The first photo is poor because the animal was stepping in older tracks. There is no doubt in my mind there were only 4 toes, and no nail marks. The pad under the toes is consistent with the photos you posted links to, a lynx heel pad is more or less triangular, and what makes me lean towards feline instead of canid was the fur impressions around the paw. I am more convinced now that they are cat, but according to my guide bobcat's tracks are 2" and lynx 3-4", consistent with the 3rd pic which shows a 4" snow basket for comparison. A friend photographed it as well and I will try to post his photos, too. (Just looked, no better than mine). As we looked at the tracks he made the comment about other markings in the snow along the tracks that maybe they were made by the animal's tail to which I commented that bobcats or lynx have no tail that would make those marks. A mountain lion does, though! I think more likely it was dragging a paw, or was carrying a kill in its mouth that may have been dragging. Again, I wish I had taken more time and gotten better photos. I wonder now if maybe there were two different animals and one was following the other's tracks, possibly fox or coyote following bobcat's tracks, or vice versa. There were older tracks evident to the left in the 2nd picture. As for the snow conditions it was crusted snow with the top layer melting and soft, the dogs made deep impressions when they stepped off trail, Emma weighs 23lbs and Blue about 40. I believe the tracks were possibly made in the morning as things began to soften up. The scent was still strong according to the dog's reaction... I will be back up there next weekend, and believe me, I will be looking... hopefully to get better photos this time!
KDT
) to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries. The tracks are similar but you would be able to tell better than I.
