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By Kamana 2 Student Justin Lake K1685
I want to tell you a little about my writing style. I capitalize the first letter when refering to the
various Nations of the Natural World. You will see that Coyote and Spruce are like People to me. They are like Brothers and Sisters to me and to show respect I capitalize their names. I want my readers to feel
that they are people just as much as we are people.

It has been 8 months now since I first began Kamana Two and found my sit spot under an old Spruce tree. One day, there happened to be a great deal of Raven activity near my sit spot. Earlier, I had picked up a road-kill deer which I skinned for the hide and cut out some of the sinew to make cordage. Then I left the rest of the carcass at an offering spot for Raven and Coyote. The Ravens were making quite a ruckus at the offering spot, so I decided to go to my sit spot to see what they were up to.

As I sat there I noticed that they seemed to be irritated by something. I wanted to see what about, so I carefully fox-walked to a Western Red Cedar tree and began to climb. As I was climbing, I noticed two Buzzards in the tree, who flew away startled by my climb. I was only about 10 feet up but I could see very well the thicket of Salmonberry below. I could see that someone was coming through the bushes. It was Coyote, who was tipped off to my presence by the Buzzards taking flight, and who thought that I was coming from the Human trail. However, I was still in the Cedar having circled around to the other side of the thicket. Coyote was coming to hide under the very tree in which I was perched! He paced nervously just below me waiting for another Coyote who was making her way through the Salmonberry. When she arrived, they took off to the North West through the thicket of Willows and thorny Brambles.

I was amazed to have gotten so close to these coyotes, but had the urge to get closer still. I hadn’t realized it before, but I actually knew their trails very well and thought that I knew where they had gone. This was also my Secret Spot and I had spent much time crawling through the Mud and Brambles to map the trails this past winter.

I climbed down from the Cedar and made my way North through their trails, circling around to where I felt they would be. This is when my Deer Ears kicked in and I noticed that the Swainson’s Thrush were alarming in the thicket. A twig snapped. Following the Thrush’s alarms, I knew exactly where the Coyote were.

I was crawling on my belly through the thicket, and when I found a place to sit up, a Swainson’s Thrush landed on a branch within my arm’s reach. I could see its eye ring and the delicate details of its breast feathers’ brown and white spots. Its feathers ruffled and it gave its water drop sounding call. (What an amazing little brown bird!)

When I got to the Northern edge of my Secret Spot, I crawled under the barbed wire into a cattle field. Just West of me at the tree line where a hill begins and the thicket becomes Cedar and Fir was Coyote staring at me. He was exactly where I felt he would be! He glanced my way and did a double take! Only when I started to rise did he run away.

It worked. All the time at my Sit Spot practicing Sensory Attunement and I had gotten close to elusive Coyote twice. But then, when our eyes met at the edge of the thicket, I wasn’t sure if I had stalked Coyote, or if Coyote had stalked me!

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