Tracking Tips

[Bear River]

Thought it might be helpful to start a thread on tracking tips. Please feel free to add your tips below. Any animal, or share any interesting things you have noticed while tracking.

This first group is going to be tips for elk that have been spooked or shot, I wouldn't assume these translate to tracking deer(they really dont behave the same). If you are tracking a wounded or spooked elk and cant find the next track,
-Go back to the last track you found and pay close attention to the direction the toes point, even a slight turn could throw you off track.
-If the ground is hard, you might have to go 10 - 20 yds to locate the next track.
-From the last track, stand up and take in the big picture, ask yourself "visually what is the path that is least obstructed by large trees, rocks, etc". Is there a clear opening 50 yards ahead? Go check it for tracks, but make sure you have marked the track you are currently standing over with flagging before you leave it.
-Out here in the west its often hard dry ground where even large animals on the run dont leave a good track. Using the methods mentioned above you can at least give you a good guess on the direction to look, move in that direction and keep a close eye out for newly broken twigs, flattened or parted grass, and soft spots in the ground where you might pickup a new track.
-Elk dont usually make sudden changes in direction, they may make slight changes to take the path of least resistance. When they are spooked or injured, they are a big powerful animal with a lot of momentum behind them. They are going to pick a direction and plow through just about anything they can.
-When an elk runs off through a bedding area or a highly traveled trail it can sometimes be difficult to separate out which track was the elk you are following. Pay close attention to tracks with fresh dirt flicked up near the toe of the track, it usually isnt much, but it can help.



Tips for tracking elk that arent spooked or injured.
-Elk trails tend to be used year after year, but trail use is dependent on season and food/water availability, pressure, etc.
-Elk are like cattle and I've observed in a basin where the elk moved in a circuit around the basin over a 3 day period. So every 3 days or so, there were back bedding in the roughly the same spot. This was during a time of zero hunting pressure.
-A great time to scout for elk trails is in the early spring, trails can be easily glassed from a distance because the trails tend to show up muddy on hillsides.
-Remember its sometimes easy to confuse a cattle trail with an elk trail in areas where grazing is allowed. Often they use the same sets of trails though, just makes it tough to find fresh use sometimes.
-Trails that side hill or angle uphill are typically going to be used in the morning when the animal is going from a water source to or through a feeding area up to a bedding area.
-Trails that run down a ridgeline or that run more vertical on a hillside are typically going to be used in the evening when the animals are moving down to get water, or as an escape route from a bedding area.

Thats all I can think of at the moment, maybe more will come to me. Hopefully this will help out some newer folks