The meaning of 'spoor'

[CatInTheHat]

I've come across the word 'spoor' in various wildlife contexts but have never been able to work out whether it means the track or pawprint of an animal, traces of its coat (ie on fences), or its poo. The dictionary is unclear. Is it any or all of these - can anyone help?

[Clanad]

It often helps to understand the intent of a word by checking the etymology... your's is interesting... Afrikaans, from Dutch; akin to Old English spor footprint. So, it would seem the original use of the word that became our spoor had more to do with tracks. However, beng raised in the intermountain area of the western U.S. and having hunted any and all game since just a child with my dad, I know the word was occasionally used in association with those types of game hunted by dog's... racoons and such. In those cases the word obviously related to any tracking method... especially any using sense of smell.

Not much help in really nailing down exactly to what purpose one wants to complete in using the word... but it must mean any thing left by the game animal as it passed by...