Beginning Tracker Stories
Sue - Seeing the Coyote
I was in Crystal Cove State Park by Laguna Beach, doing some homework for the class. It was real early in the morning and there were not a lot of people around. And I SAW the coyote I was tracking. I mean I didn’t physically see it but in my mind I was able to see it vividly. It was standing in the road and the Santa Ana wind was blowing and hair on its back was standing on end because the wind was coming from behind. It was a brief flash but I was convinced that this was the animal I was following.
Gary - Pull to a Mountain Lion
There is a mountain lion who goes through periodically by the area where I often go into this valley. About 15 yards beyond, I found mountain lion tracks and spent time with the trail one day. I got down and was trying to connect and started moving with it and asked the question, "Where did you go?" and boom! My head looked right up across the highway and up onto a hillside. That was a real strong connection with the mountain lion.
Cheja - Asking the Bobcat
I am not a skilled tracker, so when I heard about intuitive tracking I was intrigued and came to a workshop. On the first day I’d been discouraged with my tracking skills but then got rid of some distractions, and the next day had a good coyote tracking experience while blindfolded. Later that day I was doing an assignment from Jim to connect with a bobcat trail. These bobcat tracks were pretty fresh. I’d never gotten extensively into technical track interpretation before, but looking at the tracks and their spacing I got a sense of its mood: slowly winding up the trail, looking around. So, as long as I could see the physical track on the ground I followed it, until – until it seemed to disappear. Well, because I was following the tracks trying to move like the bobcat, I just kept moving in the curving direction it had been going. That was an assumption. After following the unseen about 15 feet, I stopped. Now, needing help, I somehow had the thought, “Where did you go, bobcat?” Immediately I ‘heard’ back, “I crossed over.” What?! So I walked back to where I had lost the track, and looking more closely the tracks curved to the right and crossed the path! I called Jim over, and he confirmed the tracks were the particular bobcat in question. It took a moment of desperation and surrender to truly ask the animal for help. And get it.