Hey, y'all, I thought I'd share some interesting things I learned recently about vulpine tracks.

The other morining it snowed for a few hours, just enough to cover the ground with a 2cm blanket of fresh snow. I was on my regular morning walk home (I work graveyard shift at work, and walk the 3-4km home on foot each morning) during this snow, and it was like a dream, the way it was coming down all around in big huge flakes, and the lighting was just right that you could look up in the sky and see each and every flake tumbling towards you, like that starfield screensaver, only this was the real deal straight from Mother Nature. anyway, the real snow started as I left work, and I could look back and see my footsteps crisp and clear as I walked; it was like the perfect snow to see footprints and pawprints in.

When I got to the park a few blocks from home, I saw something that really caught my eye. You have to know first , that this 'park' is actually a forest about a block or two in size, with a childrens playground at one side. A forest where I've heard that kids go at night sometimes to do drugs or who knows what or just hang out; I've seen police cars there on multiple occasions, too. In the daytime some folks bring thier dogs to run around (we bring Lucky out on occasion, too). Anyhow, what I saw were animal tracks on the ground. Canine-looking pawprints. now, I wouldnt have paid much attention to them at first because of the large number of dog track in the old snow all over the place. But here on the road, in the freshly fallen blanket of snow (which was still falling at the time) were a set of tracks that stood out to me, for at least two reasons.

One: it was about 7 on Saturday moring, and there was absolutely noone, not even cars on the road, and these tracks were obviously fresh, made no more than, say 20 mins max before I found them, because this was a totally fresh layer of snow they were in.

Two, and this is what struck me the most: Unlike the dog prints that were everywhere, there were no human prints accompanying them; whatever it was, it was alone out there. Also, this didn't look like the winding, circling path of a dog playing around, no, these tracks looked purposeful to me, weaving out into the middle of the road in a very familiar fashion. More specificly they reminded me of my fox encounter back in Burnaby earlier this year, where the fox had weaved into the road as if doing a very wide corner, it's kinda hard to explain. After that, these tracks continued down the middle of the road in a perfectly straight line, which I followed until they turned into someone's yard, at which point I turned around and went back home. Whatever it is definitly had a destination in mind, and headed straight there.

Now there are also a number of cats that roam the neighborhood (I've even heard catfights at night on occasion), but these prints were too big to be a cat; I remember estimating just under 5 cm (two inches). When I got inside, I did some reasearch on fox prints and found some neat things out.

First off, Fox tracks are about 2 inches in size (which would make a perfect match to the one's I saw. Second, there is a very interesting way that you can tell fox tracks from other canine tracks:



This image actually comes from

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australian page page on fox identification for the purposes of exterminating them (you have to keep in mind here that foxes are not actually native to Australia, and are indeed considered pests there, but that's another story for another topic altogether), but anyway, check out that line on the drawing of fox prints, it seems you can draw this stright line that goes between the front and back toe pads of each print, but only on fox tracks, and not simmilar dog tracks. (Unfortunately, by the time I learned this, the layer of snow had melted because that raod had been salted, and the tracks were gone, and I don't remember that little detail) Also note that the fox's claws are generally pointed in the same direction, as oposed to the dog's claws, which are more splayed. All these things can help identify fox tracks and tell them from other canine tracks.

Well, there you go. As for my tracks, they are gone, as I said, but I'm going to keep an eye out for more, and also hope for a bit more snow. With a bit of luck and timing, someday I may even catch a glimpse of my mystery animal. Actually by this point I am 90% sure those were fox tracks I saw, but I've never actually seen a fox around here as of yet, I think I'll have to be up a little earlier to have a chance of actually seeing it....

I see fox prints all the time and the way you described them sounds right. Nice job finding them. Most of the time i find them close to well protected areas like near a group of trees. If you look in places like these away from roads and anything that could harm the fox you should find more. Happy looking!

Ah, I can identify the differences between a wolf's print and a regular dogs or coyotes. It's easy since wolves have HUGE paws. I'm not sure if I could identify a fox's print though, and from this thread, it looks like I'd need to pay very close attention to the detail in a print.

detail, yes, they are easily mistaken for dog prints if you don't know what to look for.

One big indentifying feature for the prints I saw, was that they went dead straight down the middle of the road. Dog prints meander all over the place, foxes tend to go straight to thier destination.

Straight tracks compared to scattered tracks... I never really thought about that. I guess it depends how often they go on that path.

Yeah, these tracks went straight to wherever they were going. Very purposeful, very focused. Definitly NOT like a dog who stops at every little scent or distractions along the way.