How to track wild animals?

Tracking Wild Animals is Art Tracking wild animals is the art of interpreting various signs such as natural paths, footprints, and nibbled plants in order to discover which wild animal has recently been hunting, foraging or resting in a specific area. Wild animal tracking is a very useful skill to know especially if you are a wild animal hunter or a wild animal photographer. It is also a useful skill for any person that is just interested in wild animals or who has wildlife problems at its property. If you want to know how to track various wild animals, keep on with reading this article.

Footprint Examination
It is an exciting thing to discover an unknown footprint in the snow or in mud, which is a telltale sign an unknown creature has just recently walked the same path you are walking. You should know that every animal has a unique print, and if you know what are you looking for, then you will be able to tell what type of animal is in your vicinity.

When you look at an unknown footprint, pay attention to these things:

• Size of the print. By the size of the print, you will be able to tell whether a small or a big animal crossed your path.
• Number of Toes. Every animal has a different number of toes. Felines such as bobcats, for example, have 4 toes while skunks have five toes.
• Nail Prints. The prints of wild cats don’t show the nails, but the prints of animals such as wolves and raccoons show claw marks.
• Opposable Digit. If the print you are looking at has an opposable digit, then it belongs to a raccoon or an opossum.





Track Pattern
The next step to identifying an animal by its prints is looking at where the footprints fall and determining the animal’s gait. You can conclude the animal’s gait by its track pattern.

Here are some common track patterns:

• Diagonal walker pattern.
Animals such as canines and felines are diagonal walkers and they leave staggered tracks behind.
• Pacer pattern.
Bears and other wide-bodied animals lift their front and hind legs on the same side of the body.
• Bounder pattern.
Animals that hop, such as ferrets, weasels leave a bounder pattern because they first land on their front feet while hopping.
• Galloper pattern.
Animals that gallop while moving, such as rabbits and hares leave prints that look like the letter “U.”



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How to track wild animals?

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