sign
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sign noun (used as a mass noun) Evidence of the presence of an animal (as a bear) in the form of tracks, excrement, refuse from feeding, markings on trees (by which a bear indicates its territory), etc.
1878 Coale Wilburn Waters 61 Wilburn had found “sign” and had followed it up to a tall cliff near the summit of one of the highest and most inaccessible peaks in the range. 1886 Smith Sthn Dialect 350 There are still others [=terms] which have not, so far as I know, the authority of Old English: ... sign (track of wild beast). 1913 Kephart Our Sthn High 97 John and the hunchback had found “sign” in the opposite direction. 1927 Mason Lure of Smokies 216 I follered th’ bloody sign an’ come to whar my b’ar was down agin a hollur tree. 1939 Hall Coll (Cataloochee NC) A bear was a-usin’ in the chestnut patch, so we found his sign and found where he was a-layin’. Ibid. (Deep Creek NC) They was a little skiff of snow, and that was how come to see their sign. 1953 Hall Coll (Bryson City NC) They was an awful lot of sign where [the bear] had eaten the beech mast. 1970 Hunting Stories 16 A good place to find “sign” was around branches and the heads of springs where [raccoons] had been turning over rocks looking for crayfish and spring lizards ... Sign could also be found around oaks and other trees where they’d been scratching for nuts. 1977 Shackelford et al Our Appalachia 94 I could tell a red fox sign from a gray one: it was much bigger. Got a foot plime blank like a dog and them two front toenails are longer than the gray [fox’s].