You can identify wild critters by their tracks and turds

tracks and scat bear“When in doubt, follow it out; don’t be a nerd, find the turd.”

This is how Susan Morse describes her method of identifying wild critters. The description has a certain clarity, don’t you think? And she is absolutely right.

Morse is the founder of the nonprofit Keeping Track in Huntington, Vermont. She’s nationally recognized for her work on wildlife habitat.

Thanks to Maine Forest Service’s Patty Cormier’s column about Morse in the April edition of Maine Woodlands, I was alerted to her website, www.keepingtrack.org. It’s loaded with great information for all of us who love the wild creatures of the forest. On her website Morse advertises her workshops and tracking guides,

I also discovered on the website that Morse will speak on April 8 at Unity College, presenting a lecture titled “Coming Soon: The Cougar Returns to the East,” as part of the Lapping Lecture Series.

Morse was the recipient of Unity College’s 2013 Environmental Leader Award.  Her presentation is slated for 7 p.m., April 8 at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts (UCCPA), 42 Depot Street in Unity.  The event is free and open to the public.

Because I found Cormier’s article so fascinating, I want to share it with you. It is on page 12 of this edition of Maine Woodlands, the newsletter of the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine.

http://www.swoam.org/Portals/0/MonthlyNewsletterPDFs/MaineWoodlandsApril2014.pdf

You may find other articles in the newsletter to be of interest as well.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.