Raleigh wrote:
A dillogic moment.
Sounds like a person if nothing else. The twig snap is the most unmistakable tell outside the audible range of other human movements due to the high ground pressure of the human foot. Animals that do the same are soon quite evident. If there's no other audible movements, it's almost always a human. The same for humans moving through thick woods, where branches snap or break off, and animals that do such tend to be be spooked from their resting spot, so also quite evident. Humans, even ones not trying to be sneaky or hide, move slower, so are harder to hear than animals big enough to break twigs. Falling branches make a snap, but you then hear the impact.
It's been quiet in this department for me lately.
Best advice if you want to look for tracks or anything that's been disturbed recently on the ground is simply to look for areas that give off a "white" appearance compared to the surrounding surface under natural light. Any undisturbed ground will lose its familiar palette, as any track or disturbance will present unweathered ground, which gives off a brighter hue than the weathered surface (doesn't really matter the surface). Kinda look just above the ground, across the surface ahead of you. and your eyes will pick up areas that don't belong. If you've got animal paths around, it gives a really obvious example of the whole thing; they basically glow when you look beyond the obvious well-worn track they use.
Lecturing, sorry.
A combination of a happy and sad thing.