Elk Tracks in the snow: Fresh or Old?

[windymtnman]

So, I've been trekking around the National Forest, which has about 4" of fairly new snow. Obviously, I pay attention to the ground sign, and try and evaluate what's fresh and what's not so. With temperatures down below 22 degrees at night, everything is frozen. I'm running into snow that's been crusted where the Sun warms it, and sugar snow where the Sun has no effect on it.
In looking at some Elk tracks yesterday, I was often seeing clear hoof prints with ice in the print. One might think they are NOT fresh tracks. Then I got to thinking about that. I have horses, mules, and burros. I can tell you that in zero weather, the sole of a horses hoof is quite warm. The laminae tissues in their hocks and hooves are blood engorged tissues. and I've put my hand on a horses sole, and could feel the warmth in them in cold, Winter weather. They often build up ice clods on them where the ice adheres to their hooves because it builds up. It's not unusual to take a hammer and knock 3" of ice off their hooves. (They thank you for this).
That got me to thinking is this the same for Elk and Deer? Could a Elk or Deer have equally warm hoof soles that when in contact with snow, actually leave a melted print? Obviously a walking animal's foot isn't in contact long but I've seen ice in tracks that aren't in areas where the Sun later created the ice in the track.
Point being, is a track with ice in it necessarily old? Interesting to consider, because you can also see very fresh tracks that don't have ice in them too.
Okay everybody, tell me I'm completely wrong now! Hahahaha

 

[MTTW]

They would have to be walking awful slow to melt snow. My rule of thumb is...if I can't tell for sure, treat them like they are fresh.
That said, your tracks sound old to me, but that wouldn't keep me from following them if they were big.
I have learned a lot more from following tracks than from reading the internet.

 

[Ben Long]

Old tracks lead to fresher tracks. Fresher tracks lead to hotter tracks. Hot tracks lead to elk. It's the only way it can work. Many times I've taken off on a cool to lukewarm track only to find its maker in a quarter mile. I assume the track is more fresh than it looks. It might be the opposite, but there is nothing to lose to being optimistic about it. Conversely if you guess wrong and it's fresher than you assume, you will get sloppy and blow the entire situation. When in doubt, track it out. Assume it's fresh until evidence proves otherwise.

 

[IEATELK]

Fresh tracks wont ice up unless its warm or sticky packable snow... Ive never seen snow build on an elk like a horse unless it was mud. Horses cant spread their hooves like an elk.

I tend to always see elk tracks pretty packed and noticeably stamped... my 2 cents.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I think of it as opportunity cost; following a track that's less than fresh has an upside, but costs time (and potentially a lot of it). Maybe it's a dog hair thick monoculture where tracking is the option. If the alternative is spending that time to back off and get up to a great glassing knob, you'd want to consider that. Every situation is different. I'm not much of an elk hunter, but fwiw...

 

[Stocker]

If the snow isn’t very deep I always look for dirt they’ve pulled up and dropped in front of the track, the sun will warm the dirt and it will disappear. Then you can go look at the same shaded tracks and get an idea how old they are.


Tracks are difficult things to explain.

 

[FamilyMan]

I have learned a lot more from following tracks than from reading the internet.

Truer words never spoken.

 

[brymoore]

This week. Hours old.

 

[brymoore]

Deer same morning. Hours old.

 

[awbowhunter]

I believe this to be fresh, fresh dirt on top of snow. This is an elk I bumped from his bed couple weeks ago. He was moving faster than a slow walk...lol