Need some help with track recognition. Possibly a Cougar?

D

Dan57

Joined
Apr 8, 2012
Messages
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Found this while walking around in the woods. I'm pretty sure it's just a dog track, but I'm not sure. Any contrary opinions?
You guys would know better than I would, literally the only knowledge I have on this kind of thing I learned half an hour or so ago through Google.
A few sidenotes:
-The track's about four and a half inches long.
-That "green stuff" you see in some of the pics is actually the beam of my Streamlight Stylus Pro. I was trying to use it to better illuminate the print; it didn't really work. (Too bright outside.) I'm not sure why the camera picked it up as green.
-I posted two versions of each photo: HDR and non HDR. There're small differences in coloring and brightness. I figured that I might as well post both versions.
-The camera I used was the only one I had with me at the time; iPod Touch, 5th Gen. The pictures could be better, I know, but I think the track showed up pretty well.
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That was the first site I found when I googled it, and I came to the same conclusion you did: it might be a cougar. The toes look look closer together than in the cougar example, but farther apart than the dog example. And the heel print is smudged enough to go either way.
 
Yes, possibly. What area of the country was the taken in? That may help rule out other possibilities (for example if cougars aren't normally found in the area). A Bobcat on the larger end of the scale is also possible.
 
It looks to me like you can see claws in the print. Cats keep thier claws retracted unless running (think track spikes) so I would go with dog, unless there is a great enough distance between the prints tho indicate the animal was bounding.
 
JSMcustoms said:
Yes, possibly. What area of the country was the taken in? That may help rule out other possibilities (for example if cougars aren't normally found in the area). A Bobcat on the larger end of the scale is also possible.
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Suburban Illinois. Normally, the possibility of it being a big cat print wouldn't even occur to me, but we have a large deer population and have had several sightings reported recently.
 
jstn said:
It looks to me like you can see claws in the print. Cats keep thier claws retracted unless running (think track spikes) so I would go with dog, unless there is a great enough distance between the prints tho indicate the animal was bounding.
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Definitely not cougar. I agree with the above, looks to be more of a canid print. Dog, coyote etc. you can see the nail marks with each toe, and they are farther forward set than a cougar. Also, the toe and heel pad placement are wrong for a feline print, overall they are more rounded, if you will, than canine prints. Given the clear indentations from heel pad and toes, it wasn't moving very fast, either.

Hope this helps!

DD
 
Definitely not a canine, dogs don't have retractable claws, you'd see claw marks otherwise so ya know it's a large feline.
 
There have been several confirmed sightings in that area, but they're still considered quite rare, though four and half inches in size sounds pretty big for a cougar (three to three and half is closer to average). As for my area, officially cougars no longer live in this area and haven't for many years. However, unofficially, there have been several sightings in the area and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission has tried to convince life long experienced hunters that they were mistaken about what they saw.
 
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heresthedeal said:
looks like claw marks in that track, I'm going with left rear paw large dog.
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Although its hard to tell size from the pics, I agree. + the track is oval in general shape, like a dog. Cat tracks are round with no claw marks as they will very rarely leave claw marks in a track.
Also, whats the size of the track? Generally a cougar track will be between 2" to 2.5" in diameter for an adult cat although I did find some @ about 3" on a lake shore in the Cascades last summer. :-)

Ric
 
Looks like a fish print to me, maybe carp. Zombie carp wonder around late at night looking for worms and often leave tracks in the mud. If it was Trout the tracks would be closer to fresh water. ;)

I too vote dog...Maybe a yote would be a good guess.
 
Dog. Doesn't appear the toes are rounded enough to be any kind of cat (at least compared to cat tracks I've seen in person). Looks to be claw marks as well. Only time you will see claw marks from cats on the ground is when they have them out, like when they go from stalking to catching something. The tracks leading up to the 'claw' tracks will be clawless. Find any blood around? I found a story in the sand last year at the dropzone where I work; it appeared a Florida panther had stalked then killed a rabbit (we have a family of panthers that live on the property). Also, feline tracks appear to be more rounded overall, where a dogs will be oval. Also, the fingers in the pics you posted look way too skinny.

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Im going to concur on it be canine in origin. I have tracked many a mountain lion, bobcat, ringtailed cat, and those are not feline in pattern.
 
JSMcustoms said:
There have been several confirmed sightings in that area, but they're still considered quite rare, though four and half inches in size sounds pretty big for a cougar (three to three and half is closer to average). As for my area, officially cougars no longer live in this area and haven't for many years. However, unofficially, there have been several sightings in the area and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission has tried to convince life long experienced hunters that they were mistaken about what they saw.
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Amen brother! Funny, others have had the same issue! LOL When I was a kid, my entire boy scout troop was tracked on a hike by a large black cat hiking near South Mountain but we were "mistaken."
 
That's probably a coyote or some sort of dog. Its definitely not a cat.
 
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