Reading animal signs – for awareness, not hunting

Every animal leaves traces of its daily life. Footprints – trackers often just call them prints – appear when a foot presses into soft ground. How clear they are depends mainly on the surface: damp mud, fine sand and fresh snow show many details, hard forest floor covered in leaves shows almost none. That is why you find most prints along stream banks, the edges of puddles and on paths after rain.

Besides prints there are many other signs. Scat (droppings) shows that an animal was here and roughly what it ate. Feeding signs such as bitten-off shoots, gnawed bark or stripped cones reveal where animals feed. Game trails are narrow, worn paths that animals use again and again. Hair on fences, scratch marks on trees or churned-up ground complete the picture.

Many small clues add up to a story: roughly what kind of animal, how often a place is used and how long ago. For your safety the rough classification is usually enough – small or large, old or fresh, single or heavily used.

Good trackers look slowly and deliberately. They stop, crouch down and view the ground from a low angle. Light coming in at a slant, for example in the morning or evening, casts small shadows inside prints and makes them far more visible than the midday sun. A torch held to the side also helps in a dark forest during the day.

Always photograph a print from directly above and place something of known size next to it, such as a pen or a ruler – but without touching the track. That way you can compare calmly at home later. Do not step into the track or change it, because then the information is lost.

Be careful with quick conclusions. A single print can deceive: in snow, tracks melt and look bigger; in mud, feet slip; and different species have similar feet. Reliable species identification needs a lot of experience and often several clues together. A regional field guide or an expert body will help you with that.

Fresh signs of large wildlife are a signal to avoid the area. These include very fresh droppings, freshly churned ground or a carcass, that is, a dead animal. Large animals defending their food may stay near carcasses in particular. Do not follow such signs out of curiosity – turn back or choose another route, and follow local guidance.

Do not touch droppings, carcasses or dead animals. They can transmit pathogens and parasites. If you did touch something, wash your hands thoroughly before eating. Eyes, a camera and a small stick are all you need to examine signs.

Also pay attention to the rules of the area. In many protected areas you must stay on the trails, and at certain times – for example when animals are nesting or giving birth – some areas should not be entered at all. Reading signs is no reason to roam cross-country through such zones. Check local rules and do not disturb animals.

Reading signs is useful when you are looking for a rest or camp site. A heavily used game trail, a water hole with many prints or a spot full of feeding signs is not a good place for your tent: animals pass by there at night, and you disturb them. A little distance and a quieter spot are better for everyone.

It also makes hikes much more exciting, especially with children. Once you know what to look for, you suddenly see signs everywhere – at the edge of a puddle, in snow, on a gnawed hazelnut. This creates a more mindful view of nature without getting too close to any animal.

This entry is not meant for hunting, trapping or deliberately locating animals. Those activities are strictly regulated by law and are not a topic of this knowledge base. Nor will you find identification keys for individual species here – regional specialist literature exists for that.

Reading signs is one of humanity's oldest skills. In the past it was closely tied to hunting. Today it is used mainly by nature watchers, researchers and protected-area staff to learn which animals live in an area – often without ever seeing the animals themselves.

The Leave No Trace principles, a widely used set of rules for considerate behaviour outdoors, call for observing wildlife from a distance, not following it and never feeding it. Reading signs fits this exactly, as long as it stays observation and does not become pursuit.