Need Help I.D. These Paw Prints (Photos)

[plaindriver]

I live in rural Tn, kinda woodsy. Im on 10 ac, and half is fenced. Meaning that it would be tough for a local dog to get in. + there arent any dogs on my street. I have never seen a dog wandering around on my street. I have seen deers, raccoons, possums, and even saw where there was a bear sighted 2-3 mi away. Pawprints look too big for a coyote, and I didnt think these were from a deer or coon. We have no pets. Nabes are at least 1000' away, and only have a house cat. The ground was fairly hard packed, so this fellow had some weight. Any ideas?


  

 

[calw1izl]

What is the length of the stride, the distance between front and rear tracks?  Any marks behind in the dirt behind the rear set, something like a tail mark.  My first impression is a mountain lion possibly.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Clemson Tiger.

[beenthere]

Four toe (pad) animal tracks shown here.
http://www.wildthingsultd.org/publications/tracking-identification-guide/

[WmFritz]

I had a bobcat run across the road in front of me a couple days ago, while riding my golf cart.  I should've paid better attention to the tracks.

[giant splinter]

almost for sure a large cat ..... might be a really large bobcat but looks more like mountain lion prints we have here,  Im thinking cougar by the looks of them.
Not a dog, coyote or wolf .... those prints always have the claw tips showing, The cats retract their claws when walking around or not needed for hunting or climbing.

[Brucer]

With just a few tracks to examine, it's a tough call. However, I'd say it's a big canine, not a cougar. A lot of the distinctive features are blurred but three things stand out ...

• A cougar's rear prints will nearly always overlap its front prints when it's walking. That doesn't seem to be the case (although more examples would help clarify this).
• The tips of middle toes on a Cougar are not the same length. Examine your hand and notice how the index finger is longer than the ring finger -- a cougar's print is like that. On a dog the tips of the middle toes are side by side.
• The real clincher for me is the shape of the heel pad on the bottom, right hand print. The front of the heel bad on a cougar has two lobes, while on a dog it has a single rounded log -- exactly as you see in the picture.
  

There are other features that hint at a canine but they aren't clear enough to be sure.

Notice that I'm just saying what it isn't, not what it is. And I won't bet my allowance on it, either :D.

[isawlogs]

  Those are more then likely cat, lynx would be my guess from the size. Canine would have nail print with track.

[sandhills]

Baby sasquatch  ;D. Seriously though I'm with the cat group, big bobcat or small mountain lion.

[giant splinter]

Plaindriver,
If you see those prints again in your area you could set up a game cam and we will be able to get a look at what you have there, then we know for sure and may be able rule out any possibilities that it might be a neighborhood mutt with a pedicure. ;D

This info helps shed a bit more light on this subject:   First, determine if the track is from a Canine (dog) or Feline (cat)
Canine tracks have definite claw marks, one lobe on the front of the heel pad, and 2 lobes on the rear of the heel pad. In contrast, Feline tracks rarely show claw marks, the front of the heel pad has 2 lobes, and the rear of the heel pad has 3 lobes. Canine tracks are typically rectangular in shape (longer than they are wide), while Feline tracks have more of a square or circular shape (length and width are even or track is wider than it is tall).                                 

Then look at the size of the track
Adult cougar tracks average 3 1/2" tall by 4" wide. In contrast, coyote (and most other dog tracks) are longer than they are wide. Bobcat tracks are much smaller than cougar tracks, typically about 1 1/2" long by 1 3/8" wide.

These animals also move about in different ways, stride changes and pace changes when they are in the hunt they travel with different patters than when they are not hunting, there is also a more noticeable change in the way they walk / run and the directions that they choose as well as the terrain they select to conceal there path and scent if they suspect they are being hunted.

Many variables are going on with all of the animals involved here and it can be difficult without the best of photos to single out any one of these from the others if you are comparing their tracks in the dirt.

[Corley5]

Werewolf 

[Brucer]

... Canine tracks have definite claw marks, one lobe on the front of the heel pad, and 2 lobes on the rear of the heel pad. In contrast, Feline tracks rarely show claw marks, the front of the heel pad has 2 lobes, and the rear of the heel pad has 3 lobes. Canine tracks are typically rectangular in shape (longer than they are wide), while Feline tracks have more of a square or circular shape (length and width are even or track is wider than it is tall). ...

These are things I look for as well. But prints are rarely clear and sharp. The one lobe on the front of the heel (canine) is clear on only one of the 4 prints. The three lobes on the rear of the heel (feline) don't show in any of the pictures, but ... they aren't as well defined on the foot so they often don't show clearly on the ground.  ???

If you look closely at the bottom prints, there are what might be tiny indentations in front of some of the toe pads -- but that could just as well be my eyes going funny from staring too long. The top prints have a couple of pads with a narrow groove at the end, which could be cause by a claw sliding back toward the toe as the foot is raised.

There's also a little trick you can do that involves drawing an "X" between some of the pads. It works for canine prints, but not for feline prints. In the photos I can draw the "X" on two of the prints, but not the other two  ???

I still say canine, using the criteria in my earlier post.

[1woodguy]

  My guess is its a rare woofacatamuss(half cat and half wolf)
But then again perhaps hmmmmm
  Maybe a wolf got hit by a car in its rear end and a friendly cougar was helping him back to his den using his front end to carry wolfs rear end so ....

   Actually looks feline to me
Along the creek and where it's dusty dry
Sometimes the bigger bobcats here leave large prints
  I saw one try to take a doe years ago,when it struck it knocked her down she made it back up it didn't get the neck it was on her back and shoulder hanging on and biting

[Larro Darro]

I will say it was a cat, the lynx tracks are the closest to the pictures. But I have seen really big bobcats too. Once when my parents were loosing lots of chickens I was on the lookout for varmints. Out by the chicken pen I shot what I thought was a mangy looking coyote. Turned out I had shot a huge bobcat. The chicken stealing stopped after that.

[WmFritz]

Tennessee is not in the Lynx normal range but, with all the exotic pet stories in the news, I spose anything's possible. I saw a story last week about people crossing a common house cat with a tiger. The breeders are getting around $25,000 for them and have a waiting list.

I'm with splinter on the trail cam idea. Even the cheap ones work pretty well. Maybe tie a goat to a tree and see what shows up.  :D

[Yoopersaw]

Bobcat.