The Tracker School is in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

I remember writing a report about the Pine Barrens when I was in elementary school. The plant life was astonishing! There are some that blow up, others that eat insects and the soil is sand. It is an extraordinary place.

Pine Barrens

Well that’s where I go to school to learn about healing and living on the land. I know several edible plants, what wood is best for bow drill and how to make a primitive weapons. The land is unique.

Here are some facts about the Pine Barrens.

The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands, is an enormous and all-encompassing tract of open space that covers 1.1 million acres, or 22 percent of New Jersey’s land area.

Pine Barrens

“The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands, is a heavily forested area of coastal plain stretching across southern New Jersey. The name “pine barrens” refers to the area’s sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil, to which the crops originally imported by European settlers didn’t take well. These uncommon conditions enable the Pine Barrens to support a unique and diverse spectrum of plant life, including orchids and carnivorous plants. The area is also notable for its populations of rare pygmy Pitch Pines and other plant species that depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce. The sand that composes much of the area’s soil is referred to by the locals as sugar sand.”
From Wikipedia

Earth Voices, LLC
5114 Mandalay Springs Drive
Apt 103
Las Vegas, NV
89120

I missed posting this Bill Marple post. Hope you like it even though Thanksgiving is over.

Bill Maple on Thanksgiving and the love of tracking.

Hi Magda,

Hope you’re doing well, and getting
ready for Thanksgiving and the holidays.
I know Danielle and I will enjoy Thanksgiving
here with the usual family get together
and feasting! However, aside from the
normal social aspects of this holiday,
we’re also planning on getting out into
the wilderness for a few hours to track,
wander, and otherwise give thanks for
the beauty of the natural world around us.
I hope you have time to do the same!

As you can see from the above title, I
have some interesting things to share
with you today. But first, a few administrative
announcements:

-Many folks have asked when my next
Dirt Time and Beyond the Lateral Ridge
classes are running. We’ve had a bit of
hard time back at Tracker School with
our website lately, and the classes are
not currently listed. They should be up
soon and you can get in touch with Sara
if you’re interested in taking one.

The dates are for the 3-5 of December and
19-21 February respectively for Dirt
Time and Beyond the Lateral Ridge. Both
classes will take place in Santa Cruz, CA.
If you’re interested in either of these two
classes, I urge you to sign up soon, as they
usually fill up quickly! Hope to see you there!

-I’m VERY excited to say that not only
will I shortly have my very own website
up and online, but also, I will soon be
announcing the date for my very first
ONLINE TRACKING CLASS.

I’m currently beta testing them, and should be
rolling them out in the next week! They
will be a viable alternative for folks who
either can’t make it to a class, or for those
who want a reference material for classes
they’ve taken in the past. The best news is
that I’ll be offering them at a discount for
the people who are part of the Tracking
Update! Stay tuned for more info!

So, on to the subject of the email, “GRUDGE
MATCH: GROUND SQUIRREL VS
WOODRAT.” I want you to begin by taking
a look at the below photos. If you can’t
see them, please make sure you click on
the “display images” provided by your email
service provider.

Danielle and I came across these tracks
on a walk up in the mountains surrounding
Las Vegas, and had quite a time going
back and forth over whether or not they
were made by a ground squirrel or a woodrat,
both of which are common in the area
we live in.

I would say we “talked” about
it for close to an hour, and each of us
changed our mind two or three times before
we finally came to conclusion about the
tracks origins. To be honest, it was Danielle
who eventually “solved the case” by
tracking the animal back to its den. Ahhhhh,
how tracking can add a certain “spice”
to your relationship at times……

Begin by asking yourself some of the following questions:

-What is the direction of travel?

-Which tracks are the front feet, and which are the rears?

-What gait pattern is being demonstrated here?

-How many toes are in the front, and how many are in the rear?

-What shape are the digits? Short and stubby? Long and slender? Somewhere in between?

-Is there an orientation to the fronts and rears? Are they “pitched” in one direction or the other?

-What’s happening with the metacarpal pads(the leading edge of the heel pad)? Are they segmented? Fully separated? Do they have a particular shape?

If you’re running into difficulty here,
just remember there ought to be a
trusty field guide in your tracking
library somewhere that can give you
a clue into what you’re looking for.
If you don’t have a field guide(shame
on you!!!), you can always check out
what “Momma Google” has to say by
doing a few searches.

Have a great time with the track ID.
I’ll be sending out the answer in my
next email. Until then, happy tracking,
and keep your eye out for my ONLINE
CLASS announcement!

Regards,

Bill

Tracker School
928 Main Street
Manahawkin, NJ
08050

Bill Marple has an online tracking class!

Hi Magda,

Well, the day is finally here, and I’m happy
to announce that my very first ONLINE CLASS
is now a reality! After weeks of beta-testing and
a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, the class will air
live from 4:00pm-5:00pm PST on WEDS, 1 DEC 2010-next week!

Click Here to Register For This Class!

This first class will focus on Track Measurements.
So often in tracking, we forget about the basics,
and Track Measurements is no exception. Most
people just never take the time to really
get into using the measurement system, and
as a result, they lose a very powerful
technique in terms of increasing their
awareness and their ability in tracking.

In this class, I will be going over the
following major topics as well as
several others :

-How to properly take Track Measurements

-Expanded definitions of technical measurement terms

-How to use Track Measurements to get detailed information about sets of tracks

-How Track Measurements relate to Pressure Releases

If you are unfamiliar with Track
Measurements, this class will more
than acquaint you with the details. If
you’ve had experience with them, it will
be a valuable reference material. The
class itself will be the first installment of
a series entitled “Tracking Basics” where
I will be touching on many of the tracking
topics covered in the Standard class, and
showing how to use them in your journey
in tracking.

I’m also pleased to announce that, as promised,
I will do everything in my power to “hook up”
those dedicated folks(like you!) who have
been part of the Tracking Update. So, I’m
offering this class to you for only $20 which
is a $10 discount then will be made available
for regular download.

During the class, you will be able to attend the
live class, ask questions during the presentation, and view
it at any time in the future for as long as you like!

The best part about this is that even if you
are not able to be present for the live airing,
but have STILL REGISTERED, you’ll be
able to view it in the future without paying
for it again!

In this way, I’ll be creating a “digital library”
of classes, materials, and study guides which
you’ll be able to reference whenever you have
questions. There are so many possibilities
for where this could go!

So, ……

Click Here to Register For This Class!

And I’ll see you in the digital classroom!

PS-After you register, make sure you check
your spam folder for your confirmation email
as they sometimes get misrouted by web browers!(especially yahoo!)

Bill Marple
trackerupdate.marple@gmail.com

Bill Marple stops by again to teach us about tracking.

Our guest blogger is Bill Marple an instructor at the Tracker School in New Jersey. He gives classes on tracking animals and humans in the wildereness and on the streets. I’m so glad he is allowing me to add his post to our site and share his expertise with you. Now without further ado Bill Marple (Applause!)

Hi Magda,

Well, I am excited, as we are all one step closer
to making the tracking update interactive! As
you’ll see below, I now am able to post photos
in my emails to you. Yes, after much head-scratching,
phone-calling, and, well, out and out cursing,
I finally figured it out(actually it was much
easier than I made it-of course!). Soon, we’ll be
able to post video as well!

So, the subject line reads “WOODY
WOODPECKER CAUGHT ON FILM,” but as
you’ll soon notice, that’s not totally true. However,
I lied to you on purpose, in order to highlight
the power of tracking in observation in awareness.
Check out the two photos below:

I took these photos in northern Vermont.
As you can see, Woody is nowhere to be found.
Yet, I know he was here. How could I be
sure about this? Well, there’s a couple of things
about animals, birds, and beasts in general that
are useful to consider when interpreting tracks
and sign. To begin with, here’s one of the
Golden Rules of Sign tracking:

*According to species, animals tend to leave the
same type of sign no matter where you find them*

This means that most animals will leave
almost exactly the same type of sign, no
matter what geographical area you find
them in. And, that sign is specific to
that type of species. For example, I
could find a grey squirrel nest in New
Hampshire, and one in Florida, and if I
compared the two, they would be of
almost exactly the same type of construction
with the exception of the material used.

This is so powerful in sign tracking!
As you begin to notice different types of
sign, and relate them to a species, you’ll
begin to see them wherever you go.
Sign tracking is incredibly important
when determining what animals are in
an area, and once you get comfortable
with it, it truly is possible to determine
the animal activity “at a glance!”

For instance, when I took the photo of
the above tree, and forest floor surrounding
it, there was no doubt in my mind that it
was a Pileated Woodpecker that caused
the hole and wood chips. How do I know
this? Let’s consider a few things:

1. The holes themselves are huge and the wood chips are huge.
-Only a large bird could have done
this. It wasn’t the result of several small
birds or insects over the course of days. The
age of the hole showed it was done in one
“chipping.” So, it had to have been one bird.
As well, the sides of the hole didn’t have
all sorts of scratches, chips, tears, etc, as if
several animals had clawed it out. It was
neatly chipped out, lending it to look like
the work of one bird with a large bill.
Raptors and Owls are big enough to do this,
but their bills and facial construction don’t support it.

2. The holes indicate a feeding behavior, not a nesting behavior.
-As you can see, their was no nest built
here, nor is it a good place for a nest. This
hole was made for the purpose of getting
food(insects) out of the wood. Generally
speaking, only one type of bird pecks holes
in trees for food(woodpeckers), and only
one type of pecking bird is big enough to
have caused it: A Pileated Woodpecker.

3. The holes are “square shaped.”
-It’s difficult to see in the photo, but
the holes themselves are “squarish” or
“rectangularish.” This is a dead giveaway
for a Pileated Woodpecker. Pileateds need
large trees to feed on, and when they peck
them, they typically go deep into the wood,
and leave a distinctly “square” or “rectangular”
shaped hole behind. No other bird in North
America leaves a hole that big, and of that shape.
You can count on them leaving it behind
wherever they’ve been feeding. With all
this in mind, I can say conclusively “A
Pileated Woodpecker did this!”

Pileated Woodpecker’s are one of my favorite
birds. Maybe it’s because I loved watching
Woody Woodpecker growing up as a kid, but
more than likely, the Pileated is one of the
first birds I observed and began to associate
the sign they leave with the bird itself. If you
apply this to other animals, I think you’ll be
pleasantly surprised at how predictable animals
turns out to be. You’ll soon attributing burrows,
nests, dens, browse, etc with specific animals!

Have fun getting out there sign tracking, and I’ll catch up with you on the next update!

Bill Marple
trackerupdate.marple@gmail.com

Our guest blogger is Bill Marple an instructor at the Tracker School in New Jersey. He gives classes on tracking animals and humans in the wildereness and on the streets. I’m so glad he is allowing me to add his post to our site and share his expertise with you. Now without further ado Bill Marple (Applause!)

Hi Magda,

Well, I suppose I should
begin by apologizing for not
sending a whole lot out
on the Tracking Update recently. 
We’ve just finished about 3
weeks of classes in the primitive
camp which left me with
little time to get myself to
a computer.  But, what a three
weeks of classes they were!

I must say, I’ve been working
at Tracker for awhile now,
and every year, all of us on
the staff look forward to the
Scout class.  It’s a great
time of booby traps, “awareness
devices,” stalking, camoflage,
and a whole lot more!  Just the
cameraderie that develops during
a class as the students make
their way through the curriculum
is a blast!

This year, however, taught me to
look deeper into the more
fundamental truths of Scout
philosophy, and how it relates
to the overall teaching presented
at the Tracker School, particularly
with regard to tracking and
pressure releases.

If you’ve been to any of my
workshops, you often hear me read
passages from Science and Art of
Tracking.  One of my favorites is
a beautiful quotation about the Way
of the Scout and how it relates
to tracking(there are several,
actually).  But, just to pull
out a few tidbits of it, Tom writes,
“…it was the Scout’s awareness
that kept their people safe… 
If the tracks were the Scout’s
cathedral, then the pressure releases
were the voice of the Creator.”

I wish I could pull out the full
quote for you, however, it’s quite
lengthy.  But wow,  what a quote,
even for just a few lines,
eh?!?!?  These two sentences, when
looked at “from the belly of the
coyote” contain so much knowledge
and information!

First of all, consider to yourself:
Who was Grandfather really?
What was Grandfather really?  A shaman? 
A healer?  An herbalist? a master
survivalist?  Yes to all of the above,
but as Tom will tell you, Grandfather
was a Scout first.  He usually goes
further with it, explaining how Grandfather’s
Scout training underscored everything
he learned and passed on to Tom.

As you know, for Grandfather, there was
no difference between tracking and
awareness, so, anytime you hear Tom
mention the word “awareness,”
you can think to yourself, “tracking.” 
When considered in this way, you begin
to see how tracking, or the ability
to expand your perception, is central
to what Tom teaches.  In my opinion, when
Tom writes  “it was the Scout’s awareness
that kept their people safe,” he is
referring to tracking as the underpinning
of all the other teachings!!!!

Hey, I’m not trying to tell you just
because you know something about
tracking, you know something about
healing, or herbalism, or whatever else. 
What I’m saying is that if you know
how to track, you’ve automatically
trained your mind to think in the
proper way so those other pursuits
become easier. 

Remember, in many ways, tracking is
the process by which we search for
and study the truth about things. 
So, if you’re a tracker, you’re training
your mind in the right way to be
able to study and perceive things many
other people might not ever distinguish!! 
Pretty good argument for
tracking, huh?

Well, that’s not even all of it. 
Tom goes on to write that the
pressure releases are the voice of the
Creator in the track.  Well,
I’m not going to trample on your
“religious or philosophical toes”
in an email by trying to tell you what
you should consider to be the “voice of
the Creator.”  I just know from what
Tom has written here, and from some of
my own personal experiences, pressure
release studies have a monumental amount
of knowledge to teach us.

If you have trouble swallowing pressure
releases as the  “voice of the Creator”
just think of them as a language we have
to get to know and speak if we ever hope
to truly understand what the Earth
is saying to us.  As trackers, we are
constantly seeking to be in
dialogue with Earth Mother, but we can’t
do that if we don’t speak her language. 
Trust me, a study of pressure releases, any
study of pressure releases, will be worth
your time.

When I really consider it, it’s amazing
to me what the Scout societies
accomplished,  and, in my estimation,
pressure release is one of the crown
jewels of that accomplishment.  All
during the Scout class, I couldn’t stop
thinking of just how important
pressure release tracking is. 

Particularly when I stop to consider
just how much of a difference it’s
made in my own life, I’m amazed. I hope
you take some time to consider this as
well, and think about what tracking
means to you, and how its affected your
perceptions. 

Are your own people safer now that you’ve begun to
study tracking?

Talk to you later, and I hope you’ve had a great few weeks!

PS-I’ll catch back up with you in a few days with a complete
breakdown of my upcoming class schedule.  So many people have been
asking for it, I thought it would be worth it’s own broadcast so
you can find out the scoop!  Classes are filling up quickly, so if
you can’t wait, take a look for them on the Tracker Schedule at
www.trackerschool.com!
Regards,

Bill Marple
Tracker School
928 Main Street
Manahawkin, NJ
08050

Contact Bill at
trackerupdate.marple@gmail.com