Ep. 258 : The Gifts of Tracks

I spent the day out tracking, when ! got to thinking about gifts that are the tracks which are left behind without consideration of how the tracker might feel or what we may want out of the experience. I was struck by awe and wonder when I came across the bed and was truly grateful for this gift left behind by the animal that was there so recently.

byron murray 2024-01-15 byron murray 2024-01-15

Ep. 233 : On the Fisher Trail

Once again I have been inspired by the Fisher to dig a little deeper into their ecologies, behaviours and the signs they leave behind. There is always so much to know that another show about them, relating another story of following the Fisher trail seemed worthwhile.

byron murray 2023-03-20 byron murray 2023-03-20

Ep. 211 : Fisher Researcher Dr. Scott LaPoint

Recently while tracking a Fisher in Algonquin Park we encountered a large galloping trail that had a long stride length of 106 cm (41¾ in). This was about 28 cm (10 in) longer than what is recorded in Mark Elbroch's “Mammal Tracks and Sign” (Stackpole, 2019). When I finished measuring, I was discussing this extraordinarily long stride with some colleagues. They told me about a National Geographic article, based on a paper about increasing body sizes and range expansion of Fishers in the Northeast. I was immediately interested. When I got home from Algonquin, I looked the paper up. I read the abstract but I had to find out more so I wrote to the author, Dr. Scott LaPoint, to see if he could help answer my questions and be game for an interview. He was in.

byron murray 2022-01-24 byron murray 2022-01-24

Ep. 180 : Winter of the Fisher

It has been the Winter of the Fisher indeed with long tracking missions following three different Fishers at three locations in Southern Ontario between November 27, 2021 - January 16, 2022. I had only written of one of the experiences and hadn’t really told the story of the second and third, I thought I could detail some of what happened, and some of what I had been learning about for this episode.