Hi, I was recently hiking near Valmeyer and there were numerous deer tracks all over the trail, plus plenty of huge canine tracks, someone must have been walking a Great Dane on the trail. But for a good 30 yards along the rather muddy trail there were a strange set of tracks that had no claws whatsoever, and the way the back footprint slightly overlapped the front, but catty-corner, on most of the tracks, leads me to believe it may be cougar prints. It's much too large for bobcat, I think. We were out in broad daylight and I did not sight an animal, but the location is near bluffs and plenty of small rock caves with a plentiful prey supply.
I did not have a ruler with me, but when I hold one up to my hand (which I used for scale in the photos), the prints are 3 1/2in tall and about the same wide. Please let me know what you think.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/annabelle-of-didmarton/6648865227/
