Interpreting Tracks
A skill that can be taught
To some, a good tracker’s ability to interpret spoor may appear almost magical. Of course, extensive experience in tracking animals plays a major role. Even in the absence of sign discernible by the five senses, an experienced tracker can view the surrounding terrain while drawing on his knowledge of the species, and know by ‘gut-feel’ which course the quarry would likely have taken. Extensive knowledge of the ecology and species behaviour in the relevant environment is the hallmark of a highly experienced tracker – one who can ‘get inside an animal’s head’ and think like one, so to speak. Such are few and far between.
However, most tracking involves the observation and logical interpretation of physical signs left by the passage of the animal. This includes faint smells in the air, the tangible temperature of droppings or resting places, nuances in colour (an overturned pebble, for ex
ample) the consistency of sap on the broken end of a twig or stem, and faint sounds.
In addition to mere direction, a wealth of information can be gleaned from animal footprints. Gait, for example, is the coordinated and sequential pattern of leg movements, and this aspect of the tracks reveals whether the animal was, at a given point, standing still, walking normally, trotting, cantering or galloping. Gait also indicates the animal’s physical status – whether limping, tiring, dragging a broken leg, etc.
A TRACKER WILL often be forced to trace the progress of an animal over surfaces which do not record a series of footprints, such as rock or extremely hard ground. He may have to make deductions from only a single track. Yet such can indicate the following (Figure 7): the species of animal; the approximate age of the animal; in some cases the sex of the animal; the age of the track (how long ago it was imprinted); the speed at which the animal was travelling when the track was registered; whether it was hesitating, slowing to a stop or standing still; the direction in which the animal was looking when the track was registered; any change in direction (to within a couple of degrees); major shift in body position; and secondary efforts required to maintain forward motion.
The size and shape of the footprint identifies the species. The various animal groups have distinctive hoof, paw or foot shapes: (figure 4) some differences being the number of toes,
the shape of the heel pad (which may differ within the groups), the visible evidence of claws, etc. Ask the following questions: is this the appropriate habitat type for the animal I think it is? Is the animal alone or in a group? Was the track made during the day or night? (Is the track superimposed by that of nocturnal insects or does it superimpose such tracks? Is it superimposed by the tracks of diurnal birds or does it superimpose such tracks?) Are there other tracks or signs which might confirm my identification?
Clear tracks will indicate the age of the animal as young, sub-adult or adult and, in some cases, old. Elephant, hippo and rhino have deep cracks in the soles of their feet; in older animals the soles wear away and become smoother (Figure 3). The hooves of some species may chip or break off at the points or edges, or become rounded in older animals.
In some species, gender can be determined by the tracks, which in the case of adult females may be narrower and smaller than the male’s. However, in certain species, such as hyena, the female’s paws are larger than the male’s.
Depending on the nature and state of the soil, the age of the track can be determined by how sharply defined it is (sharp edges become eroded by wind, which also gradually fills the track with sand and tiny leaves). Other determining factors are the amount of moisture retained in the track, the colour of the soil compared to that of the surrounding substrate, the amount of debris
In some species, gender can be determined by the tracks, which in the case of adult females may be narrower and smaller than the male’s. However, in certain species, such as hyena, the female’s paws are larger than the male’s
blown into the track, ‘overprints’ (tracks of other animals, birds or insects on top of the track) or damage, signs of rain or dewdrops in the track and the presence of spider webs in the track. Past weather must be considered when ageing the spoor.
To determine speed of movement, direction of travel, change of direction and body position, secondary effort to maintain forward motion and the direction in which the animal was looking when the spoor was recorded, a more skilled level of tracking is required involving the interpretation of ‘pressure release’ patterns. Feet, paws, hooves, claws, tails, and in some cases bodies, transfer information to the ground (figure 7). The point or area of contact is made up of soil particles and vegetation. Coarsely grained soil we call gravel or sand; soil composed of tiny particles we loosely refer to as clays. Vegetation can be living or dead and in various stages of decomposition.
When the sidewalls of a track imprinted in such soil and vegetation are subjected to pressures of varying force, they behave in logical, sequential and predictable patterns termed ‘pressure releases’. This refers to the reaction that takes place in soil or other substrate when a force has been applied to it and then removed – hence the term (Figure 5). Pressure releases are recorded in the same sequential pattern irrespective of whether imprinted by bare feet, footwear, paws, hooves or claws (Figure 1).
More advanced trackers have learned how different substrates react to various forces and are able to interpret the reactions which took place. There is nothing mystical or magical about this level of tracking, though it extends beyond the abilities of the average tracker. It is nigh impossible to learn to interpret pressure releases without the aid of a mentor, and it takes years to master.
THE ATN MARS4 384x288/7–28x thermal scope is 370mm long, 70mm wide and 65mm high at the widest points. With 30mm rings, the scope weighs 1193 grams and this increases to 1569 grams with the Auxiliary Ballistic Laser 1500 (ABL 1500) rangefinder fitted. It screws onto the scope’s objective lens, increasing total length to 447mm.
The scope is powered by an internal battery, charged with a supplied type C USB charging cable that fits into any 2 Amp cellular phone charger. Charge time is about 6 hours and battery life a claimed 16 hours. The charging port is situated on the lefthand side of the cradle next to a micro SD card slot (4 to 64GB cards can be used). Both ports are covered with a rubber cap that is easily removed.
The rangefinder uses a single CR2 battery. For photo and video recording, an SD card with a speed of at least 10Mb/s (Class 10) is needed. In Recoil Activated Video (RAV) mode, footage from about 15 seconds before the shot until it is manually stopped after shooting, is automatically saved to the card.
The scope has five buttons on top of the cradle: power, left arrow, right arrow, OK and a function button. These are used to turn the scope on and off, call up and scroll through the menus, select settings, etc, through a combination of either long or short presses. On the lefthand side is a scroll wheel to increase and decrease magnification and to scroll up and down through the different menus. To turn the scope on, press and hold the POWER button until the screen lights up. After a few seconds the thermal image will display. Rotating the dioptre adjustment on the ocular lens adjusts focus on the screen. A large focus adjustment ring just behind the objective lens is used to focus the image. ‘Cold’ objects are displayed as black or grey and ‘warm’ objects as white, with different shades in-between, depending on temperature. The sensor does not pick up heat signatures through glass. As the scope works with a thermal sensor it can be used in daylight, but with less image definition.
The screen display is 1280x720 HD and is framed by a status bar (that displays SD card status, battery life, Wi-fi, Bluetooth and ballistic calculator status), scales (roll and pitch scales as well as absolute values), and information widgets (wind direction, e-compass, distance, photo/video mode and zoom level).
EYE RELIEF IS about 90mm and the scope can be mounted further forward with a supplied L-shaped ring. I mounted the scope on my bolt-action Remington 700ADL in 6.5 Creedmoor, as well as my semi-auto S&W MP15 in .223 Rem and had no need to use the
L-shaped ring. Normal rings fitted perfectly on both rifles’ Picatinny rails.
ATN has an app (called Obsidto ian 4) that can be used connect the rangefinder (1 500m range) to the scope. It also enables you to control the scope from a tablet as well as view video footage.
The scope is ‘one-shot-zero’ enof abled. I used a large piece cardboard covered with tinfoil and a black cross to create a thermal image similar to a conventional target. After bore sighting the first shot landed high and to the right. Selecting the appropriate menu brings up two crosshairs on the screen, one white and the other red. To zero you keep the white crosshair on the point of aim while moving the red with a scroll wheel to cover the point of impact. Pressing OK concludes the procedure. To fine-tune the zero you can use the scroll wheel to zoom in and repeat the process.
Without the ABL 1500 rangefinder fitted, the ATN Mars4’s own Smart Rangefinder function enables you to estimate distances to a target if you know the size of your target. Reference points on a target are taken in turn and then collated with pre-set sizes of deer, wild boar, etc, or you can manually input the target size. The calculated distance is then fed into the scope’s ballistic calculator.
I programmed the scope for use with 130gr Swift Scirocco bullets at 2 750fps to be used in conjunction with the ABL 1500. In addition, environmental factors can be added, like humidity, wind speed and direction, temperature, barometric pressure and altitude. Compass bearing, as well as roll and pitch are measured while the scope is on. Pressing the function button on the scope activates the ABL 1500 and the measured distance is automatically fed to the scope, which immediately displays the holdover and windage adjustments required on the
bottom lefthand side of the screen.
Numerous additional options are also available to the user, like selecting different reticle styles and colours, camera and video settings, video quality settings, RAV time settings, display brightness and thermal sensitivity, to mention a few.
Field testing in broad daylight had various game animals standing out like beacons against green grass, even at a couple of hundred metres. I managed to shoot a mature warthog sow which stood in long grass some 60m away. Although behind the grass, her outline was clearly visible though the ATN.
At night I picked up a jackal through the scope, the body displayed clear white at 59m. I then used the ATN to try and ambush bushpigs. None appeared, but I managed to spot cattle, grazing 2km away, and identified various birds, a jackal and duikers.
I found that using the scope for extended periods is hard on the eye – even at the lowest brightness setting it blinds the eye for minutes after use, and like most optical equipment, some clarity is lost at high magnification levels.
The ATN Mars4 is a hi-tech piece of equipment not mastered in a few sessions, is extremely useful and very good quality. Battery life is more than adequate and even with extended use, it never dropped below 50%. The photos and videos saved on the SD card were of good quality and at high resolution. Sound quality on the video clips was exceptional. I can highly recommend it to problem animal control hunters or professional culling teams, military and police applications are obvious. The scope has a three year warranty and the rangefinder two years. The ATN Mars4 scope retails for about R87 700 and the rangefinder for R7 800. For stockists contact ECM Technologies on 012-329-4116. For video footage of the scope visit the Magnum Facebook page.
followed by STABLE. The Intellidropper is now calibrated.
Place the pan on the scale and press zero to prepare it for powder dispensing. At this stage, you can use the device’s patent-pending powder calibration feature. Press the “Powder CAL” button. The device uses a calibration algorithm to determine the ideal motor speed for the device, depending on the particular powder used. This process is indicated by the machine running at different rates. When ready, it displays STABLE on the screen. Empty the pan and zero the device after replacing the pan.
Now, type in the required chargeweight and press the grey GO button. When it reaches the selected weight, the device gives two short beeps and displays STABLE on the screen. Return the empty pan to the scale; the device waits until it indicates 0.00, followed by a short stabilising period, ending with STABLE. Only then will it dispense the next load.
When it dispenses too much powder, the display flashes OVER, showing the actual weight of the load and you’ll hear a long beep. When it dispenses insufficient powder the display flashes UNDER. The device can dispense a load from 0.1 grain up to 250 grains in a single throw. It claims accuracy of +/- 0.1 grain.
The mobile app is free and available from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. After installing, ensure that the app has the phone’s permission to connect to the device via Bluetooth, which it does automatically. Using the app, you can command the device and store data. The app provides a variety of information while the device is working, including the selected weight and scale reading. Using the app, you can type in the required weight, which is relayed to the device. Data, such as the firearm, powder, case and primer used can be compiled from pre-loaded data sets and stored with information such as load (gr) and velocity in a database. All this can be shared.
I used different propellants (S335, S365, S431 and N140) to load a variety of rifle cartridges. I also used 4.1gr of IMR’S Target powder to load 9mmp pistol rounds. The dispensing speeds, using the device in normal mode and after implementing the Powder Calibration (PC) feature, were measured using three powders.
The device took 18 to 20 seconds to dispense the 4.1gr IMR (flake powder) over 50 loads, without any problems. After the device’s PC feature was set, it dispensed 4.1gr in eight to nine seconds. However, 12 of the 50 loads were overthrows of 4.2gr. I realised that with this powder, the device would rapidly dispense about 3.5gr and then trickle the rest to 4.1gr, without any problems. All the overthrown loads followed after a rapid dispense measuring 3.9 to 4gr and the trickle action, which threw 0.2 to 0.3gr too much. I decided to use the device in normal mode when using this powder.
THE DEVICE TOOK 18 to 22 seconds to throw 37.5gr S335 in its PC mode. It had no problems loading 55 cartridges. I double-checked the loads on a separate electronic scale which confirmed every Intellidropper load.
Programmed to dispense 51.5gr S365, the device took 46 to 53 seconds in normal mode. After the powder calibration was done, the same load took 28 to 32 seconds. About four of the 50 loads hovered between an overthrow and required weight for a few seconds before settling on the correct weight. The device also dispensed powder for 50 rounds using S341 (37.5gr) and another 50 rounds using Vihtavuori’s N140 powder (41gr) spot on.
All rifle powders dispensed were within the 0.1gr variable.
I experienced some drift in zero, never more than 0.1gr, but this was quickly rectified by pressing the ZERO button before dispensing a new load. It never became a matter for concern.
What I liked most about the Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper was its speed and accuracy. It sped up my reloading cycle, especially with rifle loads, while dispensing consistently accurate weights. Its reservoir holds enough powder for uninterrupted reloading of more than fifty 7mm and .303 rounds, and it cleans easily with the help of the supplied powder brush.
The app is great for storing easily accessible data to programme the device with the press of a button.
Initially, the plastic GO and POWER buttons did not operate smoothly, but I suspect they will improve with time.
All things considered, the Frankford Arsenal Intellidropper will be a worthy addition to my reloading bench – especially considering its price. I recently saw one at Pretoria Arms for R 5 395. For more information, contact Inyathi Sporting Supplies on 012-808-9911.