CASEY MCFARLAND
Wildlife Tracking
Custom Workshops/Trainings, Tracker Certification
Course can be customized, and are rarely offered as sign-up opportunities. Instead they are typically requested by organizations, clubs, or groups. If you have a group that is interested in a particular skill set or class, please reach out. If solo, let me know and I'll do what I can to organize a crew for an adventure. CONTACT.
Track and sign Basics: Earth reader
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Trailing
A decent level of physical fitness is an absolute must. We'll be off trail, often in rugged, steep terrain.
Persistence
This course is a one of a kind, somewhat brutal, game-changing trailing experience, only for skilled trackers with many hours of trailing under their belt. This is designed to wear out and wear down the tracker's over-thinking mind and slip into a semi-trance state that following for great distances facilitates. Being “on trail” for long hours erodes away the fumbling and mental chatter that are obstacles to good flow. With a small, light-weight overnight pack, you’ll follow a pre-laid human trail for 8-10 miles across country. This course will completely transform your trailing fabric.
$275 per participant, 5 max. Friday night arrival.
2 Days a Lion
*Because lions are hunted across the west, a course that involves locating core areas of specific individuals on the landscape is reserved only for participants I've met or who are involved in in research, monitoring, and conversation efforts.
Photo Credit: Matt Nelson, CyberTracker Evaluator
tracker certification
Professional level evaluation and certification for wildlife tracking (Track and Sign and Trailing) through Cybertracker Conservation, the international standard for tracking certification. Entirely field based, these 2 day trainings are provide excellent experience for biologists, citizen scientists, naturalists, eco-tourism guides, hunters, and anyone else interested in learning about local wildlife. Th track and Sign evaluation is wildly informative, highly educational and requires no prior experience.
One-day Track and Sign evaluations are also available as an introduction to the Cybertracker Certification process.
More information.
Tracking and the Mind of the Hunter Gatherer
An unforgettable, intensive week of tracking and trailing, with each day spent searching out and following the fresh trails of moose and elk. Long hours of persistently staying on a string of tracks dramatically develops one’s understanding of wildlife, effective trailing methodology, sign interpretation, stealth, and the ability to assess landscapes for animal whereabouts. We ma include a component of traditional archery instruction, as well—participants are invited to bring a traditional bow, and late afternoons and early evenings can be spent winding through a dynamic target course. Nights around the fire are spent reflecting on our days, on trailing skill, on animals, and on how these practices deeply change us.
On the Trail of Bears
Offered primarily to those involved in bear monitoring or research as a training to locate and interpret bear sign including habitual marking trails, bedding areas, marking trees, nursery trees, feeding zones, track assessment, etc.
*Because bears are hunted across the west, a course that involves locating core areas of specific individuals on the landscape is reserved only for participants I've worked with before or who are involved in in research, monitoring, and conversation efforts.
Approach
The "approach" is often the most challenging aspect of following trail (or hunting, wildlife photograpy, etc) and we'll tackle it directly. This course covers all the essentials for a non-intrusive, un-noticed approach to wildlife--particularly hoofed animals. Learn to maximize wind, physical movement and stealth, behavior of other animals and understanding bedding and feeding behavior on landscapes from desert to high country.
1 day, $125 per participant, 6 max.
Photo credit: Neal Wight, Track and Sign Specialist
Life Hunter
This course revolves around the art of scouting landscapes to find animals. It's about viewing the world as our species did for so long-- not simply as hunters, but as humans that valued, revered, respected and most importantly, constantly learned from all the various "traditions", or behaviors, of different animal tribes on the landscape. Whether one wants to hunt for meat or for knowledge wildlife, we'll explore how to piece together terrain to better understand animal whereabouts and movement. Trails, the age and placement of tracks, bedding and feeding areas, travel routes, behavior of different species. For budding hunters, wildlife photographers, and biologists working in research involving remote cameras, trapping.
Recovery: Increase the Odds.
Learn trailing methods that not only help to stay on subtle or difficult track, but that apply to faint blood trails. This course is built upon the primary techniques covered in other trailing courses, but introduces simulated blood trails to help hone the practice.