So I was Mushroom huntin few weeks back in our woods....next to St. Louis, on Illinois side...we have about 265 acres of mainly woods n some farm land.Theres an overgrown lake in the wood and these tracks were leadin up to it. We hear coyotes alot back there eatin stuff and howling. We also see deer all the time, actually had 12 of them all munchin on all of our giant acorns (size of golfballs seriously) in front of our house. Even foxes ive seen, but heard we have bobcats but havent seen any. Those are pretty much the biggest animals that are known to be around here. Now the strangest claim I heard was that Blackbears were starting to migrate down here...lol duno about all that. I just hope its not a cougar to be honest, or I guess Black bear but doubt that. These are 2 different types of animals in these pics.... I think its gotta be coyotes? The last two are differnt in size and arent the same animal, maybe same kind but not same animal. Any info would be appreciated, thanks. Damn and sorry for the giant pics, gotta figure out how to change it. And the more I look at, pretty sure it jst coyotes
Left looks like coyote and the right looks like a cougar. I was thinking bobcat, but they're usually smaller. Cougar tracks are like the size of a human palm. Usually dog tracks show claws and cat tracks don't Black bear tracks are much wider and they have a fatter palm
Way too small to be a puma, even a young one. Just coyotes and bobcats. Pumas are heavy and their whole paw sinks in under their weight. A puma track is very clean looking. pumas are very rare in illinois, they have been extirpated from much of the eastern states, much more common in the west. They tend to prefer scrubland. Btw, bobcats have huge feet.
::shudder:: Mountain Lions are quite common around here. I had one run across the road early one morning when I was jogging. Scared the bejeebus out of me. During the rest of my run I kept getting a creepy-crawly feeling down my spine. I just knew it was going to jump me and eat me.
Haha I hear you.....I saw those tracks on the way down to the woods on the outskirts of our field.......and I was really hesitant after that to step in those woods "I was like WTF is this shit....then I heard somthin runnin away through the brush, sounded like a deer tho". So i just found a burly walking stick and said screw it lol I want some mushrooms....ill just make a bunch of noise too. But then after I got back, it got me thinkin.....what are these tracks? I prolly need to be a lil more careful, prolly get some mace or sumthin.
Haha kinda funny you say that cuz I shouldve took a pic of this other track on the other side of lake......, pretty sure I stepped in one of those cougar lookin tracks (the one w/out the claws) and it must of been a perfect fit, cuz when I was walkin back.....it looked just like a sasquatch print with those paw marks and my foot right in it perfectly. Then I looked more at it and just figured i stepped in it cuz it was about size of my shoe, and said no way.
Im prolly just gonna spend the money on a game camera and see whats out there......and I will post the pics up here
Those are all domestic dog tracks, not even coyote. None are feline whatsoever. Coyote tracks would have a "pointier" profile, with the middle two toes farther forward and slightly angled towards each other. The rear pad would be placed farther back. The outline of a coyote track looks like a longer oval, where domestic dogs look like a circle. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Coyote. They won't hurt you unless their rabid but they are hell on other wildlife in the area. If you're a hunter get permission from the land owner, an e call, a rifle and have some fun.