Estimating track age with reference prints

When a foot presses into the ground, it compacts the soil and pushes it aside. Right afterwards the edges are sharp, the walls of the print stand upright, and the soil inside is often damper and darker than the surroundings because fresher, moister soil has been exposed. Fine details such as toe pads or claws are clearly visible.

Then nature starts to change the print. The surface dries and becomes lighter, rims crumble and collapse. Wind blows sand or dust in, rain rounds off the edges and leaves small drop craters. Leaves, needles or insect trails appear inside the print. In snow, rims melt in the sun and freeze hard at night.

The problem: every substrate ages differently. A print in damp clay can stay sharp for a long time, one in dry sand blurs quickly. Sun, shade, wind and temperature also play a part. That is why track ageing can hardly be learned from tables – only by comparison with prints whose age you know.

Find a spot where you are allowed to practise and disturb nothing – ideally in your own garden. Press several prints into soil, sand or mud there with your knuckles, a stick or your shoe. These are your reference prints.

Photograph them immediately and then again and again, for example after one hour, in the evening and the next day. It is important to always photograph from the same angle and to note the weather and the position of the sun. After a few days you have a small series of pictures showing how a print ages in exactly this ground.

Repeat the whole thing in different soil, in sun and in shade, or in different weather. You will be amazed at how different the results are. Precisely this experience will later stop you from simply transferring what you learned on sand to clay. With children it becomes an exciting detective exercise.

The most powerful tool is the weather timeline – knowing when it last rained, snowed or froze. If it rained last night and a track shows no raindrop marks, it is younger than the shower. If fresh snow lies in a print, it is older than the snowfall. Such events are like time stamps in the landscape.

Then look at the features you got to know with your reference prints: how sharp are the edges? Is the soil inside the print damp or dry? Have the rims collapsed? Is there debris inside? Only the combination of several features gives a useful estimate.

Give the result as a range, not a time. “This morning to yesterday” is an honest statement; “exactly three hours ago” almost never is. In practice the rough distinction is usually enough anyway: is this place in use right now or not?

If a track of a large animal looks very fresh, do not investigate further. That means: do not go closer, do not follow the track, but gain distance and adjust your route. Your estimate of age is never precise enough to be sure the animal is already far away.

Use this knowledge when choosing a rest or camp site too. Many fresh tracks in one place mean there is activity right now – a poor place for your tent. Age estimation also does not replace guidance from area managers: if an area is closed because of wildlife, the closure applies.

Making reference prints is a common exercise in tracking courses, because the ageing of a track depends on too many factors to learn by heart. Even experienced trackers therefore usually give ranges rather than exact times.

Snow calls for particular care. Sun and wind quickly melt prints and make them look larger than they originally were. Rims frozen overnight, by contrast, are hard and crusty – a hint that the track has been through at least one cold night.