I have followed tracks in snow or mud and tried to find the animal that made them.  I enjoyed the challenge but I am no tracker.  I saw clues to the animals habits but I think, much to my chagrin, that I just didn't understand the nuances of what I was looking at.  So I have not experienced the sudden elation of finding something that proved to the tracker that what he suspected was proven there before him as this fellow has.  Call it skill or call it luck, the results are the same.  That feather tells the tracker what he wants to know and gives him a better idea of which way to go from here.  Could be luck AND skill.