Animal Tracking Tips
Tracking animals has been around since human being first began using tools to hunt with and can be a very important part of hunting. My Father used to work for the State as an independent trapper working along side local Fish and Game personnel and often times took me along with him on assignments. So, I was exposed to tracking at an early age and found it exciting and fun. As a trapper you first must know your target animal, its habitat, behavior, and how to efficiently track it in order to catch it. The same principles apply in order to be a successful hunter (well my opinion of being a true hunter). When hunting you may not always get an instant kill shot and will need to then track down the animal or may need to learn the different routes your prey may take in order to set up a blind or hide.
Tracking is a skill and is something that takes time and patience to learn and develop. In order to be an effective tracker you need to take the time to learn and improve your skills. If you are a skilled tracker you will be able to determine things like how old the track is, how the animals is traveling (walking, running, galloping, bounding, etc), the direction of travel, if it is the same animal you originally started tracking or a different one, size, weight, etc.
The following are my tips, tricks, and techniques that I learned and use on how to track animals (I do not claim to be an expert tracker):
Tips:
You should learn as much as possible about an animal’s behavior, habitat, eating and sleeping patterns, local water and food source areas they use, how and when they are most or least active, how they move when (walking, galloping, running) by the tracks they leave, etc because this will give you valuable information especially when you are hunting by stalking. The more you know about your prey, the more effective you will be.
The first thing you want to do is be extremely careful not to disturb the tracks and mess them up. When you first encounter a track, stop and look carefully before you make any movements. You need to assess where the tracks are and the direction in which the tracks are going.
Determine what animal it is by the track. If you are tracking a specific animal you want ensure that you are on the right course and not be tracking the wrong animal. So, you need to know the different types of animals that are in your area.
You should learn as much as possible about an animal’s behavior, habitat, eating and sleeping patterns, local water and food source areas they use, how and when they are most or least active, how they move (walk, gallop, trot, bound), etc. The more you know about your prey, the more effective you will be.
In order to be an effective tracker, you need to have a keen eye and good observation skills. These things will help you because animal tracks are not always easily seen and you will need to look for other signs that something has been through the area.
Besides the actual track you need to look for other signs that something has traveled through that area. Look for fresh broken twigs which will often time have a whitish inner color, bent or broken shrub or tree branches (again look at the color of the inside), look for hair or fur on tree and shrub branches, look for (bent, smashed, laid down) grasses and other vegetation, look for over turned rocks with fresh dirt on them, disturbed soil, etc. Basically you need to carefully observe the area and look for those small, out of ordinary, doesn’t belong, or is not natural things.
There are things you can look and feel for to help you determine the approximate age of the track. Look at the color of the soil, if it is a darker color than the top soil surrounding it then the track if relatively fresh because the bottom soil will be moister, thus be darker. You can also feel the soil and see if it is cooler than the top soil around it, this will also help you determine if the track is fresh because it will be cooler. Depending on the climate you are tracking in, the soil will dry and heat up within minutes (10, 20, 30, 40, etc) or hours in hot or cold environments. The hotter it is the faster the soil will dry and the cooler it is the slower it will dry. This also applies to broken vegetation because as it dries, it will generally get darker.
In cold environments where snow is around, you can determine approximate time because the snow in the track will re-freeze and be much harder on an older track. Snow fall can also be a determining factor depending on the rate and how heavy it is falling.
If rain is present and again it will depend on the amount and rate at which it is falling can help you determine time. The animal track will not have any water in it when first made, but as the rain falls, the track will slowly fill up with water. Look at how much water is in the track and judge the rate of rainfall to gage an approximate time.
Wind blowing at a fast rate can blow other debris into the track and eventually fill it in. If you come across a track in a windy environment and it has not or very little dirt and other debris in it, then you can determine that the track is fairly fresh.
Often times if the track has a lot of detail it is fresh, and this detail fades over time because of some of the factors disgusted earlier. Depending on the type of surface you are tracking in, this may be true because if you are in a sandy or very loose dirt area, the track may start caving in within seconds of being made.
The very best time to find fresh animal tracks is early in the morning or around dusk. This is because most animals are more active during these times of day. Remember most animals tend to be moving from bedding areas to their food sources in the morning and returning around dusk. Nocturnal animals also tend to be doing the same thing only in reverse order. Looking for tracks around water sources is a good place starting point because any animal in the area will be using it.
Look for animal droppings (scat) in the area. You can also tell what animals are in the area by their droppings. This falls into the category of knowing your animal/s that you want to track. Animals will often defecate as they travel, so this will give you another sign that you are on the right track.
You can also use the sun (if it is at an angle and not directly overhead, because the higher the sun gets in the sky, the harder the track will be to see) in tracking. If you get squat down and look at the right angle, you can see what is called shine. This happens when the sun is at just the right angle and you can faintly distinguish that there is a path because the light reflecting off the area stepped on will have a slight shine look to it than the undisturbed vegetation around it.
You can create what is called a track trap. You can take a branch from a tree and grade the surrounding soil to create a surface where if stepped on or disturbed will provide a definite sign or track or limit their path on either side of the trail so that they go the way you want them to go such as through tall grass or around water in a puddle for example. Natural track traps can be found where there is a limited path of travel and there are muddy and other soft type surfaces. Animals tend to travel the path of least resistance. If there is a puddle and even though it is cloudy, you can still determine if something has gone through there recently because the mud in the water will be stirred up and there will be a color difference.
When tracking, you can leave markers every so often in case you have to leave the track due to nightfall, weather, or exhaustion. This way you can always come back to the place where you left off and continue tracking.
Small Game Trail
These tips should give you a good idea and starting point for tracking, but it is up to you to do more research and learn and practice good tracking skills. I could include much more, but this post would read like a novel so I just wanted to include some key points to keep it short and simple. If you have some tips of your own you would like to share, please do. Good luck
Animal Tracks
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