Practising tracking

**wildWoman** · 03-12-2008, 11:41 AM

Here's a couple things that I've done to practice tracking animals.
Use your own footprints and/or your dog's to learn better skills. You can choose the environment where you want to practice reading tracks (rocky ground, thick underbrush etc), and of course because you know where you went it's easy to go have a close look at it. Likewise to learn the effects of rain, sunshine, snow on tracks and judge how old they are.
Making a sketch on paper can really help too (also when learning to identify plants). You don't need any artistic talent. What drawing makes you do is look very closely at the thing in front of you for quite a few minutes as you try to sketch it. You notice things you might not otherwise.

**wareagle69** · 03-12-2008, 11:45 AM

with this skill i always have to keep an open mind, heres me mr bushman and when i'm at my wildlife centre i hear people talking and showing pics and i get amazed we had one posted the other day that was a pic of wing impressions in the snow with a little drop of blood pic taker says was of owl grabbing a mouse.

**Beo** · 03-12-2008, 11:48 AM

Good point's, I teach tracking and a tool I use I got from Tom Brown Jr. I make a tracking box outta 2x4s about 6 feet long and put screening on the bottom, fill with sand and then moisten, let the kids walk through it and then show them the points of their track, also have a dog or cat walk thru it and point those out, by the woods we set bait by it and leave it for a day and come back and read the tracks of the squirrels, rabbits, or other animals. They love this and it makes it fun for them.

**wareagle69** · 03-12-2008, 11:53 AM

good idea about baiting i have a tracking pit in the bush but never thought of baiting.

**Beo** · 03-12-2008, 11:54 AM

Worked here, should get better results where your at.

**trax** · 03-12-2008, 12:31 PM

WarEagle's post about the picture is important to note. The owls' wing marks in the snow. There's always more to follow than just footprints, I've probably said that here a couple of hundred times. There's a well known case of a police officer noting where a young woman was grabbed by a very bad guy by the slight wedge shaped impression that the books she was carrying dug into the soft ground when he grabbed her and she dropped her books. No one else was paying attention but it helped lead to a bunch of other tracks---drag marks, scuff marks where she resisted, which led to a parking lot, where they found traces of blood and copy-able tire impressions which led to apprehension of the bad guy and forensic evidence that helped convict said bad guy. Because one cop said, hey...what would make little dents like that in the mud?

**wildWoman** · 03-12-2008, 01:21 PM

Looking at twigs and trees is helpful, too. One of my dogs is really professional and always sniffing away at the branches on the side of game trails. Caribou and moose often leave a hair or two on twigs. And then there's the rubbing trees of bears.

**trax** · 03-12-2008, 03:38 PM

He's sniffing because dogs always go with their nose before anything else, but good point WW, check where he's sniffing and you will probably find signs of something. Bears do too, by the way, their eye sight is one of their weakest points, but their sense of smell more than makes up for it.

Here's an interesting piece about dogs and their sniffing. I learned this from watching my dog a couple of years ago. A couple of raccoons went all through our camp. The next morning he ran from track to track sniffing all over the place, the trail he finally settled on following was the freshest. Not a coincidence, when we hear talk about how much more powerful an animal's sense of smell is than our own, we all kind of go..oh wow, that's really cool, but we can't really comprehend it. I've heard that wolves can smell prey in a snowstorm, that impresses me.

**wareagle69** · 03-12-2008, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by trax

He's sniffing because dogs always go with their nose before anything else, but good point WW, check where he's sniffing and you will probably find signs of something. Bears do too, by the way, their eye sight is one of their weakest points, but their sense of smell more than makes up for it.

Here's an interesting piece about dogs and their sniffing. I learned this from watching my dog a couple of years ago. A couple of raccoons went all through our camp. The next morning he ran from track to track sniffing all over the place, the trail he finally settled on following was the freshest. Not a coincidence, when we hear talk about how much more powerful an animal's sense of smell is than our own, we all kind of go..oh wow, that's really cool, but we can't really comprehend it. I've heard that wolves can smell prey in a snowstorm, that impresses me.

a human being has millons of sensory receptors in their nose a bear has billions, in a way that would be awesome except in my profession or on bean night

**trax** · 03-12-2008, 04:37 PM

I've already made a note to not go tracking with my dog around anywhere you work or anywhere beans are being served.

**Beo** · 03-13-2008, 10:51 AM

Tracking, love it love it love it, why its a good stress relief from the world and brings me back to what I call the real world. Try this, its what I teach when doing a trcking class.
Something prowling around the cabin or House awoke you in the predawn hours this morning. It knocked down your wood pile and your bird feeder, and kept you awake until the first graying of dawn, when it finally stopped making noise. In the morning, there were unusual marks in the soil, and a few odd scratch marks, but can you determine whether the marauder was a bear or a raccoon? The woodsman's forensic science, tracking is the process of collecting and cataloging identifiable facts from marks made by an animal's passing, then assembling them into an image of what happened there, even how long ago it occurred. As a pastime in itself, tracking wildlife rivals hunting, I think, and it's a fine excuse to do some pre-hunt scouting of a place you'll hunt for whitetails in autumn. Reading paw and hoof impressions is the most basic tracking skill, and a trail of prints can yield considerable information about the animal that made them. Unique shapes, lengths, and widths of tracks indicate an animal's species, age, and size. Stride length—the distance one foot travels forward in a single step—provides a good measure of shoulder height, and, to a less accurate degree, gender, because mammal females tend to be notably smaller at adulthood than males. A print's depth in surfaces of varying hardness can yield a good assessment of weight.
Following a set of tracks for a short distance is likely to reveal behaviors that identify an animal's gender—i.e., buck scrapes and rubs, cocked-leg coyote urinations, and territorial predator scats left with purpose at trail intersections. Tracks made by front and hind feet are usually easy to differentiate, because forefeet are noticeably larger (about 20%) in most species, and particularly those designed to run fast. Reasons for this phenomenon include a barrel-chested physique that permits lungs to expand to great volume, but makes its owner front heavy. Forefeet, which hit ground first in a running gait, require a larger surface area for traction, for shock absorption, and to increase weight distribution (flotation) on snow and other soft surfaces. Four-legged animals walk primarily on the outer edges of their soles. This maximizes the distance between contact points (straddle), providing a wider stance that optimizes stability on uneven terrain, and ncreases running maneuverability, like broadening the wheelbase on a racing car. The result is a configuration in which the innermost toe or hoof is smaller and prints less deeply than the largest outermost toe; only humans carry their big toes to the inside. Track types are separated into "digitigrade" (animals that habitually carry their body weight forward, onto the toes) and "plantigrade" (animals that walk flat-footed). Being literally on their toes all of the time, digitigrade walkers, like the wolf, cougar, and all deer, can spring instantly into flight or pursuit, and are built to run fast over rugged terrain. Slower running plantigrade animals, like bears, raccoons, skunks, and porcupines, are generally omnivorous, shuffling throughout their waking hours in search of food, protected by natural defenses that cause most predators to pass them by. The way all four footprints are arrayed is called a "track pattern." Because track patterns change predictably with different gaits, they reveal how fast an animal was traveling, and give clues to its disposition. Differences in the track patterns of walking, trotting, and running animals tell if an animal was relaxed, if it had a specific destination in mind, or if it was in flight. Fortunately, track patterns for different gaits are almost universal among four-legged mammals.

**Beo** · 03-13-2008, 10:58 AM

At a casual walk, the hind foot of most animals prints on top of the front track. This is a learned walking behavior generic among animals inhabiting uneven terrain. The ability to see where the forefoot is placed to avoid stepping into holes or tripping, but being unable to see the hind feet, makes most species learn to habitually place hind feet into the same location. At an easy trot, both hind feet and one forefoot tend to print together in a roughly triangular shape, with the remaining forefoot printing separately ahead of them. Having three feet hit the ground almost simultaneously provides the stability of a tripod, while the remaining forefoot acts as a pivot when those three are brought forward. The forefoot that prints alone is the strongest, and indicates which side is dominant—like left- and right-handed people. At a hard run, most animals adopt a "rocking horse" track pattern in which forefeet are planted together and far forward to act as a pivot when the rear feet are raised off the ground and brought forward to land on either side and ahead of the foreprints. When the widely-stanced hind feet make contact, the animal lunges forward, forefeet together and stretched ahead to catch it after a leap that may exceed four times its body length. Number of toes is important to both track identification and species classification. All weasels, bears, and raccoons have five toes on all four feet; all canids have four toes tipped with stout nonretractable claws on all paws. Cats show four toes in all prints, but paws are more round and less elongated than canids, and sharp retractable claws rarely register except on slippery surfaces. Exceptions to both these rules include the nonretractable claws of the African cheetah and the semi-retractable claws of North America's tree-climbing gray fox. Deer, cows, and pigs are "ungulates," with cloven hooves that can be splayed to provide a braking action when descending slippery hillsides. Horses alone possess a single hoof that's better suited to travel on open plains. Members of the squirrel family, from red squirrels to woodchucks, are marked by four toes on the forefeet, five toes on the hind, all sharply clawed. Lagomorphs (rabbits and hares) have four toes on all paws. All weasels, from otters to ermine, have five clawed toes on all four feet. With so many identifying characteristics to remember, an illustrated tracking guide is an integral part of a track hunter's field kit and home reference library. Good take-along references include A Field Guide to Animal Tracks, by the late Olas J. Murie, who established the first database of wildlife tracks in North America. Renowned tracker Tom brown Jr. has written numerous field guides. You'll also need a few inexpensive measuring tools. Most fundamental is a six-inch, clearly photographable ruler to measure track dimensions, although any number of objects have been placed next to a track or scat for size reference later. Next is a carpenter's tape measure, ten feet long or more and with locking blade, for recording stride lengths and leaping distances. An inexpensive digital camera (under $100), is a convenient means of electronically scrapbooking your more interesting discoveries. For trips afield, include all of the above with a notebook and pencil in a zipper-lock freezer bag. The easiest means of carrying these items, along with water bottle, granola bars, and other necessities is in a comfortable daypack (about $30). You'll really appreciate the daypack if tracking gets into your blood and you advance into casting tracks from plaster. Like almost any pastime in today's highly specialized world, tracking wildlife can become a lifelong commitment that eventually encompasses a study of animal behavior and physiology, taxonomy, and other natural sciences. But it can also be a fun, inexpensive pastime for those who just want to know more about the wildlife that shares their neighborhoods each night.
That is part of the introduction and class I teach to kids and teens in tracking and even some adults who have asked for the class.
Source: I got this from Backwoods Home Magazine and incorporated it into my teaching.

**trax** · 03-13-2008, 12:15 PM

So, in answer to your first question, if you walk out your cabin door and see the wood pile knocked down, the way the wood is laying around will tell you whether it was a bear or raccoon. Do you let your students know that at some point there Natty Bumpo?

**Beo** · 03-13-2008, 12:16 PM

Got your Natty Bumpo right here fella.

**Alpine_Sapper** · 03-13-2008, 12:43 PM

Great information Beo.

For tracking Humans, as well as a wealth of other information you may or may not know covering survival, clothing needs, etc. the Fundamentals of Search and Rescue is a pretty good resource. It can be found at nasar.org for ~ $40. It does have information regarding the worlds SAR organizations and how their structured, but it mainly covers wilderness techniques and field skills.

**trax** · 03-13-2008, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by Beowulf65

Got your Natty Bumpo right here fella.

There's that sensitivity again, that was meant as a compliment, figured if anyone knew who Natty Bumpo is it was you. Yeesh, so do you tell them? Do you? Raccoons will scatter the wood around more than bears, anything the bear moves any distance it will move with a swat, raccoons will push it or drag it. The bear will probably stretch his big ol' belly up on the woodpile and just let it collapse. Not very often you see a bear waste energy.