Is it this one?
Seeing And Interpretation
by
Charles L. Dobbins
(This article was originally published in the July 1982 issue of The Trapper and Predator Caller)
As a whole, trappers are the keenest of observers. I am acquainted with people from other lines of work and walks of life, but I must say the trapper with a long history of many successful seasons behind him has an acute sense of seeing subtle things most other people would miss seeing. Other people may see these subtle things, but they don't realize what they are looking at. The experienced trapper has trained himself to notice these little things his eyes sees. Most of all, he can interpret what he sees.
One of the things most often missed by the inexperienced trappers is the silt rubbed off of the top of the large stones or a boulder with its top only a couple of inches underwater. This rubbed off silt could mean muskrats, beaver, otter or mink may be using the top of this slightly submerged stone for a resting or feeding place. Looking closer, if it is a feeding place for otter or mink, on the downstream side of this stone there may be fish scales or crawdad pinchers laying on the bottom. This would "tell" the trapper certain fish eating animals are using this stone as a dining room table. If this boulder or large stone is upstream at the beginning of some long fast riffles, it could be a resting place for muskrats or beaver taking a break after swimming upstream against the current.
This could be an underwater stump or log instead of a boulder. It was the absence of the natural silt on this object, which caught the trained eye of the trapper. While I'm on the subject of silt, or rather the absence of it, has led to many filled fur stretchers for me. Here are other instances the missing silt "told" the story about where animals travel, play, rest or feed.
I'm sure you have noticed even in the purest water of streams, ponds or lakes the stones, sticks, boulders and logs that are under the surface of the water has a slight layer of silt deposited on them. Even growing roots of trees that extend into the water takes on this fine layer of silt. This also includes underwater vegetation. Use your finger and run it along some of these submerged objects. You will find your finger left a "track" on this object because your finger removed silt. When an animal passes over one of these objects, the feet, tail or the body of the animal disturbs this silt. Where the silt has been removed from an object, that area will be of a different color. Whenever an animal makes a habit of using this particular log or rock consistently it will stand out to the trained eyes of an experienced trapper.
Small shallow streams with deep holes of water are a good place to start to learn about the sign reading of silt. In the shallow stretches between the deeper holes of water watch for a different colored streak on the bottom. Even if it is a gravel or solid rock bottom. When the animals travel in this shallow water between the holes of deep water, the silt will be removed by their activity.
Other places to check for silt disturbances is under an overhanging bank, under washed out tree roots or under a large rock or log protruding out from the bank. Along streams these places could be feeding places for muskrats. Muskrats like overhead protection from owls, bank running mink and other predators. The feed cuttings of the muskrat may not be there where he carried the grass or dug up roots to this protected place for eating. The current of the stream probably carried the cuttings away. The silt is removed from the shallow bottom where the animal sat while it dined on the vegetation. Under these places where the silt has been removed the muskrat is telling the trapper "put trap here." Small bits of vegetation caught or lodged on small sticks or branches at the surface of the water will collect these stray cuttings of the muskrat. This is a sure sign of a few muskrats on the streams.
I'll not write anything about animal tracks or sign in the snow. Instead I'll stay with the type of sign that can easily be missed by the beginner trapper.
Another bit of sign that is not interpreted or even seen is on and around beaver dams and drift piles that span across streams of all sizes. I'll use the following as an example. At most beaver dams there is a trail or crossover where beaver cross their dams. Other animals such as otter, muskrats and mink also cross these dams. However, it is not necessarily so that these animals will use the beavers' crossover. How you may ask, can a trail of these animals be found among the jumble of sticks, logs, roots and other debris of a beaver dam? There are two and sometimes three things I look for. If the weather is wet and rainy two of these tell-tale signs won't be there. One will. During rainy weather, it is the silt removal from the small sticks, roots and branches laying in the water on the downstream side of the beaver dam. During cold nights, but not cold enough to freeze the water, you will observe ice on the small, dry sticks, roots and branches of the DOWNSTREAM side of the dam. You must get there early enough before the warmth of the day melts this ice, which was water that ran off the animal's body as it crossed the dam. Where the animal entered the water on the downstream side there should be silt dislodged from the debris an inch or so underwater. This sign reading says "set trap here."
During a period of dry but not freezing weather, close observation will show a wet or damp streak over the dry material of the dam. This wet streak was left by water running off the animal's body. Once again you must get to these places before the sun's rays dries it up. The width of the ice or the wet streak over the sticks and debris of the dam will tell you which animal crossed there. Mink leave the least sign, muskrats a little more. Otter leave less than beaver unless a family of otters crossed single file over the dam. Oh yes, beaver will cross their dams at other places than the usual crossover. When beaver cross their dams at other places than the customary crossover, it may be because recently he may have lost a toe and a piece of web at the crossover to a foot-hold trap that had a jaw spread too small for his big back foot. I've stretched the pelts of some wise beaver because they "told" me where they were crossing the dam.
Another place to look for disturbed silt is in marshes and swamps where you plan to trap muskrats. In this kind of habitat there are usually some muskrat houses. Some of these houses may be abandoned. The majority of these abandoned houses will have places to make productive sets. Read the sign where the silt is worn off the submerged vegetation the house was built from. It is here the muskrats are coming to feed or rest. Make the sets accordingly. Wet, rainy weather has a way of obliterating animal sign from the trapper. When operating in marshes or swamps there are instances where the opposite does occur when trapping muskrats. We all know the muskrat "feed bed" is a productive set, especially when the traps are set on the feed beds that look the freshest.
Muskrat feed beds are made up of semi-floating vegetation in most cases. The beating of the rain drops on this semi-floating vegetation has a way of making an old abandoned feed bed look fresh. A hard rain will remove the silt from the vegetation to the depth of an inch underwater, (Depending upon how hard it rained.) A hard rain will make almost all feed beds, look fresh. Read the sign! If there is silt or the semi-floating vegetation at one and a half inches to two inches under the surface of the water, find another place to set the trap. Depending upon circumstances, the silt will form back in about thirty-six to seventy-two hours. The silt won't form on feed beds being used every night. The animal activity will keep the silt worn off.
There are other things that animals tell you where to set the trap to intercept them. Let's say mink tracks are in evidence along the edge of the water. There is no defined trail, but the tracks show these animals are following the shoreline. Somewhere along the shoreline there is an obstruction which forces the animals to go around, go under, or this obstruction could have a passageway through it.
*Go around. This obstruction could be a large rock, log or tree, which forces the animal to go into the water as the animal travels along the edge of the waterway. Where the animal enters or leaves the water there could be tracks if there is mud or other material that will leave the track of the animal. Should the shore be of a gravelly nature or maybe even solid rock, there will be the silt removed from the bottom where the feet of the animal waded before the water got deep enough to force the animal to swim. This animal is telling you to set the trap where the shoreline is narrowed down and forces the animal to take to the water. *Go under. This could be a log, large limb, tree roots extending from the bank to the water, a high water drift pile or anything that would force the animal to go under rather than around or over. A trap set here, (usually a dry set) will intercept the mink along this shoreline.
* Passageway. This can be anything that would narrow down the animal's line of travel and naturally cause it to go through a passageway. This passageway could also be called a tunnel. Some of these passageways could be where two large stones are blocking the animal's route, but there is an opening between the stones for the mink to go through rather than around or over. Sod that has the dirt washed out from under it and the overhanging sod forms a tunnel of sorts for this nimble footed animal. The dirt under this overhanging sod is in most cases dry. It takes close looking to identify tracks in this loose dirt. If the tracks are there the animal is telling you where to set your trap. An old abandoned muskrat den that has been washed out. Where the tunnel of the, rat den rose above the normal water level and the tunnel may extend on up and have another exit in the grass and weeds high and dry. A hole through a drift pile is a natural passageway for mink. If the passageway is several feet long, two traps can be set. One at each end of the passageway. Finding tracks in this drift may be hard to do. Sometimes mud can be seen on the dead leaves and sticks carried there on the feet of the animal. The way the debris of the passageway is "padded down" by the animals making a habit of going through will be the sign saying "SET TRAP HERE." All that I've said here about mink could be applied to the raccoons that follow the waterways.
In heavily wooded areas the raccoons like to forage around in water holes in the woods. These could be natural springs or naturally formed small ponds of water. Look for the absence of silt on the submerged leaves, sticks and stones here. Also tracks in the mud and muddy tracks on logs close to this water. Raccoons have "toilets" they use rather frequently. This toilet can be at an old weathered log, stump or maybe the base of a large tree. The digested food content of these droppings could tell you what foods the raccoons of this vicinity are eating. Should there be wild grape skins and seeds in these droppings, then look for wild grape vines growing in this area. Where these wild grape vines are growing there could very likely be several raccoons feeding there nightly.
In most instances the wild grapes will have fallen from the vines by the time trapping season arrives. The leaves of the surrounding trees, bushes and vines have fallen and covered these grapes with these fallen leaves. The raccoons must forage around under these fallen leaves to locate the grapes. Fox, coyote, opossum, grouse, wild turkey and other wild birds and animals also devour this fallen fruit. Just because the fallen leaves under the grape vines are turned over and scratched about doesn't mean all this activity was done by raccoons. Sets located twenty-five yards or farther away from this activity will lessen the chances of non-target species getting in the trap. Lure, bait or the combination of both can be used to attract the target animals in over the trap.
Other food residues I've seen in raccoon droppings during the fur harvest season include corn, persimmons, apple seeds and peelings, rose hips, polk berries, acorns, beech nut hulls and the list can go on. Some of this raccoon feed may not be in your area. I have related here of what I've seen throughout my trapping ventures.
When the residue of the droppings can be identified, then look for this source of raccoon food. More raccoons than the one that left the droppings could be feeding there.
Watch where ranchers or farmers are feeding corn ensilage to cattle that are wintering in an open barn or shed. This furbearer will climb into all types of silos to dig for the grains of corn in the ensilage. When this ensilage is fed to cattle, some of the grains of corn will pass all the way through the intestines of the cattle. When the cattle deposit their droppings out on the winter pasture, raccoons will dig the undigested grain from the piles of cattle droppings. Out in the open pasture bait and lure will draw the raccoons to cubbies or dirt hole type sets.
Where winter pasture has some woods or trees in it, I've seen where squirrels would dig the undigested grains of corn from these cow-pies. Also crows will scratch and tear them apart to get this grain. Maybe the torn up cow-pies wasn't the work of raccoons. Interpret the sign correctly!
The sign reading and interpretation of this sign of the wild canines seems to be the hardest for the novice or beginner trapper to master. These wild canines includes the red fox, gray fox and the coyote. Locating the sign of fox and coyote can be frustrating for the novice trapper. These animals can be in the area and not leave much sign for the novice trapper to see. If the animals are there the sign is there, but knowing where to look for this sign is the key.
Tracks of these animals can be found in livestock trails in the dust or soft earth. Also in the dust or semi-dry mud of tractor or field roads. Any type of road, from the public back country gravel and dirt roads to old logging roads in cut over areas can yield the tracks of these animals.
Depending upon the terrain, wherever there is bare earth showing, check this out for sign. These places can be a sand blow, or a place in a field where the top layer of earth slipped downhill and left the bare earth exposed. Where a wash fans out at its lower end sign can sometimes be seen in the fine dirt and sediment that was carried out of the wash and deposited at its lower end. Wild canines like to cross farm pond dams. Tracks of these wild canines can be found around the edges of farm ponds, especially if the water happens to be low. These animals like to walk on this now partially dry sediment of the pond. This also holds true of the livestock watering holes of the west. The fine gravel or sand bars of all sizes of streams will show tracks if these animals are around. In freshly plowed fields, check the dead or last furrow the plow made. These animals like to walk the bottom of these furrows. Fox or coyote droppings can be found in, on, or near any of these areas. Especially, along any type of seldom used roads. These roads can be old logging roads, farm or field roads or where these lightly used roads cross ditches or small streams to get from one field to another.
The wild canines will usually pick a prominent tuft of grass to deposit their droppings on or by. It could also be a rock or stone and it's not unusual for them to select a piece of wood or even a turned over hunk of sod for this purpose. A lone bare rock with several square feet of surface exposed out in a field always causes me to inspect it for droppings. Old weathered bales of hay or straw left out in the field bears checking. A pile of agricultural lime dumped in a field and left there for some time should have tracks and droppings around it. Old sawdust piles left by the sawmill back in a cut over area is a prime place to find wild canine sign. This place will also have old roads and logging trails radiating out from it.
Wherever these tracks are found the animal is telling you he is around. You must be able to SEE these tracks. Once a track is found, then you must INTERPRET what animal left this sign. Wild canines roam, wander, hunt and feed over an extensive area. This area could take in the woodlands, open agricultural fields, open or grown up pasture lands, abandoned farm lands, the edges of swamps and other areas of the animal's domain. This is not like the muskrat and the beaver whose habitat is confined to water. The sign of these water related animals is confined to the waterways.
The sign of these wild canines is where you find it. Once the track of one of these predators is located, then you must interpret if it is a red fox, gray fox or a coyote. Each of these animals leaves a different size and shape track.
Another facet of learning or interpreting the sign of these wild canines is to be able to distinguish the difference between the droppings of the gray fox from those of the red fox. There are the coyote droppings, too. The droppings of all three of these animals are somewhat different from each species.
An easy and fast way to learn this sign reading is with the aid of an experienced trapper if you can find one willing to share his knowledge with you. There are trappers that sell personal instructions and if the right one is chosen by you, the learning process of sign reading can save you YEARS of frustration.
There are men trapping today that were taught by their father, grandfather or older brother. These are mostly hobby type trappers. They didn't learn any more than their instructors knew. Should the younger trapper say or want to try some unproven method on the trapline, it was usually "put down" because the elder trapper hadn't tried it. This type of thinking can halt your learning process. Anybody can get into a rut and follow it. The progressive trapper avoids falling into a rut, plus avoids trying to apply one method to all situations. Only by thinking different things and situations through, then applying the necessary effort to get a different method working, does the trapper progress from the hobby type trapper to the so-called ranks of the professional.
Myself, I do my best sign reading and trapping when I am alone. Another buddy with me can influence my actions and thinking. He doesn't do it intentionally, but I know it happens. So I've learned to operate in the companionship of solitude. It is operating this way that I do my best. Only by learning the habits and ways of the different animals will this "learning to identify" process slowly evolve for you. I have been trapping for more than forty years and I am still learning. Trapping and all that goes with it is a never ending learning process.
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