In the practice of tracking, in most cases, the determination of whether a trace belongs to one or another animal is made at first sight, by impression. If necessary, then further more or less detailed study is carried out. The ability to identify a footprint is quickly acquired, of course, with experience, but it can be accelerated if you divide the footprints of animals into groups according to their common features, the most noticeable, conspicuous.

Signs may relate to a burrow, a trail, paw prints, their size, shape - it doesn’t matter if they are noticeable and characteristic. The same type of traces may include traces of animals belonging to different systematic groups that are not closely related by phylogenetic relationship, but have similar footprints. Therefore, we call this classification of traces practical, designed to facilitate the practice of tracking. In all other cases, when considering animals, we adhere to the vertebrate animal system adopted in the main manuals in the Soviet Union (Sokolov, 1973, 1977, 1979; Kartashov, 1974; Bannikov et al., 1971).

The usefulness of the practical classification of traces and the timeliness of its introduction are evident from the fact that some zoologists use the expressions “types of traces”, “traces different types"(Dulcate, 1974), without, however, giving them the meaning of classification units.

For tracks, the signs of which are not given here, the tracker himself can draw up a description, make drawings and, through observations, determine which animal they belong to.

Hedgehog type of tracks. This type of paw print is distinguished by its rather long, spread-out toes. The trail is wide and the steps are short. This type of trace is characteristic of small ones; animals - hedgehogs, water rats, hamsters, mole voles (Fig. 1, a - h).

Rice. 1. Hedgehog (a - h) and mole (i, j) types of tracks (cm)

a - trail track common hedgehog; b - paw prints of an ordinary hedgehog (2.8X2.8);
c - trail track long-eared hedgehog(2.0X1.8); d - f - prints of front and hind paws
water rat (1.7X2.4 - 1.9X2.4); g - mole mole track on the sand
(1.4X1.4 - 1.6X1.5); h - trail of a gray hamster; and - the trace path of the European
mole on loose snow; k - Mogera mole trail on dense snow

Mole type of tracks. It is very difficult to see the footprints of moles on the surface of the soil or on the snow cover: moles rarely leave their holes, and if this happens, the substrate is not always soft enough for the tracks to be imprinted. In winter, you can still find mole tracks in the snow. The track of these animals in the snow is a groove in which the prints of their hind paws are visible, located at a close distance from each other. The front, digging paws leave only weak imprints: they take little part in moving along the surface. The length of the step barely exceeds the width of the trail (Fig. 1, i, j).

Type of tracks of shrews and mice. These are the traces of the most small mammals. The larger hind paws of shrews, mice and voles leave paired prints, behind which, at a slight distance, are smaller prints of the front paws. On loose snow, their tail leaves a more or less long groove. In addition to galloping, animals can trot, and paw prints on the trail are not located in pairs, but sequentially (Fig. 2, 3).

Rice. 2. Type of small mammal tracks

Tracks: a - c - shrews of the small shrew; b - on short jumps,
c - on long ones; d, e - shrubs with the first powder; e - a large specimen of the bank vole;
f - half-adult wood mouse

Rice. 3. Type of traces of mouse-like rodents and shrews

Paw prints and tracks: a, b - field mouse;
c - a small specimen of a gray vole on loose snow; g - larger specimen
gray vole (its trail is similar to the two-beaded pattern of a small weasel);
d, c - shrews of the common shrew on fine snow; f - piebald
shrew shrews - on the sand

Dog type of tracks. This type includes traces of fast running animals. The front paws are five-toed, but the first toe is located high and does not leave a mark. The hind legs are four-toed.

Claws, finger crumbs (one per finger), metacarpal and metatarsal crumbs are imprinted on the ground. The tracks are varied, but one of them is very characteristic: the paw prints are covered and located in one line. The canine type of tracks is left by animals from the canine family, and also, apparently, by the cheetah (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Dog type of tracks

Paw prints and tracks (cm): a, b - dogs; c, d - wolf (9.6X7.5);
d, f, g, i - foxes (6.2x5.0); h - the right front paw of the karaganka -
small steppe fox(5.6X4.6); k, l - foxes on loose snow (6.6X5.3);
m - gallop of a fox in deep snow; n - hind leg of the desert Turkmen
foxes on wet sand (6.5X3.5); o - small Turkmen corsac on the sand (4.5X2.7);
p, p- raccoon dog (4.4X3.6)

Bear type of tracks. Traces of this type are left by very large or medium-sized animals, plantigrade, with bare soles and long claws (rarely the soles of the feet are covered with hair). Hind paw print area more area front traces. The tracks are most often covered. This type includes traces of all types of bears, badgers, honey badgers, porcupines, etc. (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. Bear type tracks (cm)

a, b - prints of the front and rear right paws of a brown bear (15.0X15.0 - 27.0X14.0);
c - g - trail of a brown bear; h, i - front and hind paws of the Himalayan bear;
j - slightly overlapped badger tracks on muddy ground; l - imprint of the front paw of a badger (6.0X6.0); m - imprint of a badger's hind paw (8.0X4.3); j, o - prints of the front and hind paws of a porcupine (8.5X6.0 - 8.5X4.8)

Kuni type of tracks. This type includes traces of representatives of the mustelid family, which have an elongated body and short legs. The main gait is a gallop, which corresponds to a two-bead pattern characteristic of mustelids, alternating with a three- and four-bead pattern. The track is most often found in the snow in winter, and rarely in summer (on the ground) (Fig. 6 - 10, 11, a).

Rice. 6. Kuni type of tracks (cm)

a, b - prints of the weasel's front and hind paws (1.5X1.0 - 1.5X1.2);
c - prints of the front and rear right paws of an ermine (2.5 X 1.7-2.5 X 2.0);
d - prints of the hind paws of an ermine on soft snow; d, f - weasel tracks;
g, h - prints of the right front and hind paws of a pine marten (4.3X3.6-4.3X3.7);
j, l - prints of the left front and hind paws stone marten(3.7X3.3-4.4X3.5);
and - prints of four paws of a pine marten on deep loose snow;
m, n, o - pine marten trail at different gaits

Rice. 7. A badger’s footprint in the still deep spring snow
Primorsky Krai (orig.)

Rice. 8. Mustel-type tracks and mustelid paws (cm)

a, b - the front paw of a pine marten and its imprint on wet compacted snow (4.3X3.6);
c, d - the front paw of a stone marten and its imprint on wet compacted snow (3.7X3.3);
e - imprint of the front paw of the harza (4-7X5-8); f, g - traces of the harza, overtaking the musk deer by jumping on the snow, compacted by the wind; h - stone marten trail;
and - Kharza trail; k - four-bead and three-bead sable; l - hind leg of a sable;
m - two-bead sable; n - sable trail in deep loose snow - four paw prints merge into one large depression

Rice. 9. Mustel type of tracks and paws of animals from the mustelidae family (cm)

a, b - front and rear right paws of the column; c - front left paw of an American mink;
d - paw prints of a large forest polecat on the mud (3.1X3.4-4.4X3.0); d - paw prints of a forest polecat; e-trace column (2.5X2.5-2.6X2.4); g - track column on muddy wet soil; h - track column in deep snow; and - paw print of a European mink (3.2X2.7); k - two-beaded mink on loose snow; l, m - imprint of the front and rear left paws of a forest polecat (3.2X2.8-3.0X2.4); n - trail track (four-bead) of a forest polecat in the snow

Rice. 10. The trail of the kharzas, who were taken away and hidden
pieces of meat from a young sika deer they killed

Rice. 11. Kuniya and otter track types

a - trace track of a small dressing on jumps (2.4X2.0-2.7X2.0 cm);
b- otter paw prints on river ice dusted with snow;
c - otter trail on wet sand

Wolverine type of tracks. A wolverine's footprint consists of prints of front and hind paws with large claws. Sometimes the first finger is not imprinted. The length of the paw mark is 15 cm, the width is 11.5 cm. The track is straight, “purposeful” (Fig. 12, a).

Rice. 12. Wolverine (a), raccoon (b), squirrel (d), horse (c), types of tracks
a - prints of the front (left) and hind paws of a wolverine (up to 15.0X11.5 cm);
b - prints of the front (left) (6.0x6.0 cm) and rear (9.0x5.0 cm) paws of the striped raccoon;
c - kulan trace on fine-crushed desert soil (11.0X8.5 cm);
d - traces of two hind and one front paws of a thin-toed ground squirrel

Otter type of tracks. The otter's hind legs are five-toed, with the toes connected by membranes. The metatarsal crumb is long, but is completely imprinted only when walking slowly. The front paw prints are most often four-toed. When walking, the trail looks like a wavy line; when galloping, it looks like a four-legged pattern, consisting of four paw prints located along one line obliquely relative to the direction of movement of the animal. In loose, more or less deep snow, the otter's body leaves a furrow. The tail often draws a stripe on the snow and even on the ground. For now, we only classify as this type of tracks the tracks of one animal - the otter (see Fig. 11, b, c).

Raccoon type of tracks. Raccoon paws and their prints on the ground are distinguished by deeply divided toes. These are the limbs of a plantigrade animal with well-developed claws. The tracks are similar to those of a muskrat, but larger. The raccoon's front paws are five-toed (the muskrat's front paw print is usually four-toed, since the first toe does not reach the ground); on the raccoon's trail there is no strip from the tail, which is characteristic of the muskrat's trail (see Fig. 12, b).

Cat type of tracks. Such traces are left beasts of prey the cat family, specialized in the “fast” form of running (canines - in the “endurance”). When chasing prey at a gallop, the tracks of their four legs come together. There are no claw marks, since they are known to be retractable (Fig. 13 - 16).

Rice. 13. Cat type of tracks

Paw prints (cm) and tracks: a, b - domestic cat on the mud of a salt marsh (3.4X3.2);
c - d - Caucasian forest cat (4.5X3.7): c - rear, d - front (3.9X4.6);
d - front leopard (12X12); e - leopard trail; g - left front European wild cat; e - wild cat in the snow; and - jungle cat, or Hausa,
on sludge (5.0X6.0); k - trailing house track at slow speed; l- snow leopard trail
while walking and jumping; m - lynxes on a snowdrift in spring (the hair on the soles is almost
completely faded - 7.0X6.0); and - snow leopard (7.8X7.5)

Rice. 14. Leopard tracks in deep snow

Rice. 15. Cat type of tracks

Paw prints (cm) and tracks: a - front and hind paws of a tiger (16.0X14.0);
b - outlines of the digital and metacarpal crumbs of a male (left) and female tiger of the same age
- 7 years (shown on the same scale); c - diagram of the digital metacarpal and metatarsal
leopard crumbs; g-d - tiger trail: g - on fine snow,
d - on deeper snow cover (the hind paws are placed in the prints of the front paws
- covered trail); e - trail track when moving at a trot (stride and
dragging); w - jumping of the attacking tiger

Rice. 16. Tiger tracks on the powdery ice of the river
The legs slid and therefore the tiger spread his fingers and sometimes extended his claws

Horse type of tracks. This type of footprint is easily recognized by the imprint of one toe (hoof) on one foot. This includes footprints of a horse, donkey, kulan and other representatives of the horse family (see Fig. 12, c).

Deer type of tracks. On the trail there are hoof prints of the third and fourth toes. On soft ground, as well as after fast running, marks of the second and fifth toes often remain. The deer type of tracks includes those of artiodactyl mammals (Fig. 17, b-k; 18, 20).

Rice. 17. Camel and deer types of tracks

Traces (cm) a, e - camel; b - red deer 8.7X6.0); c, g - European red deer (9.7X5.6);
d - 6 year old male red deer running (9.3X7.0); d - sika deer (7.2X5.2);
Tracks: h - red deer calf; and - female red deer;
k - four rosary of a red deer

Rice. 18. Deer type of tracks

Hoof prints (cm) tracks: a - male fallow deer at a gallop (without stepsons - 8.0X4.6);
b - female fallow deer (5.4X4.0); c - male roe deer (4.8X2.7); d - roe deer galloping on soft ground;
d, f, g - male (10-15Х8-14) female and calf elk; n, o, p - their trace paths;
h - trail of a male fallow deer; and - the trail of a deer at a gallop;
k - trail of a female fallow deer; l - trail of a female roe deer;
m - four-bead roe deer at a gallop

Rice. 20. Ungulate tracks

Hoof prints (cm): a, h - reindeer (length with stepsons 15);
b - musk deer fingers in the normal and extended position; and - musk deer hooves in the snow;
c - goats (6.6X4.3); g - sheep (6.0X3.7); d - the front leg of the chamois (7.2X4.3);
e - hind leg of chamois (7.0X3.5); g - goral (front hooves - 4.0X6.0, rear - 3.0X3.5);
m, n - chamois at a gallop; k - female saiga (6.0X X4.3); l - male saiga (6.6X X5.4);
o, t - goitered gazelle (5.4X3.1); p - wild boar (length with stepsons - 12.5); r - wild pig (8 years);
c - young wild pig

Camel type of tracks. The camel's foot print consists of a wide, rounded sole, on cutting edge which contains two nails (see Fig. 19 a, e).

Hare type of tracks. The trail is shaped like the letter T: the prints of a pair of hind paws are located on a line perpendicular to the direction of movement of the animal, and the prints of the front paws are behind them along the axis of the trail. This type of tracks is typical for hares and pikas, for representatives of the gerbil subfamily of the hamster family (Fig. 51, a - f).

Rice. 21. Hare (a - f) and squirrel (f - n) types of tracks
Prints (cm): a - brown hare on the sand (back - 17.0X6.0, front - 6.0X3.8);
b - white hare in deep snow (rear - 18.0X10.0: front (8.5X4.5);
c - tolai hare on road dust; g - Manchurian hare in the snow;
d, f - Daurian pika (3.0X1.3-2.1X1.7); g, h - midday gerbil (1.1X1.0-1.4X1.4);
and - proteins (2.7X2.6-5.6X X3.1); k, l - flying squirrels (1.7X X 1.3-2.0X1.4);
m - large gerbil (2.0X1.2-3.5X2.8); n - hind leg of the Amur long-tailed
gopher (3.5X3.3) (Orig.: a, c - Karakum, b - Yaroslavl region; g - Primorsky Krai;
d - n - according to Formozov, 1952)

Squirrel type of tracks. In rodents of the family of squirrels and gerbils, the quadruplet has a trapezoidal shape: the prints of the front paws, like the prints of the hind paws, are located along a line perpendicular to the direction of movement of the animal (Fig. 21, g - n; see Fig. 43, d).

Muskrat type of tracks. Such traces are left by semi-aquatic animals. The toes of the hind paws are connected by an incomplete swimming membrane (muskrat) or edged with hard hairs (kutora) The footprints are long The track is wide, the steps are relatively short On soft ground, a trace from the tail may remain The muskrat type includes the tracks of the muskrat, nutria, kutora, and muskrat (Fig. 22)

Rice. 22. Muskrat type of tracks

a - muskrat trail (3.4X3.6-8.4X4.3 cm)
Prints (cm): b - front paws of a muskrat, c - hind paws of a muskrat, d - front and hind paws of a beaver, d - rear right paw of a muskrat (5.6 X 1.8), f - front right paw of a muskrat
(2.6 X 10), w - front paw of nutria, h - hind paw of nutria
(a - according to Formozov, 1952, d, g, h - according to Kalbe, 1983, d, e-orig, Yaroslavl region)

Every self-respecting hunter should be able to determine by the trail which animal it belongs to, whether it is fresh and in which direction the animal was heading.
This is quite easy to do in the snow.

A fresh footprint in frosty weather is practically no different to the touch from lying snow, this indicates that the animal passed recently, within about an hour.
If, on the contrary, the track has managed to become covered with a frosty crust, then the track is stale and there is no need to look for the animal. special meaning- it has already gone far.
Traces of large animals in the snow harden much faster than small ones.

To determine the direction of movement of the animal, you need to carefully study the track itself, which side of the wall is steeper, and in that direction the animal was heading.
This is due to the fact that the animals take their paw vertically upward, and lower it by dragging it a little,
therefore, the back of the track is always flatter, and the front is steep.

Bear

A bear's footprint is a bit like a human's, only with large claws.

Similar to a dog's, but more strict, due to the fact that wolves do not spread their fingers like dogs.
And the wolf's track looks like a straight line, while the dogs' track wobbles.

Hares love to tangle their tracks, leaving all sorts of loops. Therefore, it is often quite difficult to determine its location - experience is needed

Moose do not like deep snow, preferring a depth of up to 60 cm. Their tracks are larger than even those of cattle.

Similar to a dog's, but smaller and elongated in a line.

Animal tracks in the snow - pictures for children:

10/27/2009 | Pathfinder: Reading animal tracks

Animal tracks, i.e. the imprints they leave on snow or mud, as well as on grass, especially during dew, have great importance for hunting: using the tracks of animals, they are found (tracked) and laid down, their number, gender, age are recognized, as well as whether the animal is wounded and even how badly it is wounded.

Wild animals lead a secretive lifestyle. Thanks to their well-developed sense of smell, hearing and vision, animals and birds notice a person before he notices them, and if they do not immediately run away or fly away, they hide, and their behavior becomes atypical. Traces of their vital activity help the observer to unravel the secrets of the animals’ lives. This means not only the imprints of the limbs, but also all the changes that animals make to surrounding nature.

In order to correctly use the discovered tracks, you need to know who they belong to, how long ago they were left by the animal, where the animal was going, as well as its methods of movement. How to learn to recognize animal tracks? To determine the freshness of a trace, it is necessary to tie together the biology of the animal, the weather conditions in this moment and a few hours ago and other information. For example, in the morning a moose track was discovered, not covered with snow that had fallen the day before from the afternoon until the evening. The freshness of the trail is beyond doubt - it is nocturnal.

The freshness of a trace can also be determined by touch. In freezing conditions in dry snow, a fresh footprint does not differ in looseness from the surface of the surrounding snow. After some time, the walls of the trace harden, and the lower the temperature, the more strongly - the trace “hardens”. Any other trace left big beast, becomes harder over time, and the more time passes from the moment the mark is formed, the harder it becomes. Traces of small animals left on the surface of deep snow do not harden. It is important to find out whether the animal has been here since the evening or passed an hour ago. If the trail is old, more than a day, then it is useless to look for the animal that left it, it is already far away, out of reach. If the trail left is fresh, then the animal may be somewhere nearby. To determine the direction of movement of an animal, you need to know the peculiarities of the placement of the limbs of different animals. Taking a closer look at a single track of a large animal left in loose deep snow, you can notice the difference between the walls of the track along the path of the animal.

On one side they are flatter, on the other they are steeper. These differences arise because the animals lower their limbs (legs, paws) gently, and take them out of the snow almost vertically upward. These differences are called: dragging - the rear wall and dragging - the front wall of the trace. The trail is always longer than the drag, which means that the animal moved in the direction where the short, that is, steeper walls of the track are directed. When the animal removes its leg, it presses on the front wall, compacting it, while the back wall does not deform. Sometimes, in order to accurately determine the direction of movement of the animal, it is necessary to hurry it up, observing the handwriting of the trail.

The gait of an animal, or the gait of its movement, comes down to two types: slow or moderate fast movement(walk, trot, amble) and fast running with successive jumps (gallop, quarry).

Animals with an elongated body and short limbs most often move at a moderate gallop. They are simultaneously pushed off by the hind limbs and fall exactly into the prints of the forelimbs. The legacy with such a gait is paired prints of only the hind limbs (most mustelids).

Sometimes, during a slow gallop, one or both hind legs of the animal does not reach the prints of the front ones, and then groups of tracks of three and four prints, called three- and four-legged, appear. Less often, long-bodied and short-legged animals move to the quarry, and then when jumping they put their hind paws in front of their front paws, and therefore the prints of their hind paws are in front of their front paws (hares, squirrels).

To determine the freshness of a trace, you need to divide the trace with a thin twig. If the trail is easily divided, then it is fresh; if it is not divided, it is old, more than a day old.

Boar tracks on the ground

Boar tracks in the snow

Wolf footprint on the ground

Wolf footprint in the snow

Lynx tracks

Fox tracks

Bear tracks

Deer tracks

When moving at a walk or trot, animals rearrange their limbs in a cross shape: the front right and rear left paws are brought forward, then the other pair. When walking slowly, the animal's forelimb touches the ground slightly earlier than the hind limb, and when trotting, the front and hind limbs of the opposite sides fall to the ground at the same time.

With a slow step, the prints of the hind paw remain somewhat behind and to the side of the print of the front paw. During the middle step, the animal places its hind leg in the imprint of its front leg. In a large trot, the print of the hind leg may be located slightly in front of the front line. Consequently, from the pattern of the prints one can judge whether the animal moved slowly or quickly. Ambling is a movement in which an animal simultaneously moves both right or both left limbs (sometimes horses, bears).

Clear footprints are only found on dense wet snow, silt and soft clay. On loose soil or loose snow, animal tracks form a series of shapeless holes without claws or fingers.

An animal's track looks different not only due to the animals' gaits, but also due to the condition of the soil on which the animals move. The footprint also changes depending on the hardness or softness of the soil. Ungulates, when moving calmly on hard soil, leave imprints of two hooves. These same animals, when running and jumping on soft ground, leave prints of four hooves. Having five toes on their front paws, the otter and beaver leave a four-toed trail on soft ground. The tracks also change as the animals age. In older animals, the tracks are larger and of a different shape. Piglets rest on two fingers, and their parents on four.

Adult dogs rest on four toes, while puppies use five. The footprints of males and females are also different, but only experienced trackers can discern the differences. As the seasons change, the tracks of animals change, as the paws of some of them become overgrown with rough long hair, which makes it easier to move on loose snow (marten, lynx, white hare, fox, etc.).

Badger trail	Coot trail
Snipe trail	Moose trail
Squirrel trail	Bear trail
Beaver trail	Mink footprint
Lapwing trail	Deer trail
Raccoon trail	Muskrat trail
Raccoon dog footprint	Quail trail
Wood grouse trail	Lynx trail
Ermine trail	Wolverine trail
Hori trail	Hazel grouse trail
Wapiti trail	Sable trail
Boar trail	Groundhog trail
Musk deer trail	Black grouse trail
Corsac track	Duck trail
Roe deer trail	Woodcock trail
Sandpiper track	Otter trail
Marten track	Wolf trail

What can a footprint in the snow tell? An experienced tracker can not only find out which animal left a particular trace. From the trail you can calculate the sex of the animal, its age, and sometimes physical state.

We won't pretend to learn to follow the trail of giving full description animal. Let's just learn to guess the animals by their tracks.

Whose tracks are these?

Hedgehog and mole type of tracks

a, b - ordinary hedgehog, c - long-eared hedgehog, d, e, f - water rat, f - mole vole, h - gray hamster, and, k - mole.

Type of tracks of shrews and mice

a, b, c - small shrew, d, e - shrew, f - bank vole, g - wood mouse.

a, b - harvest mouse, c, d - gray vole, e, f - common shrew, g - piebald shrew.

Dog type tracks

a, b - dog, c, d - wolf, d, f, g, i - fox, h - karagan fox, k, l, m, n - fox, o - Turkmen corsac dog, p, p - raccoon dog.

Bear track type

a-zh - Brown bear, z, i - himalayan bear, k, l, m - badger, o - porcupine.

Kuni type of tracks

a, b, d, f - weasel, c, d - ermine, g-o - different types marten

a-g, h - marten, d, f, g, i - kharza, k, l, m, n - sable.

a, b, f, g, h - polecats, c, i, j - different types of minks, d, e, l, m, n - forest polecat.

a - dressing, b, c - otter.

Wolverine type of tracks

a - wolverine, b - striped raccoon, c - kulan, d - thin-toed ground squirrel.

Cat type of tracks

a, b - domestic cat, c, d - Caucasian forest cat, d, e - leopard, g, h - European wild cat, i, k - reed cat (house), l, n - snow leopard, m - lynx.

Deer track type

a, e - camel, b - wapiti, c, d, g, h, i, j - different tracks of a red deer, d - red deer.

a, b, h, i, k - fallow deer, c, d, l, m - roe deer, d, f, g, n, o, p - elk.

a, h - reindeer, b, i - musk deer, c - goat, g - sheep, d, e, m, n - chamois, g - goral, k, l - saiga, o, t - gazelle, p - wild boar, r, s - wild pig.

Hare type of tracks

a - brown hare, b - white hare, c - tolai hare, d - Manchurian hare, e, f - Daurian pika, g, h - midday gerbil, i - squirrel, k, l - flying squirrel, m - great gerbil, n - Amur long-tailed ground squirrel.

Muskrat type of tracks

a, e, f - muskrat, b, c - muskrat, d - beaver, g, h - nutria.

Of course, most of these tracks will not be found in the forests near large cities. Only avid hunters know these tracks and their owners. But you can’t have too much knowledge, right?

Photo: http://zoomet.ru, uralhunter.com

Tips on how to become a hunter tracker

In Nature, an infinite number of different traces are scattered everywhere - from very small, barely noticeable gnaws and passages of larvae in seeds, leaves, thin bark of branches, to enormous destruction caused by earthquakes, mountain falls, hurricanes, snow avalanches. In the narrow hunting sense, footprints usually include birds, the paths they have made through snow, loose earth, damp silt, in soft forest litter or on a carpet of mosses and lichens. Clear, clear tracks, by which one can determine not only the species, but also the age and sex of the animal, often make it possible to trace the entire path of the animal from one resting place to another, or, as hunters sometimes say - rip out, go out his daily journey. However, all this information will be open and useful to you only if you know how to read the tracks of animals and birds. And, in our publication today, which will be useful to young hunters, we will tell you how to become a pathfinder who can read the book of Nature...

Why be able to read traces?

By skilfully using the tracks and having walked a fairly long route through fresh powder, you can easily establish where, how many and what kind of game animals and birds are found in the area you have examined, which lands are now more densely populated by them, and which less frequently. In short, along the fresh snow, along the white trail, a lot of things that are not noticeable in the fall along the black trail become completely obvious already at the beginning of winter. First of all, this applies to hidden nocturnal animals, which cannot be found during the day; it is almost impossible to raise them from their beds and see them (especially if you do not have a specially trained one).

Such reconnaissance in the first days of the hunt ensures the correct balance of forces and the appropriate use of available time. But also animals that are active during the day, for example, hazel grouse, pheasants, white and white, leaving their piles in the snow, show us where they feed and take shelter at night. However, even when hunting along the black trail, one cannot neglect the traces of this game. In the fall, for example, during the days of hunting hazel grouse with a squeak, it is useful to note places where you come across fresh droppings on the roads and trails. The fact is that hazel grouse willingly run out onto the roads to collect grains of sand and gravel and pinch fresh grass. Where you find their droppings, you should definitely attract them, hiding behind the trees in advance. The hazel grouse is a sedentary bird, its autumn residential area is no more than 200-300 meters in diameter, which means that the pika will be heard in almost all corners of this area. But, this technique is useful only where hazel grouse are distributed unevenly, in spots, but where there are a lot of them, you can attract everywhere.

How to learn to read footprints

The ability to recognize tracks and firmly know their species differences is the ABC of a hunter-tracker. Anyone who does not master this technique will not be able to read tracks, and therefore will not be able to cope with tracking and searching, or, more simply, will completely lose the opportunity to hunt some types of animals.

The soft lamellar surface of the snow perfectly imprints traces of both large and small animals. Particularly accurate prints are formed during a thaw on freshly fallen snow, 3-5 centimeters thick. These are the so-called printing powders; they often fall out in the pre-winter period, and then in the spring, on top of a dense crust. From such traces, at least write a picture, at least take photographs. It’s from them that it’s worth starting to study the alphabet of traces. It’s good, of course, to have an experienced instructor, but even without him, provided you are persistent and patient, you can achieve good results.

It will be useful to get acquainted in advance with the traces of domestic animals - cows, pigs, goats, dogs, cats, goose, chicken, pigeons and others. The tracks of a wolf, for example, are quite similar, at first glance, to the tracks of a large shepherd dog, the tracks of a cow resemble those of a large boar, etc.

It is from comparisons and comparisons that many details of traces become clear that would otherwise go unnoticed by you.

To determine the type of animal by foot prints, it is also important to take into account the size and shape of the tracks of the hind and front legs - they can be the same or, on the contrary, very different, like in hares and squirrels, the number of toes on them, the size and shape of callous thickenings, the presence or the absence of claw marks, their length, the size and shape of the hooves, the ability of the toes to move more or less when moving from dense soil to loose or muddy soil. And finally, perhaps most importantly, celebrate mutual arrangement foot prints and step or jump length.

Animal tracks in the snow

When the snow is deep and loose, the outlines of the tracks on it become blurry and indistinct, not at all the same as with printing powder. The heavy animal wades and sinks heavily in the snow. The edges of the track holes crumble, furrows stretch between them, and the entire path of an animal or large bird is a deeply plowed ditch with a string of unclear holes where feet have stepped. When determining such a footprint, you have to use not the signs of foot prints, but how the holes are located, how deep they are, what is the length of steps, jumps, and the width of the path as a whole, as well as a whole sum of signs that we call animal's signature style.

When walking, the animal rests either on the entire foot - plantigrade animals, otters, etc., or only on the tips of the toes - digitigrades - cats, foxes, corsacs, all ungulates, etc. In animals that often dig up prey, the claws of the front paws are significantly longer and straighter than on the hind legs. In cats, which grab prey with sharp, steeply curved claws, they are retractable and do not leave imprints on the trail, since they are hidden under the soft part of the fingers.

Most animals, during fast jumps, throw their strong hind legs ahead of the front ones, leaving a weaker trail, and are pushed off by sharp blows from the hind legs. This is what wolves, foxes, roe deer and other animals do at a gallop. And, for hares, squirrels, chipmunks, such jumps are a common type of running, with which the paw prints are presented in fours, the larger prints of the hind legs are located wider, in front and to the sides of the smaller front ones, which often lie in a line one after the other. The usual small trot of a wolf, fox, or corsac jackal is characterized by the arrangement of prints in one line - in a chain or rope. The hind legs fall exactly into the tracks of the front ones and are located strictly along the imaginary midline of the animal’s body. Of the dogs, only good ones can maintain this type of run for a long time, while most others leave marks in the form of a double line of prints or a broken, angular stripe, as they place their legs scattered. A double row of prints of a wolf or fox is left only where they walk slowly, warily, sneaking up on prey or trying to sneak past people unnoticed. In addition, foxes' legs begin to become entangled, and the chain of prints loses its clarity when a well-fed, tired animal goes to a secluded thicket to lie down in the morning. In convenient places in mild weather, you can approach a sleeping fox for a shot, taking such a trail stretching from the fields where she moused, to thickets of weeds, thickets of small forest in swamps, steppe ravines... About.

The arrangement of prints in close pairs or triplets is typical for sable, marten, ferret, mink, weasel, and ermine. The prints of the right and left feet are located side by side, adjacent to one another on the middle line of the footprint. When jumping, the hind legs fall exactly into the tracks of the front ones or slightly go beyond them. Jumps are usually longer, and for the ferret, ermine, and weasel, their length constantly changes, and the entire path of the animal reflects many sharp turns in one direction or the other. The traces of such a shuttle move resemble the outline of a saw, while the shuttle of a mouse fox has a wavy curve with smooth turns and large deviations to the right and left from the main direction, usually chosen by the animal taking into account the direction of the wind.