Farm Tracking 101, Part 4

Once you've learned the cats, the dogs, and the bounders, you've really learned the most common tracks. Here are a few more common and/or distinctive tracks you should be aware of. (I had to forage for some of these images from the internet --- click to see their source.)

The deer is impossible to confuse with any other species (unless you live in an area with moose or elk.) The divided hooves may or may not have small back hooves showing.

The back foot of a bear looks a bit like a barefoot human, but bigger. Unmistakeable!

Raccoon tracks aren't common in the snow, but you'll see them in the mud along creeks in the summer. Their front feet look like little human hands. Again --- unmistakeable!

I purposefully haven't talked about the weasel family because I never seem to see them and I don't know much about them. Just be aware they're out there. Most weasels have bounding tracks in sets of four with simple pads which look more like dog pads than the delicate pads of a chipmunk or squirrel. Skunks (also in the weasel family) have big front claws. This is a skunk track.

chicken track
Birds, of course, have three long toes in the front and often one in the back. This is a chicken track, but turkey tracks look nearly identical (except for being much bigger!) Songbird tracks tend to be in pairs because they're hoppers, not walkers. The blob of chicken poop is also distinctive, but scatology is a post for another day!

This post is part of our Farm Tracking 101 lunchtime series. Read all of the entries:

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