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by I. Michael Akbar

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Thousands of tracks have been found that were purported to be from the legendary Big Foot. Most of them can quickly be dismissed as fakes. One of the first clues is because of a lack of what is know as pressure release. Pressure release is evidence in a track which shows the force and direction with which the animal was moving. Most fake Big Foot tracks lack any evidence of lateral movement or acceleration because they a simply made by large men with Big Foot molds strapped to their feet.

Pressure releases are the differences made in animal tracks based on changes in gait, balance and movement. Along with sign tracking, knowledge of pressure releases is a central ingredient in the science of tracking. When a foot makes contact with the ground, it exerts pressure, and the foot flattens. At this moment, large amounts of information about the animal are transferred through the foot into the soil. When the foot is lifted, the pressure is released, and a miniature landscape is left in the floor of the track made up of peaks, ridges, valleys, cliffs, and other features. This landscape, the "released pressure," reveals the information about the animal that made the track at the moment the track was made.

Every animal track has to be studied in context. What type of soil is it in, what other tracks in the sequence, the type of habitat in which they are found and the age of the track. A lone photo of an animal track will give limited information. Knowledge of pressure releases will give additional information on things like speed and changes in gait and direction. The following are a few examples of pressure release information.

Wave - The large general pressure release of wave animal is walking at a slow gait with no change of pace or shift of weight balance. A simple example is when someone is walking on the beach.

Double Wave - A double wave is a small wave followed by a larger wave, moving from the front to the back of the track. This pressure release indicates a faster pace.

Disk - a round, disk-shaped pressure release can be seen just behind the ball of the foot and indicates a change of gait from slow to fast. As the speed increases, this disk in each successive print will fissure or show cracks. The disks will eventually be seen as crumbled with even higher speeds.

A thorough understanding of pressure releases is a definite must for tracking professionals, advanced guides,serious hunters, survivalists and outdoor enthusiasts.

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