Crash course on tracking

We were staying in Tucson as a kind of staging area to prepare for our work south of the border. Most of our time was spent running errands and such expect for sunday. On that day we had the opportunity to spend the day with seriously up and coming conservation biologist named Emil McCain. Emil is an expert tracker and one of the leading experts on the Sonoran jaguar. He is one of the principle biologists studying the border jaguars in southern Arizona. We hiked around one of his study areas all day and he gave us a crash course on tracking big cats. We learned about all different kinds of sign and scat. He taught us how to record tracks by tracing them on plexi glass and making plaster casts of them. Finally we also learned about the motion sensor camera traps we'll be using. We learned how to use them and what places would be the best for them to be placed. The best part of the whole day was just being able to pick Emil's brain. He is incredible knowledgeable and one of the nicest guys you could meet. We'll be seeing him again in march when he comes down to Alamos to help us with our studies and again at the end of the semester when we we'll go to his newest study area near the new jaguar reserve in northern Sonora.