A Tracker's Odyssey: Bridging Wildlife and Human Sign

The course will start at 09:30 on the Saturday when customers will be given the chance to set up their sleeping arrangements before instructors take you through a camp orientation. (Customers are invited to come and camp the evening before the course, arrivals at 19:30 for those that want to, there will be no teaching on the friday evening).

From here on in we begin to discover the sign left behind in our completely private 250 acre woodland. With a blend of both whiteboard based campfire teaching, and dirt time in the field, you will learn the fundamental principles of human tracking, including track identification, aging, and interpretation, as well as differentiating the subtle differences between human and other animal sign. The ancient art of Mantracking has been lost to most in the modern age, Kyt will bring her expertise to highlight why their is still value in the interpretation of signs showing human activity in order to find missing persons.

Human tracking is still used across continents, for anti poaching, game rangering, and to re-construct events following criminal activity. A fascinating in site awaits as to how you can link such skills to your modern day Bushcraft activities.

Our instructors will guide you through to develop your own mindset of becoming a Tracker, with elements of visual perceptions, how to approach a trackline and track traps. With night time exercises and discovery of the Purkinje effect.

In relation to animal track and sign Jason will guide you through his observations, leaning on skills learnt from a number of expert trackers both here in the UK and overseas, to begin to differentiate between different species that to the untrained may be difficult. Although a definitive list is never possible you can expect to learn sign of 3 of our 6 deer species (Muntjac, Roe and Fallow), and further sign including Badger, Fox, Stoat, Weasal, Pigeon, Robin, Jay, Tawny Owl and lots lots more. We will also investigate some of the lesser seen mammals of the Woods as we set out both live, and ink, traps in order to attempt to capture mice and voles.

The course is designed to be fluid but as a representation for you, you can expect to be spending a number of hours exploring Man tracking, followed by hours spent on animal track and sign. This cycle will then repeat over the weekend. You will have the incredible opportunity to lean on two very experienced trackers who have honed their skills across the globe. Every Tracker needs to be able to differentiate between animal and human track and sign.

Jason is the owner and operator of Woodland Ways, and has spent over two decades researching and developing his skills to become the ongoing student of nature he is today. With tracking experience across the Globe Jason leans heavily on his tracking mentors who he has worked with and/or learnt from over the years. In South Africa Jason has been mentored for years by Colin Patrick to achieve his Professional Cyber Tracker certification for South Africa. Jason has also learnt alongside Louis Liebenberg where he undertook the first ever Cyber Tracker assessment delivered by the indigenous San Bushmen. Jason has worked very closely with the Maasai tribe in Kenya developing his bush tracking skills. In the UK Jason has been taught, and continues to be taught under the cyber tracker scheme by John Ryder.

With a lifetime of British Natural History knowledge Jason is a keen wildlife observer and is able to merge his observations over the years and translate those to what he sees in track and sign. Having spent his first tracking expedition in Romania trailing Brown Bear he has since travelled throughout the wild lands of europe teaching in areas where he is not top of the food chain. His knowledge of british wildlife is immense, and continues to grow.