TRACKS AND
TRACKING
BY
JOSEF BRUNNER
FULLY ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY
MCMIX
Copyright, 1909, by
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY
All Rights Reserved
CONTENTS
Page Forword ix Remarks 3 PART I Group One—Hoofed Game: The White-Tailed or Virginia Deer 11 The Fan-Tailed Deer 32 The Mule Deer 39 The Wapiti or Elk 43 The Moose 49 The Mountain Sheep 55 The Antelope 61 Predaceous Animals: The Bear 73 The Cougar 92 The Lynx 101 The Domestic Cat 107 The Wolf 109 The Coyote 118 The Fox 121 What Tracking Means and Some Hunting Methods 125 Group Two: The Jack-Rabbit 135 The Varying Hare 140 The Cottontail Rabbit 144 The Squirrel 148 Group Three: The Marten and the Black-Footed Ferret 153 The Otter 157 The Mink 161 The Ermine 164 Group Four: The Beaver 171 The Badger 180 The Porcupine 186 The Skunk 192 PART II Feathered Game: Feathered Game 197LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Page Frontispiece iv VIRGINIA DEER 12 TRACKS OF VIRGINIA DEER 14 VIRGINIA DEER 17 HIND FOOT OF VIRGINIA DEER 20 Trail of a deershot through brisket 22 Trail of a deer
with broken hind leg 22 Same as No. 3 on opposite page, but
bullet did not penetrate to the lungs 22 HOOF OF BLACK-TAILED DEER 28 FAN-TAILED BUCK DEER 33 DEER TRACKS 35 MULE-DEER 40 ELK 43 ELK 46 MOOSE BULL TRACK 50 MOOSE TRACKS 52 MOUNTAIN SHEEP 57 HOG TRACK; WALKING 59 HIND FOOT OF ANTELOPE 62 ANTELOPE 64 THE SIGN OF THE ANTELOPE (BUCK) 64 BEAR FEET—RIGHT SIDE 76 BEAR TRAIL 77 TRACKS OF BEAR, RUNNING 80 BEAR TRACK 82 BEAR STUMP 82 BEAR TRACK 84 BEAR LOG 86 BEAR LOG 89 COUGAR 93 LYNX 101 RIGHT FRONT PAW OF LYNX 103 LYNX TRAIL 106 WOLF 109 WOLF
FOREWORD
TO derive the greatest pleasure from the pursuit of game, either large or small, it is necessary that the disciple of Nimrod be versed in the science of interpreting the meaning of tracks and trails. Nature is as an open book to the man who can read the signs of the woods and plains correctly; and where the uninitiated see only meaningless tracks, experienced hunters find them in many instances the guide to exhilarating sport and a desired trophy. To the tyro the finest tracking snow is useless and the marks he sees everywhere around him simply bewilder him. Were he able to read them as every hunter should, his day's sport would mean enjoyment and success, instead of disappointment and failure.
Game is not so plentiful as it used to be, and for this reason it is generally a waste of time—from the standpoint of the game bag—merely to tramp through the woods and trust to luck. Moreover, the high-power, small-caliber rifles, which are so extensively used, very often lead to shots at distances at which it is not possible to place an immediately fatal bullet. This makes it the more necessary for the hunter to be able to read the signs correctly and to interpret aright the language of the trails. Every sportsman should consider it a sacred duty to bring to bay any animal he has wounded, and he should also regard it a matter of honor to acquire a working knowledge of tracks, trails, and signs. Then he will not, through ignorance, make carrion or wolf-bait of a noble creature which, in all reason, he should have secured.
A sportsman who is unable to interpret the meaning of tracks he encounters, however much game he may have killed by chance, luck, or with the assistance of others, will be considered a tyro in woodcraft by companions who have learned their lessons in this art.
Lack of opportunity on the part of the majority of sportsmen to become versed in tracking lore by actual experience, as well as the incompetence of a great number of guides, is the reason for this book. The contents represent the experience gained from twenty years of uninterrupted life in the great outdoors; and while only half of that time was spent in the pursuit and study of American game, the foreign experience was a considerable aid in arriving at definite conclusions, for the same species, with but few exceptions, show the same features in their trails the world over.
No space has been given to microscopic intricacies, since in the woods plain tracking lore is intricate enough. In practice whoever looks for exaggerated, fine, distinctive features in tracks and trails soon sees things which a sober-minded expert recognizes as imaginative.
It is generally understood that a track means the imprint left on the ground or snow by a passing creature. From its form and appearance the initiated are usually able to tell the species, and in some cases the variety, of animal that made it. Where the latter is not possible, a succession of tracks—the trail, in short—is almost invariably the means of reaching a proper decision. The expert considers not only tracks and trails, but also the "signs," among which are the behavior of animals under certain circumstances, blazed trees, bear logs, beaver stumps and cuttings, excrements, etc., etc. A mere treatise of tracks, trails and signs would in many instances leave the inexperienced man without a comprehensive knowledge; therefore certain actions of the hunted, and notes on hunting methods which have proved practical, although they are not generally known, have been introduced into the text.
It is believed that a thorough study of this book, including the illustrations, will enable the reader to become as well versed in tracking lore as he could by years of actual experience in the woods.
TRACKS AND TRACKING
TRACKS AND TRACKING
GENERAL REMARKS
About the Motive Features of Different Animals
TAKING it for granted that the arrangement of the individual tracks in the trail is due to the general anatomic make-up of the animal which made them, we have to consider four groups in the treatise on mammals.
The first, the members of which possess a length of body correctly proportional to their height, includes the deer, ox, bear, dog, and cat families.
The second includes rabbits, squirrels, and animals whose hind legs are very long in proportion to their front legs.
The third is made up of those animals whose legs, considering the length of their bodies, are very short—marten, mink, etc.
The fourth group embraces the animals whose legs are very short in proportion to the length of the body, and whose bodies, in addition to this, are disproportionately thick—beaver, badger, etc.
Of the various movements, we have to consider the walk, the trot, and the gallop. Animals of the first group plant the feet diagonally in the walk and trot. The hind foot track covers the one made by the forefoot of the same side. If the right forefoot touches the ground first, the left hind foot is placed next, then the left forefoot, and last the right hind foot. Thus four footfalls may be heard when hoofed animals are walking.
In the trot, which is but a hastened walk, the trail assumes more the form of a straight line, because the animal endeavors to plant the feet
The gallop, the quickest movement onward, is a series of leaps or jumps. In it the hind feet serve mainly as propellers while the forefeet support and brace the body; and for this reason the former are placed side by side, or nearly so, while the latter stand one behind the other in the trail. The faster the gallop, the more closely do the tracks conform to these conditions. In the greatest speed of some members of the deer family the hind feet also come nearer the center line, as shown in the illustrations. As, by the velocity of the movement, the hind feet are thrown past the point where the forefeet strike the ground, their imprints appear in front of those of the latter, a fact which should be kept constantly in mind by the trailer, since, in the case of an animal with a broken leg, the appearance of the leap imprints are usually the only means to decide which leg is broken. In animals of the first group a broken foreleg is always more serious than an injured hind leg, and therefore the game is easier brought to bag.
In members of the second group there is but one motion, no matter whether they are moving slow or fast—the hind feet are always thrown ahead of the forefeet, and the track picture is that of the leap.
As the hind feet of animals of this group are considerably larger than the forefeet, it is easily determined which individual foot has made a given track.
The animals of the third group move usually in leaps, but on account of the length of body and the shortness of the limbs, the hind feet are not placed as far ahead of the front pair as in the preceding group. At the usual gait the hind feet cover the forefeet tracks, and the trail picture therefore shows a pair of tracks side by side at regular distances. At a faster pace the trail picture changes, as shown in the illustrations; however, this is so seldom done as to be of almost no consequence to the tracker.
Members of the fourth group, like those of the first, walk and leap; however, the size of the body and the shortness of the legs combine to make a track picture entirely different from and not easily confounded with the trail of the latter. The individual tracks are close together, considering their size, and the toes of the hind feet almost invariably point inward to a marked degree, reaching an extreme limit in the beaver and the badger.
With the exception of the members of the second group and the beaver, the hind feet of all animals are smaller than the forefeet, a fact which, in some instances, has its uses when following the trail.
PART ONE
GROUP I
HOOFED GAME
THE WHITE-TAILED OR VIRGINIA
DEER
THOUGH the American sportsman still can enjoy in some districts, as an inheritance from prehistoric times, the pursuit of the majestic moose, and though the lordly elk still awakens the echoes in many of our mountain ranges with his challenging call, the game in which the great majority of hunters are pre-eminently interested is the elusive white-tailed deer, which is found in all the states except California, Nevada, Oregon, and Delaware, and because to bring it down demands, to say the least, no less skill than is required in the pursuit of its larger relatives.
Though, under ordinary conditions, a single track of any other animal is nearly sufficient to ascertain the species or variety, the case is different where white-tailed and mule deer are concerned—that is, if they inhabit the same locality; and even a small elk track may be taken for that of the white-tailed deer.
The track of a mule deer, roaming in rocky hills or out in the arid breaks of the Bad Lands, is of course a very different thing from that of a white-tail, but let the animals make their permanent stand in white-tail country proper, and almost all difference in their track soon disappears. It is evident that the sole of their hoof undergoes the same change as that of a horse, which can be ridden daily without shoes in dry regions, but which will get footsore within a day or two if it is transferred into a district where rain and dew moisten the grass and keep the ground damp.
VIRGINIA DEER
Considering the individual track, the hoof of the Virginia deer evidently spreads easier than that of any other member of the family, except moose and caribou. It is because of this that, during the season when they are in good condition and in hunting time, the ridge of dirt or snow that is made between the two halves of the hoof, and left in the track, is much more conspicuous than that left by any other deer. However, if the conditions are not ideal—and they most certainly are not if snow is on the ground, under which circumstances most tracking is done—the variance appears so slight that it can be noticed only by examining minutely a perfect track, which may be found along the trail under some tree where not more than an inch of snow has fallen or at a barren spot.
The writer does not depend on the size of the track in deciding whether it was made by a buck or a doe, as he has seen many does which have made as large tracks as the largest bucks; and the common claim that rounded toes always indicate a buck he has also found to be a fallacy. Sometimes it is noticeable in the trail that the hind feet lag, i. e., they do not quite reach the forefeet tracks. This almost invariably means an old buck which has become rather stiff with age. The chance that the same mark is made by an old sterile doe is remote, though, according to observations, possible.
TRACKS OF VIRGINIA DEER
(1) Trail of buck before and after rutting season. (2) During rutting season the drag extends from one step to the next. (3) Trail of doe and fawn; the latter, however, takes still shorter steps. (4) Buck or doe trotting.
Not infrequently, at least much oftener than with black-tail and elk, a marked difference between the two halves of the hoof may be observed in the track of the Virginia deer, and the tracks of the latter appear more slender than those of the former—that is, in the same locality. Some claim that they can always distinguish the track of Virginia from that of other deer, but the writer counts himself among those who can not, and he has noticed that the hunters who claim the skill are in the same predicament when out in the woods.
Accurate measurements with the divider and tapeline would possibly show some slight differences in the tracks of the various kinds of similar sized deer, but they would be so diminutive and variable as to be worthless in practice.
The trail, together with other signs, is much more significant of the doings, ailments and sex of the animal than an individual track would be. During the summer months the buck, and, it must be admitted, the sterile doe also, accumulates a
VIRGINIA DEER. (ONE-HALF NATURAL SIZE)
(1) Front track. (2) Hind track. (3) Lagging back of hind feet; sign of the old buck. (4) Overhastening; the sign of the young buck. 3 and 4 also apply to the elk bull.
Does heavy with fawns show similar features in their trail, but as there are no such does during autumn, we can pass them over. A buck always has the tendency to drag his legs, a feature which reaches the climax during rutting season, while any doe, even the sterile, steps clean if the snow is less than one foot deep. This fact makes it possible to tell a buck's track with certainty, even if tracking conditions are not favorable, because there is always some displacement behind and in front of the tracks which is readily observed in sand or dry snow.
There is one other feature by which the trail of a white-tail buck can be distinguished from that of a doe, and even that of the buck of black-tails, and that is the animal's habit of scanning the surroundings while standing near trees, windfalls, and the like. An old buck at leisure will take careful observations two or three times inside of a hundred yards, except during the rutting season, when he is too busy to spend so much time for safety's sake, and he always does this from what he evidently considers cover.
In open forests are often seen places where the ground has been pawed up, and the ground covering, moss, leaves or sod, thrown in every direction. This always indicates the presence of at least two old bucks in the same locality, and is never done by does.
HIND FOOT OF VIRGINIA DEER. (SLIGHTLY REDUCED)
(A) Dew claws. (B) Heels. (C) Soles. (D) Toes.
About the first of September bucks begin to cleanse their horns of the velvet and small trees and bushes exhibit the signs of having been used for that purpose. Where such signs are found in roomy forests near dense thickets, the sportsman can, with moderate certainty, count on getting a trophy by stalking quietly or waiting from sunrise to about 8 o'clock A.M., or from an hour or so before sundown until dark. Of course it is easier to get meat for the pot near streams and feeding places, where there are plenty of tracks, but as doe and fawn shooting aims at the base of life, and as old bucks usually do not make their appearance there as long as it is light enough for a rifle shot, I would not advise one to stalk or wait there at all. Stalking during rainy days in open forests where bucks have left evidences, such as blazed trees, will, as a rule, be rewarded. At that time, game being comparatively undisturbed, most deer are shot at while standing, and even a poor shot can hardly miss. However, as tracking is more difficult than when snow covers the ground, it is advisable to watch the deer closely for the signs at the moment of firing.
The most important sign to observe is the action of the game when it receives the missile, since it is an evidence of where it was hit. If struck somewhere in the front half, it usually jumps into the air—that is, if it does not drop instantly, which incident we have no need to consider in this connection—and if struck in the hind half, it will kick out with the hind legs. A deer shot through the heart seldom drops immediately. After the first jump, which is often hardly perceptible and no doubt overlooked by the average hunter, it generally makes off at top speed, running close down to the ground. It may run only fifty yards, and it may run five hundred, but one thing is certain—the hunter can follow at once, and the animal will be dead by the time he reaches it.
The most striking exception to the rule of heart shots the writer saw in the Snowy Mountains, Montana, during 1904. A buck was galloping, broadside exposed, at a distance of about one hundred and twenty yards, and was fired at. Four or five jumps after the shot was fired he stopped behind some trees, which prevented another shot. He remained hidden a few seconds, then trotted about thirty yards and stopped again; finally he trotted off, directly away from me, and if ever I would have sworn that a deer was missed, I would have done so then.
However, force of habit compelled me to follow the trail, and about two hundred yards from where he stopped last, the buck lay stone dead. The bullet, a steel-jacketed .30 U. S., had penetrated the heart squarely, and made a hole the size of a quarter. There was not a drop of blood along the trail. Moral: Follow the deer, even if you think you have missed.
A deer shot through the lungs usually goes off, after the first jump, as if nothing had happened to it. There is no variance in its trail from that of an uninjured deer, but alongside the trail there is in every case the story of where the bullet hit, in the shape of foamy, light-colored blood. This trail, too, may be followed immediately.