South TX Specialist Certification 2/2/2020

Dave Scott with the Earth Native Wilderness School hosted a Track and Sign Specialist Certification in deep South Texas on February 1-2, 2020. Specialist Certifications are arduous. Participants have to answer 57 very difficult questions over 2 days. Two evaluators (1 local and 1 external) are present at Specialist Certifications to ensure reliability and consistency. Casey McFarland served as external evaluator.

We were staying at the Cactus Creek Ranch neighboring the Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge. This is an amazing location filled with amazing birds and a diverse array of wildlife. Probably the favorite finds of the weekend were tracks of a bobcat carrying prey, sandhill crane tracks, a Texas tortoise burros, alligator tracks and scat, and nilgai antelope tracks. See the photos below.

Huge congratulations to Nick Czaplewski for earning his Track & Sign Specialist Certificate. This is a huge accomplishment and takes years of preparation. Thanks to Cactus Creek Ranch for allowing us to camp and explore the property, Laguna Atascosa for allowing access, Thadea Corkill for opening up her house to all of us, Gene and Sara Cannon for assisting and Dave and Mikki Scott for organizing.