SECOND CLASS SCOUT

COLLECTING TRACKS

Perhaps you've heard the no-trace hiking slogan, "Take only photo- graphs, leave only footprints." Here's a way you can bring home some footprints, too.

Notch the ends of a cardboard strip, form it into a collar, and place it around a footprint you want to preserve. Mix up some plaster of paris. (Plaster of pans is available at drug stores. Mixing instructions are on the label.)

Pour the plaster into the collar and wait for it to harden-ten to twenty minutes in warm weather. Remove the cast and brush off the dirt. On the back of the cast, write the date, where you found the track, and the name of the animal that made it.

Casts of prints are fine souvenirs of your adventures. You can also press them into damp sand to recreate the tracks-a valuable study aid for improving the animal-observing skills of everyone in your patrol.