Winter can’t keep a secret.
That was clear as we walked the length of the shooting range. Halfway to the backstop, our footprints in the snow crossed over those of a white-tailed deer. It had walked right to left, in a straight line and at a steady pace, all business.
A little further on, we crossed another set of deer tracks. These, though, meandered, the pattern of the tracks suggesting gentle waves. They were made by a free spirit of a whitetail, apparently.
That wasn’t all.
On our way back to the shooting bench we walked close to the woods line. Footprints showed where a squirrel scampered across a snowy fallen log. The dainty impression of a songbird’s feet marked another limb. We even spotted the tracks of a mouse on a boulder.
The range had been busy, and not just with shooters.
In August, when the earth is hard packed and dry, all of that activity might have gone unnoticed. But not now.
Walk in the winter woods and the world knows it.
That makes this the perfect season for studying animal tracks.
Snow gives away the wanderings of wildlife. No creature large or small can get from place to place without announcing its presence.
Indeed, snow will tell you when animals aren’t moving as much as when they are.
In the hours during and immediately after a big storm, for example, a lot of wildlife hunkers down, content to ride out the weather. The snow then is smooth, unblemished, even lifeless in a sense.
Explore those same woods 12 or 24 hours after a storm, though, and notice the difference. Pioneering critters large and small tell you they were on the move, showing where they went and, sometimes, even why.
And when the snow melts?
That can offer the best tracking conditions of all. Mud is often the perfect canvas. That found along damp, but not frozen, creek banks is especially revealing.
Sometimes all those tracks speak to a variety that goes unnoticed.
Opossums, for example, aren’t rare. But they are primarily nocturnal. So as often as not, they’re all but invisible as a species.
There’s no mistaking their often star-shaped track, though. Find one of those and you know – even if you never see it – an opossum is around.
Other tracks are more subtle. Figuring out what made them means first knowing what questions to ask.
How many toes are showing? Are there claws visible? How big is the track?
You can carry a field guide into the woods and compare what you’re seeing on the ground to what’s in a picture. That’s always interesting.
But if you really want to study animal tracks – especially with children – consider making plaster casts.
Casting tracks is not hard, nor does it take a lot of time. The materials needed aren’t expensive or hard to find either. You can do it year-round, too.
And it is fun.
There are a lot of guides out there explaining how to make casts of animal tracks. A simple one from the U.S. Geological Service can be found here. Follow its directions and you can study tracks in more detail at home, in your leisure, out of the elements.
It’s the wildlife version of super sleuthing.
Sure, trail cameras allow us to get pictures of pretty much everything walking the woods. But it’s still cool to be able to tell what went by and maybe what is was doing even if you never saw it.
So put on your detective hat and get to studying animal tracks. It’s a fun hobby that can be done in a season full of opportunities and more reason to spend time outdoors.
As if we needed an excuse.
