EarthTracks

I was talking to a university professor about native cultures and how they would pass down knowledge. One of the comments made by the professor was “My students are always wanting the answer. I want them to seek the question. I want them to learn to ask the question.”

Tom Brown Jr. uses the term “coyote teaching” a method of teaching that is about drawing the student into the experience by asking questions and many times leaving the answers for the student to find, and then asking another question. This is a teaching method found in many traditional cultures, usually with the elders asking questions and guiding the experience. The following is from a workshop taught by Charles Worsham.

Seven Stages of Natural Learning

observe - just look - take the time for careful observation.

see patterns and relationships - careful observation will help you to see what is similar.

wonder - take time to think about what you are wanting to learn. Ask questions for yourself and spend time wondering about the questions.

investigate - find the answer to you questions through investigating.

learn - learn by doing, trial and error, and working to solve the problem.

correct mistakes individually and with guidance - through your investigating and research find out what works and what doesn’t. Ask for help and guidance but only after you’ve worked the problem for yourself.

learn that there is more to learn - a passion for learning is never quenched. Jon Young (founder of Wilderness Awareness School) said, “I always leave the field (from tracking) with more questions than answers. “The questions should drive you through this learning process. It is something you are never finished with. “The greater the need the greater the result”, I always been told.

I need to find the answers to my questions it is driven by my desire to learn. I think that being curious is a natural part of life.The final bit of wisdom that Mr. Worsham passed along to us is that in the end you must let go of your system of learning and move beyond it. What works for you may not work for someone else. So any system of learning must fall away and only the individual remains. Everything changes and learning is a process not an end result.

Just recently on the River Otter project I’m working in Missouri I was able to locate not one, but three different latrine in one day by using my sense of smell.  I wasn’t able to see because of the thick vegetation, until I moved to the river bank, but you could smell them.  I had learned the value of using smell when I attended Paul Renzedes winter tracking course.  We worked on smelling coyote, fox, bobcat and other urines and scats.  It was very interesting and started me paying more attention to smells.  I later attended a tracking course presented by Charles Worsham.  At the time it was one of my more difficult courses, but it had an incredible influence upon the way I track.  He had us smelling tracks, not just urine and scats, but actual tracks.  Try it, just close you eyes and smell the world around you.

I do the same basic demonstration that Charles did for us in my own tracking workshops.  I’ll make a track in pine needles, grass, leaves, dirt any substrate will do.  Then start by smelling the ground away from the track, and then slowly move toward it, until you are directly overhead.  Continue until you are past the track on the other side.  It is a simple, yet fun exercise to do.  Next blindfold yourself and repeat the drill. Can you find the track?

My friend Cordell and I were out tracking in the sandhills.  When we started to head back to camp we noticed fresh coyote tracks, so fresh that they were actually in one of Cordell’s boot prints from 30 minutes ago.  I wanted to see if I could smell the freshly disturbed soil.  I was surprised not only to be able to smell the track but to smell the coyote from the track that was just made.  I couldn’t believe it.

Smell ya later!