Bill will be co-instructing this incredibly unique class with Karl Direske and his wife, Pat Direske, through Wilderness Fusion. A few years ago, Karl was asked by Tom Brown to develop a school based on the Healing modality passed on by Stalking Wolf, and Karl regularly runs highly transformative classes in Healing on both the East and West Coasts. His wife, Pat, after many years of working as a professional ballet dancer, runs a very successful Healing practice of her own in which she teaches and works with her students in developing body awareness and movement.

In this fascinating class, Karl, Pat, and Bill will explore the intersection of Tracking, Healing, and Movement. Students can expect to find their perspective altered as they are guided through the intricacies of awareness and what happens to the body when a Tracker fully engages the Primal Mind. Join us for this class to discover your own Primal Psychology and how it relates to the Path of the Tracker!

To reserve your space for this class, CLICK HERE to be taken to the Wilderness Fusion website for registration and full class description.

Class Date: July 19-21

Class Location: Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, Cross River, NY

Class cost: $500

Bill will be co-instructing this incredibly unique class with Karl Direske and his wife, Pat Direske, through Wilderness Fusion.  A few years ago, Karl was asked by Tom Brown to develop a school based on the Healing modality passed on by Stalking Wolf, and Karl regularly runs highly transformative classes in Healing on both the East and West Coasts.   His wife, Pat, after many years of working as a professional ballet dancer, runs a very successful Healing practice of her own in which she teaches and works with her students in developing body awareness and movement.

In this fascinating class, Karl, Pat, and Bill will explore the intersection of Tracking, Healing, and Movement.  Students  can expect to find their perspective altered as they are guided through the intricacies of awareness and what happens to the body when a Tracker fully engages the Primal Mind.  Join us for this class to discover your own Primal Psychology and how it relates to the Path of the Tracker!

To reserve your space for this class, CLICK HERE to be taken to the Wilderness Fusion website for registration and full class description.

Class Date:  April 20-22

Class Location:  Vashon, WA

Class cost:  $500

The Stuff We Carry

If you’ve been to one of my classes or are a part of the Tracking Update, then you know that, unfortunately, I am a city-dweller. Well, I’m happy to say I used to be a city dweller.  As of a week or two now, my lady and I are officially homeless-and we couldn’t be happier about that.  Before you start “passing the hat” trying to collect food stamps, or old clothes, please keep in mind that this was a conscious choice for us.  After discussing it at length, taking the question to our Sit Areas, and finally deciding to do it about 4 months ago now, Danielle applied and was accepted to the Tracker School Caretaker program, where she will spend the next year living in a semi-primitive living situation in the Primitive Camp.  Because the program itself is supposed to include isolation time, she is completing the first three months of the program solo.  What this means for me is that I am currently living and working out of my Suburban until I move in with her in a few months.

Previously, Danielle and I were not only city-dwellers, we lived in a small condo in the middle of Las Vegas.  As you might surmise, this wasn’t quite the best choice for two people who like to live close to the Earth and work on primitive skills.  We were happy at first, but as the start date for the Caretaker program came closer and closer, the absolutely looming task of moving began to become a reality.  Because the program lasts for one year, the task of moving presented a special challenge:  that we weren’t only moving and hopefully not coming back(to the city at least), but that we could only carry with us enough things to fit into two cars.

Before you miss that point, think about it for just a moment.  Right now, if you had to choose just the things you would need for one year, and that you could only fit them into two cars, what would you take?  Now, for all the “zombie-killers” out there, I’m not talking in the event of some sort of apocalyptic scenario.  I mean, for one normal year, if you could take just enough stuff to fit into two cars, what would you choose to take?  Now, just to make things interesting, imagine if you could only take two carfuls full of stuff with you, and you had to leave everything else behind for good, never to be seen again.

What would you choose? Clothes?  Tools? Office Equipment? Raw Materials?  What about sentimental items?  Gifts people have given you through the years?  What about the ubiqitous “drawer full of junk” most people have in their kitchens or living rooms?  Imagine if, right now, you had to wade through that sucker and pick out only the items you think you would need for the next year.  This is exactly what I had to do just a few weeks ago.  If you’ve never done it before, I can tell you having to go through all of your possessions and decide what stays and what goes while under a tight timeline is a comparable experience to receiving several root canals over the course of just a few days.  You know it has to be done, but no matter what, you it still hurts.

You see, because I am such a good guy, and I could see that my woman was stressing out about the program she was about to begin, let alone everything that is required to move, such as finding a property manager, getting the place painted, scheduling movers, sorting, organizing, putting away, etc, etc, I walked up to her about three weeks before the move, and said, “Honey, you just worry about getting yourself to the Primitive Camp.  I’ll take care of everything else.”  Little did I know just what I had volunteered for.

I won’t bore you with the details of what it takes to pack yourself up and move across the country.  I’m sure your own imagination can fill in the gaps of the pages long checklist of items that comes with getting your stuff out of your house, and then preparing your house for someone else to put their stuff in it.  What I didn’t expect, however, was how much time, effort, and energy it takes to get rid of all the stuff.  At first, I thought this would be “no big deal,” as the condo is small with limited closet space.  It seemed after a brief walk around the condo that getting everything in line for a move wouldn’t be too big of a task at all.

What I found, however, tucked into every nook and cranny of the place, was stuff.  Stuff I hadn’t seen in years.  My stuff.  Her stuff.  Stuff left from our friends.  Stuff that belongs to family members.  Stuff that I bought in order to replace stuff I thought I lost, but didn’t.  I found stuff stuck in the walls, stuff in all drawers, stuff on the ceiling, stuff in the closets.  I found stuff under the bed, in the couch, on the porch, in the bathtub.  I found stuff, and stuff, and stuff.

But, most importantly, I found stuff I didn’t need, had never needed, and would never need.  So, you ask just how much “not-needed” stuff fits into a small condo in Las Vegas?  An avalanche of stuff.  A Tidal Wave of it.  I emptied everything out we either wouldn’t need, or didn’t make the list to fit into our two cars.  It filled up dumpsters.  It took literally dozens of trips, dozens of suburban rides to get what wasn’t going to be thrown away to the good will.

I was unprepared for just how much stuff we had, how much we never used, and how much of it was just collecting space.  Even for such Earth-loving folks as Danielle and I(he said just a little self-righteously), who make a point of trying to live simply, I think its safe to say that at least 90% of the stuff in our house was not used on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis.  I must say that the entire thing was more than just a little bit sobering for me-someone who works hard to try and get other folks educated on the individual and planetary benefits of living closer to the Earth.  “Well,” I thought to myself as I took my 2nd dumpster full of stuff out of the house, “looks like you still have a little ways to go before you can really say you live this philosophy, my friend…..”  It was more than just a little bit defeating.

If you can relate to this experience, the next question is, what’s the magic answer to all of this? How do we get rid of all the stuff?  I mean, legitimately, I wouldn’t be able to write this blog post and have anyone read it without all the stuff needed just to host a website.  That includes offices, computers and equipment, broadcasting towers, miles of copper cable, etc, etc, etc.  So, how can we do something about it?  The truth is, very soon, if not in our lifetime, certainly within our children’s lifetime, all of us will need to learn how to do a little more with a little less.  At some point, there just won’t be enough of the really important stuff(like food and water) to go around.  How do we deal with us?  How can we break our addiction to stuff?

Here’s one way of doing it I’ve found to help keep me honest.  When I gather natural materials for a primitive skill out in the woods, I do my best to make it an act of caretaking.  That is, I look for the areas on the Earth that need healing, and do my best to take those things from the landscape which need to be removed in order to create a stronger and healthier environment.  Whether it is a sick animal, or a nest of saplings which grow together and eventually take each other out unless one is harvested, my intention is always to leave that place on the Earth better than when I found it.

As well, once that material has been collected, it represents a promise.  It represents my commitment to the Earth that something useful will be made out of what I’ve taken.  Some of the raw materials I’ve collected have been on the shelf for quite some time now-obsidian collected years ago, bow staves or clay harvested on spur of the moment during collecting trips in different areas of the country.  But, I’ve never stopped feeling the commitment I’ve made to do honor to these things, and the purpose for which they were collected.  They will be used.  I will fulfill my part of the bargain I made with the Earth when I took them.

Now, no matter how good a Tracker you are, it may a little difficult to look at you next trip to Target as “care taking.”  I’m still struggling with how to make Wal-Mart a better, healthier place by virtue of things I buy there.  However, what I would like to do is challenge you to keep the second half of this mindset with you the next time you head out to go shopping.  When next you buy something, or even accept something as a gift, I urge you to feel the responsibility of your choice.  That, when you bring something new into your shelter(home, condo, debris hut, whatever…), you understand that you’ve made a commitment to whatever it is.  You’ve promised to take care of it.  To do honor to it.  To make something useful of it.  To give it your respect by using it.

It’s so easy sometimes to just take something, admire it for a few moments, and then tuck it away into a drawer or closet, never to be seen again until you’re forced to take it to the garbage.  Remember, its ok to say “no” to things rather than add them to the ever-burgeoning pile of “stuff” in your house.  If you don’t, not only will you feel the weight of all that stuff after awhile.  In the future, ff not you, then someone, somehow, in some way, will have to deal with your stuff, and that’s not really a good situation for anyone.  I suppose the bottom line is:  take care of your stuff.  Take responsibility for it.  Don’t just let it pile up around you until you drown under the weight of it all.  Our future as a planet depends on our choices.  I sincerely hope my children, and yours, won’t have to clean up the stuff I leave behind.

Course Description   

If you’ve taken a Standard class, been out for a walk in the woods, and thought to yourself, “I have no idea where the nearest plants are that would make good cordage,” or stumbled upon a trail and thought, “This could possibly be a deer trail, but I suppose it could be anything,” then this is the class for you.

Ultimately, finding the necessities of Survival, whether they be the animals themselves, or the stone tools needed to carve a bow drill kit, come down to awareness, and a connection to the Earth. This class will focus on using the Art of Tracking to empower your journey towards becoming an effective Survivalist.  The class itself will take place over the course of four weekends, with each weekend occurring in a different season.

By returning to the same area in each season, students will be given the opportunity to truly connect to the Baseline Symphony of that area, and observe its fluctuations and changes in rhythm. Although not a skills-based class, students can expect to work on some basic survival tools as they pick a shelter area and work on skills from materials gathered from one area of the landscape. From this area they will explore the surrounding landscape, tracking and trailing animals, observing the changes in activity the landscape imposes in each season, and surveying the area for the tools of survival that each season offers.  Over the course of four weekends, we will move our camp more than once in order to determine which areas work best for which season.  Our final class(summer) will take place in the Burlington area.

Overall, this class is about assisting students in their approach to both tracking and survival. It will bring them closer to the integration of these skills into their lives so that they cease to be separate modalities of study, and instead simply become a powerful way to approach wilderness. Tom Brown has often said that the tools of survival are the “doorway to the Earth.” This class will utilize the Art of Tracking as the key that opens the door.

Class Dates:

September 28-30, 2012

January 25-27, 2013

April 12-14, 2013

July 26-28, 2013

Instructor:

Bill Marple

Mike Kessler

Course Cost:

$1650

NOTE:  To register for this class, please email Bill directly at earth.voices.info@gmail.com stating your intention to commit to the class.  You will then be sent a registration link, and asked for a class deposit.  Although Bill is willing to work with anyone in order to reach a “creative” solution to any issues that come up, please check the dates to make sure you have the time available and be prepared to commit to the class at the time you send your email.  Unfortunately, Bill cannot consider any “work-trade” deals at this time. However, Bill will be able to work with students on a “pay-as-you-go” plan if needed.

Hope to see you there!

3 Simple Ways to Identify a Skull

Have you ever been walking around out in the woods and found one of these?

Any idea what this is?  One skill that I often see lacking in many Trackers is Skull Identification and Interpretation.  As a piece of sign, the skull may be one the most important items to correctly identify and draw conclusions from.  When I first began working at Tracker School, I often heard Tom Brown talk about the skull collection he maintained as a teenager in the Pine Barrens.  When finding a skull he often mentions that he and his best friend Rick would frequently fight or argue about who would be allowed to keep it.  Sometimes, they even worked out elaborate bargains where the skull would be traded back and forth on a rigorous schedule so that each could enjoy having it in their collections.

I have to admit, when I first heard Tom talk about skulls in this way, I was a little freaked out.  At the time, I thought anyone interested in finding and keeping skulls in a collection in their room probably ought to have their head examined(skull?  head?  get it? ha! ha!).  At the very least, it sounded unhygenic.  At the worst, it sounded morbid.  However, I’ve learned through the years just how important skulls are as a piece of sign.

According to Tom, skulls are “the last Track an animal leaves on Earth.”  This sounds mysterious and a little poetic, but what does it really mean?  The skull of an animal, if examined, will tell you much not only about the life of the animal that left it, but also about the overall ecosystem it lived in.

When trapped, Wolverines, for example, are known go so far as to break their own teeth off in attempts to free themselves.  Puncture marks through the top of the cranium of a Rabbit might tell of where a Bobcat sank its canine teeth into it to deliver a killing blow.  Even the tell tale chewing marks on a piece of a skull will tell you of where mice have been chewing on it in order to ingest much needed and very hard to find calcium-letting you know about the health and vitality of the rodent population in an area.

Recently, while wandering around the Pine Barrens, I came across the skull featured in the above photo.  Actually, a student brought it to me with a big grin on his face, sure what he held in his hand was a Coyote skull(despite the antler protrusions he missed).  As you may or may not know, the Coyote was held in high regard by the Southern Lipan Apache(Grandfather’s people), and when this student found this particular skull on the way to his Sit Area, he was excited as he believed it to be a “sign,” or “good omen.”  Whether it was a “good omen” or not, I cannot say, as that determination is up to him to decide.

What I can comment on, however, is the importance of having a solid physical grounding in your Tracking skills before assigning meaning to these types of things.  Surely, the Earth speaks to us all individually through tracks, signs, events, etc, but, you’ll never really know what she’s saying without understanding her language first!  To that end, as well as many others, its s good idea to understand a little about skulls and skull identification so you don’t have a miscommunication!

(Incidentally, if you want to find out more about Coyotes, check out my new online Coyote class by clicking here, and scrolling down to the online course catalogue!)

The first step when finding a skull, or piece of one, out in the woods is to do your best to try and identify what animal it was.  This can sometimes be a bit challenging, but with a little knowledge of what animals might be in your ecosystem and a little dirt time, you’ll find you can narrow things down quite a bit.  Here’s a few things to think about.

Four of the five senses most animals have are located in the skull: sight, smell, hearing, and taste.  Its therefore a good idea to start your analyzation here.  Remember, an animal’s survival strategy is determined by these five senses, and its bone structure must support that.  For example, the bite strength of the Wolverine I mentioned earlier in this post is amazing.  In order to support the bite strength it needs, the Wolverine’s jaw bone and teeth are formed in a particular way in order to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.  Compare a Wolverine jaw bone to a Cottontail jaw bone and you’ll see quite a difference!

So, let’s take a look at this skull, and see what we come up with, sticking to just sight, smell, and taste, as those are the easiest to examine:

1.  Sight: We can see by looking at the eye sockets, or orbital bones, that the eyes of the animal in question are spread out wide across the skull(compared, to, say, a Bobcat), so that they have the capability of using both eyes to view directly ahead of them while still maintaining the ability to see out to the sides.  White-Tailed Deer are, indeed, famous for their sense of sight, and have a field of view up to 300 degrees around themselves!  Many a hunter(and tracker!) have been “busted” by them for even the slightest of movements! Compare the orbitals of this skull with, say, the orientation of the orbitals of a Coyote, and you will see a marked difference.

2.  Smell:  The nose bone, or “rostrum”, of this animal is broken off-a common occurrence with skulls which have been left out to weather for long periods of time.  However, I think you can imagine by the shape of the opening created here by the missing rostrum just how big a role the sense of smell plays in a White-Tailed Deer’s life.  By just taking a moment to examine how developed the rostrum is compared to the rest of the skull, you can see that this is an animal that lives and dies by its sense of smell.  Compare this rostrum with that of a Long-Tailed Weasel, and you will see just how prominent a role a Deer’s sense of smell plays in its life.  Certainly, the Long-Tail has a great sense of smell, but it’s just not as important to its survival as it is to Deer.

3.  Taste:  The first thing you will notice when looking at the teeth, or “dentition” in this skull, is that these are the teeth of an animal that is mainly an herbivore.  All of the teeth present are used mainly for grinding down vegetation, quite unlike the sharp, triangular shaped pre-molars, or carnassial teeth, of a predator.  As well, we can see that this skull is lacking in a pronounced sagittal crest, a ridge of bone running lengthwise along the top of the cranium.  The presence of a well-developed sagittal crest indicates an animal that has exceptionally strong muscles in the jaw and neck used for killing other animals and tearing chunks of flesh.  If you’d like to see a nicely developed sagittal crest, check out the skull of a Fisher sometime! Being absolutely voracious predators, Fishers have very strong neck and cheek bones to kill their prey, and chew up darned near whatever comes across their path!

Certainly, there are quite a few other factors to look at when identifying skulls and interpreting them.  For example, if you look closely at where the antlers of this Deer Skull protrude out of the cranium, you can see the tell tale chewings of mice.  Examining the wear marks on the dentition will tell you what kind of diet this animal had, as well as give you a clue into its relative age.  The fusion of the sutures on the skull also speak of how old it was when it died, how healthy it was, and many other characteristics.

I urge you to begin your own skull collection, or at least begin the process of finding skulls and bones on your wanderings into wilderness, and start analyzing.  You can find out quite a bit on line, by simply “googling” different questions you have.  Another resource I use frequently in my own studies is Mark Elbroch’s “Animal Skulls: A Guide to North American Species.”  As a field guide, you just can’t beat it!

Good luck with your collection and be sure to enjoy it!  Skulls are an amazing way to get in touch with the animals in your ecosystem!

The Coyote Tracker

Tap into your “primal self” every time you put this one on!  Our very popular Coyote Tracker T-Shirt, designed by Envision Designs, is the perfect shirt to put you in the mood to track.  Let this T-Shirt help you to “feel the Coyote!”

Go to our Products Page to order yours today!

How is tracking used in a Forensic Environment?  What are some ways that the skills of the tracker can be used to help a Forensic Investigation?  In a world of DNA  recovery and digital photography, most investigators tend towards using a fairly scientifically “heavy-handed” approach to crime scene analysis.  This introductory level course will cover how the ancient and primitive skills of the tracker are still as relevant today in criminal investigation as they ever have been.

In this class, students will cover the Role of the Tracker in Criminal Investigations and Man-Tracking.  In it, we will bring to light how a solid understanding of track awareness and tracking concepts can significantly aid in these endeavors by showing a very grounded, common sense approach to them.

For many, the tracker is viewed as having almost mythical status in these areas and can do no wrong.  For others, the tracker is seen as a “backwoods bumpkin” who uses something akin to “black magic” in order solve mysteries.  In reality, the tracker is neither of these extremes.  This class will show how the Tracker fits into the world of Criminal Investigation through confidence, professionalism, and a willingness to work as a member of a team in order to achieve a desired outcome.

This class is designed for Law Enforcement Officials, Criminal Investigators, and any other Uniformed Personnel who may deal with these circumstances in their jobs.  However, the class is open to any who are interested in Forensic Tracking, and certainly to all skill levels.  This is an introductory class intended to open the eyes of the students to how tracking can aid Criminal Investigations.  Come and see for yourself how you could potentially aid society in this way!

Click Here to Register!!

Class Prerequisites:  None

Course Cost:  $110

*Class does not include food or water.  Students are expected to bring a pack lunch and plenty of water.

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How To Get Better At The Hard Stuff!

Most of us are pretty good Trackers as long as we stay in the Tracking box or a soft-substrate environment.  But, what does it take to be a Tracker in realistic substrates?  If you’ve heard the Clear Print Identification lecture at a Tracker School Standard class or one of my workshops, then you know there’s actually a pretty small relative percentage rate of finding what we would call a “clear print” out there-about 5% of all the tracks left behind, to be honest.  That is to say, about 5%(depending on where you live) of tracks an animal leaves are those ideal, “Peterson Field Guide Perfect” tracks in some nice, packed, damp sand.

But, what about the rest of the Tracks an animal leaves?  How many Tracks are left by an animal in a single day?  1,000?  Maybe in less than 10 minutes of walking time.  Usually it’s quite a bit more than that.  And, typically speaking, you might find 5 clear tracks out of every hundred-and they usually won’t be all together, making them difficult to discover.  So, what does this mean for us as Trackers?  We need to get good at finding tracks in the hard places!  I mean debris, hard packed surfaces, stony environments and the like.

Although its obvious this is a skill we need to become proficient at, most of my students usually ask the same question:  “How do I get good at reading Tracks in difficult substrates?”  The most common answer or response to that question from both myself and most other instructors in the field of Tracking is “Dirt time.”  Although that’s true(still working on it all the time myself!), there are certain exercises out there that can help you to focus your skills.

One of my favorites is referred to as the “Ten-Step Drill.”  This one has been around at Tracker School since I’ve been there, although I’ve heard tell it originated from a prior Instructor of ours named Kevin Reeve, who now runs his own Tracking and Scouting school entitled On Point Tactical.  I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Kevin as of the writing of this post, but I hope to in the future.  If this is his exercise, thanks Kevin!

It’s a pretty simple exercise that can be done either by yourself, or with a partner.  Here’s how it works:

1.  Start by finding about 30 feet of ground on a substrate which is only moderately challenging to you.  I would suggest something with a fair amount of sand to it and a space that hasn’t been too “tracked up.”

2.  Walk ten steps in a straight line.

3.  As you’re walking, take a moment to mark your first Track by sticking a sharpened popsicle stick in the ground just behind the heel.  Do the same with your tenth track.

4.  You know your Line of Travel, your starting point, and your ending point because you’ve marked them.  Now, find all the tracks in between by marking them with popsicle sticks.

5.  Once you’re done, repeat the exercise on a more challenging substrate!

This is a great exercise, and I use it extensively in my workshops as a “warm-up” drill.  I like it because its simple, can be done anywhere, and gives you plenty of reference points so that its manageable.

I also like the fact that you can get seriously creative with it.  One of my favorites is to do this with a partner where one partner has their back turned and the other partner lays a trail and turns somewhere along the Line of Travel.  It’s then up to the Tracker to find the turn.  You can challenge yourself by laying Tracks on more and more difficult substrates.  If you want an extra challenge, do it without the beginning and ending popsicle sticks.

I sometimes do this exercise on my own on a substrate I’m having particular difficulty with, and I’ll mark every single track.  That way, if it’s a substrate I’ve never seen before, or one I’m totally confused by, I can at least see what a Track a trail should look like so there is a basis of comparison.

Don’t be afraid to try this where its challenging for you!  When I do it on my own, my goal is to find a piece of ground where I can’t see all the Tracks between Track 1 and Track 10.  In fact, the whole point of the exercise is to ease you into something which is difficult so you can expand your sense of awareness in that area.  This one is simple, only takes a few minutes, and brings with it great rewards.  Have fun with it!