Reading Animal Tracks and Signs on Hocking Hills Trails

Most wildlife in Hocking Hills never lets you see it. The tracks it leaves behind are another story. Muddy creek crossings, damp gorge floors and fresh snow all hold prints, and a few simple habits will help you tell a deer from a raccoon and a coyote from a dog. You do not need a field guide to start, only slower walking and a willingness to look down.

Where prints show up

Sandstone does not take a footprint, and the main gorge trails are packed hard by foot traffic. The best places to look are the soft spots next to them.

• Creek crossings and stream edges. Mud holds clean prints, and animals come to water. Our creek crossing guide explains when these spots are muddiest.
• Fresh snow. A dusting shows everything, including tracks that connect a den to a feeding area. Go early, before other hikers cover the evidence.
• Trail edges after rain. Wet soil at the margins of a path captures detail that dry ground never will.
• Quiet side trails and ridges. The less human traffic, the more animal traffic shows. See our quiet trail windows for places to start.

Read one print before you read a trail

Start with a single clear print and ask four questions.

1. Hoof or paw? A hoof leaves a split print, usually in two halves. A paw leaves pads and toes.
2. How many toes? Count what you see. Four toes with a main pad suggests a dog family member or a cat. Five suggests a raccoon, opossum or bear.
3. Do claws show? Dogs, coyotes and raccoons leave claw marks. Cats usually do not, because they retract their claws.
4. What shape is the whole print? Rounded, oval or elongated tells you a lot.

Then look at the pattern. A line of prints shows gait: a steady walk, a hop or a bound. Photograph the print with an everyday object beside it for scale, and shoot from straight above in good light.

The usual suspects

White-tailed deer

The deer track is the one you will find most often: a two-part hoof print shaped roughly like a rounded heart, pointed forward. Deer follow edges and low spots, so check creek banks.

Raccoon

Raccoons have five separate toes with no webbing, and the front paws are hand-like. Claws are sharp and do not retract, so they can leave marks in soft ground. They walk with the whole foot on the ground, which gives a print that looks like a small human hand. They gather near water, so stream edges are the place to look. Raccoons also use shared latrines, where droppings accumulate in one spot.

Coyote and dog

Coyote tracks are more elongated and less rounded than a typical dog print. That is a hint, not proof, and a dog off leash on the trail can muddy the evidence. Coyotes often travel along existing paths, including logging roads, and they are most active at dusk and the start of night. Keep your own dog leashed where dogs are allowed. See our leash rules by trail.

Wild turkey

Turkeys leave three-toed bird tracks and spend a lot of time on the ground in winter, feeding on acorns and other hard nuts. In winter they often travel in flocks, so a patch of tracks may belong to several birds.

Black bear

Bears have returned to the region. If you suspect a bear track, do not follow it. Back away, keep dogs leashed and read what hikers need to know about black bears.

Signs beyond footprints

Tracks are only one kind of sign. These are easy to spot even on hard ground.

• Buck rubs. Bucks strip the bark from small-diameter trees with their antlers. The pale scraped patch is visible from far away, and it marks territory. Look for rubs at head height on saplings.
• Scrapes. A scrape is a patch of bare ground a buck has cleared with his front hooves, often under an overhanging twig. Scrapes often occur in lines along regular routes.
• Woodpecker excavations. Pileated woodpeckers leave large rectangular holes in dead trees, sometimes a foot long, according to our year-round birds guide.
• Burrows. Groundhog dens usually have two to five openings, with a main entrance and a second hole used as a lookout. Digging brings subsoil to the surface, so look for fresh dirt near wooded edges and old fields. Groundhogs hibernate from around October to March or April in most areas, so winter entrances are quiet.
• Latrines and scat. Droppings tell you which animal passed and what it ate, but never handle them. Photograph, then walk on.

Antler rubs and scrapes are mostly a breeding-season sign, and bucks shed their antlers from late December to February. Leave a shed antler where it lies: state land rules restrict collecting, and I could not confirm an antler exception. See what you can and cannot take home.

Field manners

• Stay on the marked trail. A good photo of a print is not worth a fall off the edge or trampling the habitat.
• Keep your distance. If you find fresh tracks heading toward a den or a latrine, turn around. Do not follow an animal.
• Leave it as you found it. Do not move logs, dig into burrows or mark prints with sticks.
• Keep dogs leashed. Dogs disturb wildlife and also destroy tracks.

For a broader tour of what lives here, see our Hocking Hills wildlife guide.

Bottom line

Pick one creek crossing, walk it slowly after rain or snow, and photograph every print you can find. Sort them by hoof or paw, toe count and claw marks. Within a few outings you will recognize the deer, the raccoon and the occasional coyote that share the trail with you.