[MUD-Dev] Tracking

[Shawn L Johnston]

[Ryan P]

> ...The tracks could last as long as you want, I suppose. In fairly
> dry weather I would say several mud hours. If it was wet and muddy
> perhaps 6-8 mud hours. I can't say I'm an expert tracker, so I
> wouldn't really know. As far as people who went offline, I'd say to
> leave the tracks anyway...

In snow deer tracks can last weeks... However it is fairly easy to
distinguish between tracks that are fresh (i.e. within a few hours) a
little harder to see what might be a day old, and past that it gets
pretty murky to tell exactly how old the tracks are. Out of snow its
pretty hard to track a deer through a prairie or forest unless they
happen to be following a river or lake.

> ...As a side note, there are many other things to track by than
> merely footprints. For example, I believe deer hunters look out for
> things like broken twigs, perhaps upturned rocks by a river (so they
> are muddy/wet on one side whereas the other rocks are dry on
> top). Any water that's more than waste deep should be pretty much
> untrackable through though...

Yes. Also look for things like droppings, deer "beds" (places where
they lay down to sleep), etc. I'm not an expert tracker but perhaps
this also helps.

Another interesting possibility... Many of the Plains Indian tribes
had distinctive moccasin styles (like the so called "dusters" that
Kiowa, Comanche, and a few other southern groups were known for), and
the different styles of moccasins would have somewhat different sole
styles. Its said that sometimes people would wear a moccasin from
another tribe to help disguise their tracks. Perhaps while you might
not be able to specifically identify an individual's tracks in game
(oh yeah their is John Doe's ugly feet!) but perhaps you might be able
to say those shoe imprints look like the shoes the people over in
those mountain towns wear.

Cheers,

Shawn

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