17 - Tracking

Merit Badge:  Tracking
Sponsor:  Troop 651
Counselor:  Mike Hastriter
Earned:  November 6, 2010


                       WEB: What did I have to do to earn this merit badge?

Testing myself on 15 different types of
animal tracks.

I'm ready to find some animal tracks!

This is my friend, John Choi, relaxing after
an early morning of searching for elk tracks.

Success!  Not elk, but deer poop!

In case you are not a believer, the brown, egg-shaped,
objects in the top center of the photograph are
deer droppings.

Beautiful picture of Mt. Timponogos from a dirt
road on the outskirts of Utah Lake.

Searching for beaver, or beaver tracks,
along the swampy Utah Lake shoreline.

Again, success!  We found a beaver track.

As required for this merit badge, I made
a copy of the beaver track with plaster of paris.
My mom loves it and uses it as a paper weight.

While looking for a real beaver in this
nearly 8-10 foot tall swamp grass, I lost my digital
camera which contained 8-9 merit badges
worth of pictures.

The next day, my Tracking Merit Badge Counselor,
Mike Hastriter, his wife Pauline, and my mom and I
searched and searched for the lost camera.

After a half an hour of searching I found the camera
right here.  It was a real miracle, and a lot of
hacking by Mike Hastriter.
THANKS FOR HELPING ME!