Peterson Field Guide (R) to Animal Tracks: Second Edition

The original Peterson's Field Guide to Animal Tracks by Olaus Murie has been an inspiration to generations of trackers, naturalists, and wildlife enthusiasts. It was the first in-depth guide of its kind, and in addition to numerous illustrations of tracks and animal sign, Murie added colorful stories of his own experiences in the great outdoors. The book transcended mere field guide status into the ranks of the classics of natural history. In the most recent revision of this classic, Mark Elbroch has done an exceptionally tasteful job of updating the guide. He worked to enhance the work of Murie, but keep the essence of the classic work. In particular, Elbroch re-arranged the animal species into phylogenetic order (the order by which animals are related through the course of evolution) allowing for the many advances within the scientific community since the original book was published, and added many color photographs to enhance the illustrations of Murie. As Elbroch notes, the book is still the one Murie wrote; Elbroch simply acted as a caretaker to bring this great book to generations more. I would recommend this book highly to anyone with an interest in animals or natural history.

Easy to use and very informative. Many tracks for different areas of the country. I was looking up a set of tracks I found in light snow on my deck and was able to identify them definitely from the images in the book.

If you own only one animal track field guide - own this one.

This is what a field guide should be, clear, concise, and easy to use. My wife who is just starting to tune in to nature loves it. She was up to speed in 10 minutes and loving it from then on.

When I was a kid running a trapline in northern Michigan, this was the book I carried in my rucksack. Today, more than 35 years later, I've written 2 books of my own on the subject of tracking wildlife, but this book is still on my bookshelf. Olas Murie was a true American pioneer who led the way into an area where no one else had gone before him. He established the first standards, and while modern genetic and other scientific techniques have increased our knowledge of wildlife manifold over what was known in Murie's day, it was he who laid the foundation on which the rest of us build. This book is a must-have for every tracker's library.