TRACKER JIM LOWERY, R.I.P.
In mid-April of this year, 2026, the wildlife tracking world lost a great: Jim Lowery passed away. He was 78 years old.
When I first became aware of the world of tracking – tracking animals and people — mostly through the writings of Tom Brown Jr., I met Jim Lowery who was widely regarded as one of the best trackers of the West.
When Westways magazine hired me to write a review of Jim Lowery, I was treated to a private tracking class not far from his home. He read the animal tracks in the soil as a normal person would read a newspaper. He told me what animals walked there, and when they turned, or sped up, and he had an almost psychic sense of what the animal was doing and why.
Later, Jim would teach at the weeklong Dirttime events that I conducted in the local mountains with Dude McLean and Alan Halcon. Jim would set off a dedicated zone where no one was to walk, and we came back in a day to interpret all the tracks that appeared in the soil. Jim could handle a large class of student trackers who were all working hard to interpret the soil.
Over the years, I would run-into Jim at various wilderness locations, teaching a class, often with his “sand box” that he created to create and study tracks.
Jim was exceptionally knowledgeable about all aspects of the subject of tracking. Plus, he was a good teacher, friendly, and interested in the student’s progress.
I will miss him.
I asked Rob Remedi to say a few words about Jim Lowery. Rob was a protégé of Jim Lowery, and always mentioned Jim in his own classes.
FROM ROB:
“I had the great fortune to partake in Jim’s classes. It is he whom I owe my tracking abilities, and frankly, who led me to further hone my skills and teaching. He was first my teacher; me, a neophyte to the art of tracking, and eventually he became a colleague and a valued friend. I even had the privilege to teach alongside him.
Jim took classes from Tom Brown back in the 1980’s. Serious about sharing these ancient arts, Jim started Earth Skills in Southern California and began teaching tracking and wilderness skills.
Jim was a master specifically in tracking, knowing exactly what he taught. Once, I housesat while he was away, and I saw a six-tiered bookshelf stocked with his personal tracking notebooks. Perusing through those notebooks, they were full of footprint measurements, gaits and patterns, and details and observations of the animals he crossed paths with. I knew he was a treasure worth learning from.
Yet, he did not teach with an air of superiority. It was a kindness; a gentle, calm, personable presence that made me (and everyone else) want to take his classes just to “hang out” and soak up his vast knowledge. In addition, his teaching was totally hands-on, inviting you to get down in the dirt, where he welcomed feedback, opinions, and interpretations with validity.
There are too many stories and experiences to share here, but they all remain in my heart. Still, I wish everyone could have met this incredible man.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Brooks, who assisted him in his classes and is an accomplished tracker in her own right.
Words of wisdom: when you get the “inkling” to call someone, do it before it’s too late. I miss you, Jim. – Rob Remedi”
