Pablo - that looks like otter to me - though it is hard to tell without some idea of scale - the scraped up pile of mud - did it have spraint or oily goo on it?
Anyone out there?
- Thread starter Rhoda
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He is only 3 but so keen to learn - start em young I say!!!
My boy is 8, and is very keen to learn stuff (also keen to get his own blade but Mrs N says NOOOO...)
Younger eyes can often see smaller sign in the tracks (secondary and tertiary ressure releases) that I miss... We're off to Bala in a coule of weeks time, and we'll have a go trailing each other, and also doing the 'natural camoflague' stuff in Brown's other books.
Both looking forward to Bushmoot this year as well!!
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I thought the same but hard to tell without something to give an idea of size - not knowing how big the crab was!!
Nyayo how great to get the next generation of trackers started, I'm looking forward to meeting your boy at the moot, sounds like he is really enjoying learning :You_Rock_
Well I have just ordered the Tom Brown book, and have two others on the way via the library service, but that it the total extent of my tracking so far.
I'll see if I can get out and about a bit once I have had a good read through them all.
I'll see if I can get out and about a bit once I have had a good read through them all.
Just come back from walking aforementioned canine companion, practicing looking for those complicated disc-fissures, and ridege-crumbles (etc), and I sied (on the way out) a mummy fox and three cubs bundling each other, then (on the way back) a rtly badger chasing a daddy fox - not bad for an evening's entertainment!
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Ooo you lucky (insert word that sounds like rugger) Nyayo and Pablo. Went out with nightwalker and rhoda the other night to look for fox cubs that nightwalker had spotted earlier this month. no joy but found rabbit carcass and scat.
Last time I saw anything was on a river walk where I took some students. great woods and river to go to as now know where a big dog fox always likes to take his toilet break, where to find the badger latrines, the otter spraint, the feeding remains of mice and voles and on the last trip found some stoat tracks down by the waters edge too. My favourite though has to be the deer tracks. can see where they lead down to the water, and then come out on the other bank and you get a real sense of the animal wondering through the woods.
students loved it too.
not had much luck in spotting anything living though lately but that might be more to do with not being at home...swanning around the scillies and the arctic!!
Last time I saw anything was on a river walk where I took some students. great woods and river to go to as now know where a big dog fox always likes to take his toilet break, where to find the badger latrines, the otter spraint, the feeding remains of mice and voles and on the last trip found some stoat tracks down by the waters edge too. My favourite though has to be the deer tracks. can see where they lead down to the water, and then come out on the other bank and you get a real sense of the animal wondering through the woods.
students loved it too.
not had much luck in spotting anything living though lately but that might be more to do with not being at home...swanning around the scillies and the arctic!!
I've just finished reading through Tom Brown's book for the first time and it really is as superbly written as I was led to believe.
Next step is building the backyard sandbox, apparently the best way to start according to Mr. Brown and going through the book chapter by chapter. I'm interested to know how Nyayo got on with his?
Next step is building the backyard sandbox, apparently the best way to start according to Mr. Brown and going through the book chapter by chapter. I'm interested to know how Nyayo got on with his?
I just begun with tracking. Got a book from the library with not only footprints, but also other signs like eating.
So last week I saw some prints from a deer, so I was following the tracks, walking half bent, and suddenly they were gone. Still standing half bent I was imagining that I was that deer and thought "were should I go to?". Than I saw some bushes, and indeed, some young leaves were missing
Yesterday I was also in the woods and saw some acorns lying on the ground. One minute later, I found myself sitting on the path with that book on me lap and trying to figure out what kind of animal did eat it.
So last week I saw some prints from a deer, so I was following the tracks, walking half bent, and suddenly they were gone. Still standing half bent I was imagining that I was that deer and thought "were should I go to?". Than I saw some bushes, and indeed, some young leaves were missing
Yesterday I was also in the woods and saw some acorns lying on the ground. One minute later, I found myself sitting on the path with that book on me lap and trying to figure out what kind of animal did eat it.
It's a little addictive, I've spent most of this evening making the cat walk across the wood floor to see if I can see the 'flaring' footprints as described in the book and guess what? It works!
I'm a long way from that level of tracking but its quite amazing how much is visible on even hard surfaces. A recommended read if ever there was one!
I'm a long way from that level of tracking but its quite amazing how much is visible on even hard surfaces. A recommended read if ever there was one!
Since the moot, I've been using the sandbox ( the boy often leaves a track for me in the morning and I have to provide an explanation later in the day) most days, although we have been tracking in the Goyt valley - lots of Red Deer. We recently got hold of Mr. Brown's 'Nature awraeness and observation', and are trying to apply aging techniques as well as pressure releases. I'm quite happy about speed, direction and the direction of attention - I recently had a 'Eureka' moment - tracked a dog, saw where it had stopped and looked down a badger run, then moved on and looked up at a tree - found scratches on the tree branch and a single muddy squirrel print, then found where a man in walking boots had walked past the dog, and the dog had followed - had to go back to the sandpit to try to re-create the turning prints to better understand the prints. I now find it extremely useful to feel the prints (my fingers are much more perceptive than my eyes) while trying to read the landscape with my eyes and ears. I'm currently holidaying in Norfolk with my in-laws and tracking relaxed Muntjac and nervous bunnies in Thetford Forest. I'm looking forward to going after Arctic Hare on Kinder this winter...
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Sounds fantastic Nyayo, it really is addictive isn't it! I can't walk through town without tracking the person ahead of me (quite easy round here as we have lots of surfers with wet bare feet!!)
Hoping to spend some more time in the woods after this weekend, things have been a bit hectic of late so can't wait to get back to nature.
Hoping to spend some more time in the woods after this weekend, things have been a bit hectic of late so can't wait to get back to nature.
I have some great piccies of Red Deer trails in the woods that I'll put on when we get home. I now find I'm starting to get funny looks (like from lying on my tummy looking at dog prints after I've just watched him have a drink...) and yes, I do end up tracking me quite a lot...
Hi Nyayo, did it take you long to work out the pressure release basics in the sandbox? I know TB mentions around 4-10 hours should allow you to see the primary releases, I'm just curious as to how long it took you to gain a good foothold (pardon the pun).
It din't seem to take too long at all! I played in the sandbox every day (say 15mins twice a day) then tried to apply what I'd learned when I took the dog out in the evening (about 1 hour). Even if I was just tracking the dog, or back-tracking me, I could always focus on one new pressure release and keep working on the ones I'd already covered. My boy is already quite good at spotting the various turning, speed and acceleration/decceleration signs and he's only 8. We were tracking squirrels yesterday and he's spotting turns, stops, hesitations etc.
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Excellent, I'm very much looking forward to getting mine built and getting some practice in. I'm thinking an outdoor box and cover it over when not in use so it doesn't turn into the local cat toilet! It'll also be a lot quieter on the ears. Sounds like your lad's getting quite good at it already if he's spotting that level of detail in a squirrel print, very nice.
with deer tracks try useing your finger as a guide the little one first joint is as big as a muntjac secound is a roe as big as your little finger is fallow and bigger than your middle finger is red sika comes between fallow and red although if its a young deer its feet will be smaller about the size of a roe but you can tell a roe as the cleaves are thinner
with deer tracks try useing your finger as a guide the little one first joint is as big as a muntjac secound is a roe as big as your little finger is fallow and bigger than your middle finger is red sika comes between fallow and red although if its a young deer its feet will be smaller about the size of a roe but you can tell a roe as the cleaves are thinner
Don't come on the forum as much as I used to, but I tracked every day during the summer - part of my job. Weasles, foxes, rabbits, bagders, muntjacs, dogs and small children!
Hope this is of interest
Hope this is of interest
OK - are there any Tracking associations/clubs in the UK? If not, would anybody be up for organising one? Regular meets, skills sesions etc etc
Ede
*It's late and I'm bored of marking...
Ede
*It's late and I'm bored of marking...
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