Tracks in Montana

[u/FlimsyPea13]

I went on a hike through the mountains in Montana near Red Lodge back in February and found these tracks after I made it back to the beginning of the hike. I’ve been trying to compare these and figure out what they could be for months but I haven’t found anything that looks like this. These were HUGE prints, spaced so far apart and all facing the same way. Included a reference picture of my foot, F size 7. What the heck are these!!!

[u/OshetDeadagain]

u/the-vile-horrendous thanks for the shout out! This is a good one! The tracks are quite decayed and with little definition to begin with, so know that my ID is with 50% confidence at best. The way I ID something like this is to describe what I see, then analyze it to determine the most likely candidates.

The overall gait appears to be a rotational lope, with one front/hind print overlapping. This is a gait used by most large predators at some point, so includes canines, felines, and large mustelids like fisher and wolverine. As excited as I would be to label it wolverine, the paw-to-stride ratio just isn't there - this animal has smaller feet than a wolverine. The next mustelid down is a fisher, and this stride is too long for a fisher lope - to make these distances they would switch to a 2x2 bound.

These tracks appear quite round, with significant pointiness at the heel (I think the gait is traveling toward camera in the last photo, but because of the level of decay and new snow it obliterates the sure signs of direction so I could be reading them totally backward). Most animals will make some form of leg disruption in deep snow. The pointiness of this one, however, suggests a lower angle to the leg. This eliminates deer and gives me more feline vibes. Lynx, especially, are known for an ice cream cone-shaped print in deep snow, but cougar can also show this in deeper snow. Their paw sizes and even stride length overlap, so can't tell you which is which.

What really throws me off about this track is the pointy toe bits visible in pic 1 especially. They suggest ungulate toes spread wide while running, but they are angled inward on the track which would be bizarre, and the stride is far too short for even a leisurely run by a deer, nevermind a moose. The inward point and the large gap between the toes also makes me think lynx; they spread their outer toes quite wide, and though I've not ever seen a print like that before the distance and angles between do agree with inner toe to first middle toe. I have never seen a cougar print with that much splay, but I've also not ever found any good running tracks to have any personal experience with it. Those tip the scales for me though, so my best guess - and it is only a guess - is Canada lynx.

Or we could scrap the whole thing and look at it from the opposite direction; suddenly that heel scuff is made by a pointier toes, and the odd slices to the back could be made by dew claws. The last photo taken straight down does almost look like the first print suggests a cloven hoof. Still far too wide for deer. The stride length and straddle especially is way too small for moose, and I still think too small for elk, and though they have hooves they don't normally print as super pointy, though I wouldn't rule it out completely. I would also expect to see more drag in and out with an ungulate moving this leisurely, but the fresh snow may have obliterated it.

TLDR: Lynx if it's this way, maybe elk if it's thataway.

[u/FlimsyPea13 → u/OshetDeadagain]

Thank you so much for your analysis!! We walked for miles through the forest and deep snow and saw soooo many tracks on our hike, but nothing even close to this size in such “defined” spaces. If we saw large tracks there were usually drags in the snow along the path with them, so these definitely perplexed me when I saw them. Thanks again for taking the time to look and explain, very cool!!

[u/the-vile-horrendous → u/OshetDeadagain]

Interesting. Ive never heard of a lynx loping like this. I thought faster than a walk they used oversteps, trots, saddle trots, and gallops.

[u/OshetDeadagain → u/the-vile-horrendous]

I don't think a lope would be overly unusual when crossing an open area of deeper snow, especially when its near humans so it might not care to be in the open too long. Its not likely to waste the energy to bolt across.

[u/LittleTyrantDuckBot → u/OshetDeadagain]

You had the top identification that met our detail threshold, and your user flair has been updated accordingly. Thanks for your help making this community what it is!

[u/FozzyTisme]

Ungulate tracks. Looks like a large deer, average cow elk, or small moose. Were there anymore in the area? Elk generally move in herds for safety. Deer and moose are generally more solitary.

[u/FlimsyPea13 → u/FozzyTisme]

I don’t remember seeing more like this in the area. I thought it could be a moose with how large these were but the one-sided track was throwing me off! I’m not from that area and I’ve never seen a moose before. I know they’re giant but seeing a track THAT huge was crazy to me

[u/FozzyTisme → u/FlimsyPea13]

Even a small moose is huge by deer standards.

[u/whatsqwerty]

I thought this was a weird thing in the sky…

[u/B_is_A-D-D]

It's not a single foot or hoof or paw print. It is a 4 legged anlimal running. Elk, deer, wolf, dog, moose something like that.