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Big house cat or bobcat? Buck 110 4 " blade....track 3 1/2"
damp ground ...I forgot to measure the stride.
damp ground ...I forgot to measure the stride.
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Cat track in big city ?
- Thread starter Evil Eye Earl
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I recently walked out my backdoor and not 10 feet from me stood a husky little bobcat. Did not look very fearful of me either which was a little unnerving. I live in Silverado California which is near the big city but wide open. Lots of critters.
Find lots of tracks as well.
Find lots of tracks as well.
check the stride will give indication of cat type,from the roundness seems to be BC match it up with this:
http://www.bear-tracker.com/bobcat.html
http://www.bear-tracker.com/bobcat.html
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appears to be some kind of lizard or somthing.......
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that might make me use a little caution when outdoors from now on! a cat that big would REALLY aggravate my allergies!! haha
I live in a small town in rural Missouri and there have been several large cat tracks found in my area too. We're not in the Big City but still it's not common for eastern Missouri.
Might want to keep an eye out(with camera in hand) and possibly contact your local Conservation office to let them know about the track.
I live in a small town in rural Missouri and there have been several large cat tracks found in my area too. We're not in the Big City but still it's not common for eastern Missouri.
Might want to keep an eye out(with camera in hand) and possibly contact your local Conservation office to let them know about the track.
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looks bit big for a bobcat...
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A cougar was shot & killed by LEOs in the north side of Chicago about 2 months ago. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news cougar-shot
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Not all big cats are wild;
Several big cats, even an escaped tiger have been reported in cental NC. I was leaving my hunting area in NC one afternoon when a guy came buy who was jogging on the main road. He lived nearby and he related to me a sighting of what sounded a lot like a cougar.
Who knows?
Several big cats, even an escaped tiger have been reported in cental NC. I was leaving my hunting area in NC one afternoon when a guy came buy who was jogging on the main road. He lived nearby and he related to me a sighting of what sounded a lot like a cougar.
Who knows?
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silenthunterstudios
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Some years ago, a few kids playing ball in Baltimore told their parents that they saw a mountain lion under a car, in the middle of the city. When the parents got back, the cat was gone, but they found spoor etc. Big cat in the middle of Baltimore, not just at the zoo .
.I thought that's typical for bobcats - it helps them to walk on snow.
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You might be thinking of Lynxes -- they have almost cartoonishly big feet. However they also have lots of fur on their feet, so the tracks wouldn't be this cleanly delineated.
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We live in danbury ct, fair amount of open space in the nicer areas, The last week or so have been having problems with racoons pulling baby birds out through the wire of my brooder cages! Have lost maybe 25-30 so as our bedroom is within 20 feet we had everything off and the windows open so that i could end the problem with my centurion! friday morning I nailed a old boar coon about 5:30 am. I had left the mangled corpses in a wire cage for additional bait with a good shoot window! Saturday morning my wife shakes me awake and i look out the window to see a large shape in brown with my sleepy vision, thought another coyote, turned around and grabbed my ruger rancher in 7.62 and dropped the screen, what was in my scope was a large male bobcat checking out the carcuses. Had the wife look and go for a camera, but i coughed and he was gone! I would not shoot, although I have killed countless coyo's and foxes! It was a pleasant suprise as he was the first i have seen in about 10 years here at this address! I grew up with a large population of them in central Pa! And this in a city the size of Danbury Ct.
Not all big cats are wild;
Several big cats, even an escaped tiger have been reported in cental NC. I was leaving my hunting area in NC one afternoon when a guy came buy who was jogging on the main road. He lived nearby and he related to me a sighting of what sounded a lot like a cougar.
Who knows?
We had a tiger escape here in Lowgap, North Carolina a few years back. It mauled a little girl (she survived) and had to be put down by animal control. Yeah, exotic pet escapes happen. We seem to have more than our fair share, though, huh?
barrabas74
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On my farm in North Central PA its not unusual to see really big bobcats. I was hunting turkey this spring and had one come in and check out my decoy....interesting to say the least. It stalked downwind of the decoy and when it got around it it saw me, we made eyecontact and it booked. Had tracks around that big...was not a small bobcat.
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Okay...
First, there are only three toe pads. You can see it in the first picture too. A cat spreads its weight evenly across all four toe pads. I see weight on only three. Dogs don't need to distribute weight on all toes when walking slowly, so you can get three pads off four toes.
Also, a cat tends to place its rear foot back into the same print as the front foot, creating a double impression that slightly blurs the edges of the side walls (the feet aren't exactly the same size), and would defnitely press that fourth toe pad down for me to see. I don't see that here.
Most importantly, a cat track leaves a three-lobed (M-shaped) heel print, as do many wolves and coyotes. I don't see that here: I see a two-lobed (heart-shaped) imprint, which is pretty much only the domestic dog.
I also see what I think are claw prints around the toe pads. Neither cougars nor bobcats leave little dots in front of the toe pads. That's a wolf or a dog... and based on the two-lobed heel pad, it's not a wolf. Indeed, it's a dog who doesn't get a lot of attention, as exercised dogs have short nails, and house dogs tend to get nails groomed. I may be wrong about those dots being claw marks because....
This print isn't very clean. You can see a small stone has fallen into the heel pad well: if this wasn't there in the top picture, the sidewall has begun to collapse and that shows either inadvertent tampering by Possum or longer fur around the foot: longer fur around the pads is typical of a dog more so than any US-based cat.
That said, it's tough to judge from only two photos with the sun at a really bad angle to see detail. I assume this was taken in the early morning, based on the shadow lengths. A couple of shots of each print, with a flashlight held at different angles to minimize shadow, would be ideal.
Edited to add: It's also entirely possible that Possum could post a third picture, of a different print at a slightly different angle, and I'd say "Yup: Cougar!" I'm only basing this off two photos.
No kidding, this would be like a cougar in Brooklyn, or in SF's Russian Hill area. Just astounding.
Actually, there's a couple of things to watch for. Stride length is good, but also consistency of the track. The spacing between the right and left is important, and also the angle of the light is bad in these pictures. There's a lot of detail missing, unfortunately.
This picture shows the stride length pretty well, actually, and I can see quite a cluster of prints there: the animal stopped here for some reason. Probably sniffing the moist ground due to the scents that were trapped there.
Here's where I make a couple of startling claims. I don't think this was either a bobcat or a lynx, based on this one shot: I see a domestic dog sniffing around for things.
First, there are only three toe pads. You can see it in the first picture too. A cat spreads its weight evenly across all four toe pads. I see weight on only three. Dogs don't need to distribute weight on all toes when walking slowly, so you can get three pads off four toes.
Also, a cat tends to place its rear foot back into the same print as the front foot, creating a double impression that slightly blurs the edges of the side walls (the feet aren't exactly the same size), and would defnitely press that fourth toe pad down for me to see. I don't see that here.
Most importantly, a cat track leaves a three-lobed (M-shaped) heel print, as do many wolves and coyotes. I don't see that here: I see a two-lobed (heart-shaped) imprint, which is pretty much only the domestic dog.
I also see what I think are claw prints around the toe pads. Neither cougars nor bobcats leave little dots in front of the toe pads. That's a wolf or a dog... and based on the two-lobed heel pad, it's not a wolf. Indeed, it's a dog who doesn't get a lot of attention, as exercised dogs have short nails, and house dogs tend to get nails groomed. I may be wrong about those dots being claw marks because....
This print isn't very clean. You can see a small stone has fallen into the heel pad well: if this wasn't there in the top picture, the sidewall has begun to collapse and that shows either inadvertent tampering by Possum or longer fur around the foot: longer fur around the pads is typical of a dog more so than any US-based cat.
That said, it's tough to judge from only two photos with the sun at a really bad angle to see detail. I assume this was taken in the early morning, based on the shadow lengths. A couple of shots of each print, with a flashlight held at different angles to minimize shadow, would be ideal.
Edited to add: It's also entirely possible that Possum could post a third picture, of a different print at a slightly different angle, and I'd say "Yup: Cougar!" I'm only basing this off two photos.
I'm familiar with that neighborhood. Finding a live cougar in that area--and DNA suggests it was from the Dakota areas as I recall--is as astounding as finding a live ostrich in Chicago. I've been asked how close it was to the city itself, and will assure you that this was very much *in* the city itself.
No kidding, this would be like a cougar in Brooklyn, or in SF's Russian Hill area. Just astounding.
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Watchful, it looks to me more like that stone is in another toe print, rather than a second lobe of the heel pad (seems like the lobes would be uneven and too extreme also). The shadows make it a little hard to tell, but otherwise, there's no hint of a 4th toe, and I don't see any reason that there would be no 4th toe imprint at all (maybe it's a 3 toed sloth!).
In any case, 3.5 inches is very probably too large for a bobcat. If this is cat (more pictures please?) I'd say cougar also.
In any case, 3.5 inches is very probably too large for a bobcat. If this is cat (more pictures please?) I'd say cougar also.
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Joel,
Interesting observation -- but then we'd have no heel pad print at all. I hadn't considered that the second photo might be taken from a completely different direction.
As I thought more about this, what about a lynx? I still don't see enough feline characteristics to the print, but some lynx tracks I've seen have such a small heel pad that it could look like five pad marks.
But I think we'll never be sure without additional photos.
Interesting observation -- but then we'd have no heel pad print at all. I hadn't considered that the second photo might be taken from a completely different direction.
As I thought more about this, what about a lynx? I still don't see enough feline characteristics to the print, but some lynx tracks I've seen have such a small heel pad that it could look like five pad marks.
But I think we'll never be sure without additional photos.