Ageing Tracks

[liontracker]

In the Rigging Lions thread there was some mention as to how to tell how old a track is.

This is what I do:
I have a place by the kennels that I make a set of boot tracks in every day. Each new set is made beside the one's from the day before. The tracks are made in the sun as well as in the shade. I also mark down on the calendar everytime it rains or snows and how much. After two weeks I smooth it out and start over. This gives a good reference.

[Mr.pacojack]

In the Rigging Lions thread there was some mention as to how to tell how old a track is.

This is what I do:
I have a place by the kennels that I make a set of boot tracks in every day. Each new set is made beside the one's from the day before. The tracks are made in the sun as well as in the shade. I also mark down on the calendar everytime it rains or snows and how much. After two weeks I smooth it out and start over. This gives a good reference.

I think that anyone that has spent any time in the feild looking at track will know that this will not work at all. The different soils the different enviorments. I have seen tracks that look different 50 feet downt the trail.
This may work if you are chasin cats around your kennel, I guess.
The way to get good at aging track is wearing out your boots in the feild, not from the computer to the kennel.
Not sure if you are being serious about this or not. Looks like something I read in the boy scout handbook when I was a kid.
Your always good for a good laugh anyway. Couln't help myself on this one.

[Big Mike]

Actually the method LT described is the best way of learning how weather ages tracks. It best if you can do it in multiple types of soils and different times of the year because it changes with soil types.


And FYI this is the method taught in about every man tracking school around. Even taught to Specail Ops type units. And they have got alot of dead diaper heads to show for it!!!

[Mr.pacojack]

Actually the method LT described is the best way of learning how weather ages tracks.

Better than being in the feild seeing it everyday? Ya OK, You got me sold
If you could do this on different areas, such as top of the hills, under ledges, under trees, top of ridges,washes, bowls. Not in one spot at the side of your kennel.
The best is still going to be out in the feild seeing the tracks day in and day out.
When they killed all those towl heads, all bet they had an eye opener when they got out in the feild and that is when the real training began.

[twist]

I would have to say conditions differ so much from one area to the next or from one spot to the next, just like Devin has stated. A track in the bottom of a coulee or on a tree covered north slope sure looks alot different than one on the ridge top were more exposed to wind and other factors or from a south slope that is rocky. I believe everyonce in awhile we get lucky at aging a track but when it comes right down to it, it a guestamate no matter how good we all think we are at aging tracks. jmo later, Andy

[poser]

Aging tracks is a good idea and whatever works run with it. I wish i had the dog power to worry about running those old tracks. One of these days.......

I try not to over think things....don't have the extra brain power to spare. I just let my mentally weak culls decide if they can run it or not. Usually if its more then 10 minutes old were screwed. So i guess i've just never had to worry about a day or two old track. See what you guys get yourselves into having good dogs........?

Have a good one fellas, jason

[sourdough]

Soil types and conditions have a lot to do with the look of freshness on a track; the true test comes when you place a dog down to check. How well do you know your hounds? How old of a track can they handle? Are you honest about their true abilities? If you spend time in the field checking for tracks and you were there yesterday and find a track today then you know it was made in the last twenty four hours, If you are riding horse/mule back and you were in there yesterday and your dog strike a track today then you know that a lion past, in the last twenty four hours. That is all I care about! After 36-48 hours you would be better served to use your woodsmen skills and get out and find where that lions headed and shorten that time line up. Granted you can catch a lay up now and again on those old tracks and if that’s all you have to work with then you owe it to your hounds to stay with it, but I hope that most can tell whether or not that lion they are trailing is hunting or stepping out of the country. And you have sense enough to use your head to close the deal! I age a track by what my hounds can do with it and that’s that If my hounds are long bawling but moving then I know I have a chance if they are long bawling and standing on their heads then I make a plan to try and get that track in a better spot if they chop their way out of the country then I know it was fresh. That’s ageing made simple I don’t have time to make tracks out by the barn as I am to busy making tracks in the hills.

sourdough

[Ike]

I age a track by what my hounds can do with it and that’s that If my hounds are long bawling but moving then I know I have a chance if they are long bawling and standing on their heads then I make a plan to try and get that track in a better spot if they chop their way out of the country then I know it was fresh.
sourdough

Wind, sun and temperature can sure make a fresh track look old quick! A couple good hounds can tell a guy whether they like it or not, and the rest doesn't matter. I've had fresh looking tracks not run worth a damn and some with wind in them that left out rather quickly--best bet let the dogs take a sniff!

Weather is so spotty around here I can't imagine how anybody could apply weather conditions from one side of the Basin to the other. I use to look at weather forecast and it was say 40 percent chance of snow, and I took that like there is a 40 percent chance of snow. Nowdays I figure it means there is a 40 percent chance of snow somewhere in the Basin, although it probably isn't where I want to hunt!

ike

[Mike Leonard]

Poser,

You are wise to trust the best teacher. Old Govt. Hunters George Nay and Ken Kiggens told me one time the nose of a good hound beats the eyes of a man any day.

Sourdough, no wonder you are a professional and your excistance comes from tracks of one kind or another, I salute you Amigo very good wisdom. As for me and Mr. MaGoo we just sort of stumble around in a sort of orchestrated style of confusion clinging to the old theory that( Even a blind sow will find and acorn occasionaly). LOL!

[Ike]

As for me and Mr. MaGoo we just sort of stumble around in a sort of orchestrated style of confusion clinging to the old theory that( Even a blind sow will find and acorn occasionaly). LOL!

The theory I heard went like this Mike "even a blind squirrel can find an acorn from time to time."

[Eric Muff]

IF LAYING TRACKS ALONG SIDE THE KENNEL PUTS A TRICK OR TWO IN YOUR TOOL BAG DO IT.

[sourdough]

“As for me and Mr. MaGoo we just sort of stumble around in a sort of orchestrated style of confusion clinging to the old theory that( Even a blind sow will find and acorn occasionaly). LOL!”

Mike,
I forgot to add that most of the time I take the Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder approach to lion hunting myself. Although it sure would have been nice to have had some advice to build on from the likes of George Nay, Steve Mathis, Jack Butler, Wiley Carroll, and many others. I would rate myself an amateur in their company. I try to keep it simple.

From one Magoo to another good hunting!


Sourdough

[African]

For us ageing tracks is supported by knowledge of the ecology of the entire environment.
There are many strictly nocturnal insects and mammals which could indicate approximate time of travel if their spoor is either 'on top' or 'under' that of the target animal.
Others tracks in the immediate vicinity can provide a comparative for the track you are regarding.Knowledge of all animal behavior can assist with some insight.
Different vegetation reacts to impact in varied ways, for example certain grasses will return to upright within an hour, while others may never.
Some soil types preserve tracks misleadingly well.
Following the track by sight for a sufficient distance reveals many clues which is impossible to gain by checking only a few pug marks.
We can generally class a track in 3 loose categories as either definitely older than 8 to 12 hours, between 8 to 2 hours and 2 hours or less.
Really good trackers like the Kalahari Bushmen can put an accurate time on a track in their environment because they have a immense collection of accrued comparison to base their assessment on, but in a foreign habitat they are less accurate.(Still better than most one will ever meet!)

So making a template in the soil with boot tracks is definitely going to give you some information, but it is only elementary.

Judging track age is fundamental to knowing whether your dogs have nose or not - and also the distance your quarry MIGHT possibly be ahead of you.

[sourdough]

African,

So what I gather from your information is that in Africa the native bush peoples can fairly judge a track or “spoor” whether blood or (pug) foot print, from 0-12 hours old in their environment from which they come? I have heard of the ability of the Bushmen of Africa and I am intrigued with their ability. I know of their knowledge of tracking game too be uncanny. It is a shame that most in this country are not as attune to there environment as those in Africa, but there are some that can tell you the behavior of the animal they are after as well as where they are headed from nothing other than time spent in the field. Zero to twelve hours is a fair assumption and is a good track. After that it is a guess at best for us, but a hound can tell you how far off you are. I could not hold a candle to the African Bushmen in their knowledge of the game they hunt, the only others that could come close to what you have there is the natives of South America. I am just thankful I have trail hounds they take away all guess work.

Great information and very well spoken.

Sourdough

[African]

Sourdough,

Actually any hunter here worth his salt will be able to judge tracks as I described because we have an active culture of tracking in our hunting traditions.
The Bushmen are really the epitome of this skill, very similar to the Australian Aboriginals, due to their primitive reliance on their surrounding environment.

I strongly believe that in order to accurately train your hounds, and later understand their individual abilities, One must possess very good tracking skills and track ageing ability.