Detective Work

There is something special about crisp mornings like this with blue skies above and powdery snow below.  After a quick risk assessment, the easy decision was made for a Cooriedog walk.
 
I felt a childish delight as we entered the walking fields.  I concluded, given the footprints in the snow, that we were not the first to make this walk.  There were other prints nearby which strongly suggested another dogwalker was out and about.  Fresh snow brings out the best in my deductive reasoning.
 
I remembered old western movies where trackers (usually native Americans) touched the tracks gently with their fingers which they then lifted to their noses before announcing, Sherlock Holmes style, a list of astonishing details.  I am sure, if I had their skills, I would have been able to tell they were tracks of a well to do individual (Hunter wellies), slightly overweight (depth of impression), had passed by 5 minutes beforehand (warmth of impression), male (width of track) with a sore knee (shape of tracks).  I would also have been able to tell the dog was large (big paw prints) and playful (tracks all over the place).
 
I didn’t need these skills – they were up ahead.