There have been sightings recently of a large cat, probably a Cougar here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Most sightings have been at the southern end of the Eastern Shore, near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Today, me the wife and pup took a hike at Kiptopeake Beach State Park, very close to were the Cougar had been sighted. We saw many deer and deer tracks, then came across the largest cat prints I had ever seen. So, is this a large dog or Cougar? Here's some pics:

Closeup:



Boot and track:



Track Progression:



Comparison with length of stride:



If it is indeed a Cougar, I may have to upgrade my carry piece while hiking from my 2" Model 64, .38 Special to my 4" Model 66, .357 Magnum!

Dog?

Canine vs. Feline Tracks - How to tell the difference between them.

Be careful.

http://www.eteamz.com/edgewoodcougar...3_Cougar-4.jpg

Woof! Woof! (And, good Lord - cougars aren't terminators. .38 Special is fine. Good luck seeing him, though.)

I see un-retracted claws.

Some big dogs take as much killing as a cougar might. And they're as likely (or more so) to attack.

T-Star

Looking at Rocketdogs info, I agree, one big dog! I'd like to see the dog, they are the biggest paw prints I have ever seen.

This one is roaming the woods, the prints were only on the trail for 50 yards or so. Maybe he was chasing the deer....

So, the .357 stays in the safe, the Model 64 continues to be my primary carry piece.

Dogzilla.

D.G.

My wife and I went to a seminar or talk Wednesday evening. It was ostensibly about urban coyotes. As luck would have it, the weather was kind of miserable and not many people showed. Sometime over the last 6 decades, I've lost my shyness. Just as I revel in hijacking threads here, I also don't mind asking a few slightly off topic questions in a public setting.

One of the questions from someone else was about the approximate population of urban predators. It was my opening. I asked about bears (the answer was none in our area, a known falsehood) and then about Mountain Lions. Again, he answered none. The speaker was a Dr. from downstate, obviously preaching the communist party line. He was pretty clear that the only predatory attack on a human in the eastern US was the bear attack a few years back in the Smoky Mountains NP. He'd not heard of the coyote attack in Canada. I've since emailed him the links, but I have a feeling he prefers deniablity.

Those of us interested in large predators can travel to places where they are fairly common and see tracks with our own eyes. Then take pictures of them. Sometimes professional hunters have very good insight and will share it.

When I kind of confronted the speaker the other night about his population counts, he defended his story. He says they do on occasion recover the body of large cats in this and adjoining states. He says they usually have lip tattoo's indicating domestic pets gone feral. Then to protect the state's theory, they feel any that don't have the ID probably are domestic pets turned loose, but not acquired through legal sources. Apparently there is a thriving business in the illegal marketing of exotic kittens, including mountain lions. Cute little things when they're young and playful. Mean as snot when they're upset.

I think we've pretty well ID'd the tracks as large dog. If you look, you can also see the claw indentations above the toes. Another thing I've learned is to not hang any identification on a single track. As the link indicated, there are differences between front and rear feet (just like we have differences between our hands and feet.) Make sure you're looking at the same foot as you see subsequent prints along the track.

Oh the wonders of digital photography. Take dozens of photos on your chip. You can erase them later if you don't like them. But if you examine a few dozen tracks, particularly those ascending and descending, you get a real good picture of what left them.

I thank the OP here for doing what he did. Almost everything right. If he made a mistake, it was maybe not having experience in seeing tracks of an animal very rare in his region. Keep up the good work. And don't be embarrassed.

__________________
Dick Burg

We have big cats in our part of Maine. The Fisheries and Wildlife folks will deny that...but that doesn't change the fact that they are present. Some folks will tell you that the denial is because no-one wants one trapped accidentally and start up the engine of lawsuits on a environmentally sensitive species...thus ending trapping or changing it significantly.

Sometimes it pays to read between the lines....

__________________
Non gratum anus rodentum

I said to myself "dog" as soon as I saw the print photo. The claws are the tell.

But that is one big dog.

__________________
Doug "N Frame Addict"
CO

The other observation to make when examining tracks is the gait. Felines, like foxes, are usually quite "dainty" in their gait, often placing rear foot print almost on top of front foot, whereas canines usually are more rolly-polly in their gait.

I concur that the OP tracks are probably a very large canine, especially owing to apparent claw marks, normally not seen in lion tracks (you'll see the marks of extended claws when a lion's kicked in the afterburners, or is struggling for maximum traction...).

As I've said before here, I think these Eastern states wildlife agencies deliberately deny the presence of mountain lions because of the potential aggravation of assuming the responsibility of their management, a task outside their paradigm. Lions are essentially unmanageable by conventional wildlife "management" models, defying application of the limited available tools. This is a good thing, at least in the short term, as any attempt to manage lions will have unwelcome affects on landowners, land managers, and hunters.

I read a book about that, as applied to cougars in Michigan. Fish and Game people are basically bureaucrats, often uninterested in the truth. Or, deliberately avoiding it for as long as they can.

As for the OP, I think he can consider that big dog as dangerous as a cougar. Were I him, I'd carry the M-66, with .357 loads in it.

T-Star