Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What tracks are these?

I found some interesting tracks this morning, and I'm trying to figure out what was going on with the crazy animals. Here are the different tracks I found crossing a salt flat/marsh area:













Sorry there is no sense of scale. The tracks were all about 2-3" across, so they were pretty small. They were much smaller than my 75 lb black lab's tracks.

I'm pretty sure that tracks #2 and #3 are raccoon tracks (front legs). But what the **** are the other tracks? At first I thought that they were bobcat tracks, but I looked up bobcat tracks, and it said that cat tracks rarely have claw marks on them.

We've never seen coyotes around here, so I doubt they are those either. Any ideas?

Dog or coyote. Probably a dog.

Brent

+ 2 for the dog

Toby Joe

Tracks 2 & 3 are front foot 'coon. The rest are dog tracks.
RS

I guess a stray deer dog ran on our place last night or something because my dog didn't make those tracks.

That's a WAMPUS CAT for sure....normally found in the highest of places in the Smokies of Tenn. and the Blue Ridge of Va. Seems one has migrated a bit south. They can be heard by superstitious types late at night before a new moon. Usually only during cold weather when shivering has the potential for being excessive.....I would stay clear cause legend has it that................................

I believe that if you draw intersecting line along the main pad and the lines intersect out in the toe area, it is a dog, if they intersect inside the toes it is a cat. Saw that tidbit in outdoor Life

Any member of the cat family would not have claws showing if I recall, as there claws are retracted while walking.
Where as a dogs are always out, or a racoon as some one said.

The ones that look like dog tracks-- front pads are way to narrow to my eye. Simply looks like a heavier coon track that may have been running or putting more pressure on than normal vs the realitively shallow tracks of other pictures.

No way do they look like any dog, coyote or cat track I"ve ever seen.

Looked one more time. My money is they are all racoon tracks.

Jeff

Definitely not cat family. If the animal was walking were the tracks in a nice straight line, kind of like a dotted line? Any idea on the weight of the animal from the depth of the tracks? It would be a huge help to see the pattern of a few tracks together.

If the tracks were in single file and if the imprints might be from something about 10 pounds, I am guessing fox. Even the appearance of the individual prints look like fox to me.

Looks like there are really only 2 pictures, just different takes of those same 2 pictures. The one appears to be coon like, but I don't think it is, I think they are both from the same animal. The 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th, are double foot prints, back foot in the same spot as the front. In the 4th and 5th you can see an extra toe print between the 1st and 2nd toes on the right along with a very light imprint of the toenail for this extra toe, clearly is an extra toenail dead center. This back foot on top of the front foot, dotted line effect above, is more evidence of it being a fox.

Cheetahs cannot retract their claws. Just an FYI.

I see 5 claw marks. Marsh area = otter.

I'll get more pictures when I go out tomorrow...hopefully the high tide will not have washed them away.

I see a ton of coon tracks, and these did not look like the regular coon tracks to me. We have bobcats on the property, we saw one fox a few years ago, and we have never seen or heard a coyote, and stray dogs come around every once in a while. I have also seen a few otters over the years, but not in this particular spot.

These tracks were not in a straight line, and they appeared to come from an animal that was running (chasing deer?). Some tracks were very faint, and others were deep in the sand.

I'm leaning towards stray dog based on everything y'all have told me.

If I can get more pictures tomorrow, I'll post them. Thanks for the comments so far.

Aint no fox I've ever seen. Aint no dog I've ever seen. I can't comment about the otter. But I can say that the tracks you have there, the light ones are same as the deep ones. In differing sand packs possibly and or the difference between walking and moving faster. And the tracks that look like the canine family are simply the same animal, in looser/wetter sand and turning a bit at the same time giving the effect of a wider front toe pad.

I was a taxidermist for years and have seen more than my fair share of tracks and feet over the years. Only thing that I can't rule out is otter.

The heavier tracks are also looking a lot like a double track. Only thing that throws me to doubt my judgement just a tiny bit is that the rear track on a coon is usually just a bit longer. But toes, claws and pads still shout coon.

Would an otter leave a tail mark like an opossum or armadillo??

IMHO, Jeff

If the tracks were paired up in side by side two's, my money is on otter. As for tail drags, otter leave them more often in snow or really loose stuff like sand. On harder packed ground, a defined tail drag will not be very noticeable, if at all.

They are definately not Raccoon. They are not dog because they are not symetrical and the front of the large pad has two lobes similar to a bobcat(but not due to the claw marks and shape of the toes).

RO <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Definately not a cat, cat pug marks are round almost like a clover leaf type of print, i'd vote for some kind of dog.

Otter.

Could be a Snipe track. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

GB

I would say fox, and racoon or perhaps otter for pics 2 & 3..If you manage to find any more, put a coin or a cartridge next to them for scale, and also see if you can take a pic showing the gait...

Regards,

Pete

+1.

I have guided my share of snipe hunts, and them snipe tracks all look like somethin' you can't easily identify . . . . . <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

BMT