Tracks

[Fl0und3rz]

117

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Cat

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  100 percent lion

What's the tell?  Lack of claws? Tail dip? Gate?

[eliandsky]

[eliandsky]

Get closer prints its to hard to say 4” away.
Look at the main pad   Dogs make almost a perfect clover leaf. Cats retract claws but now always. Cats make almost an M on the main pad and tend to be longer L to R

[carpsniperg2]

I am no expert but I believe those to be cat tracks. A lot of the time cats will walk with the claws retracted. If things are a little slick or they need traction they can use them to get traction. I have seen cat tracks with claw marks more then a couple times.

[Okanagan]

Cat.

 The three lobed heel on the close up second set of pics says cat, with length of toes, front back step pattern and overall shape agreeing. 

The pattern of tracks in the first set of pics hints at fisher, but the prints aren't right for fisher IME and the full fisher pattern isn't there.




 

[Onewhohikes]

Bobby

[KFhunter]

117

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Cat

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  100 percent lion

What's the tell?  Lack of claws? Tail dip? Gate?

I had to think about this, how to describe exactly, to me I just see it instantly.    I guess the tell would be the size of the main pad in relation to the toes, and how the toes are arraigned in that arc across the front of the foot.  The almond looking toes, large main heel pad, 3 lobes on the heel pad which aren't always visible in the snow...and of course no prominent nails always helps too.

I've seen tracks just like these tracks perhaps 100's of times going off the road and disappearing in the brush below. 

A tail drag can help reaffirm tracks, but you have to be careful it's not a toe drag too, in this pic I think it's the right front toe drug just a tad on the 2nd cat.  I've seen cougar tracks where they were chasing a deer and the tail slap into the ground, but generally they hold them up high enough not to just limply hang and drag snow, but a lot of times you can see a gentle brushing through the snow, more as the snow gets deeper. 

[JL]

Thanks for such informative posts and sorry to turn this into a cat thread. Can see it clearly, now. I'd be calling in the hounds if I were a little further East.

[idaho guy]

117

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Cat

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  100 percent lion

What's the tell?  Lack of claws? Tail dip? Gate?

I had to think about this, how to describe exactly, to me I just see it instantly.    I guess the tell would be the size of the main pad in relation to the toes, and how the toes are arraigned in that arc across the front of the foot.  The almond looking toes, large main heel pad, 3 lobes on the heel pad which aren't always visible in the snow...and of course no prominent nails always helps too.

I've seen tracks just like these tracks perhaps 100's of times going off the road and disappearing in the brush below. 

A tail drag can help reaffirm tracks, but you have to be careful it's not a toe drag too, in this pic I think it's the right front toe drug just a tad on the 2nd cat.  I've seen cougar tracks where they were chasing a deer and the tail slap into the ground, but generally they hold them up high enough not to just limply hang and drag snow, but a lot of times you can see a gentle brushing through the snow, more as the snow gets deeper.

   

I agree with what kf said. I am a long time hound hunter and after a while tracks like that just scream lion. When you look at enough cat tracks and see a track like that you know 100% its lion. Thats a dream track for a houndsman. If its a questionable track because of age or bad snow conditions the 3 lobes on back pad( if evident) are a guarantee its a cat. Many times you cant make out the 3 lobes in bad conditions  so you cant always rely on that. The almond shape of the toes is a good way to describe the toes and the round shape of the overall track. Many times I can spot a snowed in track of a cat just because of the pattern of the track and the actual shape. My pet peeve is people dismissing a cat track as soon as they see claws. Most of the time cats are moving with their claws in but I have found hundreds of lion tracks with their claws completeley out and very obvious in the track. No claws is only 1 piece of the puzzle and should never be used to completely eliminate a track as a lion. The only way I have ever reliably determined female vs a male track is by length of stride. Even that only confirms a mature tom shorter strides only tell you female or younger male.   40 inches or more is what i have used to tell me mature tom and less is younger male or female. I cant tell stride or size from that picture but that looks exactly like a set of tracks I ran last year and we ended up treeing both cats one was 120lb roughly male and the female was probably 110. They were probably mating. lions are definitely territorial and hang solo but they will hang out together as adults while breeding. I dont know how long they do this maybe few days to a week? Just know they do hang together for a while due to experience. The only way to reliably determine sex in the tree is a round black spot on toms down where there junk should be so there is now way I have found outside of stride to determine male vs female without actually looking between their legs. One thing I have not relied on for track identification is a trail drag but I would guess that could be usefull. Also unless its extremely deep and soft snow cats almost never make  drag marks with their feet through the snow but it happens in the deep sugary snow.       

[KFhunter]

I'll also add I look at the width of the legs pressed in the snow on snowed in tracks.   

Deer have long skinny legs, and leave a narrow trench in the snow down to the track from their shins or forearms.   

Wolves also have a narrow forearm and skinny leg, they also leave a pretty narrow trough or impression from their legs leading down into the track itself.

Lions leave a wider trough into the snow with their thicker legs.   


see pic, this area of the leg is pretty wide on a cat

[Fl0und3rz]

Thanks, guys.  Couldn't really make out any noticeable main pad differences.

[HighlandLofts]

There are no wolves in that area so they must be coyote tracks. Harvest them coyotes.