Went out to feed livestock this morning and found...

i just had to go out with the yard stick and measure my dogs prints he is black lab/blk and tan hound weights aprox 100 lbs his prints is 6 inches long and his stride is almost 3 feet i am pretty sure he thinks i am out of my mind for making him walk around and then mearsureing his prints and stride but i just have to see for myself as i always thought he left some pretty large prints i dont want to say the prints are not from a cat but sure look just like the ones i mearsured just now one other thing we had a wolf hybred whose stride pattern was different than that of our other dog she just traveled different and maybe it was becasue of the mixed breeding i dont know be safe rider

I think it's Sasquatch...

Those sure looks like every dog track that I have ever seen. We have lynx up here and those sure don't look like kitty tracks. I think you have a roaming dog on your hands. Besides if it was a large cat it sure wouldn't have bedded down next to the animals without doing some damage. I mean why miss an easy meal?

that dog would have to be 7' long - without the tail - and 350 lbs. Either it is the largest silvertip wolf ever found, or it's a cat.

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http://www.bear-tracker.com/wolves.html

I'd say your measurements are right at the top end of those.

Being one single animal most likely it was an alpha male that lost his standing in the pack. Not uncommon for this time of year as younger males will challange for the title. When an old boy loses he gets banished not only from the pack but the territory that they run in.

That would explain also why he's in an area that wolves aren't normally found. They are found right next to you in northern Idaho. Casper area just had it's first confirmed sighting of a couple of wolves last week. Good and bad that the ones from Yellowstone are spreading out so much.

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Our existance here is soley for the expoitation of CMG

i think your calculations are incorrect. those are canine tracks, without a doubt.

Hard to tell from the pictures really but I am going to have to agree with others and say it is in the dog family.

Excellent link! Thanks!

Definitely canid tracks. Length to width ratio of both front and rear is consistently canid. Toe placement shows middle 2 toes definitely ahead of others, a canid feature. Toe shapes are also a long ovals, also definitely canid feature. Claw marks can sometimes be seen in cougar tracks and is not a consistant enough charactedristic seperation. Lot of years experience in identifying tracks.

DD

I just looked at my bloodhound's tracks in the snow. He weighs about 120 lbs. His foot prints look exactly like those in the picture. Only bigger.

I'd say wolf -- as someone already noted, there are plenty of wolves in Idaho, which isn't that far. I've seen wolf tracks that were bigger than those, in Alaska (measured at 6" long, and they were fresh, in our driveway, not melted ones).

My mother found cougar pawprints all around their house the other day, after they'd been gone for a couple of days. She thought it had gotten their outside cat, but Kitty turned up this morning, bedraggled and hungry, but well.

Kathleen

Dog, and not a great big one either, large but not big. Mom's lab leaves prints larger than that.

I been trapping for 40+ years. I've caught
bobcats with feet that big (not just a few).
I'd not argue the point either way, but I'm
somewhat amused that someone from Mass
or Florida would argue with one who lives
in cat country! Also, in this lil discussion,
the word "definitely" does not belong. DEFINITELY!

I have to say dog too. Besides the appearance they seem to show a faulty perfect step as you would see in a dog.

What about a coyote? I live in Oregon and we have coyote everywhere down here. They also have never messed with my livestock, so it would make sense since you didn't loose any livestock?

we don't have dogs or coyotes or bobcats in massachusetts?

A few links I found:

http://www.geocities.com./Yosemite/9...fe.html#tracks

http://www.geocities.com./Yosemite/9152/coyote.html

http://www.geocities.com./Yosemite/9...-trackers.html

http://www.geocities.com./Yosemite/9152/cougar.html

This site does mention no claws seen in Cougar tracks, I wonder if it wasn't a Wolf though? It does seem to match up in size?

Just getting my chuckles!
I was refering to cougar.

i've tracked enough coyote to know canine from cat tracks.

we do have mountain lion around here, too, though not anywhere near the population that western states do.

I'm a trapper also. I'm 48 years old and I've been looking at animal tracks in the snow all my life. Those tracks are from a canine. I see them everywhere. Tracks from canines and cats of all types are very different. There is no mistaking the two. Those tracks are not five inches long. If you look at the ruler it extends almost an inch beyond the heal. At the toe the ruler extends at least a quarter inch beyond the toe. The claw marks do not count for any length. The dog needs his toe nails cut. The tracks are no longer than four inches. They look a little wide for a coyote. It is normal for a large domestic dog in the snow to make a track like that. I'd say someone is looking for their dog and you found him. Also I don't think it's a coyote because in your part of the country the coyotes are not so big. The bigger coyotes are east of the Mississippi river. I've trapped west of the Missouri and east of the Mississippi. The coyotes west of the Missouri are very different from those east of the mississippi. If I'm wrong and it's not a domestic dog then it is a coyote or a small wolf with fat feet.