Vanity, Freeper Help Needed to Identify Tracks in Snow

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[PA Engineer]

Need help identifying the following snow tracks:





This is the third time I have found some strange animal tracks on my land. I live in western pa, 25 miles from Pittsburgh in the land of murrymom. The area is rural on the edge of suburban development. These tracks I photographed (iPhone) while snow blowing.

The gate is 6 to 8 feet and the single track may be a double paw print. The single track is larger than my hand. The tracks entered my property near a wood pile (breaking a five wire electric fence) and traveled over two hundred feet down my driveway (19 degree grade). The tracks changed direction and followed a set of dear tracks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Jimmy Valentine]

You may have found a cougar on the prowl. If he is about six feet long that would be about right for the distance. The blur on the print could be the hair round his paws.

That piece of Pensylvania is interesting. I went to school in Wash, Pa. about 35 miles south, and suburban runs to rural forested very quickly.

[Jack Hammer]

If you’re really interested in knowing what they are, contact Jim Halfpenny. I had the privilege of meeting him out in the Wind Rivers of Wyoming about forty years ago, and what he didn’t know about tracking then wasn’t worth knowing.

He’s a full-blood Sioux, who’s spent his entire life outdoors as a tracker, hunting guide, and lecturer, and he’s been improving his knowledge of and experience in tracking since the Fifties, when he started out as a kid in the high plains. Now in his sixties, his knowledge of animal tracks is encyclopedic and phenomenal.

Send him a set of photos and your question, and he won’t let you down:

trackdoctor@tracknature.com

Jim Halfpenny
P.O Box 989
Gardiner, MT 59030

Have a look at his web site, just for fun: www.tracknature.com

[Georgia1]

This is too easy ! It’s a cyclops !

[spectre]

Chupacabra

[PA Engineer]

That piece of Pensylvania is interesting. I went to school in Wash, Pa. about 35 miles south, and suburban runs to rural forested very quickly.

Thanks for the links. Ordered two of the books including Beast in the Garden. We are in that area of rural about a mile from suburban development. There is mostly about 800+ acres of undeveloped land (Ridge/Valley) around us.

We have had too many deer, black bears, a female bobcat, ermines and coyotes pass here over the last couple of years. I know the tracks of these critters. This one was a surprise and just did not compute. This is the third time I have seen the tracks during the past year. In the snow (somewhat melted), in the mulch adjacent to our lean to greenhouse knee wall, and this one last night. The recent tracks kind of raised the hair on the back of my neck. They were very recent.

I am waiting on some deliveries, but will be heading out later with my Nikon to get some better pictures and to track the direction of the critter. I will be armed. I plan to contact Mr. Halfpenny when I have some better photos.

Thank you very much for the reference.

[green pastures]

They look like wild turkey tracks (the real wild turkeys with feathers, not the kind in a bottle), however I’ve never seen them be as long as 12 inches.

We’ve got about 20 or 30 of ‘em around here and they leave the -> mark all over the place. I’m guessing the length of the wild turkey tracks around here are about 5-6 inches.

So, my best guesses are:

a) you have gigantic turkeys
b) you have raptors
c) you have a bear masquerading as a gigantic turkey

[1000 silverlings]

Cool, I'm betting it is

only other might be a river otter, they kind of slide so that the back tracks cover up the front, maybe that's why they looked so big

here's a river otter track from off the net

[1000 silverlings]

ping to 108

[Jimmy Valentine]

Not at all. Please keep me (all of us) posted on your progress.

That is perfect range for cougar and they were all over that area at one time(long ago now.) They need range to run, cover and food, all of which are in abundance.

Of course if you hear one scream, that will pretty much wrap it up!

[devolve]

[potlatch]

You - 35°F | 31°F

Me - 71°F | 38°F

[devolve]

.

71°ƒ there?

A day at the beach in Texas!

A mild 33°f here right now -

[potlatch]

It's 56* right now. I never trust weather forecasts.
dark, foggy and rainy here

[devolve]

.

20°ƒ here right now

But snow as mostly gone