Guide to Keep Track on the Deer Hoof Prints

Guide to Keep Track on the Deer Hoof Prints

Most of the researchers struggle hard to track the deer through with its hoof prints but, tracking is essential to know the presence of the deer in that region. Getting expertise in tracking the hoof prints of the deer lies on the track left behind and the size of the deer.

The deer hoof prints are two-toed and heart shaped in upside and downside directions. Deer leaves small sized hooves because it has only a minimal contact with the ground. Further, it reduces the friction over the ground with it large running speed. Mostly, the deer hoof prints look similar to that of the other animals.

Guide ways to Keep Track on the Deer Hoof Prints

Types of deer and its hoof prints

Before identifying the deer hoof prints, it is necessary to know about the different species of the deer. There are several kinds of deer found throughout the world. The most common deer and its hoof prints are as follows,

Fallow Deer: The Fallow deer consist of cloven hooves of two divided toes which are small and placed slightly rear to the hoof and higher to the leg. It runs on the soft surface regions filled with mud. The foot print measures 50 to 60 mm in height and 30 to 40 mm of width. The hind foot overlaps the fore foot and gets confused with that of the goat, pig, and sheep.

Sika Deer: The sika deer also has cloven hooves of two toes which are small in shape and are often seen in the muddy places of the forest regions near to the river areas.

Rusa Deer: The rusa deer also constitute of the cloven hooves of two toes which are affixed with the rear hoof and smaller claws mated higher to the leg. These are confused with the other deer species.

White tailed Deer: The white tailed deer consist of two toes of smaller claws and  the stag hooves of length up to 455 mm. The footprints are seen over the mud regions in the forest. The footprints of the white tailed deer are slightly smaller than that of the red deer.

Sambar Deer: The sambar deer also consist of two toes that leave the footprint on the muddy areas in the forest region. The hoof prints measures 70 mm high and 45 mm wide. The prints of the female sambar deer are smaller and narrow in shape.

Red Deer: The red deer has two cloven hooves which are often seen in the forest floor and sandy areas of the rivers.

How to track the deer hoof prints?

The initial step to track the deer hoof prints is to make a research on the hoof prints with that of the other species. Make a note on the hoof prints and start to analyze it. With this, it is easy to figure out the traveling, feeding, and bedding spots of the deer.

The tracks of the deer hoof prints are oval in shape with small claw footing with the dots below and are usually found in the mud, snow and ground areas.  With the deer hoof prints, the size, and gender of the deer can be easily identified.

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