Tracking What?!!

A mink track we saw

As you all know, I like to hang out in the woods and explore. Since we have moved, there are so many new places to go. So this weekend I was determined to go out in to the nearby woods. I asked my siblings if they wanted to come, but since none of them have the same exploring passion, and my parents were too busy, that left just me to go. So I went alone. 

ps. never go hiking alone, a bad idea

Anyhow it was a nice day. The sun was bright. I was so happy to be out. There was a fair amount of snow, but not too much. The tracks from the forest animals were easy to see now because of the snow. Mostly deer tracks. I wasn't too worried. That was until I saw the big tracks

you can't see it very well, but it was about the size of my hand.

I was a little scared. I mean I was alone, with no knife or stick, a little ways from home. I didn't take a long look at the track. I grabbed a stick and cautiously headed home. I figured it was cougar tracks. Fairly new ones because of the snow fall. Anyway, I wanted to be sure of this, so today, a friend of mine, my sister, and I went tracking.

As I was saying there was a lot of deer tracks

We came across this abandoned log cabin in the woods.

Then we came to the prints. They were a cat prints, that was certain. No claw prints, which is common in cat prints. The thing seemed to be running. We think after deer, as their tracks intertwined half the time.

the arrow points to the tracks.

Our problem was, no clear toe marks could be seen, and other animals had run over the tracks. This also helped in away, because it's a fact that cats don't leave very clear prints. We were also hoping it would leave some waste evidence, or a trace of it's kill, but it seemed to have been too intent in catching it's deer. 

Anyhow, what was it? I don't know. A cat of some sort. Could be a cougar, but is mostly likely a bobcat or lynx. Anyway, I'm hoping we get a dog soon! A dog would be a nice walking partner in a cat infested forest!

Mink tracks we saw. (at least I think they're mink)

Close up mink track. They leave way clearer tracks compared to wild cats.