Reading tracks and sign

What counts as sign

• Tracks in snow, mud and sand
• Droppings
• Beds pressed in grass or snow
• Browse: chewed twigs and stripped bark
• Rubs and scratches on trees
• Trails worn into the ground
• Torn stumps and rolled rocks

How

1. Look in low light, early or late, with the sun off to one side. Tracks show up in the shadows.
2. Measure the print, length and width, and the distance between prints.
3. Follow the line for a few steps rather than reading one print. The pattern tells more than the foot.
4. Judge age by the edges. Fresh tracks are crisp; old ones soften, crust over or fill with snow and leaves.
5. Check the browse. A clean angled cut close to the snow is a hare. A ragged torn tip at chest height or higher is a moose.

Who made it

• Moose: split hoof, heart shaped, about the length of your hand or longer. Dew claws print behind in snow or soft mud.
• Caribou: rounder hoof halves that splay wide, with a crescent shape.
• Black bear: five toes and a wide pad. The hind print looks like a flat bare human foot.
• Red fox: small neat oval prints placed nearly in one straight line.
• Snowshoe hare: the big hind feet land ahead of the small front ones, making a Y shape.
• Lynx: big round prints with no claw marks, large for the size of the cat.

Do and don't

Watch for

Notes

Every patch of snow after a fresh fall is a newspaper of the night before. It only takes a few trips to start reading it.