The forest floor is damp from a recent rain, and your footsteps sound softly as you sneak through the woods. Oval shapes of compressed alder leaves and bent stalks of fringecup plants pull you along a bear's trail. Songs of spring warblers resonate above you in the treetops, and the odor of trampled hedge nettle wafts past your nose. A swaying of salmonberry stalks alerts you to the presence of the bear you have been tracking. A few more slow steps and you are able to view the bear through a screen of brushy limbs as she feeds on emerging herbaceous plants. After a few minutes the bear meanders out of view, and you melt backwards into the forest's background, leaving the way you came.
   Tracking reveals a hidden world. This ancient skill provides an avenue for intimate encounters and relationships with shy animals. Join me in this book, for a journey of how to learn to trail black bears.

Praise for Tracking the american black bear:

"I love the way Preston writes. He has taken me along with him following bears... It is the smells encountered, the feelings of mental tiredness and physical distress along with the smells and textures of the surrounding foliage as well as that of the animal he is tracking. This along with descriptions of the total environment and the observations of the behaviors of what he is tracking that takes you along with him."
​- Tony Kemnitz

"This book is perfect for any tracker who wants to learn more about trailing black bears. Bears can be challenging to trail over different terrain types, but Preston is one of the few recognized experts in doing just this. He is also a trailing evaluator for CyberTracker North America, which is the only international organization that certifies trackers. He is one of the best trackers in the world. This book offers his unique insights into following and finding black bears. He is a bowhunter who uses his trailing skills to get within a few yards of the bears that he hunts, something that takes tremendous skill. If you are a hunter who wants to hunt the traditional way and become a skilled outdoorsman, I can’t recommend anyone to teach you better than Preston Taylor. Get this book and study it well. If you implement these techniques, your trailing will improve immensely."
- Kim Cabrera