Whether you have snow or mud right now, it is a great time to identify tracks as creatures begin to become more active and get ready for spring! Throughout this winter, our Education staff have been teaching visiting students about the habits of our wild neighbors including some basics about identifying tracks!

Environmental Education and Outdoor Recreation Instructor Cecilia Field here shares a lesson with some artwork and examples of tracks commonly found around the NorthWoods campus.

When trying to identify a track, get yourself a good tracking guidebook (we recommend “Mammal Tracks and Scat Life-Size Tracking Guide” by Lynn Levine and Matha Mitchell) and remember the three ‘P’s’ of tracking:

Print – refers to the basic parts of a track (i.e. shape, size, number of toes, claws, hooves.)

Pattern – refers to the gait (or movement) the mammal tracks are representing. There are four types of patterns to look out for: walking, waddling, bounding, and hopping.

  • Walkers have long legs, similar sized front and back feet, and place their back foot directly where their front foot was, making a straight-lined track pattern. Examples: coyote, deer, wolves, foxes.
  • Waddlers have short, stubby legs, big, round bodies, smaller front feet than back ones, and move one side of their body at a time, creating a waddle effect. Track patterns will often signify a slight waddle in the step, with a bit of a rounded edge to them, sometimes referred to as “zig zaggers.” Examples: raccoons, bears, skunks, porcupines, beavers.
  • Bounders have long, narrow bodies, short legs, similar sized front and back feet, and move in a “slinky” motion: jumping to place their back feet where their front feet once were. Examples: weasels (otters, fisher, ermine).
  • Hoppers have large, hind feet in comparison to small front feet. Their tracking pattern will have their hind feet in front of their smaller front feet because they bring their hind feet in front of their front feet while hopping. Examples: rabbits, mice, squirrels.

Place– refers to the type of habitat the track is in. Look around: where are you? Now, find the track’s toe/claw location to figure out where it was traveling from. For example, if you see hopping tracks with little digits in a forest setting starting from a tree, we might assume that animal is a squirrel!

(Fun Question): Do you know one way to help distinguish between felines and canines from examining their tracks? It’s simple: felines claws retract when walking, so it is unlikely there will be any claw marks in the print.