Little River Guides: Tracks & Scat

Animal Signs

Wild animals leave clues where ever they go. A series of paw prints in the dirt are an alluring sign of an animal that was recently in that same place. Scat tells not only what animal happened along that trail, but also what the animal was eating and possibly where it had been. A stick with chew marks or antler rubbings show an animal has been in the area even if the ground does not reveal tracks.

Getting Started

Tracking animals is both a science and an art. Measuring, cataloging and identifying a set of tracks can be challenging. Following those tracks back to a den or the animal that made them can be exciting.

Look in areas where animals are likely to have been: deer grazing in a field, raccoons fishing along a river bank. Look for the signs they may have left. Check the ground after a good rain or fresh snowfall. The clearest tracks are often left in wet dirt. Bring a camera, ruler, notebook and an ID guide. Practice measuring, recording and identifying what you find. Being able to recognize a good track will help when you find ones that are not as clear.

Advanced Tracking

Once you are familiar with locating and identifying animal tracks, you can begin to look more deeply into the story that they are telling. Is the animal foraging for food? Is it running or walking? How heavy is it? Is it young or old?

The size and shape of a track will often help identify the type of animal but if you are lucky enough to find a series of tracks, you may be able to get a complete picture of that animal. The pattern (gait) those tracks make can tell you if the animal was looking for food, walking or running. The distance between tracks (stride) and the width (straddle) of the set of tracks can tell you how big it is. How deep the track is may give you a clue as to how much the animal weighs.

Animals are often classified as to how they move: walkers move smoothly on their toes and leave only one set of prints since they place their back foot directly where their front foot has been. Waddlers move both feet on one side of their body, one at a time, and then shift their weight to move each foot on the other side. Hoppers and bounders spring from their rear legs sometimes leaving no tracks with their front feet.

Scat and Other Signs

There are many other clues besides footprints that animals leave behind:  animal droppings (scat), vegetation markings and nests are but a few.

Herbivores such as rabbits and deer leave pellets that are uniform in size and texture. The size of the pellets helps determine different species and size of the animal.

Larger scat that contains hair, bones, and/or seeds is left by carnivores and omnivores. Coyotes, foxes and weasels leave scat that has tapered ends. Skunks and bobcats have scat with blunt ends.

Claw markings or horn rubbings on tree trunks, scrapes in the soil and leaf litter and broken stems are other signs that indicate an animal was in the area.

Some animals that live in or near water may leave few signs behind. Beavers and muskrats will leave chewed sticks while the only evidence of an otter may be the slides they leave along stream banks.