C903, I agree 100%. I wish I had one to learn from, but I don' t. You would have to walk a long way to find someone who respects ' old timers' and farmer' s common sense more than me. My library is full of books about those things, like the Fox Fire series and Eric Sloane and his Americana sketches and lore. I can read all about it, but when I' m tracking a deer and the blood suddenly stops, at least to my eyes, the books don' t find the next clue for me. I know I could really use some one-on-one instruction on tracking. The Marines taught me some decent wood lure, but the tracking aspect wasn' t what it could be, and unfortunately the liberals would frown on them shooting somebody or something so we could track the blood trail.

It was just a whim of an idea, and hopefully I' ll find someone to teach me better tracking skills someday. In the meantime it is trial and error...