Animal Tracks.

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canon

Member
I was out skiing a track a land adjacent to the Des plains river today , it was the usual animal movement surveys and then a came across this animal track. I certainly don't have the experience as some of you so I was looking for opinions on wether this could be a cougar or bobcat track?

The mitten pictured is 11 inches long and the second pic is a pic of my 75lb Lab print, this are would be a smorgasbord for a cat seeing it holds around 40 head of deer.
 

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anonomoose

New member
If you are referring to the track immediately below the mitten, and not the others, then the answer is not difficult.

That track is NOT cat. Cat has round paw prints and is not oval. You have a Canis of some sort there, likely coyote or lacking other tracks to compare stride, it could be wolf, or dog.

Dog tracks are not in perfect alignment. Fox and Coyotes usually have very precise distances between the prints usually exhibited by one foot going exactly into another foot track.

But it is for sure not cat...cat tracks are rounder...and this includes the whole cat family. Also cat tracks do not show claw marks as they trot along, since the claws are in the retracted position. Canines don't/can't retract claws.

This is one of the great things about getting out in the snow...there is a story on the ground if you want to study it...from otters to beaver to hawks and owls, and mice and every other creature who travels thru or over the snow...it can be quite interesting to find out what it is and learn for future references.
 
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phazerpilot

New member
big coyote, the are all over the des plaines river area.saw one about six weeks ago wadsworth area from 75 feet looked the size of a good size shepard ,glad my dogs didn't see it.
 
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makintrax73

New member
If the size comparison between the lab prints and the unknow prints is accurate as it appears that is way too big for a coyote print. 75lbs would be really big for a yote, 40-50 being more average. For sure not a cat for the reasons other posters have stated.
 
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