Scratches: Dog or Cat?

B

beezaur

Joined
Jul 31, 2002
Messages
430
Hi Guys,

I was hoping someone would be able to help be ID these scratches in the ground. I live in western Washington state in an area with tons of wildlife: deer, elk, beavers, coyotes, bear, (very occasionally) a cougar, you name it. Theoretically there are also bobcats.

I was on my regular walk with my German shepherd when I saw these. He is used to coyote sign, normally just smells it and pees on it. He will pay more attention to something like scat from a pregnant female, but he was going nuts smelling stuff and following scent trails on this day. There were 4 patches of these cratches, each at the edge of a small wooded area and a field where there were trails in and out of the trees (alder forest next to a river).

Any ideas?

scratches18cz.jpg


Scott
 
I'd say cat or small bear.

You have basically four parallel grooves in the ground, of a good size.

Dog paws are highly arced: you'd get two prominent (and close together) grooves with smaller, fainter grooves on the sides: the dog's second and third toes point sharply out; the first and fourth are more recessed.

And dogs tend to dig. These look like probing scratches like an animal foraging something.

So cats have four parallel claws, as do bears. If it were a big bear, you might see general bear paw prints around, but you don't. I can't make out any tracks in your photo.

A Sasquatch?
 
Thanks guys.

The photo shows a path that my dog and I walk every day. There were elk, deer, and coyote tracks in the area from within the previous day, but the soil was pretty hard for detecting pad marks around where the scratches were. I looked but could not find anything that I could say were not from my 95-lb German shepherd. I'm not real familiar with bear tracks.

Scott
 
I guess to solve the mystery you could go to y ou rlocal Fish & Game office and ask them. I am sure they will know.
 
sirjason_20 said:
I guess to solve the mystery you could go to y ou rlocal Fish & Game office and ask them. I am sure they will know.
Click to expand...

Don't be so sure. I tried them. They told me it was coyotes digging for mice.

In complete fairness, the district biologist to whom I was first referred was out of town. I have yet to contact him.

Scott
 
There are 5 parallel claws. This is no cat, dog or porcupine (too big for a porcupine, but it's still a possibility). It has to be something like a badger, small bear, or other medium-sized plantigrade, maybe even a XXXL skunk :D... No other sign around ? What was is scraching at in the ground ? It seems like it's been pulling moss to check for insects underneath. That would narrow our choices a bit.

Cheers,

David
 
I'd say either a fissure or fisher (not sure on spelling) or a badger.

For a dog they usually have hollowed out nails towards the base of them and you would see a paw print. I think bear's would leave a bigger mark. It also doesn't appear to be a cat cause the claw marks are very compact together. Like with cats from what i have seen there claws are more spread out. Hope that makes some sense:o
 
Moine said:
There are 5 parallel claws. This is no cat, dog or porcupine (too big for a porcupine, but it's still a possibility). It has to be something like a badger, small bear, or other medium-sized plantigrade, maybe even a XXXL skunk :D... No other sign around ? What was is scraching at in the ground ? It seems like it's been pulling moss to check for insects underneath. That would narrow our choices a bit.

Cheers,

David
Click to expand...

Actually, they're not too big for porcupine if I'm judging the size correctly. They have five toes on the hind foot and frequently leave marks similar to this. Too bad we can't see any tracks, droppings, or piss. It just doesn't look like the marks a bear would leave. Badger is a possibility, I suppose.
 
Its *not* coyotes digging for mice. I hope whever told you that did so based on a verbal description, and not the picture you've shown us.

Beezaur, how big are those binoculars (side to side)? That will give us a better idea how large the scratches really are.
 
Joel Stave said:
Its *not* coyotes digging for mice. I hope whever told you that did so based on a verbal description, and not the picture you've shown us.

Beezaur, how big are those binoculars (side to side)? That will give us a better idea how large the scratches really are.
Click to expand...

See post #6:

The binoculars are about 6-1/4" wide; lenscap diameter is 1.7".

Yes, it was over the phone. The person declined an email with the pics, I think just wanted not to be bothered with my question. I have the number of one more gov't biologist who supposedly will be back in the office today. Hopefully he will be more interested.

Scott
 
Oops. Guess I didn't read the thread as carefully as I thought. That makes the widest set of scratches (the one with 5) about 3 inches wide, which is kinda small for a bear, unless its a cub. This *is* the time of year for cubs, but you'd probably also find sign of Mama around somewhere.

This is kind of an odd thought, but snapping turtles get pretty big and have some pretty fierce claws on them. You said this was near a river. Do you have snapping turtles in that part of the world?
 
No turtles that I am aware of.

The scratches are a little on the small side, not quite as wide as my 4 fingers generally. They look to me like they were made deliberately, not necessarily with care, but with a fairly light touch. I was thinking cat because it reminds me of how my housecat paws things after "using the facilities."

Scott
 
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