Tracking GUIDEBOOKS

Tracking is a skill that anyone can learn! Not only is it easy to pick up, but it is a skill that you can enjoy and develop throughout your whole life. Once you start to see the small signs of life around you, you realize how much a river bank, a section of path, even a tree branch and so on can tell you about the comings and goings and the interconnectedness of life on the landscape.

A guide can be incredibly helpful to carry while you're in the field, whether you're a new or well-seasoned tracker. These are some of our favorite guides, both general and for our area. Check your local bookstore or library!

One of the best guidebooks for our area: Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest, by David Moskowitz, 2010. From Timber Press.

​Animal Tracks of Washington and Oregon. Ian Sheldon. 2017. Partners Publishing, USA.

Behavior of North American Mammals. Kurt Rinehart and Mark Elbroch. 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, USA.

Land Mammals of Oregon. B.J. Verts and Leslie Carraway. 1998. University of California Press, USA.

Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species. Mark Elbroch. 2019. Second Edition. Stackpole Books, USA. 

Mammals of the Pacific Northwest: From the Coast to the High Cascades. Chris Maser. 1998. Oregon State University Press, USA.

Tracking Canids: Track and Trail Synopsis. James Halfpenny et al. 1998. A Naturalist's World, USA.

Scats and Tracks of the Pacific Coast. James Halfpenny. 2015. Falcon Guides, USA.

Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates. David Moskowitz. 2010. Timber Press, USA.

Have a favorite guide you would like to recommend - let us know! 
We'll continue adding to this post as recommendations come in. 

And, as always, send us your questions and photos! We love to see what you find out there!

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