A Fun-Loving Guide to the Natural World for Kids and Adults

New Visitors in the Woods

We try to get out for a hike with Mirabelle almost every day. Often it’s just a walk down the long drive, but the other day we had a good two-hour adventure through the Hundred-Acre Wood. There were some new tracks in the woods that we hadn’t seen before. The glove in the bottom left is for reference, thought it’s kids-glove size so the tracks, though quite large, aren’t quite as big as you’d think. Does anyone recognize them? More clues can be found below if you’re stumped.

Clues: These were found in a mixed hardwood forest along a rise going up to a ridge, though we saw the tracks throughout the 2-hour hike. The animal(s) were everywhere, often bounding in a pattern that left two parallel holes, a space, and the two more parallel holes (a 2x bounding pattern). The tracks had five toes each, with claws visible. Though the tracks were mostly on the ground, the occasionally disappeared up a tree. Do you know who this is?

You can find the answer in our Adventure Journal, in a post by the same name.

Posted on March 2nd, 2011 by Kenton and Rebecca
Filed under: Tracking

28 Responses to “New Visitors in the Woods”

  1. Dave Bishop, on March 3rd, 2011 at 2:29 pm Said:

    Possibly Sasquatch? Probably a baby one though. :)

  2. Kenton and Rebecca, on March 6th, 2011 at 8:45 am Said:

    Oooo! Close, Dave =) Those baby sasquatches (sasquatchi?) sure are cute!

  3. Knapperbill, on March 19th, 2011 at 11:15 pm Said:

    I really don’t know, but I’m going to stab in the dark…..Pine Marten? They look bit big, but I am taking into account that it is a child’s glove. We don’t have Pine Martens in my area, but they look very similar to mink tracks, so I went with something similar:)

    Bill

  4. Kenton and Rebecca, on March 23rd, 2011 at 1:51 pm Said:

    Awesome, Knapperbill! You’re definitely on the right track — especially when you say ‘they look a bit big’. One size step up from the marten, and you’re there!

  5. Knapperbill, on March 26th, 2011 at 5:10 pm Said:

    Wolverine?

    Bill

  6. Knapperbill, on March 26th, 2011 at 6:08 pm Said:

    I take that back. I don’t think you have wolverines in Wisconsin. How about a fisher? I’d love to get up north and do some photography. You have so many animals that we don’t in Illinois!

    Bill

  7. Kenton and Rebecca, on March 31st, 2011 at 9:59 am Said:

    Hi Knapperbill!

    Right on! Fisher it is =) We’ve been watching your blog, by the way, and LOVE the owlet pictures. Anyone else reading this MUST go to Knapperbill’s website (just hit his name on his comment) and see these photos! What an incredible experience to see those in the wild =)

  8. BillM, on May 6th, 2011 at 2:17 am Said:

    This is really an amazing picture about how the gloves come down, and you can see the little hands plus the tree shadows around too. The little ones are amazing and that we can love them so much even as they might not be exactly as we want, but we know that we can care for them all the same and then take these beautiful snow hikes and more!

  9. rose, on June 6th, 2011 at 12:09 am Said:

    I was wondering when you will post again??!!

  10. Julien, on August 12th, 2011 at 2:20 pm Said:

    This picture is quite amazing ! really !

  11. Hello world! | Nature Ireland, on August 31st, 2011 at 9:18 am Said:

    […] New Visitors in the Woods […]

  12. Kenton and Rebecca, on September 11th, 2011 at 12:14 pm Said:

    Hi Rose,

    We’ve been taking a bit of a break as we embark on a year-long experiment living in a yurt. You can learn more at http://www.kentonandrebecca.com

  13. Kenton and Rebecca, on September 11th, 2011 at 12:15 pm Said:

    Hello Bill,

    Thank you =)

  14. anickaworld, on September 13th, 2011 at 4:03 am Said:

    I like those photos, it was nice, but the marks there were kinda scary, :-)
    http://anickaworld.com/2011/09/08/discover-the-nature/

    Anickaworld

  15. Kenton and Rebecca, on September 13th, 2011 at 10:17 am Said:

    Hi Anika!

    They certainly are wicked-looking marks, and from quite a formidable animal, the Fisher. Glad to hear that you and your husband are getting out into nature on bikes and on foot, and congratulations on working together to help him break that cigarette habit! Great job! =)

  16. Arbtech Ecology, on October 27th, 2011 at 4:46 pm Said:

    What an absolutely stunning photo. Bear? Wolverine? Pine Martin? Lion?

  17. Kenton and Rebecca, on October 30th, 2011 at 11:01 am Said:

    Hi Arbtech,

    Pine Martin indeed! Great guess!

  18. Brian, on November 8th, 2011 at 2:12 pm Said:

    That’s super cool. I love the weasel family.

    Your blog is great. Keep going!

  19. Orchard, on December 18th, 2011 at 3:48 am Said:

    When I first saw the tracks, I was definately thinking bear. Actually, I had to look up what a pine martin is since we do not have those around here. They are pretty cute looking tho!

    Really nice photograph by the way.

  20. Jacqui MacNeill (Escents Aromatherapy Bath and Body), on December 22nd, 2011 at 8:55 am Said:

    I think it’s probably some kind of badger.

  21. Kenton and Rebecca, on December 27th, 2011 at 11:50 am Said:

    Hi Orchard,

    The way those prints are so robust, it could certainly be mistaken for bear, especially from a photo. Those fishers have quite the feet!

  22. The Naturalist, on February 4th, 2012 at 10:18 pm Said:

    Lovely!

  23. Tillninedesign, on February 12th, 2012 at 2:43 am Said:

    Wow what a great picture! Very intriguing indeed. Here in Australia i have spotted similar tracks that left me stumped. Falls Creek in Victoria nearly matches the beauty of your ” Hundred-Acre Wood”

    http://www.canstockphoto.com/enchanted-flowing-alpine-brook-8610089.html

  24. Kenton and Rebecca, on February 28th, 2012 at 1:35 pm Said:

    Hi Tillninedesign!

    WOW! Beautiful indeed. Tracking in Australia would be such great fun for us — we wouldn’t know the first thing about the tracks over there. It would probably feel like being on a different planet. Wonder what a kangaroo track is like . . .

  25. Megan Jones, on April 5th, 2012 at 2:49 pm Said:

    Reading through the comments I see that these prints don’t belong to a wolverine, but I recently watched an incredibly interesting documentary on wolverines on PBS and I can’t help but tell people about it, even if it is only tangentially related. Anyone who is interested in nature filmography, wolverines or just nature in general should go to PBS.org and check it out. It was so cool!

  26. Kenton and Rebecca, on April 23rd, 2012 at 11:54 am Said:

    Hi Megan,

    Those wolverines are indeed amazing. Thanks for telling people about the show!

  27. Shari, on March 18th, 2013 at 3:08 pm Said:

    What a great article. We love challenging our kids to identify tracks when we are out hiking. Thanks for the info.

  28. Shane Todd, on June 27th, 2013 at 6:13 am Said:

    I reckon it’s Bigfoot!!!

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