Homeschool › Outdoor Skills › Animal Tracks and SignsAnimals leave stories everywhere: in mud, sand, snow, and even on nibbled pinecones. The 1911 Handbook for Boys has a long chapter on tracks and trailing. It also warns that “not one track in ten thousand is fit to cast,” so when you find a good one, it's worth saving.
For grown-ups: When tracking along creeks, ponds, or beaches, stay with a grown-up and keep back from the water's edge.
Things to try In any order, at your own pace. Tick what you've tried if you like keeping track; ticks stay on this device.
Study your own tracks Walk, then run, then hop across damp sand or a muddy patch. Look at how far apart the prints are and how deep the toes press in. A good goal: you can tell someone how a running track looks different from a walking one.Learn five common tracks Use a field guide or printout to learn dog, cat, squirrel or rabbit, bird, and deer or raccoon tracks. Dogs usually show claw marks and cats usually don't. A rabbit's big back feet land in front of its front feet. A good goal: you can sketch all five from memory.Set a track trap Smooth a patch of soft dirt or damp sand near a fence line, garden edge, or feeder, and check it the next morning. Sketch or photograph anything you find. A good goal: you've checked your trap on at least three mornings.Look for other signs Go on a sign hunt for chewed nuts or pinecones, feathers, nests, burrows, worn paths, and droppings (look, don't touch). Write down where you found each one and who you think left it. A good goal: you've found five different signs.Measure and record a track Measure a track's length and width, and the distance between prints (the stride). Draw it life-size in a nature journal along with the date, place, and your best guess at the animal. A good goal: you have three journal entries.Make a plaster cast Find a clear track and gently brush away loose bits. Press a ring of cardboard or a cut-off plastic cup around it, then pour in plaster of Paris mixed about as thick as pancake batter. Let it harden at least 30 minutes before lifting it out, and clean it the next day. A good goal: you have a cast you can label and keep.Follow a trail After snow, or along a muddy path or beach, follow one animal's tracks as far as you can. Notice where it stopped, turned, or sped up. A good goal: you can tell the story of what the animal was doing.Lay a trail and teach it Make a trail of your own with arrows of sticks, pebble piles, or chalk marks for a family member to follow to a hidden prize. A good goal: they reach the end and you've explained how you read real animal trails.Read about it in the old books ← All outdoor skills Teddy Rook Book is not affiliated with or connected to any scouting or youth organization. These pages are free ideas to use however you like.