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Ken
06-09-2009, 02:41 AM
Here are some tracks - from all kinds of things - that you may want to recognize:

http://www.lifedraw.com/tracks/tracksport.html (To identify wildlife, check out the links from this link as well.)

http://www.bear-tracker.com/

http://www.rihunts.com/images/hunting/animal.tracks.jpg

http://www.cityofmelrose.org/departments/Conservation/files/tracks/tracks.jpg

http://www.ussartf.org/animal_tracking.htm

http://www.wildernesscollege.com/identifying-animal-tracks.html

http://www.geocities.com/~PACK215/wildlife.html

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/wildlife/identify_tracks.cfm

crashdive123
06-09-2009, 06:38 AM
Good links. Thanks.

trax
06-09-2009, 12:00 PM
Yep, good information, but keep in mind if you're unaccustomed to tracking animals that their footprints are very unlikely to look exactly like the pictures in your field guide. The ground the animal is impressing upon is going to affect the clarity of the print. For instance, in semi-soft snow it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a mountain lion's track and a wolf's. The wolf will have greater separation between the pad and toe tracks and the mountain lion will have a bigger stride and be more likely to move in leaps, they're just things to look for. Also, if the tracks seem to appear out of nowhere, odds are it's a lion because it jumped down from a tree somewhere and landed where you found the tracks. The lion will usually leave a deeper imprint.

Rick
06-09-2009, 12:18 PM
Much better, I think, to find prints appearing out of nowhere than to find them disappear. I'd be really fearful of looking up if that happened. Meow is good, right?

trax
06-09-2009, 12:45 PM
Not too sure on the meow, Rick, I tend to think that cougars would have no compunction about eating a house cat, so.....