Wildlife Tracking Southwest

The ability to identify wildlife track and sign comes readily to anyone with interest, focus and a desire to learn. Like any skill, tracking sufficiency comes with practice and time spent in the field.  Beginning with basic studies, one builds a foundation of knowledge that revolves around ecological systems, their corresponding wildlife, and the ability to distinguish track and sign of various animals.  

The following are a few simple practices beneficial to learning tracking:

Spend Time in the Books:  There are numerous resources to learn track and sign. Thanks to the efforts of many dedicated wildlife trackers, we have excellent guides at our finger tips that share in minutes what took years to learn.  Peruse them to no end!

Get Quality Time Outdoors:  Obviously, it's hard to read the stories of the wilds from the couch... sad but true.  Going outside with the intention of learning sign is always fruitful- even if you're only out for half an hour.  There's a lesson in every outing.  

Being in the field with competent trackers and naturalists: There is no replacement for strolling about with someone who can point out things of interest in the field and explain simple, useful identifying characteristics. 

Building an understanding of ecosystems and wildlife behavior: Knowing the basics of what makes up the flora and fauna of a particular area and why animals are creating particular sign. (i.e, Why?: buck rubs, bobcat scrapes, woodrat cactus collection, etc)

Drawing:  Have no fear!  Some of the initial drawings of the best trackers in the field look like stick figures!  This practice allows the observer to really "look" at tracks on the ground and ingrain specific characteristics into the memory bank.

Trailing: Following footprints not only lends incredible insight into the lives of animals, but trains our eyes to respond accordingly to changes in the appearance of a track in different substrates. (jargon: "substrate" refers to soils, pine duff, snow, etc.)

Enjoying the process!: Wildlife tracking is a deeply rewarding experience and really quite fun. Let's keep it that way!

-Turkey vulture tracks in silt

-Holes created by emerging cicadas