Entering the Mind of the Tracker

Tamarack Song has spent his life studying the world’s aboriginal peoples, apprenticing to Elders, and learning traditional hunter-gatherer survival skills. He has spent years alone in the woods as well as living with a pack of Wolves. In 1987, he founded the Teaching Drum Outdoor School in the wilderness of northern Wisconsin, where he runs the yearlong Wilderness Guide Program.

• Foreword by Bryan Nez, former Shadow Wolf Introduction: Tracking in the Shadow of Wolf 1 Sweet Fern Rendezvous The First Lesson: Opening to the Song of the Track 2 Romancing the Frog The Next Step: Hearing the Rhythms of the Natural World 3 Bear Stump The Tracker Starts to Read the Stories of the Forest Floor 4 Dogs Will Be Dogs Learning through Conflict in a Wayward Track across the Snow 5 Stalking Turtle Now Step Back and See Life and Death in a Track 6 How to Learn Tracking from One of the Greatest Predators Apprenticing to the Wolf on the Windowsill 7 A Winter Riddle Along a Frozen Lake, a Kill Leaves More Questions than Answers 8 Eyes That Shine The Tracker Can Now Shed Old Skin to See with New Eyes 9 Grandfather Tip-Up How to See Centuries of Movement in the Stillness of an Old Forest 10 Becoming Wolf Ready to Learn How One Animal Appears in the Tracks of Another 11 Old Songs Never Die Teachings from the Ghosts Who Linger in an Old Forest 12 A Sound Lesson in Tracking How to Let Ears Become Eyes That Can See the Invisible Trail 13 Eagle Spirit and the Tin Can Preparing to Find the Invisible Trails in Sky and Water 14 Following the Flight Trail And Now the Test: Reading the Tracks Left by Wings through the Air 15 Human Tracking, Bear Style Bear, the Master Man-Tracking Teacher, Shows How to Find and Trail People 16 The Messenger A Frontier Opens: The Tracker Attains Relationship with an Elusive Predator Acknowledgments Appendix 1. For Educators, Naturalists, and Tracking Instructors Appendix 2. Demystifying Canine Track Identification Appendix 3. Tracking at a Glance A Symbol Reading Primer Appendix 4. How to Act around Bears Appendix 5. Safety Tips in Cougar Country Glossary Index About the Author

“Entering the Mind of the Tracker is one of those rare works that captures the essence of nature by exploring its tiniest (and most profound) nuances. Tamarack Song has written what will help achieve one of the most important needs of human beings today--reconnecting with the Earth.”