A GORP Content Partner Adapted from Seasonal Guide to the Natural Year: New England & New York by Scott Weidensaul

For much of the year, a naturalist needs a sharp eye to see the signs of an animal's passage — the scuffed leaves on the forest floor where a deer ran, scattered droppings, the nipped twigs where a hare fed. But when winter comes and the snow falls, the outdoor world becomes a clean page, recording in precise detail the dramas enacted on its surface.

Naturalist, P.I.
At its most basic, tracking is simply finding and identifying tracks. This in itself can be a challenge, especially if you are a beginner trying to discriminate between the similar tracks of gray and red foxes, for example. But the track itself is only the beginning — a skilled tracker is a sleuth, reading not only the print in the snow but its context with the surroundings, the other tracks in the trail, his or her knowledge of the animal's habits, even the nearby trails of other species. Taken together, an experienced naturalist can guess a great deal about what the animal was doing, even what it was thinking, all from the tracks.

Signs of the Times
Actually, old-timers spoke most often about reading"sign," the catchall phrase for not just tracks, but any physical indication of a creature's passing, including droppings, feeding remains, beds, dens, scratchings, and the like. Learning to see them is only the first step (and not always easy, since some of the most revealing signs are also the most subtle). Next comes a sense of imagination: putting yourself in the animal's place to figure out why it was doing what it was doing.

Red fox in pursuit of dinner

Use Your Imagination
Little things mean a lot when you're trying to unravel an animal's trail. Does the fox trail show a long line of evenly spaced tracks arrowing through the woods for hundreds of yards? Could be the fox was heading back to a safe haven before daylight. Or does the trail go in fits and starts, long loping strides shortening to tentative steps, eventually marred by drag marks from the tail and the sweep of fur? Most likely the fox was stalking something, sinking low to the ground as it moved more and more slowly. Look ahead for the marks of a sudden rush — and the tracks of a grouse, perhaps, budding in an aspen blowdown, unaware of danger creeping closer.

The Snow Knows
The best tracking snow is soft and wet, not too fluffy and not too deep (otherwise you get a collapsed hole with no detail). If you have a choice, wait a night or two after the snowfall before heading for the woods, to give the creatures time to move around. By carefully examining the track, you should be able to tell if it was made recently or is a day or two old, with blurred edges or a drift of blowing snow inside the print.

Helpful Hints
Should you lose the trail on open ground or crusted snow, mark the last track with a hat and circle, in the hope of striking the trail once more. Here, too, intelligent guesses about the animal's habits and intentions pay off. And remember, a good tracker never steps on the trail being followed — you may need to backtrack to reexamine a section.

Novice trackers would do well to read two excellent books on the subject: Olaus J. Murie's classic A Field Guide to Animal Tracks, part of the Peterson field guide series from Houghton Mifflin, and Tracking & the Art of Seeing by Paul Rezendes. Both books cover the spectrum of sign, from tracks to scat to dens.

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Seasonal Guide to the Natural Year: New England & New York is available from the Adventurous Traveler Bookstore. Click here to order!