Yesterday we were out hiking on the "Go John Trail" after all the heavy rains. The trails were damp and in some places very wet. As you can imagine there were LOTS of animal tracks to see and wonder about. Most of the tracks were made by dogs on the hiking trail. However, I came along one track that was large, not deep like the dog tracks, and was predominantly an impression of a very large pad. It made me wonder if it was a mountain lions track.
I also found a cloven hoof print that was not like any deer tracks I have seen. If you took your middle three fingers and made an impression in the mud with the knuckles, it would resemble this track. A three pronged cloven hoof???
I was wishing that I had a resource for identifying these tracks. Better yet...DUH...I wish I had photographed them.
Any suggestions for a field guide for track identification?
Otters? I've heard about them, but never seen one here.
I have seen lots of cougars this week though. I think their mating season reaches a peak this Saturday. AZ GFD is reporting the open grasses of the TPC at Scottsdale as the best location to witness the courtship ritual of the Arizona Cougar by day, and after sunset the ritual moves to the Waterfront. It's quite a spectacle to witness. ;-)
I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.
chumley wrote:Otters? I've heard about them, but never seen one here.
I have seen lots of cougars this week though. I think their mating season reaches a peak this Saturday. AZ GFD is reporting the open grasses of the TPC at Scottsdale as the best location to witness the courtship ritual of the Arizona Cougar by day, and after sunset the ritual moves to the Waterfront. It's quite a spectacle to witness. ;-)
Hahahahahahaha. You had me going for a while, like, "There's really cougars at the TPC?" And now I realized what you really meant and I'm like
"Arizona is the land of contrast... You can go from Minnesota to California in a matter of minutes, then have Mexican food that night." -Jack Dykinga
I assume the track that had a very large pad had toes? How many? It could have been a mtn. lion, but if the size of the pad was very pronounced and it had 5 toes, it was from a bear.
The hoofed track might have actually been one javelina track on top of another, so it only appeared to have three parts. The size and shape sounds about right.
Too bad you don't have pictures. Here is a bear's front paw print. A hind foot print would look a bit like a short fat human bare foot print.
I saw similar tracks in Island Park, ID. I am completely perplexed as to what animal belongs to them. I can't find them in any animal track guide. They looked like someone actually took three fingers and swiped them on the ground. No claws were apparent, no pad, just three distinct lines one after the other, about a 1' stride. Each of the three 'fingers' was about 1/2 - 3/4 inches thick and did not taper toward their front end. What the heck was that? I'd say it was somebody playing a game, but it was in the middle of nowhere and it would have taken a lot of effort to lay them down for more than 100 ft on a sandy trail...
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And now I realized what you really meant and I'm like 
