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OA Guide to Animal Tracking by Rick Curtis “The earth is a manuscript, being wr

OA Guide to Animal Tracking by Rick Curtis “The earth is a manuscript, being written and unwritten every day. The Pine Barrens are a geological track, the Mississippi River is a track, and so are the Rocky Mountains. The track/print/geology is made and then slowly worn down or built upon by the forces of natural erosion and gravity. Gravity ultimately wants everything to be at the same level. A track is the earth’s reaction to your passing over it. From each passing there are a series of concentric rings than ripple out. The track itself is one such ring, so is the call of the blue jay that scolds you as you walk beneath his tree.” from John Stokes ’74 “Tracking is like learning to read. First you start with the ABC’s then you work up to simple sentences, then to paragraphs and finally to books. Ultimately, with practice, you can read very difficult books with a great deal of hidden meaning.” “A track is a window to the past of an animal. Look at the ground as if it were a manuscript of the animal’s life.” “Every pock, hill, dome, etc. is the track of something. A dent in the forest floor may be the track of a fallen branch.” from Tom Brown Learning to track is a sacred responsibility. It gives you the ability to come into the center of the lives and homes of animals. You must treasure this gift and respect the animals by being non-intrusive. Getting too close to animals can cause serious disturbances including: abandoning young, disturbing nesting grounds, damaging foraging areas, and may even cause the animal’s death. For example, in winter, many animals are severely stressed to gather enough energy to stay alive. Escaping from a human prescence could rob them of enough energy that they can no longer sustain themselves. Always remember that you are only a visitor into their habitat. ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________ Sign Tracking The first thing to learn about tracking is knowing where to look for animals. Much of this is done by what is called “sign tracking”. Signs are anything besides a track proper that is an indication of an animal (e.g. trails, scat etc.). About 1/2 of tracking is sign tracking the other 1/2 is working with actual tracks. Large Scale Sign I. Landscape Tracking - this is reading the landscape to locate animals. In most landscapes there are “islands” where many species will be found. One way to look is to find the best “islands” for herbivores. Wherever there are herbivores, carnivores will follow. The areas between the islands will tend to be scarce of animals except as an area for animals to pass through. utdoor ction 1) Herbivore Needs (* = most important) 1. *Cover - thick tangles of vegetation, brush, rocks, to hide in and escape to 2. *Wide variety of vegetation - a single type of vegetation is cleaned out. A good supply is necessary to be able to stay in the habitat/home. Going outside of the habitat is dangerous. Therefore, having various types of vegetation that come in at different times helps to maintain an ongoing food supply. 3. Water - this is not essential since many herbivores don’t need it. They get water from dew and from the plants they eat. 2) Indicator Animals - the presence of these animals is an indicator of the “value” of the habitat. If one of these is present it is a good habitat, if all are it is an excellent habitat. 1. Vole - most prolific rodent, and a major food source for all predators 2. Rabbits 3. Deer 3) Types of Habitats 1. Deep Forest - very poor as an animal habitat. There is little undergrowth and poor cover. The vegetation is not very varied. Generally there are some raccoons, birds, rabbits, but very few others. 2. Fields - also very poor. There is little or no cover except at the side of the fields. The middle of the field is open territory for hawks and owls. 3.Transition Areas - these are excellent locations to find animals. A transition area is zone of intersection between two habitats. Ex. Forest and field, field and stream, forest and stream. These offer wide varieties of vegetation and cover. II. Travel Routes - Animals will tend to take the easiest route of travel across a landscape (just like you and I - around boulders etc.) unless they are being pursued. This results in the creation of a number of “roadway systems” within the habitat. Sticking to a roadway system when being chased is poor. The prey is usually smaller than the predator and therefore tries to push through tiny openings in deep brush where the larger predator can’t follow. 1) Trails - are species nonspecific. Any number, size, and shape of animal will use them. These are the superhighways of the woods. They are frequently used and rarely changed. Animals know them intimately. There may be troughs, no vegetation or battered vegetation. 2) Runs - these are less frequently used and are very subject to change. There is some definite wearing into the landscape but varies. These are very specific to a particular animal and what it is used for (e.g. runs may connect watering areas, bedding areas, feeding areas back to a trail). Survival Note: Runs are good areas to trap. You know what animal you are going for. 3) Escape Routes • Pushdown - Generally only used once, crashing through the brush from a trail or run to escape. Brush is broken down. • Established Escape Route - a pushdown used repetitively. It often leads to a hide. Trail Run Escape Route III. Animal Sleeping Areas 1) Bed - any consistent sleeping place. It is well chosen to be in the thickest area of brush to be able to hear a predator coming. 2) Transit Bed - an established bed used every so often. 3) Lay - usually used only once or twice. Used for rest, chewing cud, etc. Can be recognized by broken and crushed vegetation. 4) Den - only used to bear and raise young. Ex. Fox is an open ground sleeper, it curls up in the brush. For birthing it excavates a hole or uses an old groundhog hole for a den. Ex. The groundhog hole is a place for the groundhog to live. While it is raising young it is a groundhog den. IV. Feeding Areas 1) Varied Run Feeding area - where animals go through and eat off of the trail or run further and further. (80%) 2) Single plant feeding area - characterized by a run terminating at a single plant or group of plants of one kind. 3) Eat-through - where an animal or animals has literally eaten through a patch of vegetation and come out the other side. 4) Patched - marked by irregular nibblings along the edges of established trails or runs Medium Scale Sign This makes up the largest assortment and most definitive sign. It is found all over especially on trails and runs. I. 8 Most Important: 1) Rub - polished areas on the landscape • Unintentional - animal rubbing up against an object that protrudes onto the trail (e.g. a branch). • Intentional - specific area where an animal is rubbing itself. E.g. deer scraping velvet off antlers, wallowing in dirt to rid itself of mites etc. 2) Hair and Feathers - especially at a rub or a projection where the hair or feather gets snagged. Clumps of hair may either be purposely pulled out by the animals or clumps of hair or feathers may indicate a kill site. 3) Gnaws and Chews • Gnawing - like a beaver, on nuts, trees bones (rodents get their calcium from gnawing bones). You can tell the animal by the size of the teeth marks. • Chews - where a plant has been bitten off (twigs, stalks of grass, etc.) • 45 degree Clean Cut - caused by an animal with incisors - rodent • Little serrated edge - deer - pull grass up against upper palette and sickle it off by pulling neck up • Masticated - teeth marks all over possibly with saliva - a predator chew, used to get minerals • Break - not a chew, this is caused by animal movement. • Scratchings - these can be all over, made by claws digging in on trees, scampering over sticks, boulders etc. • Intentional - for example a skunk or raccoon scratching in the ground for grubs, cat or bear sharpening claws on a tree. • Unintentional - from the animal’s passing • Ground Debris - any debris on the ground that is scratched, pinched, dented, abraded unnaturally, holes, stone rolls, broken twigs etc. (stone roll = a stone out of its bed, rolled over, skidded etc.) • Upper Vegetation - vegetation breaks (see above), plants abraded and broken by animal passage. The location of the break (how high up) indicates type of uploads/Ingenierie_Lourd/ guide-to-tracking.pdf