Tracks???

[wastickslinger]

Not real good with bear and cat tracks. Are these small bear tracks or cougar tracks?? And how do you tell?
I was thinking small bear.

[Machias]

Those are bear tracks the one at the top is a hind foot, the one next to the black case is the front paw.  Can you also see the claw marks in from of the toes on the front foot?

[wastickslinger]

Thanks. I noticed that the hind foot has a longer pad. I'm sure on a bigger bear it is much easier to tell. These being smaller and rounder almost led me to believe them to be cat. Does a cat leave claw marks?

[OltHunter]

cats don't leave claw marks, just like your house cat, they walk and move around with their claws retracted

[billythekidrock]

Yep, bear..

[Machias]

This might help a little.  Lots of folks confuse large dog tracks with lion tracks and visa versa.

This is a lion track in northern Idaho:

[GoldTip]

Yep, top ones are bear tracks, and not a terrible big bear either.  Great pic of a lion track there Machias!

[cascademountainhunter]

definatly a bear track.
im not sure how to explain the difference though.

[AngelFace]

Cascademountainhunter...your up to 79 in one day...you should pace youself a little.

[cascademountainhunter]

ya ur right. this is my first day on here to. this is a cool site.

[smdave]

Welcome to the site have fun
Dave

[billythekidrock]

Cascademountainhunter...your up to 79 in one day...you should pace youself a little.

LOL

[DeKuma]

Hew is at 82 and climbing and on his first day.  How long can he keep this pace up?

Back to the tracks,
I would confuse Machias' photo with a dog or coyote (no scale ref for size).  So if I am understanding it correctly, a dog species will show the claw marks in the track where as a cat will not?  Is this correct?

I have so tracks on our property that I thought where dog or coyote, but there is no claw impression and the main pad seems different.

[billythekidrock]

Hew is at 82 and climbing and on his first day.  How long can he keep this pace up?

Back to the tracks,
I would confuse Machias' photo with a dog or coyote (no scale ref for size).  So if I am understanding it correctly, a dog species will show the claw marks in the track where as a cat will not?  Is this correct?

I have so tracks on our property that I thought where dog or coyote, but there is no claw impression and the main pad seems different.

I have seen cat tracks in mud or snow that have shown claws, but generally they do not. If you find tracks that have claws in everyone you can bet it is a canine.

[Head-shot]

Hew is at 82 and climbing and on his first day.  How long can he keep this pace up?

He is either single or like the time away from the wife. If not he's gonna have alot more time to study tracks.