# Goofy Elk, Lion track 101?



## bird buster (May 25, 2008)

Goofy elk, can you start another lion track 101? I'm ready to learn some more. Let's see some pictures too!!!    o-|| _(O)_


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

I gotta tell ya,,Its been DAM TOUGH finding anything to track!
I've been out a bit, and the weather (snow) hasn't been the best,
but here's a good track,,,,,,,,,,,notice the roundness and no claw marks.[attachment=3:3h744xwe]100_1393.jpg[/attachment:3h744xwe]

Another dead give away is deer and elk will drag their hoofs, were a lion
will pick its paws up and not leave drag marks...[attachment=2:3h744xwe]100_1394.jpg[/attachment:3h744xwe]

Here is the tree and the cat that made those tracks...[attachment=1:3h744xwe]100_1396.jpg[/attachment:3h744xwe][attachment=0:3h744xwe]100_1398.jpg[/attachment:3h744xwe]

The kids just hit me up to go look this weekend,,,,,,,,,maybe I can fine 
some more to post up..


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

Here is another example........truly a hound doggers dream, a good track in good snow...


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Neat topic.

I have nothing to add, just gonna sit back and learn what I can.

How about during months without snow?


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

Snow makes it easier to both find and track a lion......easier for the houndsman to spot the track, and because snow holds the scent better, easier for the dog to track it.

The ability to spot cougar tracks among the myriad of other tracks out there is one of the greatest skills a houndsman can possess. A skilled houndsman can instantly recognize a lion track with just a glance even at highway speeds. It's too slow to look into every track in the snow for prints, so it's the foot step pattern that you learn to focus on.....the size, the spacing, the offset, as well as the drag marks that Goofy mentioned. You have to spend countless hours looking at literally hundreds of thousands of tracks before you really become proficient. It takes a lot of practice. This is why I roll my eyes everytime I hear lectures by guys that have never run dogs of houndsman not knowing where to look when they complain about the difficulty finding runnable lion tracks.

Catching lions without snow does make it more difficult, but it is still possible. Dry ground hunting requires more discipline, patience, and focus from your dogs. Only the best really excell at it. Here was one of my lucky encounters from last spring.....


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Fresh snow on a frozen lake:


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## bird buster (May 25, 2008)

Aren't most of these pictures from last year? Where's all the new pics?


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## coyoteslayer (Sep 10, 2007)

no lions left, therefore, no new pictures.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

[attachment=0:1pp12hyv]aaaaa_cat.jpg[/attachment:1pp12hyv]


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

coyoteslayer said:


> no lions left, therefore, no new pictures.


Yup, just put another 100 miles down today,,,,,,,no tracks.
The new snow was still coming down , but not even a old one
where the snow has been down for a long time....VERY DISCURAGING!

And it looks like Tree is trying to slide a bear track into a lion thread..


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Haha! Now I know.

Goofy, how do I differentiate between the two? On this particular set of tracks, all were relatively the same size. I'm by no means an expert in critter tracks, though I like them. I was almost sure these were cat tracks.

What am I looking for in this particular picture that would tell me that?

So much for my contribution! :mrgreen: 

T


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Bears have 5 toes and cats have 4......

The back pad on the picture you've posted shows the larger back pad as well..
I'm guessing a smaller bear going up hill ...


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Ha, well that's seems like an easy tell.  I really never even looked at the toes, Just the lack of claw marks and the general shape. I guess that's why this thread was created!


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

This is a great topic, since the last one was posted I have learned alot. Thanks to goofy. Now when I'm out I know what I'm looking at.
I knew that hoofed animals drag and you can see that in there tracks. I did think that Trees picture was of a cat at first then when goofy said it was a bear I had to go back and look.
Keep it up! If someone has a tag for Manti, not sure how it is broken up, I spotted one back in september. Not sure if its still there but if it can help.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

coyoteslayer said:


> no lions left, therefore, no new pictures.


yep


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Bears have five toes and cougars have four toes. That's about all I know about cougar hunting. Everything else is a mystery to me.


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## EmptyNet (Mar 17, 2008)

I know we are talking about tracks, but cougars have five toes. One of them just doesn't make contact with the ground.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

EmptyNet said:


> I know we are talking about tracks, but cougars have five toes. One of them just doesn't make contact with the ground.


 That's true. I guess I just assumed everyone knew we were just talking about tracks.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Here's something new I found today......
I haven't shown lion tracks jumping a fence and leaping across deep snow.
They are different looking than what a cat track looks like when its just "strolling around"...[attachment=4:2d14l9vs]100_2247-1.jpg[/attachment:2d14l9vs][attachment=3:2d14l9vs]100_2253-1.jpg[/attachment:2d14l9vs][attachment=2:2d14l9vs]100_2244.jpg[/attachment:2d14l9vs]

Its acculally a nice size cat...Adult female.[attachment=1:2d14l9vs]100_2242.jpg[/attachment:2d14l9vs][attachment=0:2d14l9vs]100_2248.jpg[/attachment:2d14l9vs]


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## stablebuck (Nov 22, 2007)

Treehugnhuntr said:


> Ha, well that's seems like an easy tell.  I really never even looked at the toes, Just the lack of claw marks and the general shape. I guess that's why this thread was created!


yeah right! you knew it was a bear track...you were just trying to show all of us how you *make it rain *even when you are out in the field! 8)


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## bird buster (May 25, 2008)

Goofy, in that last photo the cats toes don't look real defined. How old do you think that track is? My guess is within 1-3 days. What do you think?


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

2 nights old with just a skiff (1/8") of new snow fall.....


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

This crazy warm ,RAIN, weather got me today..
I've got a BIG bobcat found ,,,It came through last night,
and rained enough the dogs couldn't take it very well,,
That and I'm just getting these two young ones going on bobbers..[attachment=3:1b2wi0yj]100_2305.jpg[/attachment:1b2wi0yj]

Most of the tracks looked like this,,,,Just too much morning rain..[attachment=2:1b2wi0yj]100_2302.jpg[/attachment:1b2wi0yj]

Here's a good one from under some tree limbs..
Its a DANG nice size bob,,,,,I've got a tag I'd love to put on this one.[attachment=1:1b2wi0yj]100_2303.jpg[/attachment:1b2wi0yj]

End of the line today,,,,,,,,Hopefully Thursday he'll be back.
And so will I [attachment=0:1b2wi0yj]100_2297.jpg[/attachment:1b2wi0yj]


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Here's what a guy with hounds like to see!,,,,[attachment=1:2teuqe7t]100_2316.jpg[/attachment:2teuqe7t][attachment=0:2teuqe7t]100_2320.jpg[/attachment:2teuqe7t]


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## ntrl_brn_rebel (Sep 7, 2007)

Did ya catch him?????? Looks like some frozen snow to me with a mixture of bare ground just to make it interesting.......fun day indeed!!


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

I turned dogs loose at 9:30 but no catch,,,,REALY started to melt hard about 10:30,
They worded it to a bare south face that turned to mud, caught the dogs a 11:00
and came home. Its only 5 minutes from my house, and the lion is not what I'm 
really after,,,There's a jumbo size Bober there that I only have a few days left to catch.
I'm going to get a little earlier start tomorrow morning....


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## bird buster (May 25, 2008)

Thanks for the update goofy. I hope you get some good pictures when you get it in the tree.


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## ntrl_brn_rebel (Sep 7, 2007)

Keep us posted.......


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Thought today it was going to happen,,,,even kept my oldest boy out
of school to help....went for a good hike with the dogs though..No fresh tracks today.


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## ntrl_brn_rebel (Sep 7, 2007)

Is the snow freezing at night down there?????

Its sure tough up here, wind blown snow and warm days and cold nights makes tracks pretty tough to see.........


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Ntrl,,Same here,,,Burned off south slopes and the snow has gotten hard enough every were
except the north slopes the elk are walking on TOP today!

None the less both my boys are planning on going out tomorrow and Sunday both....
As long as we can get one running early before the frost melts off, I think we have a shot..


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Well , here's today's report , NO lion tracks , and my big bobber hasn't come back through..
Hiked a canyon and a ridge were I thought they might show back up last night ...
It's really just a question of when ,,,, I'm planning to hiking it every morning till it does..

We did see some bull's today ..[attachment=3:1iai0528]100_2322.jpg[/attachment:1iai0528][attachment=2:1iai0528]100_2328.jpg[/attachment:1iai0528][attachment=1:1iai0528]100_2331.jpg[/attachment:1iai0528][attachment=0:1iai0528]100_2333.jpg[/attachment:1iai0528]


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## muleydeermaniac (Jan 17, 2008)

If you want to find a lion, I work up at Park City medical center, and there are tracks out in front of the Hospital!! A little spooky when you come and go to work in the dark!


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

muleydeermaniac said:


> If you want to find a lion, I work up at Park City medical center, and there are tracks out in front of the Hospital!! A little spooky when you come and go to work in the dark!


Snap a photo of the track next time to confirm it is indeed a lion. My suspicion is that they are most likely dog tracks.....but a quick photo could change my mind.

BTW Goofy, are you going to do an advanced course on telling the difference between a tom and a female lion just by looking at the track??


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Tom,,,Larger, rounder,,,
[attachment=1:2qqsdb3u]t1.jpg[/attachment:2qqsdb3u]

Female , slightly longer than wide,,,,not quite as 'Round"...[attachment=0:2qqsdb3u]100_1254.jpg[/attachment:2qqsdb3u]

But I'll be the first to tell ya,,,,I've been fooled a time or two reading tracks.. 

How did I do Kev.... :?:


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

I'm finding more lions this year than I have the past 2-3 ...

I've cut 10 different sets in the last 3 weeks,
Thought I'd fire up the old 101 threads.
Yesterday was a tracked up MESS!
A female with a medium sized kitten.
and a solo cat in another canyon, its got a dead calf elk.










The female with the kitten was packing a dead rabbit,
dragging in the snow, leaving drops of blood.










Several scratch's within 30 yard of each other yesterday.


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## Karl (Aug 14, 2016)

Nice photos.

Where are you hiking? East of Spanish Fork or south of it?


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Karl said:


> Nice photos.
> 
> Where are you hiking? East of Spanish Fork or south of it?


Both,
in the last 3 weeks I've cut tracks on the Wasatch, Manti, and Nebo units.


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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

Hunting the extended elk area last week...at the top of City Creek Canyon...we had 2 sets of cat tracks on top of our boot tracks from earlier in the day. I'm clueless about lions, but one set was a bit smaller then the other. Guessing a female and cub/yearling?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

muleydeermaniac said:


> If you want to find a lion, I work up at Park City medical center, and there are tracks out in front of the Hospital!! A little spooky when you come and go to work in the dark!


Outside of running dogs I can count the number of lions I've seen in the wild on one hand.

One time I was on I80 headed west to Salt Lake in the morning darkness and I seen a lion chasing a deer along the interstate fence in the deep snow. Just where I80 comes out of the canyon before you get to US40, not all that far from the Park City Medical Center.

.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

I've cut quite a few cats this year, 
But this track, this week., was an
OMG track!
Huge lion.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Dig this bear track we messed around with today. 
30-06 shell laying in it for reference.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

Looks like a nice mature boar Goofy. I always carry my leatherman tool with me that has inches marked on it that I use to measure tracks. Anything over 4 1/2 inches one can count on being a boar. There are 3 or 4 bear that hang out in the drainage I like to hunt on the Cache unit, and measuring the track gives me a pretty good idea which one I'm dumping out on. The track below measures 4 3/4 inches and belongs to a young cinnamon colored boar we've run and treed on numerous occasions. The biggest track I've measured is a 5 1/2 incher belonging to a big chocolate boar that won't tree and heads to the remotest part of the unit. We've seen him a couple of times walking the dogs but we haven't been able to stop him yet. Typically it's a two day affair gathering hounds whenever we run him. Hopefully one of these days we'll catch up to him when we have a hunter and get him out of the gene pool....;-)


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