tracking game

[corndog-44]

Is it really necessary to scrutinize game tracks to hunt game for meat?

[Ole WV Coot]

It is good to know when you set a snare at a hole for a bunny and get a nasty ole groundhog that will take your snare. Also if you try to twist a bunny out of a hole and get an irate fox. Also need to get an idea what uses a game trail to use the appropriate trap.

[canid]

not to mention the ability to recognize the paths of such creatures of habit as deer; being able to identify the path they take regularly between graze and cover and so being able to predict where they will cross your path or to establish a stand, etc.

[Elkchsr]

You become a far better hunter if you learn to analyze a track and imagine (or put yourself in the animals place as it walks)

This tells you if you’re following a buck/doe, bull/cow

It saves a lot of time if you’re only allowed to shoot one or the other sex

It's also very interesting to learn and will make you a far better woodsman/woman

[Jay]

I have to agree with Elkchsr. The more you know about the animal the better success you will have at anticipating its movements and making contact with it. Tracks can tell you a lot about an animal or even a human for that matter. It can be a lot of fun too.

But you can still hunt game by following tracks without giving it an indepth scrutiny. In this case a large element of you success will be due to luck.

[Beo]

Tracking or stalking game animals is an art in and of itself, I have been tracking game animals (deer, elk, moose, boar, rabbit, fox, ferral goat, ram, and coyote) for more than twenty years. From an animals track I can tell you the sex of the animal, if it was running, walking, trotting, and even which way its head was pointed when walking. All this has come from years of experience and schools (military & civilian) and years upon years of hunting. I have tracked other animals but these are the primary animals I have tracked. More than you think can be found in track. Hopeak being from Alaska more than likely knows this if he's a hunter, the droppings and a single track tell some but not all of the picture. I laugh when someone says "look at that (single lone) deer track" and then say "its a buck, see how big and deep that track is" That does not mean it is buck by any means.

[trax]

The answer to your question is No. It isn't necessary. I know people that pull up a pickup truck on some back road and don't move their butts out of it all day and sure enough, blast a whitetail that passes by. To truly hunt, however, nothing is more essential. The track is the hunt. Squeezing the trigger or releasing the bowstring is the easy part.

To track, scrutinize more than footprints, my friend. Study your environment, learn to look for what looks out of place (overturned rocks in creeks, crushed down grass or small brush, tree scrapes....there's plenty to look for) When you spend time studying your prey and how they live, you'll gain an understanding of how they move, where, when and why. When they hunker down to rest or get out of bad weather. Knowing what a moose likes to eat for instance tells you plenty about tracking a moose, because when you look you'll find red willow leaves and twigs that have been munched on or chewed up water lilies (two moose favorites) Footprint tracking will eventually teach you things like the size of the animal and the speed it was moving. Most ungulates move in a large circular pattern so they can keep turning their nose to the wind. learn the pattern and you can learn to cut them off, essentially ambush them. Knowing that you've practiced these things and taken the time to get to know your prey IMHO, shows that you are engendering some of the true respect a hunter should have for the hunted and makes the hunt a worthwhile endeavour for the hunter. A sense of having truly accomplished something. I have no truck or trade with those "highway" hunters who only take opportunity shots, sitting on their azzez in a warm truck all day. Nor do I have much respect for them. Of course, the hard part of the hunt begins right after your prey drops dead, now you have to get it home.

[nell67]

In Indiana,it is illegal for anyone to hunt furbearing animals from a vehicle,unless the person is disabled and has a special permit to hunt from a vehicle.
It should be that way everywhere,but do not know the laws of other states.

[trax]

Oh I think these fellas are energetic enough to get out of the vehicle before they take the shot, lol.

[nell67]

I figured as much.

[Elkchsr]

I don't believe any of the state (unless Alaska allows it) let you hunt any thing from a vehicle, or even the road for that matter

Even just for meat, the animals should be given more respect than that any way

Fair chase, fair hunt

[trax]

I don't believe any of the Canadian provinces allow it either, but what's legal and what's done are pretty far apart sometimes.

[nell67]

Very true!

[trax]

Hunting seasons for instance! I've never seen a critter carrying a calendar, hence.....

[nell67]

I say hunting season in open all year round as long as I am driving and they insist on jumping in front of my truck LOL j/k I have only hit one,but been close many times.

[RBB]

Is it really necessary to scrutinize game tracks to hunt game for meat?

Well, when I was out deer hunting this autumn, I had a conversation with a city fella - who had confidently set up his stand beside a river - over a beaver run.

[flandersander]

Hahaha Well you know lots of deer run down beaver runs (Sarcasim). Lotsa tracks but not deer tracks.

[RBB]

Hahaha Well you know lots of deer run down beaver runs (Sarcasim). Lotsa tracks but not deer tracks.

Well, I just didn't have the heart to tell him - he was so darn confident and, well, HAPPY with himself.

[Rick]

Three newbies decided to traipse off into the woods with little more than a knife each. After several hours in the bush, one of the newbies said,

"Hey, look! Deer tracks."

"Those aren't deer tracks," said the second. "Those are dog tracks!"

"You're both wrong!," said the third. "Those are cow tracks."

They were still arguing when the train hit them.

It helps to know what you're tracking.

[flandersander]

Haha thats good. Yeha it does help to know what a deer track looks like.