Cougar

S

SMELLYBUCK

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I don't know much about cougars but I think I found some pretty good sign. Maybe some of you predator experts out there can clue me in.

I went hiking on Saturday and found this cave
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Here is a picture of a track leading out of it. The phone is 5" for reference. I'm sure its a cat.
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Here is a fresh kill not far from the cave. Could be coyote kill I guess. There were no tracks around to tell.
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What do you guys make of it? Is that a cougar den? I would think more than one set of tracks would come out of it, if it was used a lot. Is that a typical sized track? The deer backbone and 3 legs were close together. The hide was still soft. Just a few facts, I'm ready to hear some analysis.
 
Hard to tell, but it almost looks like a dog (coyote? pretty big for that though) track to me.... Too pointy and too long of toes... I could be wrong... I no expert for sure! Pretty cool stuff though! Thanks for sharing!


Elk
 
That's a cat track--there's an easy way to tell cats from dogs when you get a clear track. Look at the front of the pad and if it's a cat there will be a "W" shape. Always a cat track, claws or not. A cat track is more round than oval, and if it is oval it's usually across rather than longways like a coyote or dog.

Here are some mt. lion tracks to compare.

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Mountain_Lion_Tracks.JPG
 
looks like a dog to me. Wolf? Too pointy to be cat and looks like claws in the front. Cougars as with all cats retract their claws when not using them on other critters.
 
I agree, sneak into the cave and find out!


Timberline
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"Live for somethin' or die for nothin'"
 
It's a cat track. Has a pad and 4 toes. It's round not oval. Way to big for a dog. It's deep in the snow. Probably better ones around the area. Coyotes usually don't den in caves. If it was coyotes around the kill you would have a lot of coyote tracks. Go get the hound dogs.
 
you better be carefull before you cry cat. I mentioned that word with the mule deer problem and just about got my ars kicked out of town.

Looks alot like a german shepard or a lab to me. Because I have been told that I don;t know a cat track if I saw one.
 
if its a dog u would see the claw marks cats have retractable claws dogs have fixed claws
 
Robiland...it is a cat track and if I had been there and had dogs I would have hopefully caught that sucker, taken pictures and released it to chase another day.
I don't know that you got your "butt" kicked, but when you are talking to hound guys which several of those responding to that thread were you need to careful. Were kinda sensative about "lions killing all of the deer" statements.
Utah has pounded the lions and frankly there are not near the numbers that there were 15 years ago. That's why you got jumped about four lions in one canyon.
I always rely on the math...If there are 500 cats in the state taking two deer each per week, well there wouldn't be any deer left and the elk would be declining quickly...
Anyhow, no offense intended and take what us hound say with a grain of salt, but also remember, you are talking about decades of experience with cats when the hound boys chime in. Later...BIG
 
The tracks were found in the Oquirrh Mountains. I don't think cougar hunting is allowed there. Otherwise, I'd be more than happy to disclose the location.
 

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