Basic Tracking

Basic Tracking - With the new fallen snow, it is easy to see a wide assortment of comings and goings. Trying to figure out who belongs to a track can be challenging. Identification usually requires a clear print, a track pattern, determining the width of that pattern and lots of practice. In a perfect world, the print should tell you the number of toes and if toenails are present. However, the freezing and thawing of snow quickly distorts them. Feeling the print with your fingers is a good way of determining the number of toes. The track pattern tells you the way in which the animal moved - walking, pacing, bounding or galloping. How fast it was going; if it was "tracking" (placing one foot directly into the footprint of the one in front of it) and if it was dragging its tail. The pattern width helps determine the size of the animal. Knowledge of the life style of the local fauna is helpful too in narrowing down who you are following. Tracking is really the art of putting all these clues together. The web offers lots of tips. But in the field, a good book is the best tool. Even if you can't figure it out, following a trail is a quiet easy way of getting closer to the great outdoors.