New to Tracking

[Liam_Thompson]

Hi there,
Im new to the art of tracking, having spent the majority of my 17 years in awe of the animals around me.
There are a few questions I have which may seem pretty basic but I beleive they are must knows .

Firstly, 'must' the scent of foxes, the smells I am discovering in my local woods are similar to human body odour, but with a bit of practice I can smell a clear differance in these woddland scents, but is this the correct scent to be looking for?

Secondly, living in an area were there are almost as many dogs as people, how can I distinguish between signs left by the Dogs and the Foxes?

I hope you guys can help as most books I have read assume an already basic level of knowledge which I am yet to obtain

thanks
Liam

[vole-woman]

Fox poo tends to contain fur and bones, and can have a pointy, twisty end. It's also often white due to (I think) the calcium in the bones they eat.

[ViperaBerus]

To most people, identifying fox tracks in a woodland full of dog walkers is a nightmare, and tracking them made much harder too. So here's a good tip for sorting out fox prints from dogs.

If you pick three longish, straight pieces of grass or very fine twigs and lie them as an X between the pads, a foxes print will not allow the grasses to cross over pads. Also if you lay one across the top of the outer toe pads, then the front pads should always rest above the line and not protrude below it.

It's quite difficult to show it in a picturthis as it was taken at an angle, but you should get an idea...



It obviously also depends on the track degredation, but once you have your 'eye-in' to spot these detail, you can leave the grass behind and easily track foxes along busy woodland paths well used by dogwalkers.

[Liam_Thompson]

Thanks guys much appreciated. I was originally determining fox from dog by the human prints next to the tracks, if they were absent i'd assume fox but this is much more accurate as some dogs have turned out to be foxes and vice versa.

Im currently tracking a vixen and have recently (6-8 weeks ago) seen two kits (?) and your help has been invaluable on my latest outings

thanks again
Liam