April 2025 News, Stories, and Events from Original Wisdom
Our new book is out! TRACKING ANIMALS – A GUIDE TO TRAILING WILDLIFE, by Lee Gutteridge and Kersey Lawrence and published by Jacana Media. Filled with stories from Lee and Kersey, and other CyberTracker Evaluators. Available in print and as an eBook, and ordering info is inside. Also, look in the ONLINE EVENTS section of the Jan 2025 newsletter for links to a monthly article we write for the Hoedspruit Explorer, for some instruction and stories from the book to help whet your tracking appetite.
March 2025 News, Stories, and Events from Original Wisdom
We found the Montana mountain lion’s tracks on a fresh skiff of newly fallen snow, crossing the road and ducking under a barbed wire fence along a trail that the deer regularly used. Her tracks were crisp, and our guide asked us if we’d like to abandon our original plan to look for a variety of tracks and signs, or would we like to follow her…
What would you do? To find out what our answer was, read on in the Snow Tracking section below…
January 2025 News, Stories, and Events from Original Wisdom
Four researchers and trainers working across continents, all with a passion for trackers and tracking.
Kersey is from the USA, Jiska is from the Netherlands, and both of them currently live in South Africa. Along with Matt Nelson (USA) and Sandy Reed (USA), the Soul of Tracking team are collaborating in a long-term international Tracking Research project through the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Read more about it here.
November 2024 News, Stories, and Events from Original Wisdom
René Nauta from Holland tracks fallow deer in tough conditions in West Sussex, England. He earned his Trailing Specialist from CyberTracker Conservation, earning him the title of Senior Tracker when combined with his already achieved Track & Sign ID Specialist.
There are a number of new Specialists this month, in North America, Europe, and Africa. We’ll tell you a bit about the ones that Original Wisdom was directly involved with in this newsletter. The community of skilled Trackers is gathering momentum!
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 – 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 […]