What pisses me off...........

[grizldoldfk]

trulove, i bet you look better in summer colors. can't they do something about that for you?
and about that "boy".
he's history baby.
his-story.

[speelyei]

at noon today a car travelling south on 101 hit a beautiful blacktail buck, crossing the highwayfrom West to East. The Buck was in full velvet, 250lbs easy, a tremendous animal and an absolute ghost. They can hide indefinitely in the giant ferns, tall spruces, and steep ridges. A hardcore hunter would be lucky to see such a visage in a decade, most of us will never see one of these stags.
Believe me when I tell you I deliberated long and hard about going and picking him up, skinning him out, and filling my freezer and tanning the hide. To do so would be a violation of several Oregon laws.... the penalties could be severe.

[grizldoldfk]

some laws are occasionally meant to be broken.
it's a moral delimma.
i wouldn't think poorly of someone doing it.
unless they hit it...on purpose...often...

it is a shame.
they say the county mounties scoop 'em up and it goes to the hungry.
they say the drugs they scoop up go into impound too.
they say the same about other stuff.
that's what they say.

[Ceedog]

To do so would be a violation of several Oregon laws.... the penalties could be severe.

Nothing like having laws to keep people from being real stewards.. or real resourceful. I agree with Griz, someday soon that meat will be fought over.

[Ceedog]

Customs is a crappy job, though necessary. Known a lot of guys retire early from it.
One of my SAR trainers you've probably heard of Joel Hardin.
Him and I are in similar lines of work, he's just better and gets paid to teach it.

Ever have any Front Sight training?

[bluesilver]

Customs is a crappy job, though necessary. Known a lot of guys retire early from it.
One of my SAR trainers you've probably heard of Joel Hardin.
Him and I are in similar lines of work, he's just better and gets paid to teach it.

Ever have any Front Sight training?

If you're referring to the family-freindly version of firearms training then no. I got my weapons training through the military and personal use.

I also do not carry a gun when I am on SAR missions, though I've tracked people who were known criminals and were possibly armed. In those cases I lead a team of armed guards - but this is extremely rare.

[speelyei]

bluesilver is a man tracker?

[bluesilver]

That would be I, but apparently "man" tracker is sexist, the politically correct term is just Tracker.

[speelyei]

allright, well, spill the beans... how'd you get into that line? Did you take some of those Tom Brown courses and stuff? If somebody was trying to give you the slip, could you still track 'em?

[bluesilver]

About 7 years ago I wanted to join Search & Rescue, so I did. Ended up in tracking.

Never met Tom Brown. Took a look at his website... I'm not in a "let's pretend we are Indians walking around in moccasins and trying to feel at one with nature" units. We are a professional SAR unit who looks for people who need our help. Though we did have a pair of guys show up and want to train with us wearing moccasins. They said they "always tracked in their moccasins". We sent them home.

Sometimes they do not want our help. I've had to find people who took too many drugs and ran into the forests - sometimes they are armed - ...

As far as people trying to give us the slip (technical tracking), we are perfectly capable. I've read some of the books out there on how to evade a tracker in the wilderness and some are OK, but none are perfect.
It becomes immidiately clear if evasion is the intent, you'd be surprised how easy it can be to read someones mental state just by what they are doing with their feet.

I mentioned Joel Hardin before, one of my trainers. He was a career border patrol and now spends his days teaching military Special Forces, Law Enforcement and SAR.

Right now the Sheriff's Dept of Special Ops is sponsoring me to get my EMT this fall, so I'll have a bit more responsibility on my shoulders out there.

[Nash]

I am in an excellent mood today and nothing is going to piss me off.

[speelyei]

I got my Wilderness First Responder from WMA, and then later did the two term EMT Basic course at MHCC. The WFR training was significantly more intensive and applicable.
I was curious about Brown because I know a guy who took his course. Your reaction to the mere mention of his name was surprisingly caustic...
it's an interesting skill set to have. All I have tracked is bears and elk, not too hard once you know what to look for.

[bluesilver]

Caustic maybe... his website features pictures of people wearing mud or something on their faces and laying in the dirt laughing, I don't really get it. I'm sure he is a great tracker and a lot of people probably have a lot of good things to say about him. I'm sure he is far more advanced in tracking than I am. How did your buddy like the class?

Has your animal tracking been successful in finding them?
People tracking is inherintly more difficult mainly because of the psychological aspects of a person in the woods, especially when they do not want to be found. I've used my knowledge to help identify how old a game print might be, where they are likely going and figuring out if they are injured, but never followed them long enough to find anything.

As far as being easy to track elk and bear - there's not much in the way of easy in tracking people especially when they started out on a trail that thousands of people a year use.
I've been on missions where we had to backtrack ourselves because elk herds had come through and made everything look the exact same as well. A human scuff mark can look a lot like a deer scuff mark.

..damn elk punches...

[Trula]

The U.S. Border Patrol on the Mexican U.S. border uses human tracking techniques extensively. There are some interesting articles about it. These guys are impressive. Now CBP we just have to sit and wait for the bad guys to come to use not hunt them down.

What stokes me is a book I bought that combines 2 of my favorite things Jane Austen and Zombies (Pride & Prejudice & Zombies). Oh and my second 100% on a test this week.

[speelyei]

man, i'd like to get together and have you teach me some skills. The point of "tracking" bear and elk is to determine if the animals are actively using an area or if they have moved on. As a hunter or photographer you have the luxury of thinking like a predator, hiding in wait until they come by. Banging around and moving and stinking you alert all the woods to your presence. I am really anxious to leave for our central/eastern oregon trips in the next few weeks... I have been practising calling coyotes, it's really interesting learning about their vocal patterns and trying to emulate them. Don't worry, I just want to see them, not harm them...

my friend told me a little about the Brown tracking class... it was definitely more guru-esque sounding than what I would want to undertake.