What To Look For

For a successful hunt it is important to locate your game. This, ideally, should be done a few days or weeks before actually conducting you hunt. There are a few things to look for to find the best places to find the animal you are hunting.

Tracks

The most obvious is tracks. It will take a bit of looking the soil and ground but try to find the tracks left by the paws or hooves of you quarry. Different kinds of animals have distinctive tracks. Identify the appearanc of the tracks of whatever animal you are hunting and go into you hunting ground to find these impressions.

To give you some idea of the types of tracks that can be left here is a helpful link:

https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/survivalist/2014/01/animal-tracks-gallery

Trails and Runs

Animals commonly travel through areas where they can easily find food, water and places to find shelter and to sleep. When you are looking for trails it is important to remember that they might be used by a number of different kinds of animals. You will find a number of different tracks and flattened grass or shrubbery. Tracks will ordinarily be worn down to the dirt or rocks. They will be widely used. It is wiser to use trails for hunting as opposed to trapping. The traps might just be destroyed by larger animal.

Runs are normally used by only a few types of animals or just one species. You will not see the wear or a variety of tracks to distinguish. Runs are a more suitable place for traps.

A Bed

Often animals bed down in thick fields or thickets in order to hide from predators. These animals include animals like deer or caribou. You can find two types of beds. Some beds are rarely used. You will notice just an oval depression in the ground. More widely used beds will be more disheveled and disturbed. It is easy to see the difference between these two beds.

A Feeding Area

A feeding area will be specific to each species. It would be helpful to be aware of what the species you are hunting will eat. Here are some examples of feeding areas:

1)Grassy areas
2)Berry Patches
3)Spaces in the Forest

You could look for areas that are criss crossed with tracks as animals munch on the vegetation their. There might be instances where you find a hole in the vegetation where an animal has eaten from one side and through to the other.
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You can identify what type of animal has eaten at a feeding area. Look for the types of bites and claw marks on vegetation or berry patches. For Example:

1)Rodents leave a 45 degree cut in vegetation they chew.
2)Deer leave small serrations as they pull up grass to eat.
3)Large predators, like wolves or lynx, tend to leave holes in vegetation as they feed.

Rubs and Scratches

Along trails look for places where animals have rubbed up against trees or other things in order to scratch or mark their territory. Deer bucks will rub their antlers against small tree trunks in order to exercise their neck muscles. These rubs and scratches should leave visible traces.

Hair or Feathers

You will often find traces of hair clumps or feathers in places where animal have fed or rubbed. Once you determine which animal has left the traces you will know what you can find there.

All animals have predators. Remember, the presense of the predator of the animal you want might indicate that your quarry is not far away.