By David Pauli

To me, there is nothing more exciting than a walk around my house after a fresh snowfall. Nature's canvas is automatically renewed with each snowfall, and there is new opportunity to find evidence of the activities of the deer, rabbits, and mice who have recently visited. It's also a perfect time to practice my basic skills as a wildlife tracker.

When most people think of wildlife tracking, they mentally picture someone finding a fresh set of tracks and following them to "catch up" with the animal. But actually there is seldom a need to pursue the tracks in such a manner. Far more wildlife trackers simply enjoy gathering as much information as possible from the "evidence" that animals leave behind. Today's professional wildlife tracker or hobbyist is most often concerned with gathering key pieces of evidence to document the presence or behaviors of an animal in a given area.

Wildlife tracking includes collecting both direct evidence, such as paw prints and scats (animal droppings), and indirect evidence, such as tooth marks, hair, and trails. The more dependable and varied the evidence, the more certain you can determine what species of animal made the tracks. Often, it's also possible to ascertain what the animal was doing at the time the track imprints were left. For example, the signs may indicate whether the animal was walking, trotting, running, or foraging.

There are many excellent field guides and resources available to help you recognize the basic imprints or scats that common animals in your area might leave, but it is only through practice and repetition that you will be able to easily unravel the wildlife interactions that are played out each day on your property. For example, last winter I noticed a new set of footprints leading up to my bird feeder. They were much larger than those of the white-footed deer mice who routinely visit the feeder so, at first, I thought an errant tree squirrel might have found the feeder. But we live in a sagebrush prairie area with no tree squirrels, and the track size and stride (a measurement of one complete set of tracks) were too small for tree squirrels.

Could it be a non-hibernating chipmunk, some type of ground squirrel, or perhaps a Norway rat? With the help of my field guides, and after some careful examination of all the evidence, I was able to identify my primary suspect: a bushy-tailed wood rat. Two days later, my hypothesis was confirmed when the "pack rat" was spotted sitting up on my woodpile eating some of the spoils of his nighttime raids on the bird feeder.

Another great way to start a tracking hobby is to create a collection of plaster tracking casts. The guidelines for making such casts are offered in nearly every tracking field guide, but basically it involves mixing a batter of water and plaster of paris and applying it into a set of tracks. Depending on temperature and moisture conditions, this mixture will become firm in a few minutes. When complete, you have an excellent study piece to use as you hone your tracking skills. For beginning trackers, local mud flats or river sandbars make excellent sites to practice making plaster casts. The casting of tracks in snow is a little more difficult, but with practice, you can make some excellent casts.

Yet another approach is to keep a running inventory of tracks observed in your backyard. Many years ago, while living in a suburban midwestern town, I was amazed to find that my winter vacation track inventory quickly grew to more than 30 species. It included several species that I never knew existed in the area, or at least not in my backyard, such as a long-tailed weasel, a ring-necked pheasant, a northern flying squirrel, and lots of voles. If you start keeping a journal of tracks you find, the number of animals visiting your own backyard might surprise you.

Once you begin to notice the signs and evidence left by the wild neighbors in your backyard, you will want to apply your knowledge and hone your skills on larger public properties. A few tracking etiquette rules are useful to keep in mind. Wildlife trackers should aim to tread lightly and to leave the site in better shape than it was found. This is especially true if you begin making plaster casts; be careful to pick up all the scraps and evidence of your hobby, so that anyone hiking the area later will find the site as clean and natural as you did.

Finally, if you should be so fortunate as to find a set of tracks that leads directly to a den or resting site, please back down the trail to study the tracks so you won't disturb the animal who left them. Wildlife tracking is a relaxing, yet engaging, way to spend time outside and learn more about wildlife in your area. We hope you'll give it a try—and take along a friend or a child to share the experience!

David Pauli is director of The HSUS Northern Rockies Regional Office.