, fishers, mink, short tail weasel, and quite possibly a least weasel. It was a really sweet group wandering – we saw so much in such little time.
The frozen ice above the creek water level was stunning, it made us pause for a moment to appreciate the beauty before us.
To top it off, there was a super sweet raptop track on the frozen icy edge of the creek!
