“He’s the real deal. He’s 100 percent cowboy!”
That’s how Sault freelance writer and newspaper columnist Nadine Robinson describes Canadian reality show “Mantracker” star Terry Grant.
The two teamed up to do what would be a first for both of them—write a book about (what else?) tracking your prey.
“Mantracking--The Ultimate Guide to Tracking Man or Beast” co-authored by expert tracker Terry Grant and Nadine Robinson is available for pre-order beginning today online at www.Mantracking.ca.
Grant was the star of “Mantracker” for its first six seasons.
The show follows Grant as he tracks his “prey.”
The prey tries to elude capture as they go through wild terrain, such as thick bush, rocky ground, over hills and also through rivers and lakes.
“Mantracking” is Grant sharing his decades of experience as a cowboy, hunter, guide and outfitter. He is a Search and Rescue professional and since leaving “Mantracker” spends time enjoying carpentry, golf and instructing others in tracking two- and four-legged creatures.
Robinson told Soo Today.com “I watched the show and I had heard of Terry Grant locally, because some of the shows were shot in the Algoma area.”
“My friend (Sault College Natural Environment and Outdoor Studies instructor) Lawrence Foster was the chase supervisor, which means he set up the locations for the chase and was also the ‘prey cameraman’ on the show.”
Being a freelance writer, Robinson said “one day I asked Lawrence if Terry was ever going to write a book.”
Foster then set up a meeting between Robinson and Grant.
“We went for lunch and I got to ask Terry myself if he’d be interested and I offered my help as a columnist and a freelance writer,” Robinson explained.
“I told him I’m a camper, but I’m not your typical bushwhacker so you can explain to me how to do all this stuff called tracking, then I will be able to explain it to anybody else.”
Grant agreed, and he and Robinson started writing the book, as she spent a week learning about tracking in High River, Alberta in March 2010.
“I did some more research on my own, watched more of the show, read the books that I knew of that I thought might be helpful” Robinson added.
“Then Terry came out here and we did some tracking up at Hiawatha together and I had a final version of the book ready this past summer.”
“Then we started shopping it out to Canadian publishers,” Robinson said.
“We got one, in fact one of the top five Canadian publishers, but then when we found out the industry average is 10 percent of cover going to the authors, we felt like some of the goals of the project weren’t going to be reached with that kind of arrangement, so we decided to self-publish.”
Those goals, Robinson explained, “were to benefit organizations that believe in getting outdoors and respecting the environment, so one of the things we wanted to do from the beginning was to be able to give part of the proceeds to Scouts Canada, and that’s what we’ll be doing.”
“Its about tracking man and beast, so there are sections on Search and Rescue, which is definitely one type of tracking, a section on evasion if humans are actually trying to get away from you, a section on tracking animals for photographers, hunters and naturalists, and several chapters on “signs.”
Those “signs” she said, are “where and how do you look for tracks and signs, and when you find a sign, what story is it telling you in terms of ageing, direction, and speed of travel.”
In addition to the book being available for pre-order beginning today, Robinson informed Soo Today.com anyone buying it in Sault Ste. Marie will have the option to pick up their copy at River City Motor Sports on Great Northern Road.
Those copies will not be available for pickup until November 30th.
Robinson adds “$2 from each copy sold in Sault Ste. Marie will go to the Local 529 Firefighters’ Charity Fund, because a lot of our search and rescue efforts have to do with our local emergency workers, and I think it’s important to support those people as well.”
“I’m a big fan of the Firefighters’ Charity because it doesn’t have a lot of red tape associated with it. When someone needs something in the community it’s not a big old process, and I have a lot of respect for that.”
Of working with Grant, Robinson exclaims “I really enjoyed it, I thought it was just a blast!”
“I really enjoyed this project. I can’t even imagine what the next project will be, but I don’t know if it would be this much fun!”
Robinson was asked if Grant will be visiting the Sault to promote the book.
She said “no date has been finalized, but I’m sure it’ll happen in the next couple of months.”
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