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Fieldcraft When was the last time you

Gunfighter14e2

Hunter/trapper of Remora's
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 9, 2002
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Lick skillet Alabama
eham.net
practiced your tracking, target ID, ranging or range card making ability? Tracking practice can be done in your own yard, just have someone wander around, then compare notes.
Target ID, have some one place a few very small objects into the brush, high grass lines, trees ect an see if you can find them all while timing yourself, while drawing a range card as well Then run a tape or LRF to see how your ranging went.
Many things can be done at home.
 
Took some teen age kids out tracking about this time last year. We had a week long Rendezvous . We walked a route, left a cigarette butt, started a fire and left some litter. Came back every day for a week, to see how the tracks and things had changed. Very instructive. I taught them to fire and maneuver too, but thats a different post.
 
Took some teen age kids out tracking about this time last year. We had a week long Rendezvous . We walked a route, left a cigarette butt, started a fire and left some litter. Came back every day for a week, to see how the tracks and things had changed. Very instructive. I taught them to fire and maneuver too, but thats a different post.
God I wish would've had someone to take me out and show me stuff like that as a teenager! Hell at any age!! I try to do a few little "outside of the box" hidden targets when we shoot. As far as tracking practice I try to always take note of everything I can when I'm outdoors. This time a year kicks off scouting season, so there's a bit more in depth tracking and observation. I spend as much time as possible behind binos too. On the other hand I've gotten real bad about hand drawing all my maps in detail like I used to before I had a GPS. Everytime I get the chance I try to range random objects then double check with my rangefinder.
 
We walk and run on a dirt road that is a mix of sand and clay, semi hilly. It's a great place to track as your walking and chit chatting with the family.

We regularly see deer, dog, cow, snake, turtle, bird, raccoon and other animals. Since it's a rural area, often times nefarious types (lots of meth heads in the area) are out and about. Always interesting to see human tracks near vehicle tracks in areas no one lives. It's playing detective checking everything and trying to ascertain are they women or men, how long ago this happened, WTH they were actually doing, etc. One interesting thing one time was what seemed like a middle of the backwoods roads domestic dispute. The vehicle seemed to abruptly stop near a large open area that some meth heads have been found hanging out before (NV and Thermal is awesome LOL). The woman seemed to walk off away from the road in a slight hurry then came back (circle around). We cut sign up from her last tracks before turning back thinking we missed something. The guy seemed to have gotten out of the car also, started to head her direction but didn't go far. I'm guessing there was a light disagreement in the car. Little bit of spin out when they left to, so someone was still pissed LOL.

Where the car first stopped and tracks appeared I figured someone got out to take a pee (happens all the time along country roads lol). Never found any indication of that though- two legs close together, wet spot or two legs wide for a squat.

Each track is like a puzzle piece that tells a bit of the story.
 
Here's an interesting track we came upon on our ruck lately. Edges were fresh and the dogs sniffed after it.... Yikes
 

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This one was kind of a "WTF?" moment when we first spotted it. Wife called it correctly as we tracked the animal not far away.
 

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First one was a snake- looked to be a big fella too!!! Very recent, dogs hit the scent of it and start nosing into the bushes on the side of the road. I told them they were stupid but they didn't listen :)

We rucked a little later the other night and it was interesting to see our dogs hitting more scent trails. We usually walk in the heat of the day and most animals are laying low then (they are smarter than me and avoiding the heat!!!).
 
Here's a good example of aging when it comes to tracks.

Same foot, two days apart.

Weather- no rain, slight wind but nothing crazy. Temps in the 90's during the day. Sand/clay county road, wouldn't say "well traveled" but probably sees a few cars an hour average. Track was made on the shoulder of the road.

Note the edges on the fresh track compared to the two day old track. A lot of "blow in" on the two day track. I think this probably has more to do with car travel than wind- it hasn't been really windy in this area. This area gets sun probably 3/4 of the day.

One thing you can always do is put a print of yours right next to the track in question and compare. You can compare size, depth, etc. as well as aging considerations.

I'll try to do some in various other terrain and get some pics also.
 

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Not since I moved from the old farmhouse this spring to a place closer to town. I have some terrain I can use, but the landlord and his family use the open acreage regularly. He knows I'm an avid shooter, but I haven't figured out a way to do all this at the new place yet.