If you’re interested in seeing tracks of more species, you can check out my iPhone and Android tracking apps here. Here are 5 that seem to be in everyone’s backyard. The best way to get started with tracking in the snow is to first learn the most common species you’re likely to encounter. Researchers have even conducted wildlife surveys in snow by identifying the tracks of larger animals from small airplanes! Gait patterns are one of the best tools to ID tracks in the snow and some species are easily recognized from a distance simply by the pattern of tracks. While trackers usually depend upon the details in each track (like the number and shape of the toes or the presence of claws) to make identifications, in snow it is often necessary to look for other clues.
In deep, melted snow I’ve actually seen people mistake squirrel tracks for those of a bear!
Additionally, tracks can become distorted and expand dramatically as snow melts. While tracking in the snow can be fantastically easy, it can also be deceptively tricky. Everything you know about tracks gets upended when the tracks are hidden at the bottom of deep leg holes in deep snow.
