Snow Tracking

I have just returned from four days in Yellowstone Park taking a class in Snow Tracking at the Yellowstone Institute. The class was taught by Jim Halfpenny, whose book on winter ecology is one of my favorite references (yes, I took it with me and got it autographed).

The class was not just about identifying the animal whose tracks you see in the snow, but how to figure out the story - what the animal was doing as it moved along based on direction, gait, stride, drag, etc. Exactly what I'm always trying to do when I see tracks in the snow. But now I have a more scientific approach to it. I loved it.

The class was held at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch in the park. Located right in the Lamar Valley, the wildlife-rich area where wolves were first re-introduced back in the '90s, the Buffalo Ranch has a collection of log cabins where students stay and a central building with classrooms and a communal kitchen as well as the original ranch barn and corrals. I had a little 12'x12' cabin all to myself. It was clean and cozy.
The class started with morning lectures each day in the classrooms in the central building. Then we went out in the field and looked for tracks all afternoon and Jim taught us how to interpret them.

The first day in the field we made plaster casts of coyote tracks at a road pullout. Making plaster casts in the snow is a little tricky since the plaster as it sets up is exothermic, so it melts the snow, then absorbs the resulting water and turns to lumpy mush. We used some spray wax to prevent that. We ended up with some nice looking casts.
While the casts set up, we followed the coyote tracks. At one place the coyote stopped trotting along, turned, and started bounding away. Something scared it. We measured the length of one bound in deep powder snow at 12' 6"! That's a huge leap for an animal whose hip-to-shoulder length is about 17". The instructor gave us more lectures using untracked snow for a whiteboard.

The next day we skied up a road that is closed in winter, but groomed for cross-country skiers (from Tower Junction to Tower Falls). We saw tracks of ermine, coyote, marten, bison, elk and deer and spent a fair amount of time measuring strides and collecting clues to put together the stories of the various animals' behaviors.

Both of the first days we saw wolves in the distance and watched them through binoculars. The only wolf prints we found were too old to make a cast from because of all the snow that had fallen. But watching these beautiful animals from afar was more thrilling to me than acquiring a wolf print cast. The saddest thing was seeing some of the Druid pack. The whole pack has mange, and they've lost most of their fur. In the cold winter weather, they do not have much thermal protection. They are going to have a rough winter. The Silver Pack, on the other hand, was magnificent with luxuriant winter coats. Even the coyotes are impressive this time of year with their thick coats. We saw at least twelve coyotes over the four days.

The class was almost exclusively about mammal tracking, but some of the clearest tracks we saw were magpie tracks on a rock. Nearby there were lots of bighorn sheep tracks and about 150 yards away was a bison carcass with ravens all over it. Another 100 yards away was a lone wolf watching us. Figuring that the nine of us had scared it off of its meal, we left quietly so it could go back and reclaim the carcass from the ravens.

The last day we went for a backcountry ski which was beautiful, but it was snowing so hard we only saw one track that was fresh enough to do much with, and that was the track of a squirrel that ran right across in front of us and up a tree, so there was not much challenge to interpreting the track. New snow covers up tracks really quickly, so it was disappointing in terms of the class, but it was heavenly to ski in. About half the class snowshoed instead of skiing. We skiers had all the fun. Breaking trail in snowshoes in all that deep, fluffy snow had no rewards that I could see. I, on the other hand was having such a good time I forgot to take pictures.

Altogether it was a fun and rewarding four days. I learned so much in such a short time I am amazed. Now I take a tape measure and field notebook with me every time I go out skiing. I also brought home a can of spray wax that is used to separate plaster from the snow so I can make casts. I want to practice some of the things I learned right away so they will stay in my head. And I want to apply what I learned in the park to my own neighborhood. One more way to get to know my wild neighbors.