| David Brown's Wildlife Services 12 Hotel Road Warwick, MA 01378 Tel: 978 544 8175 E-mail: info@dbwildlife.com |
| Products |
How to Stay Warm Outdoors in the Winter
Designed for people who plan to spend time outdoors away from heated shelter
for extended periods, this 9-page handout provides a dense concentration of
advice on how to stay comfortable and out of danger.
In the handout are covered:
Cost of the handout is $5. Please use a Quabbin Trails registration blank to order.
for extended periods, this 9-page handout provides a dense concentration of
advice on how to stay comfortable and out of danger.
In the handout are covered:
- The physics of cold.
- Your body's reactions to cold.
- Clothing and equipment, with a review of products on the market at the
moment. This section alone may save you a great deal of money. - Instinctive tactics of wild animals that live through the winter with no more
external heat sources than the sun, itself.
Cost of the handout is $5. Please use a Quabbin Trails registration blank to order.
| Mt. Eisenhower 1974. Warm as toast despite appearances. |
Trackards and Companion Guide
The Trackards:
Thirteen laminated cards present the tracks and sign of over 26 mammals that
inhabit the Northeast.
Each image is traced to scale from photographs of the actual item. The cards
measure 5X7", large enough to accommodate a life-size track of the largest
mammals but small enough to fit an inside jacket pocket or a pack. They are
assembled and ringed in order of track size and indexed for quick reference.
Each card has a ruler with handy measurements typical of the species as well
as a selection of track patterns.
The Companion Guide:
The cards are accompanied by a 174-page reference manual that interprets the
information on the cards and provides additional illustrations of animal sign as
well as more information to aid in identifying animals and interpreting their trails.
The Companion Guide measures 8X11" and is velo bound with a clear plastic
cover. The Trackards and Companion Guide are currently self-produced by
laminator and photocopy.
Sorry! Due to limited production sets can only be offered for sale to current or
past program participants.
The cost per set is $40 + $6 postage/packaging. If a current or past program
participant wishes to order a set, please send a check for $46 payable to "David
Brown" to the address on the masthead. Allow a few weeks for delivery. The $6
for postage and packaging can be saved by arranging for pickup at a scheduled
program.
Thirteen laminated cards present the tracks and sign of over 26 mammals that
inhabit the Northeast.
Each image is traced to scale from photographs of the actual item. The cards
measure 5X7", large enough to accommodate a life-size track of the largest
mammals but small enough to fit an inside jacket pocket or a pack. They are
assembled and ringed in order of track size and indexed for quick reference.
Each card has a ruler with handy measurements typical of the species as well
as a selection of track patterns.
The Companion Guide:
The cards are accompanied by a 174-page reference manual that interprets the
information on the cards and provides additional illustrations of animal sign as
well as more information to aid in identifying animals and interpreting their trails.
The Companion Guide measures 8X11" and is velo bound with a clear plastic
cover. The Trackards and Companion Guide are currently self-produced by
laminator and photocopy.
Sorry! Due to limited production sets can only be offered for sale to current or
past program participants.
The cost per set is $40 + $6 postage/packaging. If a current or past program
participant wishes to order a set, please send a check for $46 payable to "David
Brown" to the address on the masthead. Allow a few weeks for delivery. The $6
for postage and packaging can be saved by arranging for pickup at a scheduled
program.
Solution to the tracking problem on the Encounters page:
This problem illustrates the error of self-suggestion which
can affect even experienced trackers. My friend Kevin and I
were searching the dry-washes in the desert looking for
tracks or sign of kit foxes. We knew that these foxes, like
their close relatives the red fox of the Northeast, often have
fur-covered feet, and when we found these paired prints, we
jumped to the conclusion that we had at last found this little
desert fox. Examination of the photo afterwards showed the
obvious and embarrassing truth. These were the paired
front prints of a desert cottontail.
How could experienced trackers make such an outrageous
error? We were both from New England, dealing with an
unfamiliar substrate: the red rock mud of central Arizona.
(We theorized that these were the paired front prints of a
sitting fox, the hind not penetrating the hard mud.) We had
set out with the desire to find kit fox tracks, and find them
we insisted on doing, even when the found tracks should
have been identified easily as those of a lagomorph: note
the asymmetrical arrangement of nails, biased laterally.
can affect even experienced trackers. My friend Kevin and I
were searching the dry-washes in the desert looking for
tracks or sign of kit foxes. We knew that these foxes, like
their close relatives the red fox of the Northeast, often have
fur-covered feet, and when we found these paired prints, we
jumped to the conclusion that we had at last found this little
desert fox. Examination of the photo afterwards showed the
obvious and embarrassing truth. These were the paired
front prints of a desert cottontail.
How could experienced trackers make such an outrageous
error? We were both from New England, dealing with an
unfamiliar substrate: the red rock mud of central Arizona.
(We theorized that these were the paired front prints of a
sitting fox, the hind not penetrating the hard mud.) We had
set out with the desire to find kit fox tracks, and find them
we insisted on doing, even when the found tracks should
have been identified easily as those of a lagomorph: note
the asymmetrical arrangement of nails, biased laterally.
The reason that the hind prints did not register has to do with the firmness of the mud and the fact that
the front feet are both smaller and bear the weight of the animal's head, the heaviest part of its body.
Heavy head and small front feet translate into deeper tracks.
The animal was bounding. When they are employing this gait, lagomorphs arrange their front feet either
one nearly in front of the other or side-by-side and contiguous. In this instance the latter was the case.
Any open area is a danger area for a lagomorph. Since it subsists on vegetable matter, the open dry
wash is both dangerous and lacking in sustenance. Therefore, the rabbit was bounding quickly across it
to cover on the opposite bank.
While red foxes of the north have to deal with cold, snowy surfaces from which fur serves to insulate the
feet, foxes in the desert have the opposite problem: insulating their tender pads from the searing desert
sand. Fur-covered feet serve both purposes.
the front feet are both smaller and bear the weight of the animal's head, the heaviest part of its body.
Heavy head and small front feet translate into deeper tracks.
The animal was bounding. When they are employing this gait, lagomorphs arrange their front feet either
one nearly in front of the other or side-by-side and contiguous. In this instance the latter was the case.
Any open area is a danger area for a lagomorph. Since it subsists on vegetable matter, the open dry
wash is both dangerous and lacking in sustenance. Therefore, the rabbit was bounding quickly across it
to cover on the opposite bank.
While red foxes of the north have to deal with cold, snowy surfaces from which fur serves to insulate the
feet, foxes in the desert have the opposite problem: insulating their tender pads from the searing desert
sand. Fur-covered feet serve both purposes.