Tracking is the oldest outdoor skill and one of the most undervalued. Here is how to read the sign that animals leave and what it tells you about where they are now.
Footprints
Learning to identify footprints takes field time, not book study — but some fundamentals help. Track size indicates species and age: juvenile deer make smaller, rounder prints than adults; large adult sambar prints exceed 10cm in length. Gait patterns reveal behaviour: a walking deer leaves prints in a consistent diagonal pattern; a deer that has been disturbed leaves a bounding pattern with longer intervals between sets.
Track ageing requires experience: fresh prints have crisp, defined edges and may retain moisture in dry conditions; old tracks have crumbled edges, dried soil, and may contain debris blown in by wind.
Runs and Paths
Animals use consistent travel routes — runs. In dense vegetation, these appear as trails at animal height (not human height). Following a run reveals travel patterns: where animals come from, where they go, and where they pause. Pressed vegetation and disturbed leaf litter at a junction reveals a decision point worth checking regularly.
Feeding Sign
Deer: stripped bark, rubs (antler velvet removal on small trees), scrapes (ground disturbance in the breeding season), and browsed vegetation at height.
Pigs: rooting disturbance — large areas of overturned soil, wallows, and worn rubbing trees smeared with mud.
Fish: surface rings, baitfish scattering, birds working an area indicate feeding fish below.
Scat
Identifies species and indicates freshness. Warm, glossy scat is fresh — the animal is close. Cold, dry scat is old. Pellet scat from deer and rabbits, elongated scat from predators and foxes, cylindrical scat from wombats (cubic, actually — uniquely). Learn to identify what you are hunting.
