Tamarack Song - Entering the mind of the tracker: Native practices for developing intuitive consciousness and discovering hidden nature

Entering the Mind of the Tracker

A deeply moving book, wonderfully written; brings home the tremendous beauty of depth perception of the natural world and the exquisite intelligence and sensitivity of our kinthe Wolves. It opens up the possibility for us to read the world around us through the sense perception born within us, and opens up the potential for us to reinhabit the world.

STEPHEN HARROD BUHNER, AUTHOR OF THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF PLANTS ANDENSOULING LANGUAGE

Entering the Mind of the Tracker points to the wisdom of asking questions rather than having answers.

PAUL REZENDES,AUTHOR OF THE WILD WITHIN AND TRACKING AND THE ART OF SEEING

Entering the Mind of the Tracker beautifully demonstrates that outdoor skills are best learned through a deep understanding of environment. Tamarack Song imparts knowledge in a way that is both lyrical and philosophical.

TRISTAN GOOLEY, EXPEDITION LEADER, AUTHOR OF THE NATURAL NAVIGATOR, AND THE ONLY LIVING PERSON TO HAVE BOTH FLOWN AND SAILED SOLO ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

Real stories from the real world, simple and complex at the same time, and well worth pondering!

BILL MCKIBBEN,AUTHOR OF THE END OF NATURE AND EARTH: MAKING A LIFE ON A TOUGH NEW PLANET

I couldnt put this book down. Tamarack is not telling us the mere mundanities of trackinghes showing us a complete communication system that is largely unknown to modern man. Beginning trackers and generalists will love this window into the world of hidden knowledge, and experts will find these stories helpful, insightful, inspiring.

CHRISTOPHER NYERGES, PRIMITIVE SKILLS INSTRUCTOR, AUTHOR OF HOW TO SURVIVE ANYWHERE, AND FORMER EDITOR OF WILDERNESS WAY MAGAZINE

Come in from the cold and warm your heart by the fire of tradition. Master tracker and storyteller Tamarack Song shares the stories and wisdom of a life spent in search of the Ancestral Self. It is trailcraft for the soul.

STEVE WATTS, ABORIGINAL STUDIES PROGRAM, SCHIELE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY; AND PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF PRIMITIVE TECHNOLOGY

To track is to live the life of the quarrymentally, spiritually, and physically. Very few trackers ever reach this level of mastery. Entering the Mind of the Tracker will help you discover the salient truths known by those few, like Tamarack, who have shadowed all living things. Here is a window to the beautiful and foundational knowledge provided by a lifetime of tutelage at the feet of Mother Nature.

TY CUNNINGHAM, FOUNDER AND TRACKING HISTORIAN OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL TRACKERS

Tracking has become a left-brained skill, involving ruler, track analysis, and GPS to know an animal from its tracks. In Entering the Mind of the Tracker, Tamarack Song offers an intuitive, Zen-like alternative, suggesting that we dont need to learn to track any more than a Wolf needs to be reminded that he is a hunter. Tracking is in our nature. Whether you are an experienced tracker seeking to improve your ability or a novice intimidated by the left-brained science of conventional tracking, this book opens up exciting opportunities to connect with the story of the land.

THOMAS J. ELPEL, AUTHOR OF BOTANY IN A DAY AND FOUNDER OF HOLLOWTOP OUTDOOR PRIMITIVE SCHOOL

Entering the Mind of the Tracker is a marvelous book written by a master storyteller and tracker. Through its powerful and poignant stories you will feel absorbed in the world and spirit of Nature.

JOSEPH CORNELL,FOUNDER OF THE SHARING NATURE FOUNDATION AND AUTHOR OF SHARING NATURE WITH CHILDRENAND JOHN MUIR: MY LIFE WITH NATURE

When a human being has passion for wild places, / And pauses, comprehending the spaces around, / Then the tiny notice of a bent twig graces / All the story inside that certain spot of ground. / Such is the inner passion of Tamarack Song, / His stories reflecting the seeing parts of his days / That are so large and informing to us who long/For the revelation of observations ways.

LARRY DEAN OLSEN, AUTHOR OF OUTDOOR SURVIVAL SKILLS, PROGENITOR OF WILDERNESS THERAPY, AND FOUNDER OF THE STONE AGE SKILLS MOVEMENT

Brilliant! So fresh, so enticing, even seasoned trackers will be blown wide open, the novice will be jump-started years ahead, and teachers and guides will rejoice! Tamarack Song melds ancient wisdom with modern knowledge and offers us a fun, full, fantastic learning experience.

ROBIN BLANKENSHIP, FOUNDER OF EARTH KNACK PRIMITIVE SKILLS SCHOOL AND AUTHOR OF EARTH KNACK: STONE AGE SKILLS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

The chapters of my life are tales of Wolf tracks across my days and dreams. I am grateful for this opportunity to share the story of what I have learned from Wolf and his animal kin, and to dedicate this book to the future of Wolf and human living again in harmony.

All author proceeds from this book go to support the creation of the Brother Wolf Foundation, a nonprofit sanctuary for Timber Wolves rescued from puppy mills and backyard pens. Open to the public, the sanctuary will reintroduce people to the once-respectful and mutually beneficial Wolf-human relationship. With Wolf s inspiration and example, a new generation can awaken to their innate tracking abilities and learn the ways of living in balance, just as our hunter-gatherer ancestors did. For more information, go to www.brotherwolffoundation.org.

Foreword

My name is Bryan Nez, and I have been a tracker in the deserts and mountains of the Southwest for most of my life. In early 2010 I received a mysterious package in the mail. In it there was a manuscript titled In the Shadow of Wolf [this books original title]. Considering my time on the U.S. Customs unit called the Shadow Wolves, I was a bit interested, so I opened it up. I then couldnt put down. It brought me back to the way I learned tracking from my father and grandfather, who taught it the Old Way.

I teach tracking all over the world now, yet I dont stray far from my roots. I was born in Winslow, Arizona, and then started off life in a little town called McNary, near the New Mexico border. Since I am a full-blooded Navajo Indian, my parents wanted me to be near my grandfather on the Navajo Reservation, so we moved back when I was very young. There I learned about the environment we lived in and about how to be with it. It was here that I began to learn how to track. I assume that a fair number of people reading this book are looking for clues on how to be a better tracker, and in many ways it starts here, with a book just like this. But first, I have a little scenario for you.

Imagine yourself stepping into a warehouse and from the front door to the back wall there is nothing but file cabinets. Thats your lifeat the far end is your birth and up at the front door, thats the present. You see yourself starting at the front and going through the files, all the way to the back of the building. There, after the last cabinet, is a small door on the wall with a knob and hinges that are all rusty. You open it and it creaksits stiff and heavy. Inside it is dark, and there is dust on the ground and cobwebs hanging. At the far end of the room, in a corner, you see a little bundle. You walk over to it, pick it up, and bring it out. Brush off the cobwebs and dust, open it up, and you have all your tracking and survival techniques from the Old Daysits all right there. Find it, and Ill tell you this: within a day, youll be tracking.