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Messages 1 - 16 of total 16 in this topic |
rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Jan 26, 2015 - 06:56pm PT
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Cool discovery Alex...Do cougars usually carry tape measures..?
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:01pm PT
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Can't speak for the tracks, but the kitty sure looks like a bobcat on my screen.
EDIT - just looked up some measurements and I suspect you're right about the tracks be Mtn. Lion. They sure look big (though bobcats can be surprisingly large!!). Anyhow, looks like you're just outside the range of bobcat in terms of length. My book says the heel pad width is the clincher, as there's basically no overlap there:
4-7.3 cm in the lion
2.5-4 cm in the bobcat
Since they're wider than they are long, this sure doesn't jive with Caveman's numbers below!!
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:04pm PT
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Cougar sighting!!
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Caveman
climber
Cumberland Plateau
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:05pm PT
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Bobcats around here are that big. Just measured pads on a large male on the wall. Pads are 2.5 inches front to back. I have a lion track from a cave close by and it measures 5 inches front to back.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:07pm PT
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The prints are dry and there's some wind blown leaf litter and drying cracks in the tracks.
The kitty you saw is not the one that left the tracks.
Hello BIG kitty!
She's watching you!
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:09pm PT
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rfshore...did you see the litter box...?
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coolrockclimberguy69
climber
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:11pm PT
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+1 for bobcat. They can get pretty big. The ears and face give it away.
Still really cool. Beautiful cat!
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little Z
Trad climber
un cafetal en Naranjo
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:21pm PT
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puma: (front foot) 3 inches long x 3.5 inches wide
(back foot) 3 inches long x 3 inches wide
bobcat: (front foot) 1 7/8 inches long x 1 3/4 wide
(back foot) 1 7/8 inches long x 1 3/4 wide
prints would seem to be those of a puma
can't tell much from the photo except that it must have been a pretty exciting moment
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:24pm PT
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AnyOne can see one but to get a picture is pretty awesome. Bobcat or mt lion
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:28pm PT
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Wait til you come across tracks you can put yer size 12 shoe in completely! GRRRR!
That probably won't happen in Ojai.
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Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:32pm PT
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Nice!
As you have already concluded, those are definitely puma tracks and very likely a bobcat in the photo (OK, that is a bobcat for sure).
You can go a little further. The width of the rear pad is much larger for a male than it is for a female (never larger than ~3") and I bet this is a female. The kittens grow up fast and by a year or so, the male kittens already have larger feet than an adult female.
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john hansen
climber
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:34pm PT
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I'm sure most of you know you can hold down the ctrl key and use the + and - keys to zoom in and out on the photo.
If you zoom in 6 or 7 clicks it seems to be sitting up very straight.
Don't think I have seen a photo of a mountain lion sitting like that.
I would tend toward Bobcat too for the photo but who knows.
Cool to have both of them in your area.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:36pm PT
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Survival, more like a kitten sighting......:)
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Caveman
climber
Cumberland Plateau
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:46pm PT
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To clarify my post, the bobcat I measured is the largest male bobcat ever seen by an experienced taxidermist in middle Tn. The lion track I measured is most likely Panthera Onca Augusta and is roughly 12,000 yrs old.
I might add that I have no idea as to how big bobcats get. I have seen the bones of Onca Augusta and that kitty was a big-un.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:52pm PT
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Most of the Mtn. Lion tracks I've seen have been in the 4" range. they will easily swallow up my large fist. And the cats I've seen were from adolescent to 200+ lbs. A big bobcat can probably have a pretty large track.
Not sure how large this one was....didn't measure.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jan 26, 2015 - 07:54pm PT
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What Lynne said....
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