Author: Owen Caldwell

Fisher scat is a twisted fur packed cord of 3.5 to 6 in, left on logs and boulders in mature forest. Size, contents, placement, and how it differs from marten, otter, and coyote.

Mouse tracks are four print groups under 1 in wide with a thin tail drag. Here is how to read them in snow, mud, sand and household dust.

Cougar tracks are round, 3 to 4 in wide, show no claws and have a three lobed heel pad. Here is how to read them in snow, mud and sand.

Grunts, squeals, woofs and teeth popping all mean something different. Here is how to read every feral hog sound and tell it from a bear or a bobcat.

Elk tracks run 3.5 to 4.5 in long with blunt rounded toes and dewclaws behind. Size, stride, gait and how to separate them from deer, moose and cattle.

A mouse in a dream points to small worries and slow drains. White, black, brown, dead, biting and running mice read differently in each tradition.

Mice symbolize resourcefulness, humility and close attention to small things. What a sighting means by situation, and how traditions disagree.

Llama droppings are oval pellets 0.5 to 0.75 in long, massed in communal piles. Here is how to tell them from alpaca, deer, goat and rabbit scat.

Hedgehog droppings are 1 to 2 in long, dark and flecked with beetle shell. Here is how to tell them from rat, cat and fox deposits.

Paired prints about an inch long, three toes forward and one back. How to read a chickadee hop and tell it from juncos, nuthatches and mice.