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Purchase Tracking Guides, Tracking Workbooks, Monographs & Make Donations.
BOOKS
THE TRACKER'S FIELD GUIDE by James C. Lowery
3rd Edition
This essential guide designed for field use contains thorough notes and technique about track identification, and also takes you into the animal's world with extensive illustrations showing how tracks reveal speed, motion and behavior. There are also comprehensive "notes for the tracker" and "track windows" for each species, based on the author's field experience and distillation of nearly a thousand primary sources--so you can relate the tracks you find to animals' biology, behavior and habitat.
The new edition contains updated scientific names, dozens of clarifications, and improvements on its 485 photos. 416 pages
“The Tracker's Field Guide is a truly helpful work of art! Gratitude to Jim Lowery for his user friendly and inviting presentation of the complex and magical world of tracking and connecting to the natural world."
- Jon Young, Author of *What the Robin Knows* 8 Shields Institute
$23.00 + tax, s&h *Shipping to U.S. and Canada only
WALK WITH THE ANIMAL and HOW TO WALK WITH THE ANIMAL A TRACKING METHODOLOGY
by Jim Lowery
Any tracker encountering a fresh trail is tantalized by the prospect of following it to enter the animal's world. How can this be done? How is it possible to follow a trail across difficult terrain? To keep on the trail of even a mouse? To follow a trail that is weeks old?
Veteran tracking instructor Jim Lowery spent two and a half years perfecting practical and intuitive methods for trailing animals, and then fine-tuned these by working with Earth Skills students to record their own experiences and wisdom about this deep subject. The results are shared with you, the novice to experienced tracker, through methods, assignments and stories that will open the door to “walking with the animal.” These two companion guides are available in either printed or digital versions.
WALK WITH THE ANIMAL: The secrets of successful trailing, Jim shares, reside in one’s initial contact with the trail as well as in one’s mental attitude. Techniques are discussed for “Making Contact with the Trail” and maintaining that contact. When the trail is temporarily lost at “the wall” - a given for almost every trail - methods to move beyond it are described and illustrated with 30 case studies. In Jim’s field study which included trailing animals from large to very small, and trails that were minutes to weeks old, practical and intuitive techniques were equally important, each used almost exactly half of the time. The intuitive methods, which are described in concise and useful terms, make an especially valuable contribution to trackers’ repertoires.
HOW TO WALK WITH THE ANIMAL: From working with thousands of tracking students, we know that each tracker brings unique perspectives and approaches to the art, so we spent five years honing the trailing methods described above in walk-with-the-animal workshops, watching, listening and experimenting as we established their accessibility and value for any tracker. This volume presents more detail about how to learn to “walk with the animal”, from students’ perspectives accompanied by many stories.
These volumes are available in Printed or Digital format. The printed versions are compact 6” x 9” books; the digital file is a PDF easily readable on a desktop or mobile device using its native reader or Kindle.
Printed Version: $20.00 + tax, s&h
Digital PDF Download Version: $15.00
WORKBOOKS
MAMMAL TRACKING WORKBOOK I: Track Identification
by Jim Lowery
I developed this easy-to use workbook for both beginning and advancing trackers. It discusses track identification methods, takes you though compiling a list of local mammals, gives flash cards and sorting exercises to become familiar with local tracks, and includes track identification examples using photos. There are 12 practice ID quizzes with thorough discussion. The workbook also guides you through establishing a field journal. It is perfect for self-study, either starting from scratch or as a valuable adjunct to beginning tracking classes you may have taken. (You may use The Tracker's Field Guide or another favorite field guide in conjunction with the workbook.) This is a digital pdf file, part of which is intended to be printed.
“[My] students found this workbook to be engaging and one of the best tools for learning tracking that they have ever seen.”
- Jason Hamilton, Chair, Environmental Studies, Ithaca College
“This is an incredible resource for learning Mammal Track ID. I estimate, without your...Field Guide and this Workbook, my time to get to my current skill level would have been thousands of hours.”
- Dave Cooper, SAR tracker
Digital PDF Download Version: $9.75
MAMMAL TRACKING WORKBOOK II: Gaits & Track Interpretation
by Jim Lowery
The full richness of a trail emerges when you can visualize precisely the speed, gait, posture and body language of your animal from its tracks. With the right approach, any dedicated tracker can do this, and I designed this workbook to show you how and provide a lot of practice with examples, assignments and high-resolution photos to interpret. (The workbook grew out of many gait and animal movement classes we have taught since 2001.) This pdf file is designed for zooming in and out as you study track sequences. The workbook is supported by six gait videos viewable elsewhere on this website at no charge. This is a truly unique resource in today's expanding world of track study.
Digital PDF Download Version: $12.50
MONOGRAPHS
Detailed articles on specialized subjects. Available as Printed Articles unless otherwise noted.
“JAGUARUNDI TRACKS” by James Lowery
Four page monograph providing descriptions, methods and illustration from our 2012 project to record jaguarundi tracks from captive animals at the Feline Conservation Center in Rosamond, CA. The jaguarundi is a feline whose presence has been recently verified in Texas; otherwise its range extends from Mexico through Central and South America. There are very few photographs or illustrations of jaguarundi tracks among North American field guides. This monograph explains how the tracks were obtained and gives observations about differences and similarities among jaguarundi tracks and other felid tracks.
PRINTED ARTICLE: $4.00
“CANID TRACK IDENTIFICATION” by James Lowery
Revised in 2025 to include gray wolf vs. domestic dog!
Drawn from extensive field experience, this 20-page guide shows how to distinguish canid tracks that are commonly confused: kit fox vs. gray fox, coyote vs. red fox, domestic dog vs. coyote and wolf vs. domestic dog. Contains concise tips and examples with many photos — an essential reference for field research in mammal presence and behavior.
PRINTED MONOGRAPH: $10.00
“MOUNTAIN LION MOVEMENT STUDY” by James Lowery
This unique study describes our work with a captive mountain lion, Spirit, whom we watched and filmed as he fast-walked, trotted and pace-walked through a 15-foot long tracking box. There is an analysis of his gaits and the resulting track patterns, with large-scale photos that can be studied for fine detail in the tracks. This is a digital file that can be printed or studied on a desktop, laptop or tablet. It is keyed to a free-to-view video of Spirit's gaits that include slow-motion segments.
PDF DOWNLOAD: $8.00
“HUMAN TRACK INTERPRETATION METHODOLOGY” by James Lowery
This 9 page monograph removes much of the mystery about interpreting tracks for motion (head turns, pivots etc.) by introducing a straightforward series of analyses that I developed in 1993 in order to really understand balance and how it's reflected in tracks. We've used these methods in many of our track reading workshops. You'll see how elements from "internal pitch" to a shoe's broken tread patterns come together to explain exactly how a person moved. Nine pages plus a field study form.
*International orders please select PDF Download
PRINTED ARTICLE: $5.00
PDF DOWNLOAD: $4.00
“GAIT ANALYSIS: Gallops, Bounds and Lopes” by James Lowery
Gallops, bounds and lopes are thoroughly described and illustrated in this 11-page monograph, which tackles confusing and contradictory terminology within different areas of the tracking world. Beyond gait classification, this treatise shows how to evaluate track patterns for speed, leg movement sequence, front and hind leads, airborne phases, three and four-beat gaits, and body posture.
PRINTED ARTICLE: $5.00
“SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLANT USES” by Mary Brooks & James Lowery
We combined our own field experience with a thorough review of dozens of references covering ethnobotany, survival, and medicinal and edible plants, to write this easy-to-use summary of the uses of 37 plants (trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals) that are widespread in our area and that have multiple uses. This 50 page booklet also includes a bibliography. Many listed plants such as oak, pine, elderberry, cactus and nettle to name a few are also found in many habitats outside of southern California. (This reference is included with the enrollment in our Plant Uses class.)
PRINTED ARTICLE: $9.00
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