Tracking Animal Prints

Did you know that tracking animal prints is not as hard as you thought. As long as you know what you're doing, you will easily be able to track down any animal. This article will teach you the basics of tracking and some resources to use.

Identifying Prints

The first thing you should do is measure the length and width of the paws, this will give you an idea of how big the animal is. For example, a snowshoe rabits foot will be a lot bigger than a cottontail rabbits foot.

The next thing you should do is measure the stride (the length between the tracks) and the straddle (the width between the tracks). This will tell you how fast the animal was going and can also tell you the size of the animal.

The last thing you should look for when identifying a print is its features. For instance, you should count how many toes it has on both the front and the back paws, you will also need to look for a heel and claws.

Tracking the Animal

You should look out for animal droppings, which are called scat. If the scat is fully dry that means the tracks were left a while ago. The scat can also tell us if the animal is a vegetarian or a meat eater. When following the trail, be very silent in case you run into your prey. If you loose the trail, walk in a circle until you find it again.

To truly know the animal you are looking for it, is best to use resources. Wether you are out in the woods and see tracks or you are hunting, the best way to identify the tracks is by using the internet. You can draw the print and then look it up, or you can use the iTrack Wildlife Pro app to identify it right away.

Thank you for reading this weeks episode of How To Survive! Next weeks article will be about hygiene! Stay tuned.