Opportunity to be Hunted by MANTRACKER!!!!!!

Amongst many of the reality TV shows that I enjoy, I have to say that MANTRACKER is one of my favorites. This year I have been able to watch most of his episodes. I caught the occasional episode last year, but ended up missing most of them due to working in the field. I thoroughly enjoy the challenging terrain, strategic moves played by both the prey and Mantracker.

Back in Junior High and High School English I loved the story; "The Most Dangerous Game". I remember thinking about how I would be strategic if I were in that situation. The shear thrill of being hunted, sneaking up on game during hunting season and even organising all out war on the other Scout troops and boys was something that I have always been extremely excited about. Some of my favorite movies include (The Edge, Ghost and the Darkness, and Swiss Family Robinson).

If you have not heard of MANTRACKER shame on you! It comes on every day during the week on Outdoor Life Network (OLN), at 7:00pm. Basically it is comprised of two people (all backgrounds & nationalities, strangers, couples, friends, coworkers,etc.) who are given a map and a compass. They can bring any provisions they like. Their goal is to race to the finish line approximately 40 KM in 36 hours, before being caught by Mantracker. They are being chased by two men on horse back. One is a local guide who knows the area and the other is MANTRACKER (Terry Grant from High River Alberta). I didn't realize that Mantracker was from Alberta until I found the website . He is quite experienced and was trained by Search and Rescue to locate and find people in the bush etc.

So what does all this have to do with me. Well I was sitting at work and the idea came instantly in my head that I would love the opportunity to be hunted by Mantracker. So I immediately extended the invitation to 3 individuals at work whom I respect and think would be great partners. One is a fellow Environmental Scientist like myself and the other two are Biologists. So we will see. Over the next few months I will be working on the application process.

My Parents

So there I was working away trying to complete some field notes from one of the jobs I was doing in the Brooks area when two little stuffies made their way beside me. Questioning their appearance I asked Bean who they were. She replied Grandpa & Grandma Stanford. I know my dad has white hair, but who would have thought my mom had such close eye proximity.

The Argo

Growing up I had heard of Argo's and their ability to challenge any terrain and float in the water. I had always wanted to experience riding in one but thought as the years passed that dream would never come true until in 2007 when I was asked to assist as a soil scientist in Fort McMurray. I honestly had a hard time sleeping, awaiting this once in a lifetime experience to explore the boreal forest in an Argo.

As incredible and amazing as they are, I was not that impressed with the overall design, features, performance, weight, and price of the 8 wheel Argo. They remind me of the combustion engine. Old technology in an advanced world. Argo makes smaller ones that may have more dexterity etc. Watching some home videos of Argos on You Tube allows me to believe that they are fairly robust machines. The sad thing is, nothing compares to them when you need to get around with more than one person and carry alot of gear. I really think that Argo needs to pull up their socks and improve their units.

This is a picture of the front. Two people can sit here comfortably, however there really isn't alot of leg room. The technology according to the outfit we rented them from said that nothing really has changed over the last 10 years. This was a newer model. Newer meaning it came with a 12V plug adapter on the dash. The handle bar steering is an advancement from the two leaver skid steer turning. On the dash is the choke cable. Red light that tells you the unit is running, Battery volt gauge, and an hour counter. When the units have reached 3000 hrs. it is said that they are virtually garbage. The black skid plate below the handle bars easily removes and allows you to lube up the drive chains, it also gets very hot on the foot wear. Headlights and winch are controlled from the top of the handle bars. Having the 12V option would be great with the use of a spot light at night because the regular headlights are virtually useless unless we just had a melon.

Behind the front guard plate is the real mechanics of the Argo. Electric start, liquid cooled 750 cc engine with a centrifugal clutch (snowmobile), 2-disc braking system, 2-speed transmission (Low & High) and reverse. Lots of drive chains. It is virtually a large heavy duty plastic tank. Tank, because it weighs a tonne. Don't think for a minute that you and your buddies will get out and pull or lift it over or out of the situation you are in, it's not going to happen! If you are stuck and you can't winch to anything your toast. Getting stuck is the trick. I would like to see it, because they don't seem to get stuck especially when you have tracks on them.


The back of the Argo is very simple, and an awful ride for whoever is in the back. There's nothing to hold onto especially if you don't have a roll cage. The little bench seats on the side are removable and the gas tank is the white plastic container under the front seat. No fuel gauge exists, you simply just have to eye ball it. On the floor is another removable tray to allow access to the gears and chains below for lubing and maintenance purposes. We used compressed chain lubricant and lubed the front and back at the end of every day. After the 1st of 5 weeks the lubing and tightening of the chains was really getting old. On the outside of the Argo body at the back were two drain plugs (Identical to any boat). Unfortunately the Argo's were not water tight and had to be emptied at the end of every day. Pulling the plugs was not good enough. They had to be parked on a slight incline for gravity drainage. Occasionally someone forgot to put the plugs back in, taking on a little more water than usual.

Here is what is underneath the removable tray in the back. Simple 1" square tubing frame, gears, and chains.

Many of my fellow colleagues believe that I was quite hard on the Argos. I admit I maybe wasn't the most cautious that I could have been, but I really wanted to see what they were capable of. Many people including the outfitter swear by their performance. We consistently drove through some rough terrain that would be no match for any quad, dune buggy etc. I will give the Argo that. In this picture, I know it doesn't look like much but the peat was 2-3 feet deep and the water holes were up to 2m deep in areas not including the fens. I traversed over fallen debris and trees suspended off the ground nearly half a meter. The tracks shear weight of the Argo and roll cage made any passage through the bush seem easy.

At any one time there were three of us in an Argo. We had shovels, hand augers plus our personal gear and approximately 100 lbs. of soil samples. We were fortunate in most areas to have seismic lines to travel down which made it easier to locate our position on our maps in addition to GPS. Occasionally we had to go off the beaten trail approximately 100 to 400m. The size of black spruce and bog conditions made it possible to drive the Argo randomly through the trees, without having to hike. Time was money and if the Argo could go we would take the Argo as it would save alot of time. This is my justification for what you are about to watch, being an environmentalist and all.

8 wheel Argos are quite expensive. I'm pretty sure the price the outfitter quoted me was just for the Argo. No tracks ($6000) or Roll Cage ($2500). I nearly choked at a whopping $30,000 dollars. Ouch!!!!!!!!!! Even if I was interested in it, there goes my dream of ever owning a descent one. I think I will just stick to the HOOT at $6000 dollars.




If you practice and watch your throttle when crossing over large fallen trees you can virtually stop on top and let the Argo down gently. I came off this log pretty hard because we were in a rush and when I shifted my positioning behind the wheel I lost my balance and concentration.

Almost stuck in the bog

Done for the day and heading back.

Benefits of a roll cage. If I had the money to buy an Argo I would pay the extra money for the roll cage. I don't think it would ever be possible to roll it, but it provides shade by using a tarp, prevents trees from falling on you, makes it easier to get into and out of the argo, and provides areas to tie down and anchor gear.

Breaking new trail to save time and money is not always easy in an upland area. Aspen and fir trees in solid mineral soil regardless of the weight of the argo don't like to bend or move to let you by. In situations like these I would get out of the argo and ground truth an area to see where I might fit to get back on the trail. Even with skid steering, when weighted down the argo was difficult to turn. In this video when I stopped I was trying to turn to avoid the Balsam fir, but the argo wouldn't turn and so I had to back up and try again.

Just another day at work in the Boreal forest....

Fort McMurray 2008

Once again I had the privilege of joining the soil/vegetation scientist team in exploring and assessing new terrain for oil sands expansion. This Drag Line is one of the massive pieces of equipment used in the mining of oil sands for production purposes. This years trip was very rewarding. The overall soil profiles and vegetation diversity combined with the old growth forests and diverse terrain was fabulous. I didn't even seem to mind the mosquito's this year.

Cables were attached to the ends of these chains and the chains were attached to the bucket. I don't' have a picture of the actual bucket, but for those of you unfamiliar with the scale of mining equipment, a dump truck or front end loader could easily be driven into the bucket.

As you can see this isn't your average towing chain. I could actually crawl through all the links.

This was the first and only black bear we encountered on the entire trip. His coat was absolutely beautiful. I was expecting him to be a bit mangy and a little more aggressive, but he was quite the opposite.

I didn't get to see this baby Lynx which was really too bad as I have never seen a Lynx in the wild. Overall it is a good thing. I most definitely would have sustained some sort of injury from trying to catch it.

On the surface of the sphagnum moss located in the bog areas of the boreal forest thrives a little carnivorous plant called a sun dew. These plants act just like the Venus fly trap, but are extremely small. The size varies, but for the most part they can be compared to your pinkie finger nail. It is a pretty remarkable species when viewed through a magnifying glass.

This open upland cut block presented a fabulous view of the surrounding area and was some of the roughest terrain to Argo through I had ever encountered. It took alot of work and concentration to maneuver over the large logs and stumps left from logging operations.

In this same upland clear cut we found an area flourishing with Western Wood Lilly's. They were absolutely breathtaking. I couldn't leave without pressing one for my ongoing plant collection.

Here is the common pose of a true soil scientist, hunched over the hole amazed at the prominent soil horizons and nature of the soils. This is me in case you were wondering. It's my most popular picture in an uplands setting with the ladies.

Occasionally we would come across an area where the squirrels were going crazy. This was by far the biggest middens pile ever. These piles are the scales from pine cones, that squirrels have discarded after eating the seeds.

Anthills were another thing. This picture doesn't do this ant hill justice as it stood approx. 1m from the ground and nearly 2m in width. I so desperately wanted to disturb the ant fortress, but I was a little nervous as to the aggressiveness of the little varmint's inside and besides we parked our Argo right next to it.

Most of the soil profiles we encountered were Orthic Gray Luvisols like the profile shown here. Last year we only found one Brunisol. This year we had allot more brunisols most of which were very distinguished. I also found the structures (sub-angular blocky & Platy) of the soils to be very strong and prominent.

Sub-angular blocky Structure

Platy Structure

In this upland soil profile I found a calcareous layer (Cca).

The Cca layer is the white precipitates or calcium deposits in the till.

When a small amount of 10% HCL Acid is applied to the soil that contains precipitates it effervesces. The effervescence is recorded in degree of severity. In this profile it was recorded as (Very strong and bubbly).

One of the highlights to these trips for me is working in and finding fen's. I have to say that my sick obsession for driving a large tracked machine through wet muddy areas will soon get the best of me. A fen is a swampy area, usually comprised of vegetation floating on the surface of free standing water. Some fens are bottomless while others may only have a few feet or meters of water underneath the sphagnum/vegetative matt before mineral soil is encountered. Fens can easily be identified by the species of trees/plants etc. If there are alot of larch in the area chances are you are in either in a poor or rich fen. Fens have allot to do with why we use argos to aid in collecting our soil samples and categorize our vegetative plots. The ability for an argo to float and propel itself through free standing water is an asset. Last year in 2007 we were breaking through a bog, when all of the sudden the front of the argo went straight down and then straight up. In front of us that continued for approximately 50 feet was a huge wave of rippling grass and trees. Bob and I augured through the peat in this fen over 4 meters and never hit mineral soil. In fact we were still in mesic (om) material. The matts of vegetation over the water vary in depth. To this day I have fallen through two of them. Never touched the bottom. Holding onto the roll cage of the argo and tracks has been my saving grace. Listen and watch closely in the video as I explain the properties of a fen.

The Procrastination is over!!!!!

One of my New Years resolutions was to blog more regularily, and as you can see that resolution has gone right out the window. Over the last few months some of my fans have given me a pretty hard time about it and so I have decided to kick it up a notch and make time. The first few will be catch up from last year and then I will get right into this years interesting facts and events.