I love the way everything looks immediately after it snows. The freshly blanketed world becomes a blank sheet of white paper and the animals and birds get to write the first lines of that day’s story with their tracks. Unfortunately, the snow on Cape Cod is long gone after a couple 50-degree rainy days last week, but I was able to do a little bit of exploring while it lasted. I encountered tracks of numerous species just within my own yard, including coyote, gray squirrel, and eastern cottontail, as well as prints from birds, such as from American crow and dark-eyed junco. 

The highlight of my tracking, however, came while walking in the Hayway Road Woods in Falmouth. Not too far down the trail I noticed animal track coming in from the right, crossing the trail, and then heading off away from the trail to the left. These tracks were definitely different from others I’d been seeing more frequently near my house in Bourne. Based on the loping 3-by-4 gait, the size of the size prints and stride, and the number of toes, I quickly narrowed down my options to a fisher (Martes pennanti). The 3-by-4 lope is typical of mustelids (i.e., members of the weasel family) in shallow snow. In this type of gait, the first track will always be a front foot and the last one will always be a hind foot. What makes this particular lope different than others is the position of the middle two tracks which will either be side-by-side or partially overlapping. 

Although individual prints superficially resemble canine prints, canine tracks only have 4 toes, while fishers have 5 toes on both their front and hind feet (although the 5th toe may not be evident in every track). Fishers’ claws are semi-retractable and may or may not imprint. Although the fluffiness of the snow can obscure these details, there were a number of clear prints in the trail I was following that showed clear indications of pointed claws at the tip of each toe. Both front and hind tracks are approximately 2 to 3 7/8 inches long; the front track usually measures about 2 to 4 1/4 inches in width, while the hind tracks are slightly narrower at 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches wide, depending on the size of the individual.

Rather than continuing down the trail, I decided to follow these fisher tracks to see where they went and to learn a little more about the animal that made them. The fisher seemed to take every opportunity to get up on the “high points” around the bases of trees and it ducked under some low fallen logs as it loped along. Although the tracks wiggled a little this way and that to utilize the easiest path (i.e., following more cleared area around dense shrubs), overall the fisher tracked surprisingly straight for the approximately 1/4 mile that I followed it. Unfortunately I lost the fisher’s trail where other footprints (human this time) crossed and obscured the tracks, but it was fun to get a small glimpse into this animal’s life nonetheless. 

The next time it snows, take a walk and see what evidence you can find of the wildlife near you.