I have been out hunting cougar this winter in an area that a friend shot one a couple years ago and over the years I have seen lots of cougar scat and tracks. However opening day of deer season last mid October I laid eyes on a big black wolf at only about 50 yards away. So I know that both animals are in the area. Anyway I was out recently and cut tracks in fresh snow. I tracked it for a couple hours before losing the tracks due to the fact that it warmed up and the snow came dumping out of the trees and obliterated the tracks.
I mostly think it was a cougar but I could sometimes see claw marks. Do cougars sometimes leave claw marks, especially in deep snow? Several clues had me pretty sure it was a cougar. First off the tracks had no scuff marks between them. Most critters tend to leave drag marks between tracks. With basically no wolf experience I do not know if wolf tracks would have the drag marks like deer and elk or no drag marks like cougar. Also I often could not see claw marks. Also the animal got up on several fallen logs and walked along the top of it. I see that as much more likely a cat trait than a wolf trait. Finally at one point I came to a tree that had snow a few feet up the side of the trunk and it was yellow a few feet up the tree. It did not smell of urine but it looked like maybe a scent marking.
This weekend I learned a distinguishing difference in the pads between wolves and cougars so I do not think I would be confused next time out. Anyway just curious what you who know wolves and mountain lions think.
