Tracking

[Art Eatman]

Somebody mentioned tracking in another thread...

I guess that growing up around farming/ranching gave me a heckuva head start on messing around with wild critters. That included learning about game trails and tracks, among other things.

Animals generally move between sources of food, sources of water, and bedding areas. Over time, they create trails. You can spot hoof prints or paddy-paw prints, but it's easy to see where the grass is worn down or their movements have cleared small stones and pebbles.

Lotsa books and magazine articles with pictures of critter tracks and discussion of how to distinguish between dogs and coyotes, or bucks and does.

In hilly or mountainous country, you won't find game trails going directly up-or-down the slopes. They make what I call "lazy esses" back and forth. Or, they'll follow a contour, thus conserving energy. Upping and downing is physically wearying, whether you're a deer or a deer hunter.

Actual following the tracks of an individual deer will vary from easy to difficult depending on soil and moisture. Sometimes you only can see an occasional hoofprint, and you thus need to have a feel for the general targeted direction he's travelling. On hard ground, you might only see the occasional bottom side of a little pebble, darker than the others because the wet/dirty side is up. Soft ground after some rain, it's easy.

Most folks just aren't observant enought to spot the little clues. You know you're gettin' good when you can back trail a big trophy buck to where he was born.

Art

 

[Bwana John]

You know you're gettin' good when you can back trail a big trophy buck to where he was born.

Unless you can track a trophy buck back to where he was concieved your still a pilgrim.

"You sure you know how to skin Griz pilgrim?"

I have found Tom Browns books on tracking to be very good.

 

[islandphish]

You can't beat woods time with an old timer. Also, tracking isn't just tracks.
Rubs, scrapes, scat, bushes and browse are all indicators.

I'd love to see some hints and tips in here. I'll give a couple I learned on my first elk hunt.

Closely examing a rubbed tree can tell you if you are looking at a deer or elk rub. There will be some hairs left behind. Learn to tell the difference between elk hair and deer hair.

Cows and bulls pee differently. Cows pee puddles. Bulls pee streams.

 

[buck460XVR]

Here's a coupla basic ones I teach to new hunters. Deer when walking, will place their hind feet in the same tracks of their front feet. Does are wider at the hips than at the shoulders so most of the time their rear tracks will be slightly outside their front tracks. Bucks are just the opposite. When there is an inch of snow on the ground or so, you can usually tell a bucks trail by the way he drags his feet. Does step lighter and higher thus not leavin' drag marks until the snow is deeper.

Does a good bloodtrail just stop? Not usually.....usually it means the deer has backtracked along the bloodtrail. Go back and look hard on both sides...that why you don't mess up the bloodtrail as you follow it and when walking along side one always look for blood going in another direction even tho the trail straight ahead is well defined.

 

[MCgunner]

I don't see how you're going to do it around here or anywhere I've hunted. Deer trails around here have track on top of track. You find the trails, you sit on a stand or in a blind and just wait for one to come along. Tracking individual deer is quite impossible. Even if you could, you'd never get a shot on him. He'd jump up, you'd see a white flag for about 20 feet until he disappeared about the time you got the safety off. Add to that the complication of shooting on the run if you're using a handgun or bow. Well, seems to me stands are the most productive of ways to get a GOOD humane broadside shot on a deer even if you COULD track one. This is why I've never ever cared about this tracking myth concerning whitetail deer. Might work better for less dense and solitary animals like black bear or such. I could see it, then, but around here deer are never alone and the number of tracks in the mud is mind boggling. In just a couple of days after a rain, it's like super highways of game on the trails. During the season, most of the movement is at night, which complicates things.

Nope, spot and stalk, in some areas still hunting, or stand hunting either a trail or a food plot or something is the only way to get a whitetail IMHO. Forget about those hoof prints except that they tell where the deer are, what trails they're using, which is useful to know after all. Areas with a lot of fresh deer poop AND trails is where I wanna be. And, if I find some scrapes and rubs, I'm in HEAVEN! But, I'm going to walk there in the morning and set up by a bush with my shooting sticks, or get in a stand. I'm not going to try to follow tracks. If you can actually "track" an individual whitetail and enjoy it, my hat's off to you. I don't really believe it, but whatever. Just don't look down your snoot at me for climbing in my stand or setting up along a dry wash with lots of sign with my seat pad and shooting stix.

Oh, I'll add another "sign" no one's mentioned that I see a lot of out on my place, bedding areas where the grass is smushed flat. You know they've been there recently bedding down.

 

[islandphish]

You can even smell the beds if they are recently vacated. Musky/Urine smell.

MCGunner, don't forget that what is impossible in mud may be very possible in snow. The "best" tracking weather is 2 inches on the ground and an easy snow coming down.

 

[pfrnkln]

Tracking is an invaluble skill that is unfortunatley being lost now days.
It appears to me there may be some misunderstanding here - as I do not know alot of hunters who track and stalk their deer, but I and many of my hunting buddies do a LOT of tracking during the pre season scouting.
The other time this is needed is during those sad times when you dont get an instant "kill shot". So tracking your hit deer is a necessity. I dont want to start that whole thing about being an ethical and responsible hunter who only shoots when its going to drop etc. etc.....
Up here in NY during bow hunting I cant say that every shot is perfect with the tree braches etc that can deflect your arrow, and suddenly your tracking a deer for an hour to find where he finally drops.
It is far more responsible to track and find that deer then let it go hoping it will survive. (sorry - I have a problem with some "city hunters" that think everything happens like on the hunting shows)
But back to topic - tracking is an effective tool and in my humble opinion a necessity.
Check for beds, know the difference between a trail and a run, look for scrapes - and the broken branch over a scrape can tell you how old it is.
Droppings will tell you how big the deer is and how long ago it has been there.
Yes - the Tom Brown books are a wealth of info - But time in the woods (especially with an old timer) is the only way to "learn"

Just my 2 cents

 

[Art Eatman]

MCgunner, it's the usual deal about terrain and vegetation being controls of how stuff is done. And, sure, if you have lots of deer around, working out the trail of any one can be impossible.

Some easy tracking, one wet day, gave me one of the funnier moments of my deer hunting. I'd killed a nice buck, one morning; after lunch, with the drippy-drizzle having apparently quit, I figured I'd check out one of the tree stands. Not interested in shooting; just looking.

Drippy-drizzle started in again. "Humph," sez me, "No self-respecting deer would be out in this stuff." So, I start climbing down from the stand. I get all spraddled out, about halfway, and off to my right about 75 yards is a fat little eight-pointer. Not really worth shooting, but a really pretty buck.

I just hung there, feeling stupid, and he wandered on. I eased on down from the tree and figured that with the wet leaves and ground, I could sneaky-snake along. His trail was easily found and followed.

After a couple of hundred yards, I looked ahead and saw his rear end sticking out from some brush. He was looking out over a little cliff at an open meadow. I kept on easing toward him, getting to within about ten feet.

When I tossed a little pebble onto his rump, he came totally unglued. He turned inside out his own rear end, tried hard for traction with little initial success, rocks flying everywhere. He darned near came through my legs, eyes rolled back and working toward wide open throttle, fifth gear. I really doubt my laughter did much for his nervousness. If ever there was a candidate for post-traumatic stress disorder, he was high on the list.

, Art

 

[MCgunner]

You can even smell the beds if they are recently vacated. Musky/Urine smell.

Yep, and if it's damp weather, it'll linger for hours.

MCGunner, don't forget that what is impossible in mud may be very possible in snow. The "best" tracking weather is 2 inches on the ground and an easy snow coming down.

Well, that's why I asked about snow. I could see tracking animals after a fresh snow fall. I could see tracking 'em after a fresh rain in areas that dry and don't have a lot of mud/top soil, I reckon. Down here, forget it. Stand hunting is the rule, setting up on a trail from bedding to feeding areas or more commonly, hunting a feeder or food plot. It ain't hard to know where the deer are, in the thickest stuff out there during the day. They don't need to come out in the open, especially during years of bumper acorn crops. Pretty much the same for hogs. They hang out in the rose hedge and other heavy cover. I've hunted hogs where there were HUNDREDS of hogs on a 300 acre high fence area and you'd swear there wasn't a hog in there, then come dusk, ride the roads on a dirt bike and there are herds of the things everywhere. I walked by a wood pile, bunch of loose limbs piled up. They'd been in there with a dozer and cleaned some of the brush out. There must've been 20 hogs in that brush pile. I just saw a tail flick, looked closer and spotted one. I was maybe 20 feet from it when I nailed it and hogs flushed out of there like a covey of quail. LOL! I didn't track 'em cause there were tracks on top of tracks. I was still hunting 'em at the time.

We have had snow here once in the 25 years I've lived here. We got 8 inches on Christmas Eve 2004. It was friggin' awesome! It all melted Christmas day. It snowed once in 73 in Freeport and several times in College Station that year. It melted about as fast as it stuck. Snow is a neat treat here. I hunted in snow one day in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico opening day in the early 90s, but I was spot and stalking 'em. These were mulies. You'd get on the edge of a canyon with a spotting scope and they'd be all over the off side of the canyon feeding, but the trick is getting within range. Those things have sound radar on their heads. They can hear a pin drop 5 miles away. :banghead: It's a real trick stalkin' those devils. That was most of the fun of mulie huntin' and I will do it again someday.

 

[koja48]

Tracked a arrow-struck, gut-shot elk one time (shot was good, the critter "jumped the string") across some 600 yards of clear cut, virtually covered with elk tracks, by relying heavily on my nose . . . wore the knees out of my trousers, but found the bull. Use all of the tools available to you when tracking.

 

[buck460XVR]

I don't see how you're going to do it around here or anywhere I've hunted. Deer trails around here have track on top of track. You find the trails, you sit on a stand or in a blind and just wait for one to come along. Tracking individual deer is quite impossible. Even if you could, you'd never get a shot on him. He'd jump up, you'd see a white flag for about 20 feet until he disappeared about the time you got the safety off.

Tracking individual deer is difficult but not impossible.....and on the trails you describe, most of the time, the only track worth following is the one on top. Knowing the difference between old buck tracks and old doe tracks can make the difference which trail to put your bow stand on. Why sit over a trail that only does use unless thats what you're after. Following an individual buck by track only till you get a clear shot is a story for the fiction books and hunting mags. But following a bucks tracks sometimes shows you where he sleeps and where he hides. This is good. It may get you close enough to see him at a distance so you can plan a strategy, or you can use the info later on in the season to spot and stalk, or to place stands.

Then again comes the time when a deer is hit and doesn't leave a bloodtrail, knowing what sign is fresh and how a injured deer walks compared to a healthy deer can make the difference between finding it or losing it. If it's only hittin' on three legs you better push it hard and catch up. If it's bleedin' light but stopping and standin' a lot to look back...... it's time to sit and give it a while to lie down.

I believe tracking, whether it be deer or any other animal is just one of the basic skills of woodsmanship. It's one of the many subtle skills that those that have it take it for granted. Kinda like knowing what kinda trees and other plantlife grow in your neck of the woods, along with what other wildlife and birds inhabit the area. Like knowin' how to use a compass. It's it necessary to know all those things to sit in a stand and shoot a deer? No....but it helps, and it also makes it more enjoyable......and every once and a while it might mean the difference between a good day and a so-so day.

 

[f4t9r]

Some good stuff here. Its a good time to talk about this with the season starting this weekend for us.

 

[30 cal slob]

i love a light snowfall. makes tracking a lot easier.

 

[Old Trapper]

Those interested in tracking might enjoy reading the biography of Russell Burnham, "Scouting on Two Continents." Burnham learned tracking and scouting from the Apache in Arizona, then applied those skills scouting for the British in Africa in association with the then young cavalry officer Robert Baden Powell.

Military scouting took root in Africa and reached a high point with the Selous Scouts during the Rhodesian civil war when the Selous Scouts tracked downed and killed rapidly fleeing terrorits through the dry African plains and bush.

Funny how things come full circle, a vetran of that conflict now runs a tracking school in the American Soutwest. See: http://www.tacticaltracking.com/site/index.php .

The Border Patrol has successfully used the same tracking techniques employed by the Selous Scouts. I was fortunate to attend two Border Patrol tracking schools years ago, and found that the methods applied very well to hunting big game when dry rocky tough conditions demanded a more serious approach to tracking.

Most hunters will enjoy studying the stories of Russell Burnham and of the Selous Scouts. And if you are a hunter and haven't read about Selous himself you have a great treat ahead of you. Some argue that the Selous was the greatest hunter of all time.

Enjoy.

 

[MCgunner]

Oh, I know the difference in a buck or a doe track, a big buck, a hog from a deer, etc. I know my tracks and sign, just that I never actually tracked down one individual deer by following his tracks, impossible most places I've hunted whitetail. Perhaps other species are different, but whitetail don't just stand out in the open and let you sneak up and shoot 'em even if you get on the trail of 'em.

I know enough to find the buck trail between feed and bedding areas, where to put my stand, but I am an ambush hunter in the woods. I like to spot and stalk where I can, but trailing an individual whitetail and killing it has never seemed possible. I mean, even when I jump deer in the woods while still hunting, you have a couple of seconds to get on 'em before it's too late and generally your crosshairs are going to settle on their butt, not my favorite choice of shot placement. I'd rather set a stand on a good trail and just sit and wait, much more successful at that over the years, or where I can, find a high ridge and spot and stalk. Spot and stalk works out west on mulies and works on whitetail during the rut when they're moving more. After the rut, they bed down and you ain't gonna spot 'em to be able to start the stalk. That's what makes whitetail so challenging to hunt in the first place. They ain't stupid.

I think those that think stand hunting is "unethical" many times have never actually hunted whitetail. Western mulies act a whole lot different than whitetail. With whitetail, taking a stand and ambush hunting like the good ol' southern alligator is the way it's best done, whether you're hunting a food plot, a feeder, or a trail in the woods. You have to know your tracks in that you have to know where the deer are moving from bedding areas to feeding areas, but beyond knowing where to put your stand, actually trailing an individual whitetail deer is an exercise in futility.

BTW, tacticaltracking???? Is there ANYTHING in the gun world that isn't tactical anymore? Is anyone else sick of tacticool, but me???? ROFL!

 

[birddog]

I think I'm an above average whitetail tracker, and have put myself on many good trails over the years resulting in many pounds of venison. That said, there are some times of the year when it's much easier than others. For instance, a good friend of mine just bought 71 acres of mature hardwoods and bedding cover. Having been invited to hunt the property, we started our scouting THIS WEEK, in which the leaves are falling and the summer has been dry. Finding active deer trails is a challenge, to say the least. Had we been able to scout in late-winter or early spring when the runways and trails are readily apparent, it would have been a whole other story.

Here's what we did, in preparation for the upcoming bow season: Look for low spots where the deer leave sign in the relatively leaf-free areas. Also, try to look for old rubs on hardwood saplings. If you can find them in any concentration, you move forward from there. It's always a challenge, but that's what makes it fun!

 

[Old Trapper]

Tracking and Scouting and Woodsmanship

I believe tracking, whether it be deer or any other animal is just one of the basic skills of woodsmanship. It's one of the many subtle skills that those that have it take it for granted. Kinda like knowing what kinda trees and other plantlife grow in your neck of the woods, along with what other wildlife and birds inhabit the area. Like knowin' how to use a compass. It's it necessary to know all those things to sit in a stand and shoot a deer?

Got to agree with Buck460's observation above that tracking is more than following footprints on the ground. Notice how Buck460's decription above sounds like Boy Scouting which was based on military scouting in Africa which evolved from Apache scouting in the American Southwest?

The following poem by Sidney Lassman captures the relationship between trackers, scouts, and woodsmen. See what you think.

"The Selous Scouts"
I used to sit by the water's edge & watch the campfire glow
& I'd listen to the night-birds cry & feel the breezes blow.
My belly full of the meat I'd shot, I'd sit for hours & muse
As the moon came up & the shadows changed to many different hues.

I used to roam through this country wide in search of game so fleet
& I'd listen to the lions roar as they too searched for meat.
I'd make my camp on the grassy plain or in the mountains tall
& I'd friends at every farm & store & every native kraal.

But now when I near a river's edge or roam this country wide
I've a lot of men to back me, & I think of them with pride.
They're a scruffy lot to look at, but they've a tracker's skill;
They're damned fine men in a follow-up, & damned good at a kill.

The Scouts they're called, & well-named, too, for the man whose name they bear
Was the greatest hunter in this land, & these men fear no dare!
For the game they hunt is vermin that would pillage, plunder and maim.
& they do their job efficiently, with never thought of fame​

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/7598/selous.html

 

[Old Trapper]

Combat Tracking and Hunting

Here's a useful link to tracking techniques: http://members.tripod.com/selousscouts/tracking.htm

If you can track a fleeing armed felon, tracking a whitetail is comparatively easy.

A Force Recon vet buddy of mine has tracked bull big elk for 3-to-4 days before he got a good shot with his bow. He carries only what fits into a large fanny pack. His Force Recon approach to elk tracking and hunting is very successful.

Be careful what you ask for.