What do lynx tracks look like in the snow? What are the tracks of the fox of other animals in the snow. Wolverine type of traces

All forest animals lead a secretive lifestyle and prefer not to appear during daylight hours without special need. It is quite rare to meet such inhabitants, but still from time to time they catch the eye. This is usually facilitated by bad weather, remoteness of land, large numbers animals, starvation, young age and inexperience or unfavourable conditions. In all other cases, traces of their life activity serve as evidence of the habitation of a particular species in a given area.

It is from them that the hunter can learn a lot of information about the beast. A simple footprint can tell an experienced tracker a lot, it will tell what kind of animal it belongs to, whether it is a female or a male, a cub or an adult animal, whether it is healthy or sick, whether it went out in search of food or returned to a secluded place.

Needless to say, not everyone can read traces like this, this is a whole skill, which includes the ability not only to accurately determine the species forest dweller but also to know perfectly his habits, behavior, daily activity. With all this, having the ability to compare and analyze the data obtained. After all, a decent number of factors affect how reliable the trace information will be.

We list some of them: the season (snow, earth), weather factors (precipitation, temperature, wind), the nature of the area and the way of life of the animal, primarily its secrecy.

When studying the features of the trail activity of wild animals, one must remember that it is much easier to get necessary information by the totality of data. What is meant?

Field signs are usually divided into four categories:

- paw print
step (jump)
- move (gait),
- Animal heritage.

The latter includes the daily and fat intake, various informational details - excrement, the voice of the beast, signal marks, etc.

Adding up all the data at once, even if they are received in full, is an extremely difficult task for many novice hunters. But there is nothing to worry about, everything will come with years and experience. I think no one doubts that it is necessary to master this skill. Indeed, in most hunting methods, the success of the event depends on the ability to correctly decipher the traces.

You need to start simple - learn to determine the type of animal that left its imprint, while you need to be able to do this both on snow and on the ground.

Description and characteristics of traces

Traces of this animal can be found only in the forest regions of our country, and mainly in the snowless period of the year, because everyone knows that in winter it hibernates, or rather in winter sleep. At this time, its tracks are rare, in deep snow they are very similar to the past person, only the legacy is more sweeping. Having stumbled upon them, you should immediately return back, the awake predator - the connecting rod, poses a real threat.

With the advent of spring, the clumsy comes out of the den, and from that moment until the snow falls, its activity in the grounds can be easily tracked by the traces left. Most often they can be found on muddy ground along shallow rivers, near water bodies, on forest paths and country roads, especially after rains.

The print of the front paw has significant differences from the back. The first has a rounded shape, with large claws clearly visible.
Their size varies depending on the age and sex of the animal, across adult it can be 12 to 18cm.
The back print resembles an enlarged print from bare feet person.

A characteristic feature of the gait of the animal is its clubfoot - the socks look inward, and the heels outward.

Everyone knows that gray predator legs are fed, he really spends a decent part of the time in search of food, it is especially difficult for him in the winter. At this time, he overcomes sometimes a day up to several dozen kilometers. It would seem that his traces should be found everywhere, but in reality everything is completely different. The wolf, along with the lynx and wolverine, can be attributed to the most secretive animals. You won’t meet them at all during the day, except perhaps in remote places, and then only in the morning or evening hours.

In summer, traces of a predator can be found on a field road where there is dust or after rain. In the forest, along the edges of water bodies.

In winter, it is much easier to see wolf tracks. It is quite heavy and often gets bogged down in deep snow, so it is not uncommon for it to use beaten country roads or other animal trails to get around.

The paw print of the beast is quite similar to that of a dog, for this reason many have difficulty in determining belonging to a particular species. But there are still differences and they boil down to the following: the wolf track is larger, more elongated, and the two middle fingers are pushed forward. In addition, when trotting, the chain of tracks is not as sweeping as in dogs. Predators walk trail after trail, you can find out how many individuals in a flock only by trailing the trail - the animals disperse only in front of the urinary points, before the start of the hunt, or at some kind of obstacle.

The size of the trace is 5.5x12 cm, the fingers are collected in a "lump"
The move is a clear-cut chain.
The daily course is up to 50 km.

This animal, unlike the wolf, is most active not at night, but in the morning and evening hours, and in remote areas or in bad weather, the redhead can be met in broad daylight.
With a sufficient number of animals, it is easy to stumble upon their tracks in the warm season. In a lowland in a meadow, on a shallow or river bank, on a damp forest path or a country road - even chains of tracks will be found everywhere.

In winter, all nearby fields are covered with fox lace, at this time, mouse-like rodents serve as the main source of food for it. So she mouses every day leaving behind many traces.

At first glance, the print of her paw can also be mistaken for that left by a small dog, but if you look closely, everything will immediately become clear - it is miniature and much slimmer than a dog's. But still, the main feature can be called a characteristic chain of traces - composed, as it were, along a ruler.

The average print size is 6x4cm, on damp earth claw marks are clearly visible. The lateral fingers do not touch the middle fingers and do not cover them from the sides.

Step size - 35-40cm
The usual move is a clear-cut chain.
Legacy per day - up to 30 km.

It leads the same twilight lifestyle as a fox, it is not picky in food, which is why its traces can be found almost anywhere. On wet soil, paw prints are similar in size to fox paw prints, but their shape is more rounded, and the chain of tracks has a zigzag shape.

AT winter time traces of its vital activity can be found only in the thaw and in a limited area. This beast most endures cold weather winter sleep and only with the advent of warming it gets out of the hole, and it does not go far from it.
Footprints in the snow are an irregularly shaped chain with drags and drags.

The size of the print is 5x4.5 cm, claws are visible on wet ground. With a normal step, the prints of the hind feet do not fall into the prints of the forelegs.
The size of the step is a quiet step 10-12cm, a trot is 25-30cm.
The move is a zigzag bead-like chain or double.
Daily footprint - 3-6 km.

Lynx

Perhaps this is one of the most secretive inhabitants northern forests, not every hunter manages to see even its traces, not to mention the beast itself. Although it cannot be ranked among the animals inhabiting exclusively dense dark coniferous forests. She may well get along with the presence of a person, if she is not disturbed.

This animal leads a twilight lifestyle, being most active at dusk and in the morning.

The main object of hunting for the lynx is the white hare, therefore, its traces are most likely to be found in those places where it lives. Although she is a settled resident, she constantly roams around her habitat, lingering for some time in places suitable for her.

In the second half of winter, it becomes more and more difficult for the lynx to move on the virgin snow, where it sinks deep and leaves furrows on the trail. At this time, she increasingly uses roads, snowmobile tracks, and frozen river beds for her movement.

Signs by which you can find out what happened here forest cat: traces of a rounded shape, without imprints of claws.
Footprint size - 8x11cm
Step size - 30-35cm
The daily route is 7-8 km.

This beast is not often seen. leads mainly night image life. Favorite habitats are mixed and broadleaf forests, although it occurs in coniferous taiga. He settles along the edges of ravines or on the banks of rivers, does not go far from his hole, therefore, having found his prints, we can conclude that his refuge is somewhere nearby.

He leaves his hiding place only after sunset and is active all night. At the same time, unlike other inhabitants of the forest, he is not very hidden. But it will not be possible to see him anyway, if only to hear, because on moonlit nights he rarely leaves the hole.

The shape of the footprints of this animal is very similar to bears, only in miniature. They are found mainly in the warm period of the year, in winter " a little bear» sleeping. Unless, in a prolonged thaw, he can get out of his hole for a while.

Imprint - 5x7cm
It usually moves at a leisurely pace, in case of danger it can run galloping.
Daily activity - 1.5-3km.

Hare and white hare

Their traces are quite often found not only by hunters, but also by ordinary villagers. Their characteristic heritage is easily recognizable and difficult to confuse with anyone else. These rodents always throw their long hind legs behind the front ones, which is why the footprint looks like two small prints behind and two larger and more oblong ones in front.

In summer, they are almost never seen, unless he leaves his footprints in the dust of country roads. But in winter, a complete picture of hare activity appears.

Differences in traces of related species.

First of all, we pay attention to the nature of the area where the trace was found - the hare is a forest dweller, the hare is an inhabitant of fields and meadows.
White hare - moves in small jumps, often stops to feed, often arranges entire trails in feeding places. The imprint of the hind legs has a rounded shape, they are much larger in size than the front ones.

Hare-hare - runs fast, the distance between the prints is large, does not make trails.
The difference in size between the paws is not as noticeable as in the hare, and the trace from the hind legs has a pointed shape.

Elk

The tracks of this large ungulate animal are generally similar to those of an ordinary cow, only slightly larger. Meet them in the summer, unlike a pet, most likely in the forest, especially often they come across in wetlands and near water bodies, where they quench their thirst and hide from midges.

In winter, moose tracks can be found not only in the forest, but also in overgrown fields and meadows, where they feed on shoots of young trees. In deep snow, they leave characteristic trails with deep, almost to the ground, footprints.

The print of the hoof is - in front of two thumbs, behind and slightly above two small ones, the latter never go beyond the width of the first two.

The print size is 14-20 cm long, 10-14 cm wide.

Boar

Its tracks differ from those of the elk in their smaller size and in the fact that small hind fingers leave prints on the sides of the track.
These animals are not so attached to the forest, so they can often be found anywhere, as long as there is suitable food for them. It could be forest edge, impassable coniferous thicket, the outskirts of swamps, lowlands in meadows, ravines and the outskirts of agricultural fields.
Very often, boar tracks can be found on the field or forest roads, where they leave, in addition to hoof prints, numerous diggings of the earth.

In winter, these ungulates have a very hard time, with their short legs difficult to move in deep snow. Therefore they prefer long time stay in some secluded corner of the land, trampling paths there for movement, which look like deep trenches.

The size of the trace directly depends on the age of the animal, in connection with this, their sizes vary greatly.

Read about the tracks of other animals in the next article here.

Each of us likes to walk in the forest and disassemble the tracks of animals. It's such a fun activity, especially for kids!

Let's think we, adults, are we so good at understanding the tracks of animals?

Probably not.

Many of us have not been out in the forest for a long time and can only distinguish the tracks of a cat from a dog.

Sad, isn't it? I would not want such civilized "savages" who are not familiar with surrounding nature. Let's study the traces of wild animals together with the kids, and colorful pictures will help us in this.

Game "Guess the tracks"

I want to invite you today to introduce the kids to the traces of wild animals.

This game:

1. - develops logical thinking,
2. - introduces the child to wild animals,
3. - well trains the memory and fine motor skills of the fingers of children.

So, in front of you are the cards themselves - you will need to print them, laminate or paste them with tape, cut them into pieces. Now you can play. Show the baby the footprints of one or another animal, and then show the picture of the animal itself and explain that these are its footprints. After the baby learns well whose particular traces, you can invite him to play. For example, you show him the tracks of wild animals and offer him to choose from two options for animals whose tracks these are, you can gradually add more and more cards until the baby begins to lay out all the cards on his own.

For teachers primary school, educators in kindergartens, such a game is a great opportunity not only to entertain children useful thing but also to teach them new knowledge and skills. Pictures with footprints and animals can be used in nature studies lessons and even build on this homework for kids. Invite the children to draw the footprints of animals on their own. When they bring the pictures to class, have the other children try to guess which animal the footprints are.

Other options for pictures for games

English alphabet with animal tracks.

Developing fantasy

There are many animals in the world, and it is very difficult to cover everyone on cards and pictures. When you and the guys have mastered the tracks of the animals proposed in the manual, play the next game. Take some pictures for the children rare species animals. Try to imagine what their footprints will look like, what kind of paws they have. Various books can help you with this. exotic countries and the surrounding nature.

And now the task for the children: let them try to draw the tracks of the proposed animals.

How would you recognize this beast if it walked on the ground?

This exercise:

1. - develops imagination;
2. - improves logical thinking;
3. - promotes perseverance and attentiveness, because the child needs not only to come up with and justify his choice, but also to draw traces.

You can arrange a competition for children: who will draw the tracks of their animal faster and more correctly (before the start of the competition, pictures of animals are distributed to the children).

If pictures are used in a classroom lesson or theme night, dedicated to the protection nature, the team competition will look great. To do this, you need to lay out pictures with traces on the floor in the classroom. Images of animals (selected in accordance with the footprints) are divided into piles according to the number of teams and distributed to children. Before starting the game, give the guys the opportunity to think carefully, and then note the time. For the specified time period (depending on the number of tasks), children must find traces of their animals and combine the pictures. The team that completes the task the fastest wins. It goes without saying that it is necessary to carefully familiarize the children with the traces of animals in advance, otherwise the competition will not work, or the children will quickly lose interest.

conclusions

So, pictures with animal tracks can be an excellent tool for teaching children to communicate with the natural environment. It will be nice after a series of lessons to consolidate the knowledge gained in practice. Organize a trip to the forest for the children, take a look at what animals and birds leave their traces there.

The zoo can also be a useful object of observation, but the tracks there are much harder to spot. In this case, the trip can only be introductory.

How to learn to identify and distinguish between traces of animals? How to distinguish, for example, the footprint of a wolf from the footprint of an ordinary dog, or the footprint of a white hare from a hare? How to learn to track the beast on the trail? Read all about it below! A visual aid for determining the traces of animals with descriptions and pictures.

bear trail(especially hind paws), similar to a human footprint (with the exception of claw prints). The track of the male is slightly wider than the track of the bear, and therefore an experienced hunter can easily distinguish the sex of the past animal. The place where the bear passed can also be seen in summer, because the beast strongly crushes and tilts the grass in the direction of movement. In addition, in the summer, a bear will never pass indifferently past anthills, stones, snags, etc., but will surely stir them up or turn them over.

Bear footprint

wolf footprints resemble the tracks of a large dog, but as the wolf grips his fingers tighter, Bottom part his fingers are more convex, and the track is therefore more elongated and more clearly imprinted on mud or snow. The main difference is that the track of the wolf is correct, and its direction is straightforward. The animal walks in such a way that it gets into the imprint of the right front foot of the back left and vice versa, so the tracks stretch in a row, each such track is about 30-35 cm apart from the other (depending on the depth of snow and the age of the animal). If there is a pack, then those who follow the first animal step “trail to trail”, so you can find out about the number of wolves in the pack when the pack enters the forest.

The freshness of the trail (if only there was no powder) can be recognized by the looseness of the snow, pressed down by the feet of the beast that has gone; if the track is old, then it and its edges freeze and become hard to the touch. A fresh track has a so-called "drag" - a thin line between the tracks, which disappears after a few hours (it appears because the wolf drags its hind legs a little on loose snow). The wolf rarely walks at a walk, but usually at a small trot. Such a tread of the beast seems wrong, but, despite this, the wolf paves the most correct trail with it. If the wolf jumps (“waving”), then the trail of the hind paw is about three fingers away from the corresponding front one.

Wolf footprint on the ground (top) and snow (bottom)

A wolf track can be easily distinguished from a dog track if the track is fairly clear. In a wolf, the two middle fingers are located much further than the outer ones (when compared with the track of a dog). The extreme and middle fingers can be separated by an imaginary line, and this line will not cross the prints of the extreme fingers.

difference between wolf and dog tracks

comparison of wolf and dog tracks

Narysk fox resembles the footprint of a medium-sized dog, but the differences are also in the correctness of the tread and the tightness of the paw. Usually the fox walks in one line and, like the wolf, lays the correct ribbon. The beast walks on fattening and in two very regular tracks, it can also quadruple like a dog. The fox never makes trails, and if he walks certain place several days in a row, then every time it neatly gets back to its original track. In addition, if she goes back in the same place, she rarely follows her oncoming trail, but tries to choose a different path.

The fox quite often makes loops, like a hare, but unlike the latter, it never makes marks. On the bed, she turns her head in the direction from which she came. It happens that the beast hides its traces in a hare malik. Experienced hunters they are able to distinguish between the tracks of a male and a female - the track of the male is round and clean, while the female is oblong, narrow and not so clean, since the female usually picks up snow with her hind legs - scribbles.

fox footprint

lynx trail always has only one invariable direction and is very similar to a cat - it is round, with distinct fingerprints; however, the claws are imprinted only in the case of the fastest run.

lynx trail

Elk footprint larger than a deer, besides, the cuts of the hooves diverge more strongly. The elk always puts its feet straight and never "furrows". Its litter resembles that of a deer and consists of large, slightly oblong shaves (but they are slightly rounder than those of a deer), which usually stick together in males and fall apart in females. A bull's footprint is always rounder and larger than a moose cow's footprint.

moose footprint

boar trail resembles the footprint of a domestic pig, only sharper than the latter. With its outlines, it resembles a footprint red deer(especially if the trace was left by the old billhook). The difference between the boar track is that the hind adnexal fingers diverge in the form of grouse braids. They are wider than the track itself, imprinted together with the hooves without gaps, and the distance between the tracks is less. The track of the male differs from that of the female - in the wild boar, the adnexal toes are larger, and the hooves are blunter and the same on any leg. In pigs, the hooves differ greatly in size from one another, and, in addition, the footprint of a wild boar is wider than that of a pig, since on the move it brings its legs more to the sides. The age of the animal can also be determined by the size and depth of the footprint.

Wild boar footprints in the snow

: (left), otters (center) and martens (right)

POWDER

Powders are called snow that fell at night and ended in the morning. Therefore, only fresh tracks of animals that have been fattening at night are visible in the snow, which greatly simplifies their tracking. Real powders in middle lane Russia usually comes not earlier than the beginning of November. Powder is considered good if the snow is so deep that the footprint is clearly marked on it (and at the same time the track is continuous, that is, there are no large bare spaces.

The first powder is always formed by snowfall, the next ones can be the result of a blowing snow. Therefore, powders are top and bottom (alien). But most often the powder is formed by the simultaneous fall of snow and drifting snow. Powders by depth are divided into fine, deep and dead. Small - if the prints of the front paws of the hare are pressed no deeper than the lower joint; deep - if snow falls 10 to 15 centimeters deep, dead - when warm wet snow falls in an even layer 15-20 centimeters thick. The printed one is called powder, when each claw of the animal's paw is clearly printed on the snow. Such powder occurs when shallow melting snow falls (warm powder).

Warm powder is not spoiled by the wind and therefore (if it does not stop melting) is the longest, since after warm powder you can look for fresh traces that are very different from the blurred old ones for two or three or even more days.

According to the duration of the night snowfall, the powder is long and short. Long powder is snow that quickly stopped, and therefore the beast managed to inherit a lot. Conversely, a short powder is a short trail because it has been snowing all night or even continues to fall. Deep (and especially dead powder) will certainly be short, because the beast (especially the hare) by necessity always wanders a little. Regarding the noise that the hunter makes when approaching, the powder can be soft (in warm weather) and hard (in frosty weather, when the snow is loose). Hard powder is always inconvenient to approach, because the noise made by the hunter frightens the beast far away.

Powder, good in the morning, can be spoiled or destroyed by snowfall or drifting snow. In general, after a strong snowstorm, that tracking is rarely successful. In addition, it must be borne in mind that the grassroots powder can only be open places, therefore, on the edge and forest clearings under the wind, the search for fresh tracks is very difficult. On the contrary, if the snow continues to sweep, then the traces in the field will be noticeable, and under the forest they are very clearly visible. There is almost always wind in the steppes, and therefore during the day the powder usually always spoils there (an exception is warm weather).

Traveling powder is such a powder when dry, like fluff, snow falls on the frozen ground and does not give a stop to the paws for the dog while running. With such powder, the dog glides and runs over the frozen ground, as if on ice. Powder is very important when hunting for an animal, especially for a hare, also for rifle hunters. They can track the beast on skis throughout the winter.

MALIK

Malik is the whole path of a hare, marked in the snow during the night, from his bed, where he spent the day, to the place of fattening (the place where the hare fed), and back to the lair. The ability to recognize a variety of hare tracks is very important especially for those hunters who plan to hunt a hare by trailing.

Tracking the whites is quite difficult, and therefore the hare are more often "trailed". It is difficult to see a hare in the winter on the bed, besides, it confuses the moves very much and often lies down in a “strong” place. In addition, hare trailing is a very tedious task. He greatly confuses his moves, fills the paths, runs into the tracks of other whites, circles a lot and makes loops. Therefore, in areas where both hare and hare are found, it is very important to be able to distinguish them along the trail, which is given quite quickly.

From left to right: trace of a white hare, trace of a hare on the crust, trace of a hare, trace of a hare on the crust

The hare that lives in the forest, where the snow is a little looser than in the field, has wider and rounder paws, fingers spread wider, and the beast leaves footprints in the snow that resemble a circle in outline; the hare has an oval footprint. When the snow is not as loose (with printing powder), individual fingerprints show up. But in the hare, the traces of the hind legs are still slightly wider than in the hare. More elongated and parallel to each other and slightly ahead of each other, the traces of the hare belong to the hind legs, and similar in shape to a circle and going one after the other, along the line - to the front legs.

From left to right: end tracks, end tracks with discounts, fat tracks, chasing tracks, jumping chasing tracks

A sitting hare leaves another trail. The imprints of the front paws are located almost together, and the traces of the hind paws lose their mutual parallelism. Since the animal, when sitting, bends its hind legs to the first joint, then in the snow, in addition to the legs, the entire groove is also printed. (In the figure below, the prints of the hind feet with grooves are shaded.) If this case is excluded (when the hare is sitting), then the tracks of the hind feet always remain parallel to each other, and if tracks are seen in which the prints of the hind feet go apart (i.e. clubfoot ), then these are not hare tracks, but cats, dogs or foxes when they go in jumps. The same can be said about the track, in which one hind leg is significantly ahead of the other.

footprint of a sitting hare

The normal trail of a hare is big jumps. At the same time, the animal takes out its hind legs almost simultaneously, and puts its front legs one after the other. Only when the jumps are very large, the hare puts the front paws almost together. The usual traces of a hare are called terminal, since with such measured jumps he goes to the fattening and returns from it. The difference between the fat traces and the terminal ones is that the paw prints are not much apart from each other, and the individual traces practically merge. Such traces are called fat because the animals leave them where they feed, moving slowly and often sitting down. Discount (in other words - estimating traces) the hare leaves with large jumps, which he makes at an angle to the original direction of movement.

With discount tracks, the hare tries to hide, interrupt his own track, before he decides to lie down. Usually there are one or three "discounts", occasionally four, after which the usual, end tracks go again. As a rule, before making a discount, the hare doubles its tracks. The jumping jumps of a hare differ from the end tracks by the distance between the tracks, and also by the fact that the prints of the front paws are located together. The hare makes chasing (whipping) tracks when he is frightened away from the lair - and then the beast goes with big jumps. Race tracks are very similar to discount or end tracks (only in the opposite direction), since the prints of the front paws are closer to the prints of the hind legs of the previous, and not the same jump.

hare noose

From the place where the hare sat before dusk, the malik usually begins with fatty traces, which then turn into trailers. They sometimes go straight to the fats, where the hare always moves in small “steps”, often stops and sits down. Having fed, the hare sometimes runs and plays, and chasing tracks immediately come across. Having run over, the animal feeds again, or already at dawn it goes with fat end tracks to a new lair. Before choosing a safe place to lie, the hare begins to dodge, again crossing its previous tracks. Sometimes such loops occupy large areas. At point A, it is rarely possible to say with certainty, without turning the loops, that the tracks belong to the convergent malik or another hare passed here.

Rarely there are more than two loops. After them, “twos” and “triples” begin (doubling or building a trace). In this case, the tracks can overlap each other, and here the skill and ability to distinguish a double track from a regular one is necessary. After the “two”, the hare most often makes a discount to the side, but after the “troika” (rarely encountered), there are usually no marks, and the beast jumps further a decent distance. Usually, in a hare, “twos” and “threes” are seen along roads or crests of ravines, where, as a rule, there is little snow, and at the beginning of winter, in meadows, in hollows and on recently frozen rivers and streams. The length of the "twos" is not constant and can vary from five to one hundred and fifty steps. “Twos” indicate the proximity of the haul, and if a hare after a “two” with a discount goes a decent distance, changing the discount tracks to the end ones, then this is usually an exceptional case.

"Threes" are usually not very long and the direction of the trail after them usually does not change (and very rarely they are followed by a discount). Almost always, the hare "takes off" at right angles to the direction of movement; after several discount jumps, there are several trailer jumps and again the second "two" with discounts. Quite often, Russians are limited to only two "twos", but there are maliks, where the number of "twos" reaches eight or more.

This information, first of all, will be of interest to novice hunters. If you can offer better and more informative pictures, as well as add a photo winter footprints animals that are not in this article, publish them in the appropriate section of the photo gallery (indicating the name of the animal) and leave a link here. Detailed comments are welcome.

Animal footprints in the snow, photo with names

Below you will find several photos of animal footprints in the snow, which were added by site users to the Pathfinder section of the gallery, and schematic images of footprints of a hare, wolf, fox, bear, wild boar and other animals.

Moose footprint

It is difficult for an experienced hunter to confuse the trace of an elk with the traces of other animals. Of course, they are very similar to the hoof prints of a large cattle and some wild relatives of the elk, but they are much larger in size. The hooves of a male elk, even if of an average build, are always larger than the hooves of the largest domestic bull. Generally moose is coming heavy, in loose snow sinks deep, to the ground. The stride length is usually about 80 cm. When trotting, the step is wider - up to 150 cm, and when galloping, jumps can reach 3 meters. The width of the imprint, excluding lateral fingers, is about 10 cm in moose and 14 cm in bulls, and the length is 14 cm and 17 cm in females and males, respectively.

Photo of elk footprints in the snow added by user zh.a.v.77. in 2017.

Another photo of the traces of the elk:

hare footprint

Hares leave two long hindprints in front and two shorter front paw prints behind them. On the snow, the length of the trace of the front paws is about 8 cm with a width of 5 cm, and the length of the hind legs is up to 17 cm, with a width of about 8 cm. Due to its specificity, it is not difficult to determine the traces of the oblique, as well as the direction of its movement. Hiding from the chase, the hare can jump up to 2 meters, and in a "calm environment" the length of the jump is about 1.2 - 1.7 meters.

A photo of hare footprints in the snow was added by the user Laychatnik in 2015.

More photos of hare tracks:

fox footprint

Fox tracks allow an experienced hunter to determine the nature of its movement. The footprint of a fox is usually about 6.5 cm long and 5 cm wide. The stride length is from 30 to 40 cm. However, while hunting or avoiding pursuit, the fox makes quite long (up to 3 m) jumps and throws forward, right or left - at right angles to the direction of movement.

Photo of fox tracks in the snow added by user kubazoud in 2016.

More photos of fox tracks:

bear footprints

Traces brown bear easy enough to recognize among the tracks of other animals. This heavyweight (on average, his weight is about 350 kg) cannot go through the snow and mud unnoticed. The imprints of the front paws of the animal are about 25 cm long, up to 17 cm wide, and the hind paw prints are about 25-30 cm long and about 15 cm wide. The claws on the front paws are almost twice as long as on the hind ones.

Photo of bear footprints in the snow added by willi in 2016.

More photos of bear tracks:

wolf footprints

The tracks of wolves are very similar to the paw prints of large dogs. However, there are also differences. The fore fingers of the wolf are more advanced forward and removed from the rear by the width of a match, while in dogs, the fingers are brought together and such a gap is no longer observed. Experienced hunters on the trail can distinguish what gait the animal moved at a pace, trot, gallop or quarry.

Photo of wolf tracks in the snow added by Sibiriak in 2014.

More photos of wolf tracks:

wolverine footprints

Wolverine tracks are difficult to confuse with someone else's. The front and hind feet have five toes. The length of the imprint of the front paw is about 10 cm, the width is 7-9 cm. The hind paw is slightly smaller. A horseshoe-shaped metacarpal callus is often imprinted on the snow, and a carpal callus located directly behind it. The first shortest toe of the fore and hind feet may not be imprinted in the snow.

Photo of wolverine tracks in the snow added by user Tundrovik in 2014.

boar footprints

It is not difficult to distinguish the trace of an adult wild boar from the traces of other ungulates, because in addition to the imprint of the hoof itself on the snow or ground, there is a trace of stepson fingers located on the side. Interestingly, in young piglets in the first months of life, these fingers are not supporting, and therefore do not leave a trace.

Photo of wild boar footprints in the snow added by user Hunter57 in 2014.

One more photo:

Roe deer footprint

According to the imprint of the roe deer's footprint, one can judge the speed of its movement. During running and jumping, the hooves move apart and, along with the front toes, the side ones serve as a support. When the animal moves at a pace, the print looks different.

Photo of roe deer footprints in the snow added by Albertovich in 2016.

More photos of roe deer tracks:

Tips for becoming a hunter tracker

In Nature everywhere and everywhere scattered infinite set various traces - from very small, barely noticeable nibbles and passages of larvae in seeds, leaves, thin bark of branches, to grandiose destruction caused by earthquakes, mountain collapses, hurricanes, snow avalanches. Under footprints in the narrow hunting sense, they usually also mean birds, paths made by them through snow, loose earth, damp silt, in soft forest litter or on a carpet of mosses and lichens. Clear clear traces, 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 place of its rest to another, or, as hunters sometimes say - trot out, go out his diurnal transition. However, all this information will be open and useful to you only if you can 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 tracker who can read the book of Nature...

Why be able to read footprints

Skillfully using the traces and having traveled a fairly long route through fresh powder, you can easily determine where, how many and what kind of game animals and birds are found in the area you have surveyed, which lands are now inhabited by them more densely, which less often. In short, on fresh snow, along a white path, a lot that is not noticeable along the black trail in autumn becomes completely clear 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 pick them up from the bed and see (especially if you don’t have a specially trained one).

Such reconnaissance in the first days of the hunt ensures the correct alignment of forces, the expedient use of available time. But, even animals active during the day, for example, hazel grouses, pheasants, white and, leaving their nests in the snow, show us where they feed, take cover for the night. However, even when hunting along the black trope, the traces of this game cannot be neglected. In autumn, for example, during the days of hunting for hazel grouse with a beeper, it is useful to note the places where you come across fresh droppings on the roads and on the paths. The fact is that hazel grouse willingly runs out onto the roads to collect grains of sand and gravel, to pluck fresh grass. Where you find their droppings, you should definitely beckon, 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 beeper will be heard in almost all corners of its area. But, this technique is useful only where the hazel grouses are unevenly distributed, in spots, but where there are a lot of them, you can beckon everywhere.

How to learn to read footprints

The ability to recognize traces, to firmly know their specific differences - this is the alphabet of a tracker hunter. Those who do not own this technique will not be able to read the tracks, which means that they will not be able to cope with tracking and searching, in other words, they will completely lose the opportunity to hunt certain types of animals.

Traces of both large and small animals are excellently imprinted on the soft lamellar surface of the snow. 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, over a dense crust. From such traces, at least write a picture, at least take photographs. It is for them that it is worth starting to study the alphabet of traces. It is good, of course, to have an experienced instructor, but even without him, subject to your perseverance and patience, 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, chickens, 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 juxtapositions that many details of the footprints are revealed that otherwise would have gone unnoticed by you.

To determine the type of animal from footprints, it is also important to take into account the size and shape of the footprints of the hind and front legs - they can be the same or vice versa, they can differ greatly, like hares and squirrels, the number of fingers on them, the size and shape of callosities, the presence or the absence of claw marks, their length, the size and shape of the hooves, the ability of the fingers to move more or less when moving from dense to loose or marshy ground. And finally, perhaps most importantly, to celebrate mutual arrangement footprints and stride or jump length.

Animal footprints in the snow

When the snow is deep and loose, the outlines of the tracks become blurry and indistinct on it, not at all the same as with printing powder. A heavy animal wades and sinks heavily in the snow. The edges of the track pits crumble, furrows stretch between them, and the whole path of the animal or large bird is a deeply plowed groove with a string of obscure pits where feet have stepped. Determining such a trace, one has to use not the signs of footprints, but how the pits are located, whether they are deep, what is the length of steps, jumps, and the width of the path as a whole, as well as the whole sum of signs, which we call species handwriting of an animal.

On the move, the animal rests either on the entire foot - these are plantigrade animals, otters, etc., or only on the tips of the fingers - digitigrade - 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 hindquarters. In cats, grabbing prey with sharp, sharply curved claws, they are retractable and do not leave prints on the trail, as they are hidden under the soft part of the fingers.

Most animals during fast jumps throw strong hind legs ahead of the front ones, leaving a weaker track, and are repelled by sharp blows from the hind legs. So do wolves, foxes, roe deer and other animals at a gallop. And, for hares, squirrels, chipmunks, such jumps are a common type of gait, with it paw prints are given in fours, larger traces of the hind legs are wider, in front of and on the sides of the smaller front ones, which often lie in a line one after another. For the usual small trot of a wolf, fox, corsac jackal, the prints are arranged in one line - in a chain or rope. At the same time, the hind legs fall exactly into the traces of the front ones and are located strictly according to an imaginary middle line animal body. Of the dogs, only the good ones can keep this type of running for a long time, while most of the others leave traces in the form of a double line of prints or a broken, angular stripe, as they put their legs apart. A double row of prints of a wolf or a fox is left only where they walk slowly, wary, sneaking up on prey or trying to slip past people unnoticed. In foxes, in addition, the legs begin to tangle, and the chain of prints loses its clarity when a well-fed, tired animal goes to a secluded thicket in the morning to lie down. In convenient places in mild weather, a sleeping fox can be approached for a shot, taking such a trail, stretching from the fields where it moused, to thickets of weeds, thickets of undergrowth in swamps, steppe ravines ... Ob.

The arrangement of prints in close pairs or triplets is typical for sable, marten, polecat, mink, Siberian weasel, and ermine. The imprints of the right and left feet are located side by side, adjoining one another on the midline of the footprint. When jumping, the hind legs hit exactly the tracks of the forelegs or slightly go behind them. Jumps are usually longer, and for a polecat, ermine, and weasel, their length is constantly changing, and the entire path of the animal reflects many sharp turns in one direction or the other. Traces of such a move by a shuttle resemble the contour 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 chosen by the animal, usually taking into account the direction of the wind.